Dough Preparation Start by heating your oven to 350°F—the sweet spot for cookies that spread nicely but don’t burn. Whisk your dry ingredients (flour, baking soda, baking powder if using, and salt) in a separate bowl. It’s tempting to skip this, but combining them first keeps your cookies from ending up with random baking soda pockets. Butter goes next—soft or melted both work, but melted butter gives a chewier, slightly denser center. Mix it with the sugars until the mixture looks like soft sand. Add the egg and vanilla and whisk until everything looks unified. Then fold in the dry ingredients gently. Overmixing can lead to cakey cookies, and nobody wants the disappointment of a dry cookie on Christmas Eve.

Add-Ins & Portioning Once the dough looks cohesive, stir in your chocolate chips, M&Ms, sprinkles, or whatever festive mix-ins you’re using. It’s okay if it looks slightly overloaded—that’s part of the charm during the holidays. A cookie scoop helps with portioning and makes every cookie bake the same way. Mini cookies: scoop 1 teaspoon size (makes ~32). Standard cookies: 1 tablespoon size (makes ~24). Uniform size means uniform baking, and that matters more than people think.

Baking & Cooling Bake for 7–13 minutes, depending on size. Pull them when the edges are set but the centers look soft—they firm up as they cool. Let them rest on the baking sheet for at least 5 minutes. This short cooling time helps the centers settle into that iconic chewy texture. Transfer to a rack afterward so they finish cooling without becoming soggy.