Chocolate Chip Cookies Without Brown Sugar (2024)

Chocolate chip cookies without brown sugar for the times when you need a cookie but lack all of the ingredients. Cooking with substitutions is my specialty, and you will love these chewy chocolatechip cookies, even though they're missing brown sugar! The recipe makes 10 cookies, but you can double ortriple it to serve more.

Chocolate chip cookies without brown sugar

I absolutely live to make sure you have dessert in your belly, even if you lack the right ingredients. My eggless chocolate chip cookies have seen many us through chocolate cravings while lacking the right ingredients in the fridge. And if you haven't made my eggless sugar cookies, you've got some afternoon plans, my friend.

I have a whole section on this site devoted to eggless baking recipes that includes cakes, cookies, bread and more! Please please, don't miss the eggless banana bread, ok? If we're friends in real life, you know that you can text me and I'll help you build dessert with whatever you have in the pantry and fridge. It's my super power, just making sure you have access to homemade baked goods because they're one million times better than store-bought!

Enough talk about eggs, let's talk about the times you don't have brown sugar in your pantry. Or, maybe you have brown sugar, but it's a hard lump that you could use to throw at your sister's head. Not that my children have ever used a forgotten box of brown sugar in my pantry as a weapon, of course--my kids are way more civilized than that (joking, of course).

The thing about brown sugar is that it's essentially white sugar with a little extra molasses stirred back in. Well, this is true for most of the brown sugar on store-shelves. If you come across any natural brown sugar, it means that sugar cane that was halted in the stripping process, allowing a portion of the natural molasses to stay in the sugar. Sugar comes from sugar beets or sugar cane, but it is only possible have natural brown sugar from sugar cane. Sugar beets lack molasses entirely. If brown sugar is made with beet sugar, it is simply molasses from can sugar stirred into white beet sugar. Are we feeling overly educated about sugar?

You know I have a an all brown sugar chocolate chip cookies recipe right, right?

The reason we love molasses in baked goods is that it provides a chewy texture, as molasses is soft and pourable at room temperature. So, this begs the question:

What happens when you bake without brown sugar?

To be succinct, the resulting baked good could be slightly drier or more crisp. Without the excess moisture from the molasses in the brown sugar, the final cookie won't be as chewy and the final bread might be drier. However, this recipe for chocolate chip cookies without brown sugar is still chewy, because we're using an egg yolk. The only difference you'll notice is that the cookies won't be as brown. You'll see some yellow colors coming through from the egg yolk, and the rest of the cookie might be more pale than your average cookie. It tastes incredibly delicious, though!

Ingredients

• butter: You can use softened salted or unsalted butter for your cookies. If you're a fan of salted caramel, use salted butter. To watch your sodium intake, use unsalted butter, but go ahead and add the salt called for in the recipe, because it's needed for balancing sweetness in the cookies.
• granulated sugar
• egg yolk: We only need the egg yolk; reserve the egg white for another recipe. Here is a list of my recipes that use egg whites.
• vanilla extract
• flour
• fine salt
• baking soda
• baking powder
• semisweet chocolate chips: To make pretty pools of melted chocolate in your cookies (like you see in the photos), use a mix of chopped chocolate and chocolate chips.

How to make chocolate chip cookies without brown sugar:

1. Gather your ingredients: softened butter, sugar, egg yolk, vanilla, flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder, and chocolate chips. Preheat the oven to 375, and ensure an oven rack is in the center position. Have ready a baking sheet made of light metal, and line it with a silicone mat.
   
2. In a medium bowl, beat together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy with an electric mixer on medium speed.
   
3. Once the butter and sugar are light and fluffy, add the egg yolk (remember: we're just using the yolk, save the white for another recipe), and vanilla extract. Beat until combined.
   
4. Next, sprinkle the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt over the mixture in the bowl, and beat until just combined. Don't over-mix.
   
5. Last, but definitely not least, stir in the mix of chocolate chips and chopped chocolate. You can, of course, use all chocolate chips for this recipe! I just wanted to mention that if you use some chopped chocolate, you'll get the melty pools of chocolate on the cookies that you see in the photos. This is because chocolate chips have stabilizers that slow down melting. If you want gooey, melty chocolate chip cookies, use some chopped chocolate. If you want traditional cookies, use all chocolate chips.
   
6. Divide the cookie dough into 10 pieces, and space them evenly on the prepared cookie sheet. You can also press additional chocolate pieces into the tops of the cookies, if you like.
   
7. Bake the cookies for 11-13 minutes, or until the very edges are starting to turn golden brown. Let the cookies rest on the cookie sheet after baking for 5 minutes to allow the cookies to set up, and then move them to a wire rack to cool completely.
   

Is this recipe for chocolate chip cookies without brown sugar a small batch?

Oh yes, it is! You know how we focus entirely on small batch recipes here on Dessert for Two. This recipe makes just 10 cookies and uses only 1 egg yolk. You can double it, if you like, but if you do, use two egg yolks, NOT a whole egg. The egg yolk is what keeps this recipe chewy without brown sugar, so don't use a whole egg.

Is this recipe fit for the UK and listed in grams?

Yes, you bet it is! I'm starting to share all of my recipes in grams and cups, just to make sure the maximum number of people can bake and enjoy these recipes.