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: Super easy 30-minute recipe.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe: Easy, delightful chocolate chip cookie recipe. I’ve made this recipe probably 100 times always have the dough in my freezer for when the craving strikes.
This post may contain affiliate links. Read our disclosure policy.
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 three million people!
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.
Free Cookie Customization Guide!
The science-based guide so you can bake perfect cookies every time!
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!
I love this time-lapse video 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!
Sprinkle of Science
How to Make The Best Bakery Style Chocolate Chip Cookies
How to Make Soft Chocolate Chip Cookies
The key to the best soft, Bakery Style Chocolate Chip 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!
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 Bakery Style 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.
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 beautifully uniform, evenly-shaped, 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, and 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.
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!
Tessa’s Favorite Tools for This Recipe:
- Large 3-tablespoon size cookie scoop for that bakery-style texture
- Or use a medium 1.5-tablespoon size cookie scoop and bake only for about 10-12 minutes instead
- Nordic Ware Natural Aluminum Baker’s Half Sheet won our side-by-side comparison of the best baking pans
- 12″x16″ non-stick parchment paper for the best bake and easiest cleanup!
- The Ultimate Cookie Handbook: Your Guide to Baking Perfect Cookies Every Time by Tessa Arias
More Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipes:
- Ultimate Chocolate Chip Cookies (these are CHEWIER than this recipe)
- Coconut Oil Chocolate Chip Cookies (dairy-free)
- Browned Butter Toffee Chocolate Chip Cookies (ultra flavorful!)
- Marbled Chocolate Chip Cookies (classic and double chocolate chip cookie dough in one cookie!)
- Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies (for serious PB lovers only!)
See ALL of my types of cookie recipes & cookie baking tips here!
Bakery Style Chocolate Chip Cookies
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
Instructions
- 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. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the mixing bowl. Add the vanilla and eggs and beat until combined, scraping the bowl down as needed. 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 Notes
Photos by Jess Larson.
A little pressed on time so I did just place dough in the freezer about 15 minutes as well as putting it back as the first batch cooked. Used a medium cookie scoop, and also added a half tsp baking powder. They cooked a little longer to get golden approximately 15 minutes and set to cool.
Turned out amazing! Soft yet Crispy outside, with perfect gooey and cooked through center.
Also added the extra few chips once off the cookie sheet, it really does make them look professionally baked. 😉
Making a second batch now, with half chocolate chips and half butterscotch.
Thank you!!
Love these cookies! Made them for culinary class and the came out perfect! Very soft and fluffy with a slightly crunchy exterior. Would recommend!
Very delicious cookies. We loved it! Would like to know if the cookies can still be eaten 1 week after I baked them? I will ship the cookies to my friends and possible it can be deliver after a week. Again, thank you so much for sharing this recipe 😊
Hi Emcee! So glad to hear that you enjoy these cookies! They look amazing 🙂 As Tessa mentions in the recipe, these cookies are best enjoyed within 3 days. It’s possible that they’ll keep longer than that, but we can’t guarantee they’ll still be good after a full week. If possible, we recommend overnight shipping when shipping cookies, so your lucky recipient can enjoy the cookies at their best. I hope that helps! Happy baking 🙂
Can i use brown butter in this recipe? can i do 1C Toffee and 1C milk chocolate chips? I wanted to use the brown butter toffee recipe but i dont want to have to chill for 24h, maybe 12h max.
Hi Lareessa! Please note that any browned butter recipe should be refrigerated for at least 24 hours, though, to allow for the butter to re-solidify and to allow the flour to fully hydrate, so you can enjoy thick, tasty cookies, instead of sad cookie puddles! While you’re welcome to experiment with using browned butter in this recipe, it isn’t super simple to swap out the butter here for browned butter. American butter is about 80% butterfat and 20% water (on average, depending on the brand of butter), so when you brown butter, you lose that extra moisture/water as it evaporates through the browning process. It takes some experimentation to alter a regular non-browned-butter recipe to work with browned butter for that reason. You can simply try adding a little water back into the recipe, or start with more butter than the recipe requests, in order to compensate for the moisture you’ll lose as it browns. Also, you’ll need to experiment with the method, as melted browned butter cannot cream, so the process also takes some experimentation. As for your mix-ins, feel free to experiment with any mix-ins you like; just keep the total weight/volume about the same as the recipe states, for best results. I hope that helps! Happy baking 🙂
We love these cookies! I always use less sugar than recipes call for and they still turn out great. The last two batches I’ve added maple extract and walnuts/pecans. So good! It takes quite a bit of extract to taste it. I used 2 TBSP for the recipe.
I’ve made these cookies several times and I like them, but I feel like I must be doing something wrong because they taste like they need more sugar. Mine taste a little like yummy chocolate chip scones. Maybe I need to pack the brown sugar more? Any thoughts would be appreciated!!
Hi Marilyn! I’m glad to hear that you enjoy these cookies, even if you feel that they’re not turning out quite right! We always recommend measuring your ingredients using a digital kitchen scale, to ensure 100% accuracy and to ensure consistent bakes. When using measuring cups, it’s super easy to add too little sugar, or especially too much flour – which could be why your cookies are reminding you more of scones! Here’s an article where Tessa explains this more. You could also try using milk chocolate chips (or a mix of your favorites) to give the cookies more of an overall sweetness. Feel free to also experiment with adding a little more sugar when making these cookies, if you want to experiment, but just note that adding additional sugar will change the texture, spread, and more – learn more about that here. I hope something here helps, Marilyn! Happy baking 🙂
These cookies came out beautifully. They have the texture and depth, I been disappointed in the past with other recipes because the cookies came out flat. Perfect combination of great taste and as well as great presentation.
Really good!
These cookies are delicious…will definitely make again
hi , how many cookies does this recipe make ? and if i chill them can i let them for 6 or 12 hours instead ?
Hi Kaelyn! This recipe makes about 26 cookies. You’re welcome to chill the dough for 6-12 hours, but I highly recommend going the full 24 hours! This ensures you have the best texture and flavor possible. That being said, we’ll look the other way if you bake up a few right away, they’re hard to resist! 😉
Hello! I have a question regarding the leavener used. Since in the science behind baking soda it says that it is better to mix it with baking powder for a dough that needs to refrigerate overnight, shouldn’t also baking powder be used in this recipe? Just trying to understand better how this all works and how the different recipes on the website will give different results, so to understand which one I prefer to try! 🙂
Thanks!
Chiara
Hi Chiara! Baking powder and baking soda are used for different reasons. Tessa explains why baking soda still works in cookie recipes in this article here. If you’re interested, Tessa has a fantastic online course you can take to learn more about the deep-dive differences little tweaks like this make in baking. Check out The Magic of Baking Course here! Happy baking 🙂
Hi Kiersten, thank you so much for your reply! Yes, I have read that articles and that was exactly what confused me. Because there Tessa mentions that baking soda reacts almost immediately when in contact with an acid, and that for this reason she prefers to add some baking powder when chilling a cookie dough for hours or overnight. However, in this recipe she does chill the dough for 24 or more hours but does not include baking powder, which is against what stated in that article. So just trying to understand what I am missing here 🙂
Looking forward to your reply to have a better understanding! Thanks a lot! Chiara
Hi again! While this reaction is true of baking powder vs. baking soda, it’s not as important for cookies because we’re not relying on the leavening agents to lift and give height the same way we are with cakes, muffins, etc. As Tessa says in the Chilling Cookie Doughs article, “Since cookie dough is relatively low in moisture (compared to muffin or cake batter), the chemical reactions occur more slowly anyway.” Because the chemical reaction with the acid (brown sugar) isn’t a hugely acidic ingredient, plus the cookies’ low moisture content, this reaction isn’t as fast as with cake/muffin/etc batters, so it can hold up to a chill period. While Tessa does sometimes prefer a baking powder + baking soda cookie, these specific cookies are formulated to maximize flavor, browning, texture, and thickness. Feel free to experiment with adding both leaveners here, if you like, but they’re perfect as they are, promise!
Hello. I don’t have a cookie scoop, will it work if I weigh each cookie ball?
Sure! A 3-tablespoon-size cookie scoop is about 2.25 ounces (64 grams) of dough. If you’re looking for a specific yield of cookies, you could also weigh the entire mass of dough and divide by your preference, then adjust the baking time as needed. I hope that helps!