Egg Yolk Chocolate Chip Cookies

Learn how to make egg yolk chocolate chip cookies and discover why they might just become your favorite cookie ever!

Whether you’re a French pastry chef (like me!) or you simply love to try new baking recipes at home, there’s a good chance you occasionally find yourself with some leftover egg yolks.

For me, it tends to happen after making macarons or lemon meringue pie. I use a bunch of egg whites and then am left with several yolks at risk of being wasted. And I don’t know about you, but I do not like to let good food go to waste!

Sometimes I mix these extra yolks into scrambled eggs or even a quiche, but my favorite way to use them is by making bars and cookies with egg yolk only instead of a whole egg.

My Egg Yolk Chocolate Cookie Bars are always a big hit, but my new go-to egg yolk cookie just might be these Egg Yolk Chocolate Chip Cookies. They’re a classic chocolate chip cookie made even better. Crisp on the edges and so delightfully chewy on the inside.

Even better? They’re easy to make! Keep reading to learn more about how to make cookies without egg whites and why egg yolks make such great cookies.

What Does Egg Yolk Do in Cookies?

Egg yolks are a really great ingredient for baking. While eggs are often thought of as being a binder in recipes, they play a bigger role than simply holding everything together.

Egg yolks contain both lecithin and fat, impacting both the flavor and the texture of cookies. Yolks also act as an emulsifier, making a creamy dough even before it’s baked.

Egg whites, on the other hand, can have a drying effect. A cookie made with extra egg yolk (or, in this case, only egg yolk), will be lighter and chewier than a cookie made with whole eggs. The cookies will also have a richer flavor thanks to the added fat in egg yolk.

Tools Needed to Make Chocolate Chip Cookies with Egg Yolks

These egg yolk chocolate chip cookies are seriously easy to make! You don’t even need many tools. Chances are, you already have all the equipment you’ll need in your kitchen.

Stand mixer or hand mixer
Large mixing bowl
Baking sheet
Cookie scoop or 1 tbsp measuring spoon
Parchment paper

Ingredients to Make Egg Yolk Chocolate Chip Cookies

The ingredients for these decadent cookies are all easy to find – many of them are probably already in your pantry!

Egg Yolks

Naturally, we’re going to need egg yolks to make these cookies. You can use egg yolks leftover from another recipe or separate the whites from a whole egg. Either way, make sure to let your egg yolks come to room temperature before baking.

Chocolate

When you’re making a classic chocolate chip cookie recipe, you need to have good chocolate! While you can buy bagged chocolate chips or chocolate chunks, I prefer to get a bar of good chocolate and chop it up at home.

What kind of chocolate is best to make chocolate chip cookies?

I get this question all the time! If you ask me, you really can’t go wrong with any kind of chocolate. But if you’re looking to make the best-ever egg yolk chocolate chip cookies, then I definitely recommend buying high-quality chocolate.

Have fun with it and chop up a bar from the candy aisle or get Ghiradelli or Guittard chocolate chips to make these. They’re just a little more expensive than the classic Nestle and so much better!

I prefer dark chocolate or bittersweet chocolate for cookies, but you can really use whatever kind of chocolate you like best.

Salt

Every sweet treat needs a little bit of salt in the dough. If you really like sweet-and-salty goodies, you can even sprinkle a little flake sea salt on the top of the cookies after they come out of the oven. So good!

Other Cookie Ingredients

In addition to the ingredients above, you’ll also need some basic cookie-baking ingredients to make this sweet treat, including:

Flour
Butter
Baking Powder
White Sugar
Brown Sugar
Vanilla

Egg yolk chocolate chip cookies on a baking sheet

How to Make Egg Yolk Chocolate Chip Cookies

Making egg yolk chocolate chip cookies is just as easy as making a traditional drop cookie. You can be eating these fresh from the oven in as little as about 30 minutes!

Step One: Beat together the butter and both kinds of sugar until light and fluffy. Scrape down the bowl before moving on to the next step.

Step Two: Whisk in the egg yolks and vanilla extract. The batter should lighten in color a bit and become smooth.

Step Three: Next, combine the flour, salt and baking powder in a separate bowl before adding to the egg, butter and sugar mixture. Then add the chocolate chips.

Step Four: Chill the dough in the freezer for 10 minutes or in the fridge for about 20 minutes.

Step Five: Using a cookie scoop, ice cream scoop or a regular spoon, form the dough into golf-ball-sized balls and place on a parchment-lined baking sheet.

Step Six: Bake at 350 degrees F for about 12-13 minutes or until you start to smell the cookies and the tops look golden brown and slightly cracked.

My recommendation is to eat these as soon as possible – they are so good freshly out of the oven! Oh darn!

Tips to Make the Best Egg Yolk Chocolate Chip Cookies

These cookies are pretty foolproof, but following a few extra tips and tricks can make sure they come out perfect every time!

Make sure your butter is at room temperature. You want the butter to be soft enough to easily combine with the sugars and become light and fluffy. Cold butter won’t work!
Use room-temperature egg yolks. Mixing cold egg yolk into a hot butter and sugar mixture can lead to a not-so-pleasant texture. Plus, room-temperature egg yolks emulsify more easily than cold ones, helping to create a lighter dough.
Mix in the egg yolks for a few minutes. Whisking in the egg yolks (or adding them into the stand mixer) allows for the best emulsification of the yolks into the butter and sugar mixture. Spend a few minutes on this and mix vigorously.
Don’t wait too long to take them out of the oven. It’s tempting to look for the perfect golden-brown finish on top of the cookies before declaring them done. But if you wait too long the bottoms could be too dark. Remember – your cookies will continue cooking on the cookie sheet even after they’re out of the oven. So take them out when they’re just barely golden for the perfect texture.

How to Store Cookie Dough for Baking Later

It is very hard to not make and bake this dough right away, but it’s actually best to let cookie dough chill for an hour or even overnight to develop the flavor.

If you want to make this dough in advance, simply pause at the step of chilling the dough and leave the dough in the fridge covered in a container or wrapped in plastic wrap. I recommend using the dough within 1-3 days after mixing it up for the best results.

What to Do with Leftover Egg Whites After Making Egg Yolk Chocolate Chip Cookies

I first started making these egg yolk cookies because I had leftover egg whites already. But if you’re making them by separating out whole eggs and you’re leaving egg whites behind then there are so many fun and delicious ways to make sure they don’t go to waste!

Some of my favorite ways to use leftover egg whites include:

Merveilleux
Financiers
Ice Cream Cake a La Francaise
Quiche with extra egg whites
Macarons
Lemon meringue pie
Whipped egg whites for cocktails

Chocolate Chip Egg Yolk Cookie FAQs

Can I use egg yolks instead of whole eggs in cookies?

You absolutely can! Trust me, I wouldn’t make an egg yolk chocolate chip cookie recipe if I wasn’t sure they would turn out great. These are tried and tested by yours truly and are some of the best, most decadent chocolate chip cookies you’ll ever have.

How many egg yolks does it take to replace a whole egg?

This recipe calls for three egg yolks. Typically you’ll want to use about two egg yolks for each whole egg that would be used in a cookie recipe. So if you want to try substituting egg yolks for whole eggs in your favorite cookie recipe, keep that ratio in mind.

Why use egg yolk instead of whole egg?

The simple answer is: so you can cook with egg whites and not waste any yolks! But there are lots of other benefits of baking cookies with egg yolks. The extra fat in the yolks gives baked goods an extra-rich flavor and a smooth, creamy texture. Yolks also act as great emulsifiers, so you’ll get a cookie that is less crumbly.

Make Your Own Chocolate Chip Egg Yolk Cookies

Egg Yolk Chocolate Chip Cookies

These rich, delicious cookies are made with only egg yolks instead of whole eggs. They're a great way to use up egg yolks!

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time:

10 minutes

Cook Time:

13 minutes

Total Time:

23 minutes

Ingredients

1 stick (114g) unsalted butter, cubed at room temp
½ cup (110g) brown sugar (light or dark)
½ cup (100g) granulated sugar
3 egg yolks
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 ½ cup (188g) all-purpose flour
¾ tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
2 cups (330g) chocolate chips

Instructions

Beat together the butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Scrape down the bowl. Add the egg yolks and the vanilla extract and mix to combine.
In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt. Slowly add to the butter/sugar mixture while mixing on low just until combined.
Mix in the chocolate chips.
Use a tablespoon-sized scoop to divide out the dough. Chill several hours to enhance the flavor or freeze.
Bake at 350F (175C) for 12-13 minutes.