Chocolate Chip Egg Yolk Cookies
These super quick and easy chocolate chip egg yolk cookies are the best way to use up all those leftover egg yolks from other recipes! They’re crisp on the outside and soft and chewy on the inside. The recipe can easily be halved or doubled depending on how many egg yolks you need to use up.
Why you’ll love these chocolate chip egg yolk cookies
- It uses all of our leftover egg yolks from other recipes we baked.
- The egg yolks and extra butter makes these more rich than traditional cookies
- Super quick and easy
- Can be halved to make four cookies with one egg yolk or doubled to make 16 cookies with four egg yolks
This recipe is adapted from my small-batch chocolate chip cookies. I swapped the egg for two egg yolks but had to increase the butter and sugar to get the texture and flavor right.
For cookie lovers we have a bunch to choose from like brown butter pistachio cookies (can also be made with 1 egg or 3 egg yolks), marbled mini egg cookies, cookies and cream cookies, s’mores cookies
Ingredients:
- Flour: I just used all-purpose flour for this recipe however, I HIGHLY recommend using a digital scale, as over-measuring the flour is the most common baking mistake and may result in dry cookies.
- Sugar: I’m going to spare you my whole rant on sugar lol… I used JUST light brown sugar for these cookies and I don’t recommend substituting it. Granulated sugar makes these cookies super pale and chewy and dark brown sugar is too dark and molasses-y. However, you could do half dark brown sugar and half granulated sugar as that would be the equivalent of light brown sugar.
- Reducing the amount will alter the texture of the cookies as well so I don’t recommend reducing it.
- Butter: I LOVE using salted butter in cookies! I started doing this last year and it just seems more flavorful.
- Egg: I used 2 large egg yolks in this recipe – they can be cold or room temperature.
- Vanilla: Don’t underestimate the power of vanilla extract in a cookie recipe. I stopped putting vanilla in EVERYTHING that I make but for cookies it’s essential.
- Baking Powder: just baking powder, no baking soda.
- Salt: I like sea salt but any salt works.
- Sea Salt Flakes: I would say this is optional but I’m not sure we can be friends if you don’t add extra sea salt flakes on top of your cookie lol
- Chocolate chips: I like to use a mix of dark chocolate and milk chocolate chips (or even white chocolate). The recipe can also be made with chopped baking chocolate but the cookie will spread a tiny bit more and take a little longer to set/cool after baking.
Step-By-Step Instructions
Step 1: Preheat the oven to 350F (177C) convection OR 325F (163C) conventional and line cookie sheets with parchment paper.
Step 2: Microwave the butter for 20-30 seconds (if it gets super hot, then let it cool a little bit).
Step 3: Add the light brown sugar to the melted butter and whisk together for about a minute.
Step 4: Add in the egg yolks and vanilla and whisk aggressively for 1-2 minutes, until it’s completely smooth.
Step 5: Add the flour, salt and baking powder and fold the cookie dough just until there are a few streaks left of flour.
Step 6: Fold in the chocolate, just until they’re evenly dispersed.
Step 7: Split cookie dough into 8 small cookies and bake until the edges are starting to brown and the center is puffed and no longer wet.
Step 8: Remove from the oven allow them to rest for 5-10 minutes before transferring off the cookie sheet. Sprinkle with sea salt flakes and enjoy warm!
How to customize egg yolk cookies:
- Swap 1/4 cup of the flour for cocoa powder to make them chocolate
- Use white chocolate and/or freeze dried fruit like I did my strawberry white chocolate cookies
- Swap half the chocolate chips for any kind of nuts
- Swap half or all of the chocolate chips for oreos, reese’s, marshmallows, etc.
Frequently Asked Questions
The cookie dough is pretty soft so you’ll want to scoop it out, then refrigerate it on a plate or tray until the cookie dough balls are more firm. Then place them in a ziplock bag and freeze. To bake, remove them from the freezer as the oven is preheating and bake 325 F convection (fan) OR 300 F conventional (no fan) for 14 minutes or remove them a few hours in advance, bring them back to room temperature and bake like you would fresh.
I haven’t tested egg free cookies but you can make these cookies with dairy free butter and dairy free chocolate.
I have tested my base cookie dough recipes with 1:1 substitute for King Arthur and Bob’s Red Mill Gluten-Free Flour Blends. The cookies turnout perfectly, they just have a traditional gluten-free flour flavor which is a little earthy/nuttier.
Most cookies bake a little bit uneven around the edges, especially if the dough is soft and not refrigerated before baking. To get your cookies perfectly round, as soon as you remove them from the oven, use anything round like a biscuit cutter/cup/mug, etc. to scoot the cookies around within the circle.
Be gentle so you don’t break the soft cookie but you have to be quick and do it as soon as the cookie comes out of the oven, before the edges set.
As I mentioned before, I like to use a mix of dark chocolate and milk chocolate chips (or even white chocolate). The recipe can also be made with chopped baking chocolate but the cookie will spread a tiny bit more and take a little longer to set/cool after baking.
You can! I double this recipe all the time and it makes 16 normal size cookies (2.25 oz) or 8 large (4.5 oz) cookies.
How to store the cookies after baking
These chocolate chip egg yolk cookies won’t need storing. Once I start I just can’t stop lol. But really, just place them in a ziplock bag and keep them at room temperature for a few days. They obviously will dry out a little more the longer you leave them but I just pop in the microwave for like 5-10 seconds before eating.
Thanks so much for reading today’s post, if you have any questions just comment down below.
If you make these yummy chocolate chip egg yolk cookies, I’d appreciate it if you left a star rating for me. If it’s less than five stars, please let me know why! ?
As always, have a blessed day and happy baking!
Love, B
Wow! GREAT recipe, and fabulous for using up egg yolks after making Swiss meringue buttercream. I have a question re the oven temp. I’m in the UK and have a fan oven. Usually when fan and conventional temps are listed next to each other, the fan temp as much as 20 degrees lower, but your adjustments are the other way around. I baked a test batch from the dough that’s been hanging out in the fridge for a couple of days and, despite the dough being chilled, the cookies were baked well within 10 mins. I wonder if maybe the temperatures you’ve listed should be the other way around? So 177C for conventional and 163C for fan? I will try it and see anyway! Thanks again for a great recipe.
Hi Hazel, thank you!! My oven is weird so that is how it works in my oven but it seems a lot of people agree with your way so I started removing that out of my posts, I’ll take this one out too lol 350F/177C conventional generally works for most people, my oven I have to bake cookies at 325F/163C convection so they don’t burn on the bottom.