Thick and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies
These large, bakery-style thick and chewy chocolate chip cookies stay soft for days and are a huge family favorite. Made with melted butter, a high brown sugar to white sugar ratio, and an extra egg yolk to ensure super soft cookies, they require NO chilling time and are the perfect after-school snack.
These cookies have been around for a LONG time! I first made them nearly 12 years ago when I fell in love with America’s Test Kitchen and my new Baking Illustrated cookbook. I had long been on the hunt for a fabulous thick and chewy chocolate chip cookie and I had finally hit pay dirt! This was my go-to chocolate chip cookie recipe for years upon years, until I stumbled upon The New York Times chocolate chip cookie, which I modified a bit to become my NEW favorite thick and chewy chocolate chip cookie recipe.
However, these cookies made a resurgence in my kitchen last weekend and were due for a revival here on the site, especially since they’re one of my all-time most popular recipes!
How to Make Thick and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Start with Butter: We use melted butter to keep the cookies super soft and moist.
- High Brown Sugar to Granulated Sugar Ratio: Brown sugar ensures soft cookies and the white sugar helps the cookies spread out. For cookies that are chewier and have a more robust flavor, we use double the amount of brown sugar to white sugar.
- Egg & Vanilla Extract: Eggs provide structure and an extra egg yolk gives the cookies a boost of softness. Vanilla is our flavor enhancer!
- Dry Ingredients: You’ll need all-purpose flour, baking soda, and salt for structure, rise and flavor balance.
- Chocolate Chips: Of course! One and a half cups give you chocolate in every single bite without being overwhelming.
Ahhhh that dough!
There’s a little shaping technique that makes these cookies have that gorgeous bumpy texture on top that looks like they came straight out of the bakery.
All of that combined to make these my oldest, most favorite chocolate chip cookie that needs absolutely no chill time whatsoever.
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While the NY Times cookies that I love require some refrigeration before they’re baked, these can be mixed up and baked right away, so you’ll have warm cookies fresh from the oven and ready to devour in about 45 minutes. Can’t beat it!
What’s your favorite type of chocolate chip cookie?
Watch the Recipe Video Below:
One year ago: The Best Chocolate Frosting
Five years ago: Overnight Chilled Plum-Oatmeal Pudding
Seven years ago: Peach Coffee Cake
Thick and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
- 2 cups (250 g) + 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon (0.5 teaspoon) baking soda
- ½ teaspoon (0.5 teaspoon) salt
- 12 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled
- 1 cup (220 g) light or dark brown sugar
- ½ cup (100 g) granulated sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 egg yolk
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1½ cups (270 g) semisweet chocolate chips
Instructions
- Adjust the oven racks to the upper- and lower-middle positions and preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt.
- Using an electric mixer on medium speed, beat the butter and sugars until thoroughly blended, 2 to 3 minutes. Beat in the egg, yolk, and vanilla until combined. Reduce the mixer speed to low, add the dry ingredients and beat until just combined. Using a rubber spatula, stir in the chocolate chips.
- Roll a scant ¼ cup of the dough into a ball. Hold the dough ball with the fingertips of both hands and pull into 2 equal halves. Rotate the halves 90 degrees and, with jagged surfaces facing up, join the halves together at their base, again forming a single ball, being careful not to smooth the dough’s uneven surface. Place the formed dough balls on the prepared baking sheets, jagged surface up, spacing them 2½ inches apart.
- Bake until the cookies are light golden brown and the outer edges start to set, yet the centers are still soft and puffy, 15 to 18 minutes, rotating the baking sheets front to back and top to bottom halfway through the baking time. Cool the cookies on the baking sheets. Once cool, store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 4 days. These can also be wrapped in plastic wrap, placed in a freezer bag and frozen for up to 2 months.
Notes
Did you make this recipe?
Leave a review below, then snap a picture and tag @thebrowneyedbaker on Instagram so I can see it!
This recipe was originally published on June 21, 2008, updated in July 2016 with new photos, and then refreshed in August 2019 with updated photos and more recipe tips.
[photos by Ari of Well Seasoned]
There is something wrong with this recipe. I made it twice- by hand- and both times they spread way too much. The 2nd time, I also put them in the fridge to chill before putting them in the oven. The flavor is good but they are too thin and therefore too crunchy. I’m usually a fan of Brown-eyed bakers recipes too. This one does not work… disappointed that I have to bring them to a dinner party too.
Many years ago my BFF made these for me as a gift at Christmas. Aren’t baked goods simply better when from a friend? She gladly shared this recipe and I’ve made them as gifts many times now successfully. I prefer bitter sweet Ghiradelli chips and sometimes add toasted coconut and/or toasted chopped pecans. Found this to be a perfect fool proof recipe when followed as written.
I’ve made the dough and baked right away, made dough and baked after hours in fridge and also frozen dough balls to bake a few at a time ( since it’s just 2 at my house. )
PERFECT EVERY TIME!!
These cookies are phenomenal!
Should I refrigerate these before cooking?
Hi Samantha, Nope, they do not need to be chilled before baking.
made these today for a bake sale my kids are doing. The recipe turned out perfectly!!
Hi! I`m from Norway! Since we just got chocolate chips in Norway, I wanted to try to cookies. I tried a recipe a few days ago, but they got hard as stones:/ Tried yours today, and they turned out great!!! Love them! Thank you so much!!
We love these cookies! I make them all the time – usually in double batches. I freeze half the dough and always have some on hand to make for last-minute visitors. But my dough is always very wet and sticky. I have to wet my hands with water to even handle it – it wouldn’t be possible to pull it apart and shape it as you suggest. They still taste great…but any thoughts on why I always get such sticky, wet dough? Thanks!
Hi Eve, This can happen to me sometimes if the melted butter is still too warm or if I don’t incorporate it into the brown sugar well enough.
Hi Michelle,
I ran across this recipe on your site several years ago (I think it was 2011 or 2012) and I must say that this has been my (and my family’s) absolute favorite cookie ever since.
I have done several different chip variations (semi-sweet, milk chocolate, peanut butter, white chocolate or white chocolate with dried cranberries) with this cookie recipe and they always come out perfect.
I also always have to double the batch every time I bake them because . . . well, with 1 pre-teen and 2 teenagers, along with myself and the hubby, one batch just isn’t enough lol. They DEVOUR them!
I actually have a double batch with white chocolate chips baking right now and my kids look like a bunch of toddlers, practically bouncing on their heels, incessantly asking when they’re going to be done lol.
I love these,. They’ve turned amazing every time I’ve made them. I use weights instead of volume for my dry ingredients as I tend to be heavy handed with my measurements. The last time I made them, I made the dough to bake them later on. I refrigerated the dough for a few days and as I forgot to pull out the dough ahead of time, ended up baking them at refrigerator temperature. They turned out better than any time I’ve made them before. I’m not sure what it was about the chilled dough that made them so good, but I’m going to try it again. One of the guys I work with ate 6 over the course of an hour. There is no bigger compliment. :)
Bring back the weighted measurements! I dread the day that my old copy of the recipe disappears.
Good recipe, but I don’t understand why all “chewy” cookie recipes say to chill the dough. Maybe it is a matter of wording. Chilling the dough makes a SOFT (not chewy) dome-like cookie. Letting the dough warm up a bit makes the cookies flatten out. THEN let the edges brown and leave the middle looking somewhat unbaked. THAT makes a chewy cookie. Once I let the dough warm up a bit, they turned out great!
Just made these because my boyfriend was craving chocolate chip cookies (when I tried the old “let’s pick up some store-bought dough” cop-out he said “but we don’t want store cookie dough…”) — they’re great! We used the 1/4 C measuring cup and scooped scant amounts out and it came out to exactly 18 cookies. On our mismatched assortment of cookie sheets the ones on a dark sheet did get darker and thinner and were done a minute or two earlier, and on the lighter sheets this was not the case and the recipe above (for 15-18 min bakes) was perfect.
We are likely going to make this our go-to recipe since the only other one I have ever used more than once is from a children’s cookbook and is significantly lower-yield ;)
Thank you for another great recipe!
I had never baked cookies from scratch before and was looking for an awesome recipe. I tried this one and the cookies came out perfectly. They were thick, soft, and crazy delicious! Even my friends were shocked that this was my first time baking them from scratch because they were so good. Thanks for the recipe!!!
Made them tonight and it did not turn out. It’s is chock full of chocolate chips, but spread and our super thin. Won’t make them again. Too many extra steps for me between the rolling, twisting, re-joining, cooling completely on the cookie sheet for them not to turn out. They looked puffy when I took them out of the oven then the sunk to cookie that wasn’t even as thick as the chip.
Not sure what I did.
i have been baking for over 40 years, and your recipe has become my favorite base for chocolate chip cookie ever. i personalize my cookies by adding fresh grated ginger and some cayenne pepper, then after baking them for 6 minutes, i do sprinkle a little seasalt on the cookies for the perfect salted chocolate chip cookie :)
Do you shape these before freezing so that you can cook them directly from frozen state? If yes, how much longer do you bake them for?
Hi Cat, If you freeze before baking, yes you should shape and then freeze. Enjoy!
Thanks! I’ve been making thee for years after coming across the recipe on your site. These are hands down the best. I tried the other CI recipe where the butter is browned – it’s good but this recipe is my favorite. Everyone raves when I make these. I just never tried freezing them before. The husband bought some “healthy” store bought dough and the cookies were flat. My daughter and I just doubled the recipe just now and we’re going to shape and freeze some dough for future cravings! Thanks again!
Ok, I have to comment that after making these for years I’ve finally tried shaping then freezing for baking when we get cookie cravings. They were delicious, but not as delicious as freshly prepared/unfrozen state. Also, the cookies didn’t get that crinkly look when baked from frozen. I find that my cookies also always come out best when I bake one tray at a time which then means it takes me longer since I’m not baking two trays at once. Tried rotating trays 1/2way in and it still didn’t turn out as good.
There was way too much flour in your recipe, by almost a half a cup. The cookies came out rock-hard. I googled other America Test Cookies recipes and yours is not accurate. I also use to get the magazine so I’ve made them before and they always came out wonderful. These while still tasting good, were NOT chewy at all! 1&3/4 cup of flour would be all you need. The butter is supposed to be lightly browned.
The recipe is written exactly as printed in Cook’s Illustrated. I’ve been making these cookies for well over 10 years and they have never, ever been hard. Using a half cup less flour would make these virtually unable to shape. The butter is actually supposed to be browned in another recipe of theirs – the perfect chocolate chip cookie (https://apex-male.info/cooks-illustrated-perfect-chocolate-chip-cookies/%3C/a%3E%29 – perhaps you’re confusing the two recipes.
Could I use this revipe to make a giant cookie? My friend has requested one for chritmas and I absolutely lovd this recipe as normal sized cookies. Should ai just add all of the mixture to a cake tin? Thanks!
Hi Quinn, Yes, I did it here with very little alterations:
https://apex-male.info/chocolate-chip-cookie-cake/%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E
I love trying different recipes and this one just made it to the top.
Well done.
Made them and absolutely loved them! Love the idea of breaking the cookie in half and squishing together, gives them such a cool look. Thanks ever so much for this great recipe!
I’m not sure if this will be seen since the recipe was posted several years ago, however I feel compelled to post my rave review! I have been making these cookies regularly since 2013. I have baked them for Christmas, I have put them in care packages, I have baked them as housewarming gifts, welcome to the neighborhood gifts, birthday gifts, thank you gifts, etc. etc. I would say that I make these cookies 2-3 times a month. My neighbors know me as the “girl who makes the best chocolate chip cookies in the world.” If only they knew how simple this recipe was! Thank you so much for sharing this incredible recipe. I can’t wait to pass it down to my baby daughter when she is old enough.
Thank you so much for taking the time to stop and leave a review Courtney! I really appreciate it! :)
I found these looking for a melted butter cookie recipe. And because they cane with weight measurements ::love:: and came out AMAZING, I am sure I will make them again and again. I ran out of regular flour, brown sugar, and chocolate, so I used more than half whole wheat flour, added some molasses, and used 55g of walnuts. I will probably use the original ingredients next time, but these were beautiful and tasty and worthy of offering one to the repairman who stopped by in the middle of baking (he, of course, accepted). Just great!
Forget the Toll House recipe on the chocolate chip bags! This has been my go-to chocolate chip cookie recipe for years. It never disappoints, and everyone is impressed with these cookies’ size. If you want the cookies to turn out crunchy, then don’t let them cool on the cookie sheet–remove them to cool on a rack. We best like these cookies chewy soft, so this is it. Just finished baking another batch to give away. Yummmmmm.
I followed the recipe exactly… but when it came to forming the balls & trying to rip them apart they were really too “wet” to. They turned out huge & VERY flat, which has never happened. I think it was when I mixed the sugar & butter that I realized it didn’t look right because it looked too wet, but I proceeded anyway. Regardless, they were DELICIOUS. I thought I would not like them since they were absurdly thin, but they still tasted AMAZING. With more flour or sugar I’m sure it would have turned out better. Will try these again for sure, maybe adding another tablespoon of flour next time & chilling the dough first then trying the rip apart method.
Hi Haley, I would make sure the butter is cooled to room temperature and not too warm; you shouldn’t need to add any more flour, though. If you let it cool and the resulting dough is still too wet, chill for a bit before forming into balls.
perfect 😊
I live at 6600 feet in the mtns of Colorado and was worried these wouldn’t turn out as all my other CC cookie attempts. They came out perfect! Love a recipe that doesn’t require high altitude modifications! This is now my go-to cookie recipe!
This is now my go-to chocolate chip cookie recipe. Always delicious! Thanks for the recipe!
I made these for ice cream sandwiches, and they are great! Luckily, one of the cookies broke while I was assembling the sandwiches, so I got to try them on their own, haha!
I love these chocolate chip cookies.I have made chocolate chip cookies before but this article forces me to make them again.Thank you for publishing.
I made these and they came out PERFECTLY! I’m using them for homemade ice cream sandwiches that my sister wanted me to make and I couldn’t have chosen a better recipe! Not too thin (because who wants a super thin, too-crispy cookie on their ice cream sandwich???) and just the perfect amount of chocolate chips! I can’t wait for her to have one!!! I haven’t tried a cookie because I tend to shy away from sweets, but my sister tasted the batter and said the vanilla was so good and strong I’m excited!!!
This is my favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe! Every time I bake it, people think I bought the cookies from a gourmet bakery. My sisters also ask for these cookies every time they come visit.
While I love this recipe as is, I have also tried adding 1/4 tsp of cornstarch which makes them less chewy but the texture is a little closer to Panera-style cookies.