First up, you guys, let me just say how overwhelmed I was at your response to my last Let’s Talk post. I’ve come back to it (your comments, really) so many times over the last few weeks and I want you to know how much each and every one of your comments meant to me. It’s hard to explain really. Thank you, thank you.

Raw cookie dough in scoops in front of baked chocolate chip cookies of varying sizes.

Now. Shifting gears. Let’s talk about cookie scoops.

If you ever get me alone, chances are I’ll probably crack a couple awkward, dumb jokes and then start waxing poetic about either my Bosch mixer, the wheat grinder I adore or…my cookie scoops. Because I can’t live without them.

I could probably make a pretty good case about why cookie scoops are 100% essential to your daily happiness. I know for sure they are 100% responsible for the excessive cookie baking done around here.

I decided to get out all three of my beloved cookie scoops and do some testing (or in other words make about 83 pounds of cookie dough) to figure out exciting details like how much cookie dough fits in each scoop and how big the baked cookies are, among other things.

Baking nerds unite.

Top view of a small, medium, and large baked chocolate chip cookie.

I’ve had the cookie scoops pictured in this post for years. Probably over five years. I highly, highly recommend them because not once have they failed me and let me tell you, I’ve made a lot of cookies in my day (I’ve heard other cookie scoops end up rusting or the springs pop or come loose).

I put these babies straight in the dishwasher; they are sturdy and functional and really quite perfect as far as cookie scoops go. I bought them years ago on Amazon but I suspect they are available in kitchen supply stores or even possibly at Target or Walmart although I haven’t looked specifically.

I have the following sizes:
Small #60 Cookie Scoop
Medium #40 Cookie Scoop
Large #20 Cookie Scoop

As you can see from the picture below, the small scoop fits about 2 teaspoons of dough, the medium about 1 1/2 tablespoons and the large a whopping 3 tablespoons of dough. We’ll talk in a second about how that translates into baked cookies.

Small, medium, and large cookie scoops filled with raw cookie dough.

By and far, I use the medium size most of the time for cookies. Like, 96.3% of the time (but man, get a load of all the different uses a little farther down wherein the small and large sizes really shine). And since I love you and feel like I can confess these types of things to you (remember this Let’s Talk series is casual and soul-defining), I actually have two of the medium scoops. And am contemplating a third. You never know when three varieties of cookies may be happening in your kitchen at the same time.

So, how does the size of the scoop translate into actual, baked cookies? Well, take a look. That small cookie scoop is less than an ounce of dough and the baked cookie is about 2-inches in diameter. The medium cookie scoop is 1.25 ounces of dough and yields a 3-inch cookie. And that behemoth cookie scoop and it’s 2.25 ounces of dough is going to give you a very hearty 4-inch cookie. Hubba hubba.

Different sizes of cookie dough scoops full of raw dough with baked cookies of varying sizes on top.

Of course, these exact details are dependent on the recipe – some cookies are more puffy and others spread out more which would obviously affect the overall size. For your average chocolate chip cookie recipe (you know, the ones that call for one cup butter to start), you’ll probably get right around 3 dozen cookies with that medium cookie scoop. (For the perfect chewy chocolate chip cookie recipe on my site, I get slightly less since the recipe starts with 10 tablespoons butter, not 16 like a lot of recipes.)

A cookie scoop full of raw cookie next to another ball of raw dough and a baked cookie.

I often use the small cookie scoop when I want adorable, tiny cookies to garnish bowls of ice cream or cupcakes or something super cutesy like that. And the large cookie scoop is the perfect size for bake sales and when you just want a large and in charge cookie. Which happens more often than one would think.

But…guess what? Cookie scoops aren’t just for cookies. In fact, some of the other handy dandy uses kind of blew my mind when I clued in to the multi-purpose tool thing. Which, totally justifies me owning more cookie scoops than I have children, right? Right.

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Portioning out no-bake cookies (oh my, I have a version coming soon that will knock your socks off)
Scooping out cupcake or muffin batter into pans (mess-free and amazing)
For mini cream puff dough (just figured this one out; brilliant with that small scoop)
Pancake and waffle batter (the large scoop is perfect)
Meatballs, baby (mini meatballs or regular – works like a dream)
Deviled egg filling (I know, right? The small scoop will revolutionize your deviled egg ways)
Scooping out the pesky innards of the cantaloupe (and the seeds of a giant zucchini)
Portioning sloppy joe filling onto buns (scoop and done)
Making cute little mounds of guacamole and sour cream for taco night (because cute matters)
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Anyway, I know cookie scoops aren’t going to change the world or anything but I love ’em and thought it was about time I told you why. As always, share your thoughts about cookie scoops in the comments below. And, stay tuned because Monday, I’m sharing a chocolate chip cookie recipe that just might change the world actually.

Later, skaters.

*This is not a sponsored post, I just love cookie scoops more than life. There are a few Amazon affiliate links in the post since I purchased my cookie scoops from there but as always feel free to shop around!*