Inspired by Laura Numeroff’s classic picture book If You Give a Mouse a Cookie, this Small-Batch Chocolate Chip Cookies recipe is quick and easy to make the next time a hungry mouse shows up on your doorstep. Just make sure you have a glass of milk (and a straw!) at the ready!
I feel confident that I must have asked my mom to read If You Give a Mouse a Cookie to me hundreds (if not thousands?) of times as a kid. I loved the detailed illustrations and the increasing dishevelment of its characters as the story progressed. The snowballing tale of mishaps remains very relatable as an adult!
But no matter what series of obstacles life throws in your path, a universal truth remains: a good chocolate chip cookie always helps the situation.
About If You Give a Mouse a Cookie
If you give a mouse a cookie, he's going to ask for a glass of milk. When you give him the milk, he'll probably ask you for a straw...
Laura Numeroff, If You Give a Mouse a Cookie
Laura Joffe Numeroff published If You Give a Mouse a Cookie in 1985. Felicia Bond drew its beautiful, meticulously detailed illustrations using colored pencil. The story is a circular tale that ends where it begins--with a mouse asking a young boy for a cookie. A slippery slope ensues, with one request inevitably leading to another, running the boy all over his house in a series of humorous errands.
Numeroff and Bond went on to create a whole bestselling series of If You Give... books with the same charming format, including If You Give a Pig a Pancake and If You Give a Moose a Muffin. If You Give a Mouse a Cookie was also adapted into an animated series for Amazon Prime from 2017-2021.
Recipe Inspiration
The starring treat of this book is, of course, the classic chocolate chip cookie. My ideal chocolate chip cookie is rich, chewy, deeply chocolaty, and just a touch salty. For this recipe, I also wanted a cookie that was simple and quick--no mixer, no fancy techniques like browning butter or separating eggs, and no marathon portioning of multiple dozens of cookies. Just one tray of classic chocolate chip cookies that could be whipped up easily any time the craving (or a hungry mouse) appears.
My dear friend Ellen once showed up at my house with just such a homemade cookie dough ready to bake, and when the cookies came out of the oven, they were perfect. She was generous enough to share her secret recipe with me, and with a few tweaks, I developed it into a small-batch chocolate chip cookies recipe that I know will be my go-to from now on.
A few key notes on this recipe: It calls for salted butter, rather than unsalted. I usually bake with unsalted butter, but salted really does give the cookies extra depth of flavor here. (Though you can substitute unsalted plus a little extra salt, if that's what you've got on hand.) It's also important the the butter be extra-soft. Because this recipe is made without the power of a mixer, the butter needs to be soft enough to easily mash and stir with the sugars by hand to form a creamy paste. If your butter is cold and stiff, pop it in the microwave for a few seconds to soften up before mixing.
As for the chocolate chips, semisweet morsels give a lovely balance to the sweet-and-salty cookie dough and are the most classic choice, but you could swap in other chocolate chips like milk, white, or bittersweet, if you prefer. Again, use what you have on hand in this flexible recipe to keep hungry mice (and kiddos!) satisfied!
Ingredients You'll Need
To make this simple small-batch chocolate chip cookies recipe, you'll need:
- Salted butter, well-softened (Yes, salted!)
- Brown sugar (You can use either light or dark brown sugar; I love dark here for its molasses-y notes.)
- Granulated sugar
- All-purpose flour
- Baking powder and baking soda
- Table salt (Yes, in addition to the salted butter! It really brings out the sweetness in the chocolate.)
- An egg
- Vanilla extract
- Chocolate chips
How to Make Small-Batch Chocolate Chip Cookies
The full recipe with detailed timing and instructions is below, but here are some key moments to look out for along the way:
- Whisk the dry ingredients: Use a whisk to blend the dry ingredients together, evenly distributing the leaveners and salt.
- Cream the butter and sugars: Making sure your butter is extra-soft, use a rubber spatula to cream it together with the brown and granulated sugars into a soft, fluffy paste.
- Stir in the chocolate chips: After your cookie dough is mixed together, stir in the chocolate chips until evenly distributed.
- Portion the batter: Use a #20 (3-tablespoon) cookie scoop to divide the dough into 12 portions on a parchment-lined baking sheet.
Why This Recipe Is Great for Kids
I've spent years writing cookbooks and creating recipes that are safe, fun, and engaging for kids and home cooks of all ages. Here are some key features of this recipe that make it perfect for kids and families to make together at home:
- This small-batch chocolate chip cookies recipe is ultra-simple! No need to haul out a mixer or utilize any complicated cooking techniques.
- It makes just one tray of cookies, so younger chefs won't lose steam when portioning out the dough. Plus, no need to switch and rotate your trays when baking, which can be tricky for kids.
- It's quick! With just 10 minutes of prep, you can have a fresh batch of cookies out of the oven in under an hour.
Let's Cook!
Gather your equipment, measure your ingredients, and get cooking with this kid-friendly recipe! If you loved making it together, please leave five stars and share your stories in the comments.
Small-Batch Chocolate Chip Cookies
Good To Know
- This recipe requires no mixer, just a couple of bowls and a little arm strength! To make it easier to mix into the sugars, make sure your butter is very soft. You can set it out to soften on the counter at the beginning of the recipe, and if it’s not quite soft enough when you get to that step, pop it in the microwave and heat it at 50% power for 10 seconds at a time until it’s very soft (but not fully melted). That will make creaming together the butter and sugars much easier!
- Following my friend Ellen's strict instructions, I call for salted butter here, but you can use unsalted butter if that's what you've got on hand; just increase the salt in the recipe to 1 teaspoon.
- You can use either light or dark brown sugar in this recipe. Dark brown sugar will give the cookies a slightly darker color and more molasses-y flavor.
Equipment You'll Need
- Rimmed baking sheet
- Parchment paper (or silicone baking mat)
- 2 Bowls (1 large, 1 medium)
- Rubber spatula
- Whisk
- #20 (3-tablespoon) portion scoop (or 1-tablespoon measuring spoon)
- Oven mitts
- Cooling rack
Measure Your Ingredients
- 1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour (6 ½ ounces)
- ½ teaspoon table salt
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon baking powder
- 8 tablespoons salted butter, cut into 8 pieces and well softened
- ½ cup packed brown sugar (3 ½ ounces)
- ¼ cup granulated sugar (1 ¾ ounces)
- 1 large egg
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
Let's Cook!
- Set your oven rack to the middle position and heat the oven to 375 degrees. Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.
- 1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour, ½ teaspoon table salt, ½ teaspoon baking soda, ¼ teaspoon baking powderIn a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, baking soda, and baking powder.
- 8 tablespoons salted butter, cut into 8 pieces and well softened, ½ cup packed brown sugar, ¼ cup granulated sugar, 1 large egg, ½ teaspoon vanilla extractIn a large bowl, combine the softened butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar. Use a rubber spatula to vigorously stir and mash until well combined and the mixture is creamy. Add the egg and vanilla and whisk until combined and smooth.
- 1 cup semisweet chocolate chipsAdd the flour mixture to the bowl with the butter mixture and stir with the rubber spatula until no dry flour remains and a soft dough forms (make sure to scrape along the bottom and sides of the bowl to get all of the dry flour). Stir in the chocolate chips until evenly distributed.
- Use a #20 (3 tablespoon) size portion scoop or a 1-tablespoon measuring spoon to divide the cookie dough into twelve 3-tablespoon portions and place them on the parchment-lined baking sheet, evenly spaced.
- Place the baking sheet in the preheated oven. Bake until the edges of cookies are browned and the centers are puffy, 10 to 14 minutes.
- Use oven mitts to remove the baking sheet from the oven and place it on the stovetop or a cooling rack. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for at least 15 minutes. Serve warm or at room temperature. (Leftover cookies–if there are any!–can be kept in an airtight container for up to 3 days.)
Conversation Starters
While your cookies bake and as you enjoy your snack together at the table, talk about If You Give a Mouse a Cookie and what it was like to cook the recipe together. You can help young readers make connections to the book and share your own answers, ideas, and stories with them with the following prompts:
- What was the silliest task that the boy had to undertake to keep the mouse happy in this story, in your opinion?
- This story ends where it began. Do you think the boy will go through the same set of requests all over again, or will the mouse ask for different things the next time? What else might he ask for?
- If you were the mouse, would you have asked the boy for a cookie as a snack, or for a different food? What would it be, and why?
Lalaloni says
Ok - so every kid loves chocolate chip...and probably every adult? My 3.5 year old loves cooking and will never say no to baking cookies. She loved making these little cookies, especially adding the chocolate chips 😉
Ward says
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Ali Alderfer says
My 7-year-old and I had so much fun remembering one of our all-time favorite books while making one of our all-time favorite snacks! The recipe was so kid-friendly and easy to follow that my kiddo was able to get in there and do it all, with just a little hands-off supervision from me. And the cookies were incredible. Rave reviews from the whole family, not a crumb left at the end of the night!