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 with chocolate chunks, and you can see what every step of this recipe 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 to the best soft cookies is to take the chocolate chip 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 once you allow them to cool completely.
Also, be sure to measure your flour correctly. Too much flour will lead to dry, dense, or crumbly chocolate chip 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?
When making cookies, 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 chocolate chip 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 chocolate chip cookie dough for 24 to 48 hours. This ‘marination’ process will transform your chocolate chip cookies by making them thicker, chewier, and more flavorful! Plus, this is a perfect way to make your delicious cookies ahead of time. Read more about the magic of chilling your cookie dough here.NOTE: chilling is OPTIONAL for this recipe but using chilled dough will enhance your cookies!
How to make chewy chocolate chip cookies:
One of the keys to CHEWY chocolate chip 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 chocolate chip 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 the taste of cookies straight from the oven the best. I always keep pre-scooped balls of chocolate chip cookie dough in a resealable 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, these 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 chocolate chip 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!)
About Tessa...
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!)
Kiersten @ Handle the Heat
— August 8, 2022 at 1:26 pm
Hi Lee! No, freezing and chilling actually do two different things to cookie dough! Once you put the dough in the freezer, the moisture in the dough will actually freeze, and you won’t be able to have the same benefits in the freezer as in the fridge; it’s like the dough is in suspended-animation and the flour/starch won’t be able to absorb moisture because the moisture is frozen. The chemical processes that happen while the dough is marinating can only happen in the fridge. Check out Tessa’s full deep dive article here! I hope that helps 🙂
Kiersten @ Handle the Heat
— August 8, 2022 at 1:04 pm
Hi Danielle! So glad to hear that you enjoyed these cookies! You can freeze the cookies after baking, but we prefer to freeze the dough, so you can just bake off fresh cookies anytime you like! Read more about that process in Tessa’s article here! Happy baking 🙂
Made these cookies for a friend’s gathering this weekend and they were a hit! Thanks so much for sharing. Also, love the tips on keeping cookies fresh – mine always seem to go stale quickly so I’ll be using those tips!
I’ve made these cookies at least a dozen times now and they come out perfect every time! The 24 hr chill makes such a difference- I always do 1 cup chocolate chips and 1 cup butterscotch chips and it’s heavenly!
Heres a followup. I altered a couple of things on my recipe to make as yours is. Less white sugar, more brown. No baking powder. I also made balls of the dough and then egg shaped those balls. The results were perfect. Large fat cookies that settle slightly and are moist and chewy. Already selling some. My small pastelaria thanks you.
Actually, its your recipe. Mine was almost exactly the same. I just adusted mine with your info. It was, primarily, sugar. More brown, less white. I also took the advice of longer fridge time. That was key. The dough was much more resilient after 48 hours. I could feel the difference from only a couple hours. The cookies are splendid. Im delivering a batch today. Thank you for sharing your cookie wisdom.
This might be my new favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe! I love that they aren’t overly sweet & don’t stale quickly! I recommend chilling the cookie dough balls in addition to or instead of chilling the whole bowl of dough for maximum thickness!
I am going to try this tomorrow. Ive been looking for a good working recipe for my small shop. Havent been able to nail it. The changes in this recipe are significant and very logical. I am an experienced baker. Breads, cakes, etc. Cookies seemed like a good addition. Wish me luck. I will post the results.
I’ve probably already left a review for these but I make them so often, I feel like a second review couldn’t possibly be the end of the world. I’m honestly more of a thin, crunchy chocolate chip cookie kinda gal. But many people in my life love them chewy and thick. These are incredible for that. The recipe is easy to follow! 10/10
Kiersten @ Handle the Heat
— July 21, 2022 at 1:33 pm
Hi Jay! That will be absolutely fine! You can use any mix of chocolate chips you wish and the recipe will still turn out the same, as long as your total weight of chocolate chips stays around the same as the recipe as written! Let us know what you think once you have tried them, and don’t forget to check out all of Tessa’s helpful tips and tricks in the pink tip box, above the recipe! Happy baking!
After searching for years for “The Best Chocolate Chip Cookie” I have finally found it. This cookie is perfection. I have made them for family, my sons baseball team, my students, and people at church. Everyone wants to know where I bought them. I always swirl them with a round glass cup as soon as they come out of the oven for that perfectly round, plump look. Thank you for this recipe. I have tossed all of the previous ones out.
Great cookie! It is important to use the sea salt- I have made batches with just regular kosher salt and they were good. BUT when you use the sea salt you get this tiny burst of salt that enhances the flavor with every bite- scrumptious!
I always Google new recipes and came across this one. This recipe is the best I’ve ever made! The only thing I did different was used real chocolate chips instead of semi. My husband took some to work to share with his Co workers. He got nothing but compliments his entire shift! According to them, I was a darn good baker! I’m saving this recipe for sure! Thanks for the recipe!
So I think there is a typo when stating how big the cookies should be on the sheet before you put them in. I did as described and mine were bigger than my head
Kiersten @ Handle the Heat
— July 11, 2022 at 9:39 am
Hi S! These are supposed to be pretty big, but you can always use a smaller cookie scoop and just shave a few minutes off the baking time, if you prefer! 🙂
I just made these using Spelt flour and they’re delicious. I put mine in the freezer for an hour before I baked mine. Great recipe. I will be making these again.
Kiersten @ Handle the Heat
— June 30, 2022 at 2:17 pm
Hi Cassandra! Tessa and the HTH team personally don’t use salted butter in recipes; however, the general rule of using salted butter in place of unsalted is to reduce ¼ teaspoon of the salt in the recipe per 115g of butter. In the U.S., there’s no federal mandate for how much salt a stick of salted butter contains, so one brand could be twice as salty as a different brand! You never really know. Using unsalted puts you in control of how much salt is in the recipe, and because salt works as a preservative, when you buy unsalted butter, it’s usually fresher. I hope that helps! 🙂
Hi! I have made and love these cookies–they are wonderful!! I am doing a baking camp and was hoping to make miniature cookie cakes using this cookie recipe. Do you think I could bake in individual tart pans for the students so they could each have their own personal miniature cookie cake? Would you think that any changes would really need to be made besides maybe scooping a little more dough for each pan? I read about the different baking pans to be used, but wasn’t sure how my idea would relate to those! Thanks for any help you can give!
Kiersten @ Handle the Heat
— June 30, 2022 at 2:13 pm
Hi Emily! I can’t say for sure, as we have not tested this ourselves, but I don’t see why it wouldn’t work! I just can’t tell you how long to bake for, but as long as you follow the sensory indicators Tessa mentions in the recipe (“bake until golden brown”), you should be fine 🙂 Let us know how it turns out!!
Great recipe! Instead of 2C chocolate chips, I used 1C white chocolate chips and 1C roasted, lightly salted macadamia nuts. Refrigerated dough for 24 hrs, used a large cookie scoop, baked for 14 min, and the cookies were perfect. Sweet but not too sweet, and slightly chewy. Perfect texture, in my book! Definitely a keeper.
Thank you so much for this recipe!!! I tried it and chilled the dough for 24 hours tastes great. But I can’t help but notice the top of my cookies are dome like and don’t have much texture like yours. Anything I could do differently? Thank you!!
Kiersten @ Handle the Heat
— June 27, 2022 at 8:46 am
Hi Nick! It’s difficult to know exactly what went wrong without having baked alongside you, but I do have a couple of thoughts as to what might have happened. How do you measure your flour? By weight using a digital scale, or by volume using cups? Weighing vs. measuring by volume can have a huge impact on your baked goods. It’s so easy to accidentally add too much flour if measuring by volume, and too much flour can have a huge impact on any baked goods, and this could definitely be why your cookies are domed and don’t have the desired consistency. Tessa talks about how best to measure ingredients in this article here! Another issue could be your leavening agents may not be fresh. If your baking powder or soda are not fresh, this can impact the cookie’s ability to rise and spread properly. Tessa talks about how to test for leavener freshness in this article here! Another thing could be how long you creamed your butter and sugars together for, and how warm your butter was at this time. Both have a huge impact on a cookie’s outcome. Have a look at this article, where Tessa discusses both and the repercussions on the resulting baked goods! Lastly, what type of pan are you baking on? Different materials of pans conduct heat differently, so some will cook the bottom quickly, and not leave the cookie appropriate time to spread out gently and evenly. Tessa discusses and shows the differences between a variety of baking pans in this article here! If you have any other thoughts, please feel free to reach back out to us here, or by emailing [email protected] I’m so glad you still enjoyed this recipe regardless! Thanks for reaching out to let us know!:)
I love these chocolate chip cookies! theyre absolutely delicious! My only question is the sides of my cookie are a little thinner then the middle of my cookie. Any idea why?
Kiersten @ Handle the Heat
— June 27, 2022 at 7:47 am
Hi Sara! It sounds like the cookies just spread a little in the oven. Especially if the dough is chilled well (or frozen), the outsides can spread a little more than the middles when baking. Tessa has a great hack for solving this issue! Using a round cookie or biscuit cutter that’s slightly larger than the size of your cookies, and swirl the cookie cutter in circles around the cookie edges a few times. Make sure you do this straight out of the oven (before they have a chance to set up). This makes the cookies perfectly round, and pulls those thinner edges back in a little! Here’s a link to a reel on our Instagram, where we shared this fun cookie hack a few months ago 🙂 I hope this helps, and if not, please feel free to reach out again and we can try to troubleshoot with you further! Happy baking 🙂
Hi kiersten 🙂 another quick question. Thank you for answering my previous one, not sure how to get back to that comment its not showing. but my other question was In one of your posts you mention how you should chill your cookie dough before you bake it. I actually want to freeze a good amount of cookie dough for the future. Should I first do 24 hour chill in fridge, then freezer up to 6 months? Or can I just go straight to the freezer? I am a bit confused about that part. I ordered your book so excited for it to be delivered 🙂
Kiersten @ Handle the Heat
— June 21, 2022 at 7:13 am
Hi Sara! So excited for you to receive the Ultimate Cookie Handbook – there’s sooo much incredible knowledge Tessa drops in there, as well as delicious recipes 🙂
To answer your question, you want to chill your dough for 24-72 hours, then scoop the dough out into balls, and then bake or freeze. Chilling all of the dough together allows the flavors to marinate more deeply, as well as allowing the flour to fully hydrate. Once you put the dough in the freezer, the moisture in the dough will actually freeze; it’s like the dough is in suspended-animation and the flour/starch won’t be able to absorb moisture because the moisture is frozen. Tessa goes into this in more detail about the science behind this, in this article here!
So, we recommend chilling in one big batch for 24-72 hours, and then allow the dough to sit at room temperature until it’s malleable enough to portion out (about an hour, depending on the temperature of your kitchen), and bake, or place in freezer bags or in an airtight container. I hope this helps!
Thank you soo much!! that clarifies things. Does tessa have a certain brands she recommends for the follow?
-baking soda
-unsalted butter
-granulated sugar, light brown sugar
Kiersten @ Handle the Heat
— June 23, 2022 at 9:02 am
Hi Sara! I’m so happy that helped!! 🙂 Tessa recommends Arm & Hammer baking soda, Challenge unsalted butter, and any standard brand of sugar or brown sugar. Can’t wait to hear what you think of these cookies! Happy baking 🙂
Kiersten @ Handle the Heat
— June 21, 2022 at 7:00 am
Hi Maria! We don’t have nutritional information for our recipes, but you should be able to find a nutritional calculator online to assist with this, if you wish! 🙂
Sorry, but I am not a fan of this recipe. They were a bit bland. They never flattened and they never browned. Followed recipe to a tee. Had several people taste them and it was a unanimous “thumbs down”.
Kiersten @ Handle the Heat
— June 20, 2022 at 12:23 pm
Hi there! That’s so strange and definitely not how this recipe typically bakes! I personally made these cookies a couple of weeks ago, and they spread perfectly in the oven after a 48-hour refrigerated rest, with beautiful browning and a delicious flavor! It’s so hard to know exactly what went wrong without having baked alongside you, but I do have a couple of thoughts as to what might have happened. How do you measure your flour? By weight using a digital scale, or by volume using cups? Weighing vs. measuring by volume can have a huge impact on your baked goods. It’s so easy to accidentally add too much flour if measuring by volume, and too much flour can have a huge impact on any baked goods, and this could definitely be why your cookies didn’t spread well. Tessa talks about how best to measure ingredients in this article here. Another issue could be your leavening agents may not be fresh. If your baking powder or soda are not fresh, this can impact the cookie’s ability to rise and spread properly. Tessa talks about how to test for leavener freshness in this article here! Lastly, what type of pan are you baking on? Different materials of pans conduct heat differently, so some will cook the bottom quickly, and not leave the cookie appropriate time to spread out gently and evenly. Tessa demonstrates this with lots of pictures in this article here! If you would like to troubleshoot any further, please feel free to reach back out to us here, or by emailing [email protected]
I hope you give these cookies another try sometime – they really are delicious, and even better after a day or two in the fridge, I promise! 🙂
Kiersten @ Handle the Heat
— June 20, 2022 at 9:59 am
Hi Sara! Yes, that’s pretty much our rule around here! Real vanilla is so expensive, especially the fancier brands, and you can’t tell much difference once it’s in baking anyway! We typically opt for something I can buy at the supermarket for cookies, cakes, etc, and then splurge a little more on fancier stuff for vanilla frostings or such things, where the pure vanilla flavor will be the real star! I hope that helps! Happy baking 🙂
such a fun and quick recipe I made with my son, but I think I made my ice cream scoops a bit too big. I left them in there for about 5 minutes longer but didn’t want them to burn. Any suggestions?
Kiersten @ Handle the Heat
— June 17, 2022 at 2:24 pm
Hi Tori! The brown sugar adds moisture and flavor to the cookies, and a little acid to activate the leavening agent, so we do recommend it! If you don’t have any brown sugar, you actually can add molasses to granulated white sugar to make DIY brown sugar! Tessa recommends adding 1 Tablespoon of molasses per cup of white sugar. Happy baking! 🙂
Although the cookies tasted pretty yummy, they didn’t flatten in the oven. I’m not sure what went wrong because we followed the recipe exactly as said. The only thing we didn’t do was place the dough in the fridge, but the directions said that putting them in right away would make them flatter, which didn’t happen. Is there anything I can do to fix this in the future?
Kiersten @ Handle the Heat
— June 16, 2022 at 7:26 am
Hi Kathy! That’s so strange and definitely not how this recipe typically bakes! It’s so hard to know exactly what went wrong without having baked alongside you. I personally made these cookies last weekend, and they spread perfectly in the oven after a 48-hour refrigerated rest. I do have a couple of thoughts as to what might have happened. How do you measure your flour? By weight using a digital scale, or by volume using cups? Weighing vs. measuring by volume can have a huge impact on your baked goods. It’s so easy to accidentally add too much flour if measuring by volume, and too much flour can have a huge impact on any baked goods, and this could definitely be why your cookies didn’t spread well. Tessa talks about how best to measure ingredients in this article here. Another issue could be your leavening agents may not be fresh. If your baking powder or soda are not fresh, this can impact the cookie’s ability to rise and spread properly. Tessa talks about how to test for leavener freshness in this article here! Lastly, what type of pan are you baking on? Different materials of pans conduct heat differently, so some will cook the bottom quickly, and not leave the cookie appropriate time to spread out gently and evenly. Tessa demonstrates this with lots of pictures in this article here! If you have any other thoughts, or would like to troubleshoot any further, please feel free to reach back out to us here, or by emailing [email protected] I hope you give these cookies another try sometime – they really are delicious, and even better after a day or two in the fridge, I promise! 🙂
These were absolutely prefect! My chocoholic family said they were their favorite cookies they’ve had yet! The cookies were thick and chewy, with crispy edges, just as promised! I will definitely be baking these again soon!!
Kiersten @ Handle the Heat
— June 10, 2022 at 8:18 am
Hi Kristin! You can absolutely make just half the recipe – but you can always make the full recipe, and freeze half the dough! Tessa talks about this, along with a ton of super helpful other tips and tricks, in the pink tip box above the recipe – or more in-depth in this article here! Happy baking 🙂
These are amazing. I live in Perth, Western Australia so your recipe is an international super star. How could I successfully make them gluten-free for my desperately allergic grandson? Would I add Xantham gum to GF all purpose flour?
Thank you for such a wonderful recipe. I’m going to take your advice and have frozen dough on hand at all times! Cheers, Jane
Kiersten @ Handle the Heat
— June 9, 2022 at 7:42 am
Hi Jane! I’m so happy to hear you love these cookies!! (and hi to Australia!) We don’t test for gluten free alternatives, unfortunately, so I can’t say for sure – but I know other bakers in our virtual community have had success with exactly what you described. It just might take some experimentation and tinkering to find what works for you! Good luck and happy baking!! 🙂
I loved this recipe! Super easy to make and turned out better than I expected. I added more chocolate chips than the recipe called for but it made them so much better. I highly recommend it.
I make these all the time. They are amazing. It’s my go to recipe. During the pandemic I thought for fun I make different chocolate chip cookie recipes. This one is a winner. Laura in the kitchen has an amazing one too. She adds vanilla pudding to the flour. Very good.
So many other cookie recipes don’t work as well because you can’t use a food scale to measure it exactly, so not only did this recipe make it easier to measure it perfectly, it also came out perfect. The perfect crisp outside to chewy inside texture and the delicious flavor, better than any bakery cookie I’ve ever had. 10 out of 10, this will be my go to recipe for chocolate chip cookies.
These were great! I used a massive cookie scoop and made two about the size of the palm of my hand. I definitely had to bake them for longer because of this, which isn’t surprising. They look like bakery cookies! The rest of the dough is in the refrigerator for later! I was surprised how well these turned out without refrigeration, and am excited to see how they’ll be after they rest.
These look amazing!! Could we use melted butter? I would of course still chill the dough overnight (I’ve learned the hard way that makes a difference).
Kiersten @ Handle the Heat
— May 16, 2022 at 10:21 am
Hi Dinar! We are looking for a cool room temperature butter for this recipe, around 67°F for best results. Tessa details why in the pink box above the recipe 🙂
These are the best Chocolate Chip cookies I’ve ever made. You are a baking genius. I do have one question. Is your basic cookie recipe good for making White Chocolate Macadamia nut cookies. And if so what amount of white chips and macadamia nuts should I add.
Thanks, Linda Butler
This is the best cookie recipe and the only one I make now. I freeze unbaked dough in balls and have freshly baked cookies right out of the freezer whenever I want!
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!
Do you want a more delicious life? Instead of digging through cookbooks and magazines and searching the internet for amazing recipes, subscribe to Handle the Heat to receive new recipe posts delivered straight to your email inbox. You’ll get all the latest recipes, videos, kitchen tips and tricks AND my *free* Cookie Customization Guide (because I am the Cookie Queen)!
just made this it tastes amazing thank you so much
Hi Ella! So excited to hear that you enjoyed these cookies so much! 🙂
This is honestly the best cookie recipe ever. Since finding the recipe a while ago, I have never found a better cookie. 5/5 ⭐️
That’s such an incredible compliment, Elysia! Thanks so much for the comment! 🙂
Could I freeze the dough instead of the fridge for 24 hours to speed up the process??
Hi Lee! No, freezing and chilling actually do two different things to cookie dough! Once you put the dough in the freezer, the moisture in the dough will actually freeze, and you won’t be able to have the same benefits in the freezer as in the fridge; it’s like the dough is in suspended-animation and the flour/starch won’t be able to absorb moisture because the moisture is frozen. The chemical processes that happen while the dough is marinating can only happen in the fridge. Check out Tessa’s full deep dive article here! I hope that helps 🙂
? Divide the dough into 3 Tblsp balls to bake? Recipe says it makes 24 cookies! Confusing
Hi there! Yes, that is correct! 3 Tablespoons is the size of each dough ball. The recipe makes about 24 cookies at this size. I hope that helps 🙂
I LOVE this recipe!! Are you able to freeze the cookies after they are baked?
Hi Danielle! So glad to hear that you enjoyed these cookies! You can freeze the cookies after baking, but we prefer to freeze the dough, so you can just bake off fresh cookies anytime you like! Read more about that process in Tessa’s article here! Happy baking 🙂
These are my go to cookies 100% of the time. I like to add an extra step and brown my butter. Pure heaven!
Delicious, Kelli!!! So excited these are a go-to recipe for you 🙂
Beautiful, the best cookies I have ever made. Thank you.
Yay!! So excited to hear that, Martha!! Thanks so much for letting us know 🙂
Can you freeze the dough?
Hi Alexa! You absolutely can! Read more of Tessa’s tips on how to do this here!
Made these cookies for a friend’s gathering this weekend and they were a hit! Thanks so much for sharing. Also, love the tips on keeping cookies fresh – mine always seem to go stale quickly so I’ll be using those tips!
Wonderful to hear that, Matt! So glad they were a hit!
I’ve made these cookies at least a dozen times now and they come out perfect every time! The 24 hr chill makes such a difference- I always do 1 cup chocolate chips and 1 cup butterscotch chips and it’s heavenly!
Sounds delicious, Rach! So glad you love these cookies!! 🙂
Heres a followup. I altered a couple of things on my recipe to make as yours is. Less white sugar, more brown. No baking powder. I also made balls of the dough and then egg shaped those balls. The results were perfect. Large fat cookies that settle slightly and are moist and chewy. Already selling some. My small pastelaria thanks you.
Hi Robert! So glad you these cookies (with your modifications) are working well for you!!
Actually, its your recipe. Mine was almost exactly the same. I just adusted mine with your info. It was, primarily, sugar. More brown, less white. I also took the advice of longer fridge time. That was key. The dough was much more resilient after 48 hours. I could feel the difference from only a couple hours. The cookies are splendid. Im delivering a batch today. Thank you for sharing your cookie wisdom.
So great to hear, Robert!! I’m glad you have a winner, and so happy to have helped in your quest to find a really great cookie!! 🙂
This might be my new favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe! I love that they aren’t overly sweet & don’t stale quickly! I recommend chilling the cookie dough balls in addition to or instead of chilling the whole bowl of dough for maximum thickness!
Hi Lynne! So happy to hear that you loved this recipe so much!! 🙂
I am going to try this tomorrow. Ive been looking for a good working recipe for my small shop. Havent been able to nail it. The changes in this recipe are significant and very logical. I am an experienced baker. Breads, cakes, etc. Cookies seemed like a good addition. Wish me luck. I will post the results.
Hi Rob! So excited for you to try these cookies! Please let us know what you think once you have tried them!! 🙂
I’ve probably already left a review for these but I make them so often, I feel like a second review couldn’t possibly be the end of the world. I’m honestly more of a thin, crunchy chocolate chip cookie kinda gal. But many people in my life love them chewy and thick. These are incredible for that. The recipe is easy to follow! 10/10
So glad to hear that this recipe is easy to follow and a crowd-pleaser, even if these cookies aren’t usually your thing! Have you tried Tessa’s Thin & Crispy Chocolate Chip cookie recipe?
They best chocolate chip cookies I’ve ever made and eaten. Awsome recipe
WOW, what a compliment!! So excited to hear that you loved these cookies so much, Bonnie!!
Hi I just wanted to know if I could use both semi sweet and dark chocolate chips in the recipe and will it affect the outcome of the cookies
Hi Jay! That will be absolutely fine! You can use any mix of chocolate chips you wish and the recipe will still turn out the same, as long as your total weight of chocolate chips stays around the same as the recipe as written! Let us know what you think once you have tried them, and don’t forget to check out all of Tessa’s helpful tips and tricks in the pink tip box, above the recipe! Happy baking!
After searching for years for “The Best Chocolate Chip Cookie” I have finally found it. This cookie is perfection. I have made them for family, my sons baseball team, my students, and people at church. Everyone wants to know where I bought them. I always swirl them with a round glass cup as soon as they come out of the oven for that perfectly round, plump look. Thank you for this recipe. I have tossed all of the previous ones out.
Woohoo!! So thrilled to hear you love this cookie recipe so much, Amy!! Thanks so much for letting us know 🙂
Can the dough be saved in the freezer for future baking?
Hi James! Yes, absolutely! Tessa has a whole article about freezing cookie dough – check it out here! I hope that helps! 🙂
Perfectly tasting, great recipe
Yay! So happy to hear you enjoyed these cookies, Lucas!!
Great cookie! It is important to use the sea salt- I have made batches with just regular kosher salt and they were good. BUT when you use the sea salt you get this tiny burst of salt that enhances the flavor with every bite- scrumptious!
Great tip, Patty! So happy you enjoy these cookies so much 🙂
I always Google new recipes and came across this one. This recipe is the best I’ve ever made! The only thing I did different was used real chocolate chips instead of semi. My husband took some to work to share with his Co workers. He got nothing but compliments his entire shift! According to them, I was a darn good baker! I’m saving this recipe for sure! Thanks for the recipe!
Hi Bonnie! Yay! I’m so happy to hear that you loved these cookies – and even better that your husband’s coworkers enjoyed them, too! Happy baking! 🙂
Just made these with sunflower spread as I didn’t have any butter……they were fab, this recipe is definitely a keeper!
So happy that worked for you, Honor! Happy baking!
So I think there is a typo when stating how big the cookies should be on the sheet before you put them in. I did as described and mine were bigger than my head
Hi S! These are supposed to be pretty big, but you can always use a smaller cookie scoop and just shave a few minutes off the baking time, if you prefer! 🙂
I just made these using Spelt flour and they’re delicious. I put mine in the freezer for an hour before I baked mine. Great recipe. I will be making these again.
So happy to hear that you enjoyed these cookies, Kristi!
Hello! I would like to make these cookies, but I don’t have any unsalted butter, can I use salted butter and alter the salt amount?
Hi Cassandra! Tessa and the HTH team personally don’t use salted butter in recipes; however, the general rule of using salted butter in place of unsalted is to reduce ¼ teaspoon of the salt in the recipe per 115g of butter. In the U.S., there’s no federal mandate for how much salt a stick of salted butter contains, so one brand could be twice as salty as a different brand! You never really know. Using unsalted puts you in control of how much salt is in the recipe, and because salt works as a preservative, when you buy unsalted butter, it’s usually fresher. I hope that helps! 🙂
Hi! I have made and love these cookies–they are wonderful!! I am doing a baking camp and was hoping to make miniature cookie cakes using this cookie recipe. Do you think I could bake in individual tart pans for the students so they could each have their own personal miniature cookie cake? Would you think that any changes would really need to be made besides maybe scooping a little more dough for each pan? I read about the different baking pans to be used, but wasn’t sure how my idea would relate to those! Thanks for any help you can give!
Hi Emily! I can’t say for sure, as we have not tested this ourselves, but I don’t see why it wouldn’t work! I just can’t tell you how long to bake for, but as long as you follow the sensory indicators Tessa mentions in the recipe (“bake until golden brown”), you should be fine 🙂 Let us know how it turns out!!
Great recipe! Instead of 2C chocolate chips, I used 1C white chocolate chips and 1C roasted, lightly salted macadamia nuts. Refrigerated dough for 24 hrs, used a large cookie scoop, baked for 14 min, and the cookies were perfect. Sweet but not too sweet, and slightly chewy. Perfect texture, in my book! Definitely a keeper.
Sounds delicious, Gwen!! So glad you enjoyed your cookies 🙂
Thank you so much for this recipe!!! I tried it and chilled the dough for 24 hours tastes great. But I can’t help but notice the top of my cookies are dome like and don’t have much texture like yours. Anything I could do differently? Thank you!!
Hi Nick! It’s difficult to know exactly what went wrong without having baked alongside you, but I do have a couple of thoughts as to what might have happened. How do you measure your flour? By weight using a digital scale, or by volume using cups? Weighing vs. measuring by volume can have a huge impact on your baked goods. It’s so easy to accidentally add too much flour if measuring by volume, and too much flour can have a huge impact on any baked goods, and this could definitely be why your cookies are domed and don’t have the desired consistency. Tessa talks about how best to measure ingredients in this article here! Another issue could be your leavening agents may not be fresh. If your baking powder or soda are not fresh, this can impact the cookie’s ability to rise and spread properly. Tessa talks about how to test for leavener freshness in this article here! Another thing could be how long you creamed your butter and sugars together for, and how warm your butter was at this time. Both have a huge impact on a cookie’s outcome. Have a look at this article, where Tessa discusses both and the repercussions on the resulting baked goods! Lastly, what type of pan are you baking on? Different materials of pans conduct heat differently, so some will cook the bottom quickly, and not leave the cookie appropriate time to spread out gently and evenly. Tessa discusses and shows the differences between a variety of baking pans in this article here! If you have any other thoughts, please feel free to reach back out to us here, or by emailing [email protected] I’m so glad you still enjoyed this recipe regardless! Thanks for reaching out to let us know!:)
I love these chocolate chip cookies! theyre absolutely delicious! My only question is the sides of my cookie are a little thinner then the middle of my cookie. Any idea why?
Thank you!
Hi Sara! It sounds like the cookies just spread a little in the oven. Especially if the dough is chilled well (or frozen), the outsides can spread a little more than the middles when baking. Tessa has a great hack for solving this issue! Using a round cookie or biscuit cutter that’s slightly larger than the size of your cookies, and swirl the cookie cutter in circles around the cookie edges a few times. Make sure you do this straight out of the oven (before they have a chance to set up). This makes the cookies perfectly round, and pulls those thinner edges back in a little! Here’s a link to a reel on our Instagram, where we shared this fun cookie hack a few months ago 🙂 I hope this helps, and if not, please feel free to reach out again and we can try to troubleshoot with you further! Happy baking 🙂
The best chocolate chip cookie recipe I have ever tried hands down
Wow, what a compliment! So happy you love these cookies, Monica!! 🙂
Hi kiersten 🙂 another quick question. Thank you for answering my previous one, not sure how to get back to that comment its not showing. but my other question was In one of your posts you mention how you should chill your cookie dough before you bake it. I actually want to freeze a good amount of cookie dough for the future. Should I first do 24 hour chill in fridge, then freezer up to 6 months? Or can I just go straight to the freezer? I am a bit confused about that part. I ordered your book so excited for it to be delivered 🙂
Hi Sara! So excited for you to receive the Ultimate Cookie Handbook – there’s sooo much incredible knowledge Tessa drops in there, as well as delicious recipes 🙂
To answer your question, you want to chill your dough for 24-72 hours, then scoop the dough out into balls, and then bake or freeze. Chilling all of the dough together allows the flavors to marinate more deeply, as well as allowing the flour to fully hydrate. Once you put the dough in the freezer, the moisture in the dough will actually freeze; it’s like the dough is in suspended-animation and the flour/starch won’t be able to absorb moisture because the moisture is frozen. Tessa goes into this in more detail about the science behind this, in this article here!
So, we recommend chilling in one big batch for 24-72 hours, and then allow the dough to sit at room temperature until it’s malleable enough to portion out (about an hour, depending on the temperature of your kitchen), and bake, or place in freezer bags or in an airtight container. I hope this helps!
Thank you soo much!! that clarifies things. Does tessa have a certain brands she recommends for the follow?
-baking soda
-unsalted butter
-granulated sugar, light brown sugar
Hi Sara! I’m so happy that helped!! 🙂 Tessa recommends Arm & Hammer baking soda, Challenge unsalted butter, and any standard brand of sugar or brown sugar. Can’t wait to hear what you think of these cookies! Happy baking 🙂
one last question so sorry!! thank you so much for your patience. whats the best way to store baking soda after opening the box?
Hi Sara! No problem at all! Store open boxes of baking soda in a sealed Ziploc bag, or in an airtight container. Make sure you replace it regularly, too! Check out Tessa’s article about how to test for leavening agent freshness, in this article here! I hope that helps 🙂
I need the nutrition facts. Would it be possible to share those? Thank you!
Hi Maria! We don’t have nutritional information for our recipes, but you should be able to find a nutritional calculator online to assist with this, if you wish! 🙂
Sorry, but I am not a fan of this recipe. They were a bit bland. They never flattened and they never browned. Followed recipe to a tee. Had several people taste them and it was a unanimous “thumbs down”.
Hi there! That’s so strange and definitely not how this recipe typically bakes! I personally made these cookies a couple of weeks ago, and they spread perfectly in the oven after a 48-hour refrigerated rest, with beautiful browning and a delicious flavor! It’s so hard to know exactly what went wrong without having baked alongside you, but I do have a couple of thoughts as to what might have happened. How do you measure your flour? By weight using a digital scale, or by volume using cups? Weighing vs. measuring by volume can have a huge impact on your baked goods. It’s so easy to accidentally add too much flour if measuring by volume, and too much flour can have a huge impact on any baked goods, and this could definitely be why your cookies didn’t spread well. Tessa talks about how best to measure ingredients in this article here. Another issue could be your leavening agents may not be fresh. If your baking powder or soda are not fresh, this can impact the cookie’s ability to rise and spread properly. Tessa talks about how to test for leavener freshness in this article here! Lastly, what type of pan are you baking on? Different materials of pans conduct heat differently, so some will cook the bottom quickly, and not leave the cookie appropriate time to spread out gently and evenly. Tessa demonstrates this with lots of pictures in this article here! If you would like to troubleshoot any further, please feel free to reach back out to us here, or by emailing [email protected]
I hope you give these cookies another try sometime – they really are delicious, and even better after a day or two in the fridge, I promise! 🙂
hi! I was wondering, what vanilla extract brand do you recommend? Would you say anything is ok as long as its not imitation?
Hi Sara! Yes, that’s pretty much our rule around here! Real vanilla is so expensive, especially the fancier brands, and you can’t tell much difference once it’s in baking anyway! We typically opt for something I can buy at the supermarket for cookies, cakes, etc, and then splurge a little more on fancier stuff for vanilla frostings or such things, where the pure vanilla flavor will be the real star! I hope that helps! Happy baking 🙂
such a fun and quick recipe I made with my son, but I think I made my ice cream scoops a bit too big. I left them in there for about 5 minutes longer but didn’t want them to burn. Any suggestions?
Hi Brandi! Tessa uses this large Oxo cookie scoop – available on Amazon! Hope that helps 🙂
Hey! Do I have to use brown sugar or can I use only granulated sugar? Thanks!
Hi Tori! The brown sugar adds moisture and flavor to the cookies, and a little acid to activate the leavening agent, so we do recommend it! If you don’t have any brown sugar, you actually can add molasses to granulated white sugar to make DIY brown sugar! Tessa recommends adding 1 Tablespoon of molasses per cup of white sugar. Happy baking! 🙂
Although the cookies tasted pretty yummy, they didn’t flatten in the oven. I’m not sure what went wrong because we followed the recipe exactly as said. The only thing we didn’t do was place the dough in the fridge, but the directions said that putting them in right away would make them flatter, which didn’t happen. Is there anything I can do to fix this in the future?
Hi Kathy! That’s so strange and definitely not how this recipe typically bakes! It’s so hard to know exactly what went wrong without having baked alongside you. I personally made these cookies last weekend, and they spread perfectly in the oven after a 48-hour refrigerated rest. I do have a couple of thoughts as to what might have happened. How do you measure your flour? By weight using a digital scale, or by volume using cups? Weighing vs. measuring by volume can have a huge impact on your baked goods. It’s so easy to accidentally add too much flour if measuring by volume, and too much flour can have a huge impact on any baked goods, and this could definitely be why your cookies didn’t spread well. Tessa talks about how best to measure ingredients in this article here. Another issue could be your leavening agents may not be fresh. If your baking powder or soda are not fresh, this can impact the cookie’s ability to rise and spread properly. Tessa talks about how to test for leavener freshness in this article here! Lastly, what type of pan are you baking on? Different materials of pans conduct heat differently, so some will cook the bottom quickly, and not leave the cookie appropriate time to spread out gently and evenly. Tessa demonstrates this with lots of pictures in this article here! If you have any other thoughts, or would like to troubleshoot any further, please feel free to reach back out to us here, or by emailing [email protected] I hope you give these cookies another try sometime – they really are delicious, and even better after a day or two in the fridge, I promise! 🙂
Egg substitute for cookies and donuts?
Hi Nidhi! Sorry, we don’t test with egg substitutes! Feel free to experiment, though – I know others have had some luck in the past! Good luck 🙂
These were absolutely prefect! My chocoholic family said they were their favorite cookies they’ve had yet! The cookies were thick and chewy, with crispy edges, just as promised! I will definitely be baking these again soon!!
Thrilled to hear your whole family loves these cookies, Victoria!! 🙂
Hi! Thank you so much for sharing your recipe I love it. Can I half this recipe if I only wanted to make 12?
Hi Kristin! You can absolutely make just half the recipe – but you can always make the full recipe, and freeze half the dough! Tessa talks about this, along with a ton of super helpful other tips and tricks, in the pink tip box above the recipe – or more in-depth in this article here! Happy baking 🙂
These are amazing. I live in Perth, Western Australia so your recipe is an international super star. How could I successfully make them gluten-free for my desperately allergic grandson? Would I add Xantham gum to GF all purpose flour?
Thank you for such a wonderful recipe. I’m going to take your advice and have frozen dough on hand at all times! Cheers, Jane
Hi Jane! I’m so happy to hear you love these cookies!! (and hi to Australia!) We don’t test for gluten free alternatives, unfortunately, so I can’t say for sure – but I know other bakers in our virtual community have had success with exactly what you described. It just might take some experimentation and tinkering to find what works for you! Good luck and happy baking!! 🙂
I loved this recipe! Super easy to make and turned out better than I expected. I added more chocolate chips than the recipe called for but it made them so much better. I highly recommend it.
I make these all the time. They are amazing. It’s my go to recipe. During the pandemic I thought for fun I make different chocolate chip cookie recipes. This one is a winner. Laura in the kitchen has an amazing one too. She adds vanilla pudding to the flour. Very good.
This is the only cookie recipe I will ever use from now on!
Wow, what a compliment, Ashly!! So excited you love these cookies! 🙂
Great cookie easy to follow recipe.
So many other cookie recipes don’t work as well because you can’t use a food scale to measure it exactly, so not only did this recipe make it easier to measure it perfectly, it also came out perfect. The perfect crisp outside to chewy inside texture and the delicious flavor, better than any bakery cookie I’ve ever had. 10 out of 10, this will be my go to recipe for chocolate chip cookies.
These were great! I used a massive cookie scoop and made two about the size of the palm of my hand. I definitely had to bake them for longer because of this, which isn’t surprising. They look like bakery cookies! The rest of the dough is in the refrigerator for later! I was surprised how well these turned out without refrigeration, and am excited to see how they’ll be after they rest.
These look amazing!! Could we use melted butter? I would of course still chill the dough overnight (I’ve learned the hard way that makes a difference).
Hi Dinar! We are looking for a cool room temperature butter for this recipe, around 67°F for best results. Tessa details why in the pink box above the recipe 🙂
These are the best Chocolate Chip cookies I’ve ever made. You are a baking genius. I do have one question. Is your basic cookie recipe good for making White Chocolate Macadamia nut cookies. And if so what amount of white chips and macadamia nuts should I add.
Thanks, Linda Butler
Hi Linda! Feel free to swap the chocolate chips for 1 cup nuts + 1 cup white chips! So happy you love this recipe!
This is the best cookie recipe and the only one I make now. I freeze unbaked dough in balls and have freshly baked cookies right out of the freezer whenever I want!
This is so wonderful to hear!
Can this recipe be doubled?
Absolutely!