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]
Will using bleached flour make a big difference?
These look so good!
Hi Leah, No, not at all. I just prefer unbleached flour for baking because, really, why ingest more chemicals than we need to? :)
It’s official…I have found my go to chocolate cookie recipe. I was a skeptic at first, but these are amazing!! Great recipe!
Wow that’s ALOT of comments on one recipe! I am sure no one will ever scroll all the way down to view this one …but thought I’d add my 2 cents anyway. Due to diet accommodations I used spelt flour, earth balance/canola oil, enjoy life non dairy choc chips, only used 1 c. br sugar (no white at all), They turned out fine. I even forgot to refrigerate the dough so my cookies ended up very large and thinner but totally acceptable. These are going to be even better when I chill the dough next time. I think I’m in love!
Literally the best chocolate chip cookie that I’ve tried, I’m definitely sticking to this one ;)
My husband (NOT a baker) made them the other night and they were unbelievable. I thought *my* chocolate chip cookie recipe was the best. Guess I was wrong. I promptly replaced it with this one. Thank you so much!
Thank you for the recipe – hands down the best! I’ve made it several times recently!
Hi Michelle,
I love your site! And after reading all this, I really want to give this ccc recipe a go. However I am from Holland and since everything is about the measurements… is an American tablespoon that you mention the same as ours? Or do you have a specific measurement tool for teaspoons, tablespoons and cups? Please let me know, cuz I’ m dying to make these delious cookies of yours!!! :))
Greetz,
Diana
Hi Diana, I’m not sure if ours are the same as yours; we do have specific measuring cups and spoons for these measurements, such as these: http://www.williams-sonoma.com/products/all-clad-stainless-steel-measuring-cups-and-spoons/. You may be able to Google for metric conversions.
Not good at all. Sorry just my opinion.
These cookies were WAAAAYYYY too sweet! I did like the chewy-ness, but honestly 2C flour to 1 1/2C sugar (total brown/white) is ridiculous. I’m surprised not to see someone else say the same thing. I love sweets, but this was too much for my taste.
Most cookies can be shipped, but if you want them to arrive in good condition, wrap them well in cling wrap first in pairs (this will minumize them rubbing together) then you will have to use a strong corrigated box with some packing chips, Bon Voyage!
I’ve been looking for a good cookie recipe that will hold up in the mail. Do you think these would be a good choice to bake and ship???
Hi Rebecca, Yes, definitely! I have actually shipped these multiple times, all with good results. Just wrap each cookie individually in plastic wrap, and then place in a ziploc bag (keeps them fresh), and make sure you have packing bubbles or some type of padding.
I found this recipe and it looks awesome – I’m concerned about the amount of butter – in my previous experience with butter, because it is so “thin” (in comparison to Crisco) it causes the cookies to flatten and get overly crispy on the edges – so I’ve mitigated this by going half and half with butter and Crisco. What about this recipe prevents the butter from doing this to the cookies?? Is it the extra egg yolk?
Hi Erin, The extra yolk definitely adds some “heft” to the cookies. These cookies definitely aren’t flat, just make sure you let the melted butter cool before proceeding, and you’ll be good.
I can’t thank you enough! Finally, a chocolate chip cookie recipe that has worked!! I’m enjoying some thick and yummy cookies as I type. I’m soooo glad I found your blog.
I recently stumbled on your blog and I am loving it ! Everything looks so amazing especially these chocolate chip cookies! Yum yum .
Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! I have been looking for this forever!! It is so disappointing to take the trouble to make chocolate chip cookies, only to have them turn out well, just not right! And then eat bad cookies anyway because you are craving them so much! If you are gonna eat all those calories it had better be worth it and these cookies are SO WORTH IT!!!! Love them!! These are the definition of what a chocolate chip cookie should be.
I switched butter out for Crisco, they stayed softer longer. :)
Just made these tonight & they are amazing!! Great recipe, thanks so much for sharing!! First time in forever that I made a chocolate chip cookie I didn’t feel needed any tweaking!!
Whipping up a batch right now – can’t wait to see how they turn out! They look so thick and yummy! My nieces took a look at these cookies and quickly begged, and begged me to make these. They look amazing, chewy, soft, and thick! So excited an can’t wait. Any tips on how to make these would be great, thank you!
A friend made these today and OMG these are the best cookies I have ever tasted! Yummy, yummy, yummy! I will definitely make these. They are the perfect combination of chewy and crunch and sweetness.
Wow these look very yummy. Mmm my mouth is already going. They look perfect- not way to chewy, not to soft, not to thick, not to thin. I can’t wait to bake this – they will be perfect for my Halloween Party coming up. (I’ll be using your cupcakes for that too!)
I use Guittard chocolate chips. They are by far the best I have tried. Way better than Nestle or Ghirradelli. I’m going to try these cookies tonight.
These were by far the best chocolate chip cookies i have ever made!! i just pulled my first batch out of the oven as we speak and they are perfect! :) FINALLY!! a recipe for chocolate chip cookies that are actually what they say they are! thanks
Prior to making these a few months ago, my very favourite cookie recipe for about 10 years was the copycat Mrs. Fields recipe. It was fantastic. So I cannot BELIEVE that I have found a recipe that I like more! I cook them until they are just cooked on the edges and quite raw in the middle. Then after cooling down a bit they are sooooo chewy. And they taste even better the next day.
On a side note, I accidentally forgot to melt the butter once when I made them and just creamed it the traditional way, and they tasted EXACTLY the same.
I love this recipe!! I sang praises to the heavens when I found this! I had searched for years for a Choc Chip cookie recipe that didn’t end up cakey or flat. After reading how they tested it, I gave it a shot. I was in awe of the stunningly beautiful cookie that resulted! This is the only choc chip recipe that I will ever use!!
Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! Chocolate chip cookies are my husband’s favorite. I like to think that he loves me because of my excellent cooking :), but he has always preferred store bought chocolate chip cookie dough. I made these, and they were AWESOME! I finally have a recipe for the perfect chocolate chip cookies that are better than store bought dough!!
I wonder if you can give me some advice, I know this probably sounds like a really stupid question but how do you mean by “rotate 90 degrees”? Is that when you’re rolling the balls in your palm? I tried the recipe a while ago and I don’t think I shaped them correctly because they ended up very small, domed and cakey instead of chewy and craggy :/ but I’m so eager for it to work because yours look amaaazing! Hopefully you can enlighten me! :)
Kind of confused on the shaping method… So you split the ball into two pieces and then keeping one pieces jagged look you form the other ball back into the first one? so then it is one ball again with a jagged edge? Wouldnt it be easier to take a bigger ball (amount of two cookies) and split them in half and place both jagged edges up?
This cookie looks UNREAL and perfect :)
Hey!
I have tried to make this recipe as well as an Alton Brown on foodnetwork.com, both times my cookies spread too thin and the edges got crispy while the middle was fine. but the chocolate chips stayed in the middle too. the taste is good, the cookies just don’t look, well… good. Any tips!? would using parchment paper make a difference? my pans are stone, non-stick already, so idk. I really want to get these right!
thank you so much!
Hi Julie, Usually when cookies spread thin it’s because of too much fat. Make sure that you really allow the butter to cool before you proceed with the recipe, or spreading will definitely happen. Also, I don’t bake cookies and things like that on stone – it might hold in more heat, which would cause the fat to activate too much as well, causing the spreading. I like regular cookie sheets with parchment paper – always have success with that combo.
Great recipe. Thanks for sharing. After reading through all the comments, I was afraid the cookies were going to be hard and crusty. So I did the following:
Used chilled/soften butter instead of melted butter. The reason is I was afraid the melted butter will sink to the bottom of the cookie. Also, soften butter will add air to the batter when it bakes so it’ll cause a chewier cookie.
Finally, this dough is great in freezing as well. I put the dough in some parchment and rolled it into a dowel-shape. Put some plastic wrap around it and put it in a ziplock. I think it’ll freeze well up to several months. Whenever you like some cookies, bring out the dowels and cut into 3/4 inch shapes and bake for around 19 minutes (alittle longer because it’s frozen…)