Ultra thick Bakery Style Chocolate Chip Cookies feature golden brown edges with ooey and gooey centers. This easy recipe can be made in 30 minutes! Download my free Cookie Customization Guide here!
Yield:
26 cookies
Prep Time:15minutes
Cook:15minutes
Tessa's Recipe Rundown...
Taste: Full of sweet butterscotch & chocolate flavors, exactly how a chocolate chip cookie should taste! Texture: Thick and chock full of gooey chocolate with slightly crisp edges. Ease: No special ingredients, equipment, or skills needed! Pros: Easy everyday delightful chocolate chip cookie recipe. I think you’ll love this one. Cons: None. Would I make this again? I’ve already made this recipe many times and have the dough in my freezer for when the craving strikes.
My favorite type of recipe to bake is absolutely COOKIES. They’re so fun and simple but they can teach us SO much about the science of baking.
That post actually inspired the creation of The Ultimate Cookie Handbook. And THOUSANDS of you have purchased that book. So I think it’s clear that we’re all obsessed with cookies here.
That’s why I’m SO thrilled to be sharing this recipe for Bakery Style Chocolate Chip Cookies with you today. In my opinion, it’s the perfect easy everyday chocolate chip cookie recipe. This homemade recipe is simple to make, and yields thick beautiful cookies that are golden brown, crisp at the edges, and gooey at the center.
Watch the video below to step into my kitchen and see exactly how to bake these delicious cookies with me. I give tons of tips and tricks for getting perfectly thick cookies, and you can see what every step should look like!
There’s actually a time-lapse video shot of these cookies cooling right after I took them out of the oven. You can see that they hardly shrink or deflate as they cool. If you only beat the butter and sugar for 2 to 3 minutes max, your cookies shouldn’t deflate!
How to Make The Best Bakery Style Chocolate Chip Cookies
How to make soft chocolate chip cookies:
The key is to take the cookies out of the oven just before they look like they’re done baking. They should still appear slightly wet in the very center. The residual heat of the oven and pan will finish cooking the cookies through to soft perfection.
Also be sure to measure your flour correctly. Too much flour will lead to dry, dense, or crumbly cookies that barely spread. Check out my article on How to Measure Flour here, it’ll forever improve your baking!
Why are my chocolate chip cookies flat?
Be sure your butter is at a cool room temperature before beating with your sugar. It shouldn’t be greasy or overly soft otherwise it’ll melt and spread the cookies too much.
The warmer your cookie dough is when it enters the oven, the thinner and flatter your cookies will be. To prevent flat cookies, try freezing your balls of cookie dough while your oven preheats. Learn more about how to bake THICK cookies here.
Better yet, refrigerate your cookie dough for 24 to 48 hours. This ‘marination’ process will transform your cookies by making them thicker, chewier, and more flavorful! Plus, this is a perfect way to make your cookies ahead of time. Read more about the magic of chilling your cookie dough here.NOTE: chilling is OPTIONAL for this recipe but will enhance your cookies!
How to make chewy chocolate chip cookies:
One of the keys to CHEWY cookies is to use more brown sugar than granulated sugar. The molasses in the brown sugar draws in more moisture, making the cookies thicker, softer, and chewier.
For extra chewy cookies, try adding an extra egg yolk to this recipe. You can also replace half or all of the all-purpose flour in this recipe with bread flour for an ultra chewy bite.
How to bake chocolate chip cookies:
For the BEST chocolate chip cookies, make the recipe below keeping these top tips in mind:
Use a kitchen scale to measure your ingredients for the BEST most consistent results
Make the recipe exactly as written, without substitutions, at least the first time you bake it
What’s the difference between baking soda and baking powder?
Baking powder and baking soda are both chemical leaveners that work to create light textures in baked goods.
Although baking powder actually contains baking soda, the two leaveners are very different. Baking powder and baking soda are not interchangeable – just take a look at the impact the type of leavener used had on each of the cookies below!
Take a look at the cookies below. These cookies are all the same batch of cookie dough, baked at the same temperature of 350°F, baked for the same amount of time of 12 minutes. The only difference? The type of baking pan used!
The best cookies are the freshest, there’s no magical way around that. However, here’s a few tricks to keeping them fresh and soft for as long as possible!
Can you freeze chocolate chip cookies?
I love cookies straight from the oven the best. I always keep pre-scooped balls of cookie dough in a Ziploc bag in my freezer so I can bake cookies off and have them warm from the oven in a matter of minutes whenever I want. Here are more tips for freezing cookie dough.
But for those times when you need to keep already baked cookies soft, there are my tips. First of all, most cookies can be stored in an airtight container at room temp for up to 5 days. Be sure they are completely cooled before storing.
How to keep cookies soft:
To keep your baked cookies soft, you can add an apple wedge, piece of bread, or a tortilla on the top and bottom of the cookies to the container a day or two after baking them, or whenever you find the texture starting to harden. The moisture from the bread or apple will migrate to your cookies, making them soft and chewy again.
A tortilla is a new favorite of mine because it takes up much less room than a slice of bread, and doesn’t transfer any flavors or aromas like an apple wedge. Not to mention it fits into a round cookie tin pretty perfectly.
How to refresh stored cookies:
What I like to do is reheat and refresh the cookies in a 350°F oven for 3-5 minutes. Your toaster oven should work just fine. This improves the texture and there’s nothing like a warm chocolate chip cookie!
Ultra thick Bakery Style Chocolate Chip Cookies feature golden brown edges with ooey and gooey centers. This easy recipe can be made in 30 minutes! Download my free Cookie Customization Guide here!
Ingredients
3cups(380 grams) all-purpose flour
1teaspoonbaking soda
1teaspoonfine sea salt
2sticks (227 grams) unsalted butter, at cool room temperature (67°F)
1/2cup(100 grams) granulated sugar
1 1/4cups(247 grams) lightly packed light brown sugar
2teaspoonsvanilla
2large eggs, at room temperature
2cups(340 grams) semisweet chocolate chips
Directions
Preheat oven to 350ºF. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
In a medium bowl combine the flour, baking soda, and salt.
In the bowl of an electric mixer beat the butter, granulated sugar, and brown sugar until creamy, about 2 minutes. Add the vanilla and eggs. Gradually beat in the flour mixture. Stir in the chocolate chips.
If time permits, wrap dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 24 hours but no more than 72 hours. This allows the dough to “marinate” and makes the cookies thicker, chewier, and more flavorful. Let dough sit at room temperature just until it is soft enough to scoop.
Divide the dough into 3-tablespoon sized balls using a large cookie scoop and drop onto prepared baking sheets.
Bake for 11-13 minutes, or until golden brown. Cool for 5 minutes before removing to wire racks to cool completely.
Although I prefer cookies fresh from the oven, these can be stored in an airtight container for up to 3 days. See post for storage tips.
Recipe Video
Course:
Dessert
Cuisine:
American
Keyword:
chocolate chip cookies, chocolate chips, chocolate cookies, cookies
I share trusted baking recipes your friends will LOVE alongside insights into the science of sweets. I'm a professionally trained chef, cookbook author, and cookie queen. I love to write about all things sweet, carb-y, and homemade. I live in Phoenix, Arizona (hence the blog name!)
I wanted to love this recipe, but the bottoms of my cookies browned well before the middle cooked. They aren’t burned, just a bit crunchy on the bottom. The only things (I think) that I did differently were to use regular cookie sheets instead of half sheet pans and a medium cookie scoop instead of a large since I don’t have a large. I had thought I simply needed to reduce the baking time accordingly to account for the size difference, but still had an issue. I’m sure I must have done something wrong, but am not sure what. Any ideas?
Hi Alexis! What type of cookie sheet did you use, was it dark or light colored? You were correct in reducing the baking time with a smaller cookie scoop, but the surface you bake on has a profound impact as well on how quickly your cookies bake, brown, and spread out. We suggest avoiding dark-colored nonstick pans as they conduct heat far too aggressively and result in darker cookie bottoms. We recommend using unlined aluminum pans, like from Nordicware or Chicago Metallic. I hope that helps, and I really encourage you to try this recipe again! It (along with the Browned Butter Toffee Chocolate Chip Cookies) is one of my all-time favorites, and I’d love for you to enjoy them the way they’re meant to be 🙂
Hi! I used a light colored Wilton cookie sheet. I’m so confused because I’ve never had issues like this in the past. I’ve been wracking my brain and am wondering if maybe I needed a sturdier pan and perhaps a higher oven rack? I used the middle. Should it have been the upper middle instead? Also, I’m sorry if this is a stupid question but does parchment do anything for the baking process other than result in an easier cleanup? I’ll definitely try these again. They did have a good flavor. It’s just the consistency that was off in my first attempt. The brown butter toffee cookies were next on my list to try 🙂
I actually think it might be your cookie sheet! Have you had this issue in the past when baking cookies on that specific cookie sheet? Tessa experimented with different types of baking pans, including Wilton’s non-stick, in this article HERE, and I can see just from the photos that the bottoms are much more brown on that cookie sheet. It’s honestly a personal preference, but I’d suggest sticking with the Nordicware half sheets if you’re looking for a lighter coloring on the bottom.
Baking on the middle rack with cookies is normal. The pan that you bake on matters more than parchment because that’s actually what conducts the heat, and the material of the pan is what matters most. Parchment paper doesn’t conduct heat, and like you said, just makes for an easy clean up. How were the tops of the cookies? Were they golden brown or darker like the bottoms?
Absolutely the best chocolate chip cookie recipe EVER! And I have made ALOT! I made it exactly and chilled atleast 24hrs. The only thing I did was add mini chocolate chips and chocolate chunks! Perfection!
This recipe is ABSOLUTELY a keeper! I think I’ve made it 10 times so far, giving baked cookies or frozen dough balls to friends and family. They have been such a blessing.
I do have one question though – I’m trying to do more thoughtful, handmade stocking stuffers for family this year. I’ve always found the ‘cookie mix in a jar’ gifts to be cute and thrifty.
Do you think this recipe could be adapted to a mix like that? Leaving out the butter, eggs, and vanilla, of course. I imagine combining the wet ingredients with all the others (in the jar) should work hypothetically, with only potential downsides being less leavening (from not being able to cream just butter and sugars) or overmixing.
Hi Lindsay! What a fun idea! Cookies in a jar are SO cute, my mom makes them for everyone at Christmas 🙂 I honestly can’t say for sure how the cookies would turn out though if the dry ingredients including the sugars were mixed together. I would suggest experimenting in advance if you can, just to make sure the cookies turn out ok. Please let us know how it goes! Good luck!
Just made these, the only thing I did different was using dark brown sugar cause thats all I had lol. They turned out so yummy!! I scooped the dough balls and put them in the freezer on a platter while I preheated the oven. Good recipe!
Husband just said these are the only classic chocolate chip cookies to make from now on. They were the perfect consistency of taste and texture you want.
This is my 7th handle the heat recipe I have made and I can confidently say Tessa knows what she’s doing abs her recipes never fail!!!!
Finally found my go-to recipe for homemade chocolate chip cookies! However, when I doubled the recipe, the cookies came out with crispy/crunchy edges like they were stale & a bit dry, and the inside was chewy. I doubled everything, including the baking soda, and measure with a scale. Is there anything to be aware of when multiplying the recipe?
We haven’t experienced that issue when doubling the recipe, Jan! How strange! You are correct, every ingredient should be doubled. Was your baking soda or any other ingredient expired? These cookies do have golden brown edges with a chewy center, do you think perhaps they were baked a bit longer than your last batch? Were your baked cookies flat as well? I wonder if maybe your butter wasn’t at a cool room temperature. That can result in thinner cookies and more spread, which could result in crispy edges. I hope you give this recipe another try! Fingers crossed watching those little details carefully will make all the difference!
I have baking sheets with and without sides. I always thought the sides hindered the bake, but see that you prefer pans with sides. Now I’m unsure of which pan to bake cookies on! What is your opinion?
Hi Patricia! We prefer a rimmed baking sheet, like these unlined Nordicware sheet pans, but Chicago Metallic is great too. Aluminum sheet pans are used and loved in most culinary schools and professional kitchens. We’ve found that when baking cookies on a rimless baking sheet, they browned more quickly and finished baking much sooner than on a rimmed pan, they’re just not our preference. When baking on a rimless baking sheet, be sure to keep in mind that the timing of what you’re baking will have to be reduced. I hope that helps!
Okay … I’ve made these cookies twice, and have made several recipes from your website. The oatmeal chocolate chip peanut butter cookies have been my go to, and I love your ultimate chewy brownies recipe too.
But now I’ve got a serious problem. THESE COOKIES ARE SO GOOD. I’ve been baking cookies for a long, long time, and these are the cookies I’ve always tried to make. THEY ARE &*%$(#@ DELICIOUS. I use Whittaker’s dark ghana (72% cacao) chopped up into small chunks and … they are so outrageously good.
Wonderful! So happy you enjoyed this recipe 🙂 Just as a tip, you’re welcome to complete the “marinating” process, then freeze half the batch to bake at a later time! More details are included in the pink tip box above the recipe if you’re interested 🙂
Hi Tessa! Unfortunately these turned out very greasy and almost fell apart when I transferred them to the rack. I’m not sure where I went wrong – butter was only room temp not melted, weighed out all my ingredients and chilled the dough too. Only thing I can think of is perhaps my oven is not as accurate as I might have thought? Would really appreciate some help.
Hi Elin! How soft was your butter? When it’s at cool room temperature, you should be able to make an indent into the butter but not be able to push your finger all the way through. I wonder if perhaps your butter was slightly too soft? If you start out the recipe with too warm of butter, even with chilling the dough, the outcome will still be different. Did you notice your cookies spread more in the oven? Do you have an oven thermometer to ensure the temp is consistent? We definitely want you to enjoy these cookies as they’re meant to be!
Hi Eric! To double this recipe, just double the ingredients exactly. Be sure to check that your stand mixer will hold a double batch as you might have to do it in two batches, though a double batch in a standard mixer should work completely fine. Hope that helps!
As a trained chef and cookbook author, I share trusted baking recipes your friends & family will love alongside insights into the science of sweets. I help take the luck out of baking so you *always* have delicious results! Learn more here.
Over 200 pages with 50+ cookie recipes that'll make you a COOKIE PRO. Discover how to turn your biggest cookie flops into WINS by mastering the sweet science of baking. Even learn how to customize your own recipes! Beautiful, hardcopy, full color, photos of every recipe so you know EXACTLY how your cookies should look. Order now to have the book delivered to your doorstep!
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I loved them! They were perfect!
I wanted to love this recipe, but the bottoms of my cookies browned well before the middle cooked. They aren’t burned, just a bit crunchy on the bottom. The only things (I think) that I did differently were to use regular cookie sheets instead of half sheet pans and a medium cookie scoop instead of a large since I don’t have a large. I had thought I simply needed to reduce the baking time accordingly to account for the size difference, but still had an issue. I’m sure I must have done something wrong, but am not sure what. Any ideas?
Hi Alexis! What type of cookie sheet did you use, was it dark or light colored? You were correct in reducing the baking time with a smaller cookie scoop, but the surface you bake on has a profound impact as well on how quickly your cookies bake, brown, and spread out. We suggest avoiding dark-colored nonstick pans as they conduct heat far too aggressively and result in darker cookie bottoms. We recommend using unlined aluminum pans, like from Nordicware or Chicago Metallic. I hope that helps, and I really encourage you to try this recipe again! It (along with the Browned Butter Toffee Chocolate Chip Cookies) is one of my all-time favorites, and I’d love for you to enjoy them the way they’re meant to be 🙂
Hi! I used a light colored Wilton cookie sheet. I’m so confused because I’ve never had issues like this in the past. I’ve been wracking my brain and am wondering if maybe I needed a sturdier pan and perhaps a higher oven rack? I used the middle. Should it have been the upper middle instead? Also, I’m sorry if this is a stupid question but does parchment do anything for the baking process other than result in an easier cleanup? I’ll definitely try these again. They did have a good flavor. It’s just the consistency that was off in my first attempt. The brown butter toffee cookies were next on my list to try 🙂
I actually think it might be your cookie sheet! Have you had this issue in the past when baking cookies on that specific cookie sheet? Tessa experimented with different types of baking pans, including Wilton’s non-stick, in this article HERE, and I can see just from the photos that the bottoms are much more brown on that cookie sheet. It’s honestly a personal preference, but I’d suggest sticking with the Nordicware half sheets if you’re looking for a lighter coloring on the bottom.
Baking on the middle rack with cookies is normal. The pan that you bake on matters more than parchment because that’s actually what conducts the heat, and the material of the pan is what matters most. Parchment paper doesn’t conduct heat, and like you said, just makes for an easy clean up. How were the tops of the cookies? Were they golden brown or darker like the bottoms?
I just baked them and they were PURE perfection My friends loved and there kids couldn’t stop eating them ❤
Wonderful! So happy to hear your cookies were enjoyed by all! Thanks for sharing 🙂
Absolutely the best chocolate chip cookie recipe EVER! And I have made ALOT! I made it exactly and chilled atleast 24hrs. The only thing I did was add mini chocolate chips and chocolate chunks! Perfection!
Delicious!! Can’t go wrong with extra chocolate, yum!
This recipe is ABSOLUTELY a keeper! I think I’ve made it 10 times so far, giving baked cookies or frozen dough balls to friends and family. They have been such a blessing.
I do have one question though – I’m trying to do more thoughtful, handmade stocking stuffers for family this year. I’ve always found the ‘cookie mix in a jar’ gifts to be cute and thrifty.
Do you think this recipe could be adapted to a mix like that? Leaving out the butter, eggs, and vanilla, of course. I imagine combining the wet ingredients with all the others (in the jar) should work hypothetically, with only potential downsides being less leavening (from not being able to cream just butter and sugars) or overmixing.
Any thoughts? Thanks in advance!
Hi Lindsay! What a fun idea! Cookies in a jar are SO cute, my mom makes them for everyone at Christmas 🙂 I honestly can’t say for sure how the cookies would turn out though if the dry ingredients including the sugars were mixed together. I would suggest experimenting in advance if you can, just to make sure the cookies turn out ok. Please let us know how it goes! Good luck!
Just made these, the only thing I did different was using dark brown sugar cause thats all I had lol. They turned out so yummy!! I scooped the dough balls and put them in the freezer on a platter while I preheated the oven. Good recipe!
Glad you enjoyed them, Lisa!
WINNER! Throw away all you other recipes!
Happy to hear this!
Husband just said these are the only classic chocolate chip cookies to make from now on. They were the perfect consistency of taste and texture you want.
This is my 7th handle the heat recipe I have made and I can confidently say Tessa knows what she’s doing abs her recipes never fail!!!!
Haha yay! So glad these cookies were a hit!
Finally found my go-to recipe for homemade chocolate chip cookies! However, when I doubled the recipe, the cookies came out with crispy/crunchy edges like they were stale & a bit dry, and the inside was chewy. I doubled everything, including the baking soda, and measure with a scale. Is there anything to be aware of when multiplying the recipe?
We haven’t experienced that issue when doubling the recipe, Jan! How strange! You are correct, every ingredient should be doubled. Was your baking soda or any other ingredient expired? These cookies do have golden brown edges with a chewy center, do you think perhaps they were baked a bit longer than your last batch? Were your baked cookies flat as well? I wonder if maybe your butter wasn’t at a cool room temperature. That can result in thinner cookies and more spread, which could result in crispy edges. I hope you give this recipe another try! Fingers crossed watching those little details carefully will make all the difference!
I have baking sheets with and without sides. I always thought the sides hindered the bake, but see that you prefer pans with sides. Now I’m unsure of which pan to bake cookies on! What is your opinion?
Hi Patricia! We prefer a rimmed baking sheet, like these unlined Nordicware sheet pans, but Chicago Metallic is great too. Aluminum sheet pans are used and loved in most culinary schools and professional kitchens. We’ve found that when baking cookies on a rimless baking sheet, they browned more quickly and finished baking much sooner than on a rimmed pan, they’re just not our preference. When baking on a rimless baking sheet, be sure to keep in mind that the timing of what you’re baking will have to be reduced. I hope that helps!
Can I substitue all the sugars to coconut sugar? Thank you and more power!
We haven’t tried that!
Thank you for the recipe! Used it 5-6 times already with great success. This is my to go recipe, the cookies are delish and looking great.
Wonderful! So happy you love this recipe, thanks for the rave review! 🙂
These cookies were delicious. The texture was perfectly crisp and yet soft at the same time. This recipe is a keeper.
So happy to hear you love this recipe, Anne!
Okay … I’ve made these cookies twice, and have made several recipes from your website. The oatmeal chocolate chip peanut butter cookies have been my go to, and I love your ultimate chewy brownies recipe too.
But now I’ve got a serious problem. THESE COOKIES ARE SO GOOD. I’ve been baking cookies for a long, long time, and these are the cookies I’ve always tried to make. THEY ARE &*%$(#@ DELICIOUS. I use Whittaker’s dark ghana (72% cacao) chopped up into small chunks and … they are so outrageously good.
Thank you. Also, dammit.
haha! So happy you love this recipe, Brooke! I’ll be sure to pass along your rave review to Tessa, thanks so much for sharing!
I used half of the ingredients as I wouldn’t finish them all and they turned out great. Made a total of 12 cookies with half recipe
Wonderful! So happy you enjoyed this recipe 🙂 Just as a tip, you’re welcome to complete the “marinating” process, then freeze half the batch to bake at a later time! More details are included in the pink tip box above the recipe if you’re interested 🙂
Hey tessa, Thanks for sharing such a great & very easy recipe.
Hi Tessa! Unfortunately these turned out very greasy and almost fell apart when I transferred them to the rack. I’m not sure where I went wrong – butter was only room temp not melted, weighed out all my ingredients and chilled the dough too. Only thing I can think of is perhaps my oven is not as accurate as I might have thought? Would really appreciate some help.
Thank you!
Elin
Hi Elin! How soft was your butter? When it’s at cool room temperature, you should be able to make an indent into the butter but not be able to push your finger all the way through. I wonder if perhaps your butter was slightly too soft? If you start out the recipe with too warm of butter, even with chilling the dough, the outcome will still be different. Did you notice your cookies spread more in the oven? Do you have an oven thermometer to ensure the temp is consistent? We definitely want you to enjoy these cookies as they’re meant to be!
When you refrigerate the dough, do you need to take the dough out of the bowl and wrap it or can you just cover it in the mixing bowl?
Hi Jaime! You’re welcome to cover it in the mixing bowl, just make sure you won’t need it for anything else! 🙂
Excellent cookie.
How do you double the receipe?
Hi Eric! To double this recipe, just double the ingredients exactly. Be sure to check that your stand mixer will hold a double batch as you might have to do it in two batches, though a double batch in a standard mixer should work completely fine. Hope that helps!
Unbelievable! So perfect every time.
So glad to hear how much you love this recipe, George! Thanks for sharing 🙂
Truly a delicious and easy recipe! Thank you.