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]
These cookies are amazing!!!
I made them using all white whole wheat flour & used Smart Balance instead of butter. I reduced the brown sugar to 1/2 cup. Even with all these substitutions, the cookies tasted amazing and were SO CHEWY!! Thanks for my family’s new favorite cookie recipe. :)
These are the best chocolate chip cookies I have ever made and eaten. They came out perfect. Followed the directions to the t and they were the best. The hardest part was waiting for them to cool down. Thank you for sharing the recipe and beautiful pictures along with the great tip to melt butter and cool.
I made this with pecans and chocolate chips today, and they were delicious! Thank you!
For those concerned about the cookie dough being too soft, (and not able to be patient enough to wait for it to harden, like me :P ) I used an ice cream scooper to scoop it onto the baking tray. I didn’t use Michelle’s way. Hope this helped =)
i feel the need to share my story
you see i am fourteen and i have always tried out recipes i find online and frankly none of them have ever been great some were passable but my mom was getting pretty of me wasting ingredients on things that didnt even taste good so when i found this recipe and saw all the good reviews i thought i would give it one last shot and so i asked my mom to get some brown sugar but she never did! i was getting kind of mad when i saw in our pantry that we already have some! so i made the cookies this morning and they were delicious! i didnt have any trouble with it at all but i did use just regular butter and i put in a little bit more flour to make it more workable :)
These cookies have become a staple in my household.. everyone goes crazy for them and they really do taste like bakery cookies! I am officially obsessed with your blog… tried your cracker jack recipe out last week and they were beyond amazing. Thank you!
I tried these and they became very hard the next day :( not sure why. Also i would prob describe these as cakey and not chewy so much.
Hi Jen, It sounds like you either overbaked them, let them sit out too long before storing them, or didn’t store them in an airtight container. They definitely stay soft and chewy if baked and stored appropriately.
I agree with Michelle. My cookies stay soft and chewy for days after baking.
I was very excited about the recipe and followed the instructions exactly. The end result was a delicious cookie right out of the oven, but a rather dry and ordinary cookie once cooled. I liked the technique info regarding breaking them in half and exposing the torn centers, which yielded a pretty cookie. Not bad at all, but lets just say I will continue my search for the “perfect” chocolate chip cookie.
I haven’t made these in a long time and finally whipped up a batch today. Everyone in the house is going crazy! I am going to have to ration out the cookies or they will be gone before the day is over.
From Italy. This blog is just fantastic. I’m in love!
So, I just made these cookies today and they taste great but they are not thick :( I’m not sure what I did wrong. But any suggestions? They are more like thin and semi chewy/crunchy.
Hi Katie, It sounds like perhaps your butter was too warm, which would have caused the cookies to spread a bit and become more crunchy. Next time make sure that your melted butter is completely cooled before proceeding with the recipe.
During Christmas season, I followed directions to the ‘t’ and had awesome cookies. I made 75 cookies, 5 per box and was asked if they were home-made or if I bought them at a bakery! Score! I haven’t made them since because those cookies are HUGE! Do you think they will be just as chewy if they were smaller; maybe half the size? I guess I’ll experiment but hoped you’d already tried it and could comment.
Thanks again, love your website, your photos and your writing style. Keep it up!
Alicia
Hi Alicia, I actually have done this because a friend of mine wanted these over the holidays, but didn’t want them so big. I just used a medium-sized cookie scoop (about the equivalent of 2 tablespoons) to scoop out the dough (didn’t do any special shaping) and baked them for a handful of minutes less. They were delicious! Still very chewy and soft.
Is anyone having problems with the dough being too crumbly? When I mix in the chocolate chips, they don’t adhere to the dough and all wind up at the bottom of the mixing bowl. I feel like I’m wasting chips. I’ve made this recipe about 10 times and same results. The cookies turn out fantastic, but the chip problem persists.
I ended up making one giant cookie and used heart cut outs for valentines day they puffed up perfectly!
These were as amazing as they looked. I will never go back to the tollhouse recipe again. Soft and chewy and gone within a couple of days. :)
I love this recipe! I followed every step exactly except I used half melted butter and half softened butter — I’ve had bad luck with all-melted butter chocolate chip recipes before so I got a little hesitant. The recipe turned out exactly like the picture…beautiful, soft and chewy with slightly crispy edges! Next time, I will try all melted butter! Thank you!
Thank you so much for this recipe. I have been browsing and saving recipes for days and I was pretty sure I had the perfect recipe for chewy cookies, but right before starting baking, I ran into this recipe and I’m glad I decided to go with yours.
My first chocolate chip cookies and my husband said they were perfect.
I had bleached flour and I had pure cane sugar…. I didnt realize it wasnt brown sugar and it was too late to run to the store so I took the chance. There was no problem. They were very soft… melted in my mouth. I baked one shaped like a golf ball and the other ones using the instructions. I think I prefer the round one. The other ones have a slightly crunchy crust on top, while the round one is all the way soft. I baked them for around 20 minutes and they werent all brown, but they were cooked.
I highly recommend the recipe!!
I made these for a good chocolate chip cookie recipe for my blog and absolutely loved them! Thank you so much for sharing the recipe!
I (too) have been on a quest for the quintessential chocolate chip cookie. This one is a keeper! Followed the recipe to the letter and….perfection! Chewy on the inside, crispy on the outside. Don’t let the “wetness” of the dough scare you. I did, however, cook at the same time for just about as long using my convection oven those of you wondering how convection would differ.
Very good texture and flavour in these cookies. Thanks for sharing it.
For shaping them to get the pull apart look try chilling for 30mins so it’s a bit more firm then form the dough into a ~1.5″ diameter log and pinch off pieces from the end and dropping on baking sheet. No smooshing back together. Takes a little practice to get consistent sizes but this is how I did it when working in a bakery.
This is the first homemade chocolate chip cookie recipe I have ever made and they are AMAZING!!!! Now I feel like I should try other recipes just to compare, but I don’t know if I ever will because these are so perfect! I am the kind of person who eats the whole roll of Pillsbury dough and never bakes a single cookie, but with this recipe, the dough and cookies are equally as amazing! I added mini-m&m’s and cinnamon, along with the semi-sweet chocolate chips… mmmmm. I also let the dough sit in the fridge for a day for the second batch and the cookies were even better (saw that tip on another site). YUM!!!!
I have made this before and they were such a big hit that now my husband wants these for his birthday! Do you think you could make them the same way but put them in a cookie cake pan and it will be just as good?
Hi Amanda, I’m glad you guys enjoyed the cookies! I’ve never made these in a pan as a “cookie bar” so I couldn’t say for sure how they would compare, but if you try it I’d love to know how they turn out!
Hello… I just baked these fat cookies. I followed all your instructions, weighed the dry ingredients, cooled the melted butter, weighed each cookie – mine at 2.2oz. They turned out great, crispy on the edge and chewy in the inside. I baked the first batch for 16 minutes, once they were cooled, my husband took the first bite and the middle still under baked. So I baked the second and third batches for 18 minutes. Thank you for the recipe. I wish I could share the pics here.
I am not at all surprised that there are 289 comments on this post !!!! i guess i get to be 290 ?? :)
I too was on a search for a “go-to” chocolate chip cookie … i have a chocolate-chocolate brownie type cookie, but its not the classic and i really wanted one. So of course, as a HUGE HUGE fan of your blog i decided to give these cookies a try.
and so, i baked these tonight for my brother’s birthday party… i followed the recipe exact – pulling the balls apart to make the jagged edges. oh my lord — they were PERFECT !!!!! they looked exactly like those bakery of coffee shop jumbo cookies, and they were so perfectly chewy and yummy …. i am ECSTATIC !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! yay !!!
thank you for this ….
and of course, tomorrow i’m making a second batch for my sister in law – since the 18 cookies got eaten VERY quickly :) :)
you have the BEST BEST food blog ….
yum :)
Ok first off let me say that you are a genius and these are by far the best chocolate chip cookies I have EVER made. I too was on the hunt for the perfect recipe and this is definitely it! As much as I love cooking and eating I am constantly dieting and pretty much end up giving everything I make away or have my husband eat them. These cookies however are simply irresistible! Is there any way you could tell me the nutrition info on these cookies like calorie count , etc. If you could I would greatly appreciate it. Thank you! I look forward to making some more of your fabulous recipes.
Hi Yvette, I’m glad you enjoyed the cookies! I am actually working right now to implement nutrition facts so you should begin seeing them on here within the next month or so!
My son gave me the ATK 10 years of shows cookbook for Mothers Day last year. These cookies were the first recipe I tried. Wow! I immediately chucked my 25 year old tried and true recipe. These are THE best cc cookies ever!
I got this recipe from my friend. I’ve made them twice and I’m realizing im doing something very wrong. My cookies always cool hard as rocks and they are really white. ANd the chips are hard too. What am i doing wrong!??
Hi Jen, How long are you letting the cookies cool before storing them? It sounds like they may be left out too long or that they are being over-baked. I can’t really speak to them being white, that’s odd – perhaps you’re using a flour that is really bleached?
MUST BE STORED AIRTIGHT!!!
These are sooooo good! I made the mistake of leaving them on the cooling rack overnight and they were rock hard the next morning. I salvaged them by putting them into an airtight container with a few wet paper towels. After a few hours they were soft again.
I also didn’t weigh anything (don’t have a scale) and used jumbo chocolate chips (bought accidently – a glorious mistake). They are sooooo yummy! Thank you for sharing!
I love this recipe. I have already made 8 batches of this cookie recipe. My kids love them. They like them with mini M&Ms in them.
This recipe is a keeper!!!!
Thank you for this recipe! I made it for my office last night and was a little worried the cookies wouldn’t remain chewy the next day, but they did, and have been a huge hit. I made sure the cool the butter as instructed, used sea salt in place of regular salt, and semi-sweet chocolate chunks instead of chips. I also made smaller, more bite-sized cookies instead of large ones, so I only needed to bake for about 13-14 minutes. Perfect!