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.
Save This Recipe
Enter your email address, and we'll send it straight to your inbox!
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]
These were outstanding! WOW! I was skeptical about the no refrigeration part with the warm fat, but they are unbelievable. I’m making them for our church’s summer camp and the bigger size makes portions so easy. My nine-year-old son helped too!
Can this dough frozen in dough balls if I wanted to make the dough in advance?
I would flash freeze them.
These are really good. My cookies usually come out flat and oily, or puffy and too floury tasting. These came out beautifully.
Hi Amy, Yes, definitely, I have done this and it works great!
I tried this recipe this week end and it was fantastic!! It’s super easy and super quick, and the cookies are so chewy!
I tried so many recipes and never found the result i wanted. Thank you for this great recipe everyone loved it!!
Cheers from France! xoxo
These are my boys favorite chocolate chip cookies ever! They loved how big and soft and perfect they turned out. I am making another batch right now!
I love most chocolate chip cookies, but I always go back to this recipe! We love it!
These are FANTASTIC! Moist, chewy, delicious. I have made A LOT, and I mean A LOT, of chocolate chip cookies. I have tried all of the top recipes, family recipes, and package recipes. These win! Definitely my favorite and will now be my go-to. Thanks so much for sharing this!
These are AMAZING!!! I’ve been making chocolate chip cookies for 15 years and I’ve always relied on the Toll House recipe. This is my new favorite!! I also think it makes a big difference to roll the dough, and break it apart, baking with the jagged edges up. Great tip! THANK YOU!
Michelle – My go to recipe for chocolate chip cookies has been your ‘My Favorite Chocolate Chip Cookies’: https://www.browneyedbaker.com/favorite-chocolate-chip-cookies/. My family loves them. How do these compare?
Hi Ann, These aren’t quite as thick and don’t have as much heft. I really love those favorite cookies, but still use this recipe for a quick batch.
My toddler and I made these tonight. They were delicious!! The recipe was so easy to follow. We will definitely be making these again.
Usually love your stuff but I thought these cookies lacked something :(
Wow these cookies sound delicious I am defiantly going to try these
I made this recipe, and I have to say it raised more questions than it answered – I felt very silly splitting all the dough balls in half. Not to mention it is nearly impossible to rejoin them without flattening that jagged edge just created. I settled on a technique of more thirds, then rolling with jagged edges outside. However, I’d like to see the science behind how this works. With more time, I’d do a side by side comparison.
2nd change – left butter on counter to room temp.- did not melt and wait for it to cool – I’ve never in my life waited for the butter to cool, by the way – it goes against my nature.
3rd and 4th changes – I used the Guittard large flat chocolate chips, delicious, but what am I to do with a 1/4 bag left over? I used them all, of course.
5th change – I added 3/4 cup chopped pecans
Rating is based on the numerous oddities in this recipe without any reasoning to back them up. With my changes, cookies were happily consumed!
By the way, I did not warm my eggs to room temperature – they turned out fine.
BEST RECIPE EVER! THE COOKIES ARE SOOOO CHEWY!
THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR SHARING XX
Yummy, I’ve had people ask to get this recipe. Your husband is right. I don’t normally even like Chocolate Chip cookies, but these are delicious! Thanks for sharing.
These cookies are great. They are now my main chocolate chip cookie recipe.
Does it make a difference if I use unsalted butter or salted? If I omit the salt wouldn’t that be ok to use the salted butter instead? I never have unsalted butter in the house
Hi Norma, Ideally you’d use unsalted butter so that the exact amount of salt in a recipe can be controlled since there is varying amounts of salt in different brands of salted butter. However, in a pinch, you can use salted butter and omit the salt.
I made these cookies and the whole family loved them. My mom said this is the cookie recipe she has always been looking for.
I just whipped up a batch of these and they are delicious! The most perfect cookie! I followed the recipe and side from when incorporating the wet and dry ingredients I simply poured the wet ingredients over the dry and mixed them with a rubber spatula. I also used cold eggs and which didnt impact it either. They turned out perfect! Thick chewy and a little crunchy!
This is my go-to chocolate chip cookie recipe. No one can believe they’re homemade and not store bought. I always use my kitchen scale to weigh the ingredients and mix by hand. Perfect every single time!
i love this recipe because you do not have to put the dough in the fridge so they won’t spread in the oven and they taste amazing.
I am never sold on any cookie i have ever made. Until now. These are the BEST!
I have baked a lot and never seen a recipe that had you break apart the cookies that way. Did I miss the why in the post? If not, can you share with me?
Hi Laura, It’s purely for aesthetics – to give them that craggly top you see in bakery cookies.
I have made these cookies for years EXCEPT I substitute chocolate chunks for the chips and I use macadamia nuts. Whenever I take them someplace everyone raves about them.
Oooh sounds delicious! Thanks for sharing your adaptation!
Has anyone baked these from frozen?
I made the dough balls but didn’t have time to bake so I stuck in freezer. Worried about having cookies that don’t spread at all (conversely I don’t want them to spread to much)
Should I bring to room temp first or will they be ok from freezer? Looking for the perfect balance so they are thick but not too thick :)
Hi Colin, I have! You don’t need to bring them to room temperature; you can bake them straight from the freezer, but will likely need to add a couple of minutes to the baking time. Mine turn out just the same when baking from the freeze. Enjoy! :)
Has anyone baked these from frozen? I made the dough today but didn’t have time to bake. Sometimes when baking from frozen the dough doesn’t spread (or still spreads too much). Looking for that sweet spot of nice and thick! Others experiences would be appreciated (bake from frozen, thaw, etc)
Also used KAF for the first time with this. Think it will make any difference over store brand AP? I weighed out each ingredient to the gram and followed instructions exactly so hopefully it only helps!
I’ve been making variations of this cookie since it was originally published in Cooks Illustrated. Its the best and friends beg me to make them. A couple of adaptaions. On the 1 cup brown sugar, I use 1/2 light brown sugar and 1/2 dark brown sugar and ALWAYS use Domino brand. Other brands I’ve tried don’t produce a perfect cookie. On the 1.5 cups chocolate chips, I use 1/2 cup Ghiridelli (sp) semi-sweet chips and 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chunks (either Nestles or Callubaut). My kids don’t like nuts, but I think this cookie is at its best with with 1 1/4 cup coarsely chopped pecans added along with 1/8 cup loose sweetened coconut and 1/8 t. of ground cinnamon. Making some now to welcome my kids home for the Thanksgiving holiday!
Love these cookies. I wave given this recipe years ago by a church member and is now my signature cookie. :) Love the gooey center, crispy crisp edges. Some things I’ve tried, mixed and matched, when I have the ingredients at hand:
Use dark brown sugar in place of light brown sugar.
Use raw sugar in place of white sugar.
Add a tsp of cinnamon.
Brown 1/2 cup of butter and cool with rest of melted butter.
Mix 2/3 any good brand of milk chocolate chips and 1/3 dark 60% cocao chips.
Sprinkle a bit of raw sugar on top of cookies before baking.
1 tbsp espresso powder.
1/2 regular salt, 1/2 kosher salt
1/4 tsp cayenne powder, 1/4 cup cocoa powder.
Toasted {insert nut} here, 1/2 cup.
While I might have scrambled eggs in the morning or fried egg sandwich, sometimes I don’t want to eat a cookie with egg goo cooked thru-out. I’m going to try some chickpea gooey liquid in a few. Anyone else have any suggestions on a binder? Arrowroot flour? Tapioca flour? Flaxseed I haven’t tried yet.
I made these cookies with no problems for months when I was in the Middle East, but I’m back home in Australia and am having real trouble with them. First, instead of spreading and levelling out, they just puff up and crack on the top. They are not chewy nor are they soft or tasty, but quite hard, crispy and yuck. Help! What do I do? I haven’t changed anything about how I make them!
Hi Tiah, Oh no! If no other changes were made, it sounds like it could be your oven or the air temperature/humidity.
Thanks Michelle – I think you’re right! Come to think of it, most of my cakes have been failing so I think it’s time to upgrade the oven! Hope you’re doing well with the new addition to the family! Xx
So like if I wanted to save the cookie dough can I freeze it?
Yes! I would recommend portioning out the dough into balls and freezing that way.
I made these cookies today, and they tasted great but did not look as pretty as yours. I have 2 questions: I had a hard time getting the chocolate chips to mix into the batter. I assume this is because of the melted butter. Is there a trick to that? Also, after baking, the cookies looked more like baseballs (too rounded). When I took them out of the oven I tried to flatten them with the back of a spoon, but they didn’t deflate much at all. Any idea what went wrong with the appearance of the cookies?
Hi Mary-Jane, I don’t have any tricks for mixing the chocolate chips, I just stir them in and try to work them in so they are evenly distributed. Did you do the whole pull-apart and put back together shaping step? They shouldn’t stay in a ball shape, but they do fall as they cool. Is your oven temperature correct? I can’t think of anything else if you didn’t make any ingredient substitutions.