Tessa’s Recipe Rundown
TASTE: An homage to chocolate with three different kinds packed into one cookie!
TEXTURE: Thick, fudgy like a brownie, with big chunks of chocolate throughout.
EASE: No mixer required, but you do need to chill the dough for best results. Luckily, the cookies take just 7 minutes to bake!
WHY YOU’LL LOVE THIS RECIPE: Your friends will think you bought these at an expensive bakery. They don’t need to know how easy they were to bake!
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I have been counting down the days to share this recipe! Its creation was a labor of love. The recipe was meticulously tested across a dozen experimental batches to nail a cookie that’s perfectly thick, chocolatey, and rich that anyone can make.
In fact, one taste tester called these “the best cookies ever!”
I originally got the idea for this recipe while visiting New York City and sampling one of Levain’s Double Chocolate Cookies for the first time.
I didn’t want my version to be quite as massive and dense as the Levain cookies, but still wanted to yield decadently rich and fudgy brownie-like cookies with glistening pools of chocolate.
I’ve published an entire cookbook on cookie baking, as well as dozens of cookie recipes right here on my website, but I still get ridiculously excited when I nail a new recipe.
Read more below to peek into my recipe development process, as well as all my tips to ensure perfect cookies.
Sprinkle of Science
Key Ingredients for Double Chocolate Chip Cookies
Learning about specific ingredients helps you understand how and why your favorite recipes work, and how to troubleshoot when things go sideways. The full ingredients list is found in the recipe card at the bottom, but here are a few special ingredients that help guarantee recipe success.
- Bleached All-Purpose Flour: This recipe was developed with Gold Medal Bleached All-Purpose Flour. When tested with unbleached flour, the dough was looser and stickier due to its lower absorbency compared to bleached. If using unbleached flour, you may need to add 1-2 extra tablespoons, especially if you live in a humid climate.
- Light Brown Sugar: We use only brown sugar to provide more moisture, flavor, and less spread than white granulated sugar.
- Egg Yolk: In addition to the whole egg, an extra egg yolk offers more richness for a fudgier texture.
- Natural Cocoa Powder: Typically I prefer the taste and color of Dutch-processed cocoa, but in this recipe, I found that natural cocoa created a chewier texture and a more nostalgic chocolate flavor.
- Instant Espresso Powder: This is a totally optional ingredient! Just a touch helps amplify the chocolate flavor without much noticeable coffee flavor.
- Milk Chocolate Chips: Milk chocolate balances the intensity of chocolate flavor while also providing a contrasting color tone for gorgeous, gourmet-looking cookies. I prefer the Ghirardelli ones, which are slightly oversized.
- Semisweet Chocolate “Super” Chips: I love using the Guittard Super Chips in this recipe. They’re giant chocolate chips that get all puddly and melty in cookies. They are pricey, so I like to stock up when they’re on sale at Sprouts. You could also use chopped chocolate chunks instead.
How to Avoid Dry Chocolate Cookies
Cocoa powder tends to zap moisture from cookie dough. This is why we’re using moisture-boosting ingredients like brown sugar and an extra egg yolk. However, it’s KEY to avoid over-measuring the cocoa powder, which will create dry, crumbly cookies. This is shockingly easy to do when using volume measuring cups.
I highly recommend using a digital kitchen scale to measure both the flour and cocoa powder in this recipe. It’ll ensure perfect accuracy for no dry cookies. See exactly how I measure flour the right way here.
Do I really need to chill the dough?
Yes, but I promise it’s worth the wait! Chilling the dough intensifies the chocolate flavor and creates more moist, thick, and fudgy cookies. Scoop the dough, wrap well in plastic, then chill in the fridge for at least an hour but preferably overnight or up to 48 hours. Learn more about chilling cookie dough here.
For Thick Cookies, Bake at a Higher Temperature
In one of my rounds of testing, I baked dough from the same recipe, portioned at the same size, at three different oven temperatures:
I found that not only were the cookies from the 400°F temperature batch thicker, they were significantly softer, fudgier, and more moist inside and stayed that way for longer after baking!
Can I Make Smaller or Larger Cookies?
Yes! Here are some guidelines:
- Smaller Cookies – portion dough into 1.5-tablespoon balls (use a medium cookie scoop) and bake at 400°F for about 5 to 6 minutes.
- Extra Large NYC-Style Cookies – portion dough into 6-ounce balls and bake at 400°F for about 10 minutes.
How to Store Double Chocolate Chip Cookies
Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days. To keep the cookies extra soft, add a tortilla or piece of white sandwich bread to the container.
How to Freeze Double Chocolate Cookie Dough
Place the pre-portioned, already-chilled scoops of cookie dough in an airtight container and freeze for up to 1 month. Bake at 380°F for 11 minutes. Note that freezing will make these cookies slightly less moist.
Cookie Recipes You’ll Also Love:
Double Chocolate Chip Cookies
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Ingredients
- 1 stick (113 grams) unsalted butter
- 1 cup (200 grams) light brown sugar
- 1 large egg, at room temperature
- 1 large egg yolk, at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons (143 grams) all-purpose flour*
- 2/3 cup (57 grams) natural unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon instant espresso powder, optional
- 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1/2 cup (85 grams) milk chocolate chips, plus more for garnish
- 1/2 cup (85 grams) semisweet chocolate super chips or chunks, plus more for garnish
- Flaky sea salt, optional
Instructions
- In a microwave-safe bowl, microwave the butter in 20-second bursts until melted. Whisk in the brown sugar. Let cool until just warm. Whisk in the egg, egg yolk, and vanilla extract until completely smooth and combined. With a rubber spatula, stir in the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, espresso powder (if using), and salt. Fold in both chocolate chips with a rubber spatula. Dough will appear slightly greasy and sticky and will firm up as it sits.
- Using a large spring-loaded scoop, drop 3-tablespoon balls of dough onto a parchment lined baking sheet. Roll dough scoops between your palms to smooth. Dot generously (more than you think!) with additional chocolate chips, pointing any tips down into the dough to avoid scorching.
- Wrap the scooped dough tightly in plastic and refrigerate at least 1 hour, preferably overnight or up to 48 hours.
- Preheat the oven to 400°F.
- Bake for about 7 minutes or until just set. Remove from the oven and immediately sprinkle each cookie with flaky sea salt. Cool for 5 minutes before removing to wire racks to cool completely.
- Cookies can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days.
Recipe Notes
This recipe was originally published in 2014 and recently revamped with an improved recipe and new photos. Photos by Jess Gaertner.
These cookies are so rich and delicious!!
I got 12 cookies out of this recipe using a #24 Zeroll scoop; 6 cookies per half-sheet pan took 9 minutes to bake in my oven. I chilled my dough balls for 3 hours before baking.
I used King Arthur unbleached AP flour and did not add the additional flour, just used the weight listed in the recipe; they came out perfectly thick and I in fact wouldn’t have wanted them any thicker.
Thank you for another great recipe, this one is a keeper!!
Becky Rudella – The information you provided regarding cookie scoops and baking times, is very helpful.
Thank you.
I should also have added to my initial comment, if helpful to know, the 3-Tbsp. (#20) scoop cookies were 58 grams each and baked for 7 minutes. I also baked smaller cookies with a 1.5-Tbsp. (#40) scoop that were 33 grams each; baked for 6 – 6 1/2 minutes. All had been covered and chilled in the fridge for 27 hours prior to baking.
Another new favorite!
Don’t be fooled! These Double Chocolate Chip Cookies are actually a decadent little dessert disguised as a cookie. They’re soft with gooey chocolate in every bite. The flaky sea salt on top takes them to another level – euphoria!
I have a question. I love your recipes, and appreciate all the tips you provide to help ensure a successful outcome when baking one of your recipes. I also appreciate that you give us the recipe ingredients in grams, because I agree, that is a more accurate measurement that using cups or ounces. I wonder why, when you instruct us to measure three tablespoons of dough and roll it into a ball, you don’t provide that measurement in grams too. It seems pretty subjective to me. For accuracy and a successful outcome, I would like to know what that weighs in grams.
Thank you.
agree! I am on the website looking for a note on grams! I don’t get 13 with a 3 tbs scoop. I love her recipes too! They always turn out great!
Thank you, Linda! That’s a great question. I personally don’t like to portion cookie dough by weight, especially cookie dough with mix-ins like big chocolate chips. I find it to be tedious and unnecessary when a scoop will get me very evenly shaped scoops of dough. Not every cookie dough scoop will have the exact same amount of mix-ins, so the weight will vary slightly from scoop to scoop. In this particular recipe, each scoop should weigh about 60 grams.
You can always calculate this by hand by adding all the weights of the ingredients listed (note that a large egg weighs about 56g and a large egg yolk 18-19g). Or, you can weigh your entire mass of dough and divide that by the yield provided.
I hope that answers your question!
Hi there can l bake these from frozen?
Yes! If you scroll a little bit above the recipe you’ll see make-ahead instructions included, but I’ll copy them below for you as well as add them in the Notes section of the recipe card in case you want to print it 🙂
*Place the pre-portioned, already-chilled scoops of cookie dough in an airtight container and freeze for up to 1 month. Bake at 380°F for 11 minutes. Note that freezing will make these cookies slightly less moist.*
Tess I just made these and not only were they amazing… they were gone!! Definitely a keeper!! Thank you for all of your hard work, especially in this AI driven culture. I will always opt for the good old fashioned real recipes with real pictures every time. XOXO
Hi, a few people are questioning why you use baking powder instead of baking soda with the natural cocoa powder for these double chocolate chip cookies. The recipe here shows baking soda and not baking powder so is there a different recipe somewhere that others are looking at? Which leavening agent should be used here? Thank you.
Hi Kathy, great question! This recipe was recently updated to use natural cocoa powder instead of Dutch, so those older comments are regarding the previous recipe. Tessa found that natural cocoa created a chewier texture and a more nostalgic chocolate flavor. What is written in the recipe is correct, you’ll use baking soda 🙂 I hope that helps!
I have a question. Do you scoop the dough into balls and then put in the frig or put all the dough in the frig and then scoop? I don’t know if I would have enough room in my frig for 2 cookie sheets for 48 hrs.
Thanks,
Patsy
Hi Patsy! We prefer scooping the dough into balls and chilling directly on the baking sheets for ease. Feel free to add all the dough balls to chill on one cookie sheet, and then divide them when you’re ready to bake them off. You can also chill the dough as a mass instead! When you’re ready to bake the cookies, you’ll just need to let it sit at room temp until it’s scoopable.
Thank so much. Using 1 cookie sheet is the best solution.
Uh oh, we already have a second question and haven’t even yet located a store that carries either of those fancy chocolate chips (which the grandlings insist we use “’cause that’s what *Tessa* said to use, Grumpy! Get real!” Herewith the question: My (wildly) meticulous older grandling pointed out that the pictures show a baking sheet with 6 balls of cookie dough. She then went on to point out that 2 cookie sheets with 6 balls of dough will be “6 plus 6 which equals 12, *not* 13!” And then, in a truly Perry Mason moment, offered her summation thus: “So what’s the 13th cookie supposed to do, Grumpy? Cook all by itself???” Grandling #2, our peacemaker, suggested we just divide the dough into 12 balls and “not tell Tessa.” To which reasonable suggestion Grandling 1 warned, “No way! We’re not lying to Tessa. We have to ask first.” So, I’m asking: can any of you in Tessa’s kitchen think of any reason we absolutely should not take this reasonable-sounding approach? Or anything special we’d have to do (like bake longer or something) to accommodate this course of action?
ha, love it! Yes, the 13th cookie will bake by itself… or feel free to make the cookies slightly larger to yield 12 cookies and just add an extra minute or two or the bake time. Can’t wait to hear what you think of this recipe!
This review is priceless!!!! What a joy and a challenge to bake with 2 such imaginative children. Hope they keep up the interest and continue this adventure into adulthood.
Is there any way your genius cookie magicians might provide the measurement for these cookie portions in grams so that the grandlings and I can use a clever kitchen scale, which we now own one of, instead of a monster 3-tablespoon scoop, which we apparently own none of?
Hi John! A 3-tablespoon scoop holds around 60 grams of cookie dough. If you’d prefer to make them smaller with a 1.5-tablespoon scoop or extra large, Tessa shares how to do so above the recipe here 🙂
Just looking at the recipe, I know there will be OUTRAGEOUS GOOD AND CHOCOLATY!!! Can’t wait to try them! The ratios of flour/butter/sugar etc. all look perfect!