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Ever find yourself craving a chocolate chip cookie but no brown sugar in the cupboard? Never fear! Chocolate chip cookies can be made without brown sugar and still give you your chocolate chip cookie fix!

Making Chocolate Chip Cookies No Brown Sugar
Chocolate chip cookies are an American classic. Brown sugar is usually credited with adding flavour and texture to the mix. Strictly speaking, though, it isn't necessary to a successful batch of cookies. The real key ingredients to a good chocolate chip cookie are the vanilla extract and good quality chocolate.
Ingredients
- Unsalted butter, softened at room temperature.
- Sugar - caster sugar or superfine granulated.
- Egg, at room temperature.
- Vanilla extract.
- Flour - either plain flour or all purpose flour will work in this recipe.
- Baking soda and salt.
- Chocolate chips - I used Guittard's semisweet Super Cookie Chips in these, but any good quality chocolate will work. Use your favourite chips or chop up a bar of chocolate into chunks.

Process for Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough without Brown Sugar
This is a simple one bowl cookie dough recipe.
First, cream together the butter and sugars in a large mixing bowl. I'd recommend using a handheld electric beater, but you can also do this with a whisk. You want to make sure these are well beaten for a couple of minutes until light and fluffy. This is important to the soft chewy cookie texture.
Next, add the egg and vanilla, beating well.
Then, slowly add in the flour along with the baking soda and salt, beating until just combined.
Finally, stir through the chocolate chips. Use a spatula or wooden spoon for this rather than the beaters. This will help give you a more even distribution of the chocolate chips without getting them stuck in the whisk.
Once you have made your dough, scoop this out into rounds, placing them on a sheet of parchment paper. This will be to chill the dough prior to baking, so the cookie dough balls can be placed close together to save space. Refrigerate for about 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, preheat an oven to 350°F (175C/155C Fan) and line baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.
When ready, place chilled dough balls about 2" apart on the prepared sheets and bake in the oven for about 12 minutes. Watch for the edges to start browning lightly as a sign that these are done. As these cookies have no brown sugar, they will be a bit lighter in general than you may be used to for chocolate chip cookies.
Remove from the oven and allow to cool for about 5 minutes on the baking sheet before transferring to a wire rack. Conventionally, I'd say allow to cool completely, but let's be honest, nothing beats a warm cookie with the chocolate chips still melty!
FAQs for Chocolate Chip Cookies without Brown Sugar
Yes, my chocolate chip cookies without brown sugar can easily be frozen for several months. For best results, freeze the unbaked dough in balls. These can be stored in a ziploc bag to save space and are perfect to bake straight from the freezer - never be more than 20 minutes from a fresh cookie! Increase the baking time by about 5 minutes if making from frozen.
The baked cookies can also be frozen. Allow these to cool first and then place in a freezer bag or wrap and place in another freezer safe storage container.
Any kind you like! Try dark, milk, white or rose chocolate in these cookies. You can use chocolate chips or your favourite bars of chocolate roughly chopped.
This could happen for a number of reasons, but the most likely is that they've not been chilled enough before baking. The chilling process helps to firm up the butter in the dough and prevents the cookies from spreading too much in the oven. This helps ensure they retain more shape and a softer centre.
If you like this recipe, you might also like:
- Edible Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Cones
- Cookie Bottomed Brownies
- Classic Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Chocolate Chip Rice Krispie Treats

Chocolate Chip Cookies without Brown Sugar
Ingredients
- ½ cup unsalted butter, softened
- 1 cup caster sugar or superfine granulated sugar
- 1 egg
- 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1¼ cup all purpose flour or plain flour
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 7 oz semi-sweet chocolate chips
Instructions
- In a large mixing bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
- Add the egg and vanilla, beating to incorporate.
- Slowly add the flour, baking soda and salt, beating until just combined.
- Stir the chocolate chips through the dough with a spatula.
- Scoop the dough into rounds and place on a piece of parchment or plate and place in the refrigerator to chill for 30 minutes.
- Preheat your oven to 350°F (175C/155C Fan) and line baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking sheets.
- After the dough has chilled, place rounds on your prepared baking sheets, spaced about 2" apart. Bake in the centre of your preheated oven for about 12 minutes, until the edges begin to brown.
- Remove from the oven and allow to cool on the baking tray for a couple of minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
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