Best Bakery Style Chocolate Chip Cookies Recipe | Handle the Heat
Filed Under: Chocolate | Cookies | Dessert | Videos

Bakery Style Chocolate Chip Cookies

By Tessa Arias
  |  
December 16th, 2021
4.93 from 834 votes
4.93 from 834 votes

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: 15 minutes

Cook: 15 minutes

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 and can teach us SO much about the science of baking.

The Ultimate Guide to Chocolate Chip Cookies is still one of my most popular posts, visited by over two million people.

Overhead shot of easy chocolate chip cookie recipe

That post inspired the creation of my second cookbook, The Ultimate Cookie Handbook. And since THOUSANDS of you have purchased that cookbook, I think it’s clear that we’re all obsessed with cookies here.

That’s why I’m SO thrilled to share this Bakery Style Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe 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 golden brown cookies, 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!

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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!

Bakery Style Chocolate Chip Cookies ingredients and cookie dough

Best ooey gooey bakery style chocolate chip cookies stacked

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, measure your flour correctly to improve your baking forever. Too much flour will lead to dry, dense, or crumbly chocolate chip cookies that barely spread.

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!

comparison of chocolate chip cookies baked immediately vs chilled

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:

  1. Use a kitchen scale to measure your ingredients for the BEST most consistent results.
  2. Make the recipe exactly as written, without substitutions, at least the first time you bake it.

Use the correct baking pan and a spring-loaded cookie scoop for bakery-quality cookies at home. More on that below!

Why use a cookie scoop?

Using a stainless steel spring-loaded cookie scoop when portioning out cookie dough is one of the KEYS to beautiful, uniform, evenly-shaped and evenly-baked cookies. My cookie scoop is one of my most frequently used kitchen gadgets. A spring-loaded scoop saves you *so much time* in forming the balls of dough. When using a scoop, you ensure each ball is evenly sized so the cookies bake evenly, meaning you don’t have any small overbaked cookies or large underbaked cookies. Learn more about Cookie Scoops and how to use them here!

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!

comparison of chocolate chip cookies made with baking powder vs baking soda

Find out more in my Baking Soda vs. Baking Powder article here.

Which baking pan is best for cookies?

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!

Check out my Best (and WORST) Baking Pans article here for more details on the science of baking pans.

Side-by-side testing to find the best baking pans! Including nonstick vs. aluminum, and which pans specifically you should NEVER use!

How to Keep Chocolate Chip Cookies Fresh

The best cookies are the freshest, there’s no magical way around that. However, here are 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, see below for 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 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!

Bite taken out of thick bakery style chocolate chip cookies

Tessa’s Favorite Tools for This Recipe

More Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipes

See ALL of my types of cookie recipes & cookie baking tips here!

4.93 from 834 votes

How to make
Bakery Style Chocolate Chip Cookies

Yield: 26 cookies
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 30 minutes
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

  • 3 cups (380 grams) all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
  • 2 sticks (227 grams) unsalted butter, at cool room temperature (67°F)
  • 1/2 cup (100 grams) granulated sugar
  • 1 1/4 cups (247 grams) lightly packed light brown sugar
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla
  • 2 large eggs, at room temperature
  • 2 cups (340 grams) semisweet chocolate chips

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 350ºF. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
  2. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, and salt.

  3. 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.

  4. 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.

  5. Divide the dough into 3-tablespoon sized balls using a large cookie scoop and drop onto prepared baking sheets.
  6. Bake for 11-13 minutes, or until golden brown. Cool for 5 minutes before removing to wire racks to cool completely.

  7. 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

Photos by Jess Larson.

BAKERY STYLE CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES MADE BY OUR COMMUNITY

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photos of reader's bakery style chocolate chip cookies

Tessa Arias
Author: Tessa Arias

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!)

Tessa Arias

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!)

Find Tessa on  

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Recipe Rating




  1. #
    edrea — September 25, 2023 at 9:16 am

    Hello! Can I use baking powder instead of baking soda?

  2. #
    Sevda — September 25, 2023 at 4:09 am

    Bonjour,

    J’ai testé cette recette qui était délicieuse.
    Mais mes cookies étaient plats, il faut savoir que j’avais divisé la quantité par 2.
    Aurais-je dû battre le beurre et le sucre seulement 1 minute au lieu de 2 puisque ce n’était pas la même quantité?
    Ou bien aurais-je dû laisser reposer au réfrégirateur avant de les cuire?

    • #
      Kiersten @ Handle the Heat — September 25, 2023 at 9:56 am

      Hi Sevda! Even if you divide the dough in half, your butter and sugar still need long enough to cream together, so 1 minute would definitely not have been long enough. Learn more about How to Cream Butter & Sugar, and how it can impact your baking, here. If your cookies were flat, that could be due to a few other things. Was your butter at a cool room temperature? 67°F or 19°C is perfect for creaming – any warmer than that, and this can cause your cookies to be flat. Chilling your dough will also help your cookies be thicker. Also, is your baking soda fresh? If your leavening agents are not fresh, they cannot do their jobs and your cookies can be flat – learn more about that here. Finally, check out Tessa’s post on How to Make Thick Cookies here for more assistance. I hope this helps! Happy baking 🙂

  3. #
    Nikki Smith — September 20, 2023 at 9:43 am

    I made these and substituted one cup of butterscotch morsels and one semi sweet chocolate chips. Delicious Thank you for sharing!

  4. #
    LILI — September 20, 2023 at 8:06 am

    they are sooo good i went around the neibour hood and sold them for £1!

  5. #
    Christina — September 9, 2023 at 4:01 am

    Great cookies and very popular with my family 🙂 Love that you have a supplement with weight indications in grams (I’m from Denmark).

  6. #
    Lynnea — September 7, 2023 at 6:37 pm

    Delicious! I made half a recipe last night and there is one left. I thought, start with half this try it… I’ll make again tomorrow. I added some coconut, oats, and nutmeg at the last minute for fun. My family loved them, and not just because they like cookies. Thank you for the great tips on getting the batter just right.

  7. #
    Leslie Edwards — September 6, 2023 at 5:05 pm

    I just made these for my kid’s high school class. I tripled the recipe and there were plenty to feed even the footballers in the crowd. As awesome as they were, I wish I had a bit more time for them in the fridge. Some still got a bit flat. But next time…watch out. By far my new favorite recipe!

  8. #
    Krystal Uribe — September 6, 2023 at 1:03 pm

    Best chocolate chip cookies our family has had! They beg me to make these!

  9. #
    Linda M Shaw — September 2, 2023 at 7:57 pm

    I made a double batch of these chocolate chip cookies. I took them to a church function. they were a hit. that was absolutely none left. my family love them also. can’t wait to try more of your amazing cookies. thanks for sharing

  10. #
    Sylvia — August 29, 2023 at 2:17 pm

    Hands down the BEST cookie recipe and blog post EVER!!

  11. #
    Sherry — August 28, 2023 at 6:00 pm

    fantastic cookie recipe
    will be making then again

    Wondering if you can freeze cookies after baking

    • #
      Kiersten @ Handle the Heat — August 29, 2023 at 5:22 am

      So glad to hear that you love these cookies, Sherry! There are directions in the pink tip box (above the recipe) for freezing the cookie dough and baking from frozen, but we haven’t tried freezing the cookies after they’ve been baked. It should work fine, but ensure you wrap them well in plastic wrap and freeze inside an airtight container or a ziptop bag, to prevent them from drying out and/or protect them from freezer burn. Thanks again for your comment and Happy Baking! 🙂

  12. #
    Sherry — August 26, 2023 at 10:59 am

    This is thee best and easiest chocolate chip cookie recipe I’ve ever baked. Thank you so much! Happy baking

    P.S…my kitchen smells amazing!

  13. #
    Rachel Morgan — August 24, 2023 at 7:56 pm

    Cookies was amazing. I changed it a bit. I used baking powder instead of banking soda. 2 teaspoons. And added more chocolate chips. Thank you for sharing. Amazing!!

  14. #
    Rachel — August 24, 2023 at 7:10 pm

    I make this recipe at least every other week with different mix ins and it is a staple recipe I make for the people I care about Thanks for sharing!

    • #
      Emily — August 25, 2023 at 6:28 am

      That’s amazing to hear, so happy this is your go-to recipe!

  15. #
    Linda M Shaw — August 23, 2023 at 4:12 am

    I took these cookies to my church function and for my family. they all love them. thank you for sharing such a wonderful cookie recipe.

    • #
      Kiersten @ Handle the Heat — August 23, 2023 at 6:54 am

      Yay! So happy to hear these cookies are such a hit with your friends and family, Linda! 🙂

  16. #
    JanConte — August 21, 2023 at 11:11 am

    i just baked these delictible chocolate chip cookies.. they came out wonderful. I added 1/2 cup of chopped pecans, although they did not need them. Wonderful aroma in my kitchen.

  17. #
    White_as_bread^^ — August 20, 2023 at 9:24 pm

    They turned out really good! I made them for my family and friends and they loved them!

  18. #
    Leslie — August 20, 2023 at 4:11 pm

    Perfect recipe! I halved the chocolate chips and added 1 cup butterscotch. Dang! We gobbled them up!!!

  19. #
    Tasha — August 20, 2023 at 3:27 pm

    Can you freeze the dough and bake them later? How long can they last in the freezer? Thanks:)

    • #
      Kiersten @ Handle the Heat — August 21, 2023 at 8:10 am

      Hi Tasha! You sure can – learn all about how to freeze cookie dough here! AS long as they’re stored in an airtight container or freezer bag, safe from freezer burn, cookie dough can be stored in the freezer for at least a month, often longer!

  20. #
    Tasha — August 20, 2023 at 3:24 pm

    These turned out great and was so easy to make!!! Will be using this recipe from now on, thank you!!

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