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]
And add oatmeal to this?
I would not recommend adding oatmeal, as it will definitely affect the texture of the cookie. I do have some oatmeal cookie recipes that you can add chocolate chips to; I would recommend going that route.
Hey can I refrigerate this dough for a day also?
Yes, you can refrigerate it!
Update: The cookies looked perfect right out of the oven, but as they cooled, they started to deflate. Am I baking too long, or not enough? I baked them for 15 minutes. Please help! They still have an awesome flavor, but I really like a THICK cookie. Thank you!
I have tried another similar variation of this recipe & they did not turn out. This one, on the other hand, turned out perfect! I done everything you stated to do, except weighing the ingredients, as I don’t own a scale & wow, I’m so pleased with the results. Thank you so much!
This recipe is awesome! Like everyone else, I’ve been searching for the perfect chocolate chip cookie recipe. The brown sugar to sugar ratio is key here (2:1). I did not refrigerate the cookie dough as others did and they came out perfect. I cut the recipe in half because we didn’t need all of those cookies. ; )
Took me about a dozen tries before I got these cookies soft and gooey yet quite crisp. The texture was retained finally after it has cooled. My son enjoyed rolling the cookie dough into balls as much as eating them after they were done. Great recipe.
I think this is the first recipe on your site that I’ve tried & don’t like. Just finished making your dark chocolate cupcakes w/ the cream cheese icing from your red velvet cupcake recipe and these turned out wonderfully! The cookies on the other hand were thin, crispy on the outside and too soft on the inside, and way way too sugarery!! I made them exactly as the recipe dictated, even put them in the fridge so I could form the balls better, as well as tried extra baking soda in one of the batches…but they end up so thin each time that they fall apart when I pull them off the baking sheet. After 4 tries, the remainder batter is in the fridge… Any suggestions for really thickening these up? Thanks!
I just made these for my daughter’s volunteer school project. I normally make sugar free cookies, because I personally can’t have too much sugar. But she informed me that I couldn’t get “healthy” on these because they asked for regular chocolate chip cookies. So I came across your recipe on Pinterest and gave them a go. I followed your instructions to a T, even weighing everything, and I have to say, these are the best freakin cookies I have ever made/ate!! Yes, I did eat a 1/4 of one. I want more, but I know it’ll make me sick, so I am refraining. I wanted to try to make them sugar free, but with the precise measurements I was afraid of the conversion ratio. Would you perhaps have any suggests?
Hi Dora, I’m glad the cookies were a hit! I generally don’t do sugar-free baking so I’m not sure how you could eliminate the sugar in these and still get the same flavor/texture. You could try using Splenda as a substitute… I haven’t tried it, but if you give it a try, let me know how it goes!
THE MOST delicious chocolate chip cookie ever…hands down!! Thank you for the recipe. They turned out perfect. I can’t wait to try making them with chopped up Reese’s PB cups instead of the chips! These will be the hit of the bake sale for sure :)
I tried this recipe. It was good but the dough was super buttery. I noticed its the same as the white chocolate macadamia recipe, except this one has twice the butter! Is that a mistake?
BTW, the white chocolate macadamia recipe is TO DIE FOR! I pinned both of these recipes on Pinterest. Thanks for sharing! Love your blog!
Hi Emily, Not a mistake! Make sure to let the melted butter cool completely before proceeding with the recipe. It can make a big difference in the final outcome!
I made these 3 days ago and it will definitely be my new go-to chocolate chip cookie recipe! I followed the recipe exactly and they baked up perfect and are STILL soft today (3 days later!!!). I did notice that they work best if you make them pretty big. The smaller ones seemed to spread and flattned a bit more. Absolutely fabulous!
Do you have a recommendation for adapting to a high (5000 ft) elevation?
Hi Peg, There are some general guidelines for high altitude baking on the FAQ page: https://www.browneyedbaker.com/baking-faq/
I’ve been using your recipe for over a year using softened butter & had not noticed my mistake! I often thought, your recipe was chewier than all the other CCC recipes I’ve tried so it became my fav CCC recipe, though I felt it was lacking in the chewiness I was looking for. Today, I had someone to copy down the recipe for me from your site & I noticed “melted” after the word butter, I’ve never made cookies with melted butter before, so I checked your site myself to confirm it was copied right. I made it with the correct instructions today & got abit worried when dough turned out wetter than the avg cookie dough but the end results it was superb! Definitely was waaaayyyyy better than with softened butter. The chewiness I was looking for! :D & it’s so easy to make too, I don’t even use my mixer, I just use a whisk! Thanks for the wonderful recipe. It would be great if you could come up with different variations of your amazing CCC.
Amazing.. easy to follow recipe.. cookies turned out thick,crunchy on the outside .. chewy and cake like on the inside. Added both white and milk choc chips.
WOW – paroxysms and mega-backflips!! These are rock-your-world splendiferous. Seriously, impossible to come up with the appropriate superlatives to describe these cookies. Tender, yet chewy. Resistant, yet yielding, melt-in-your-mouth loveliness. Butter ramps up the delightfulness. A taste of the dough left me skeptical, as it had megawatt sweetness. I was concerned. But the angst was unnecessary. Once baked, they’re perfectly sweetened. Leave it to the folks at Cooks Illustrated to find the ne-plus-ultra, holy grail of chocolate chip cookies.
I’m not sure what I did wrong but these cookies turned out REALLY oily and flat. Like you bite into them and you can feel the grease. :(
Hi Rosie, A couple of things could have happened… It’s important to make sure that the melted butter has completely cooled before proceeding with the recipe; if it’s too warm, the cookies will spread. Also, it’s best to line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat; if you greased the sheet with butter, shortening or spray, that could have contributed to the cookies spreading and tasting greasy. Finally, if your oven temperature is off, it could definitely affect the final outcome of the cookies. I always recommend getting an oven thermometer (they’re less than $10) to make sure the temperature is accurate.
I finally baked this recipe, and they are A M A Z I N G ! ! ! Even though I had run out of my “good” vanilla, and even though I used off-brand chocolate chips, they are absolutely delicious. FYI, I chose to use dark brown sugar for the added “deep” flavor it would impart, and I roasted and caramelized sugar on a handful of pecans, which must have increased the yummy factor exponentially. According to my 26-year-old son, they shouldn’t be legal : ).
Thank you for this recipe! It is absolutely wonderful, and I was glad for the weight measurements since I recently got myself a digital scale and I wanted to try it out. Although I have to say this cookie is a tad “too” sweet for some people (me included), but I did use dark brown sugar, so I don’t know if that affected it, I’ll just have to omit the white sugar next time.
I was able to yield about 40 cookies from these using a tablespoon of dough.
Wow, I’ve just tried this recipe and the cookies came out great! I think this is probably the first time I’ve succeeded with a cookies recipe, haha, so thanks a lot!
My cookies didnt turn out good. I have tried different recipes and I always get cakey like cookies, not chewy. Any body can give me advice? Thanks
Hi Isabela, If you are having the same result with different types of recipes, you might want to check into getting an oven thermometer to make sure the temperature is correct. That could definitely be the issue. If they are dry, it could also be an issue with overmixing the batter.
I was so excited to try this recipe! I was so disappointed when it came time to shape them, then split and rotate 90 degrees. My dough was too sticky and runny. But I STILL tried to do it because it sounded so ‘professional chef-like’, ya know! lol. Obviously, that didn’t work seeing as the consistency was so off. I tried adding a little bit more flour and sugar. I saw that many people warned about over-mixing and I’m assuming I had done that! Adding the flour and sugar really had no effect. lol. BUT, they did come out of the oven deliciously. In fact, they were a LOT like the chewy chips ahoy cookies, which I love! So yay for that! lol. 2 days later, I’ve just finished the last of the cookies and it still tasted delicious. I definitely intend to try this recipe again without using my mixer! I’m going to stir by hand this time and HOPEFULLY I won’t over-mix and it will turn out just right! Either way, it’s my favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe I’ve found thus far! Thank you sooo much! ^_^
These were FANTASTIC!!!!!
We didn’t have unsalted butter so we just used salted. We also used 2 cups of Chocolate chips. And used a largish cookie scoop to make the balls. These really were the very best cookies we’ve ever made. We were very careful not to over mix. I think if anyone has problems with this recipe that that may be the problem. Can’t wait to make these again. Thank you so much for sharing!!!
Can you sub margarine instead of butter?
Hi Alli, I would not recommend it. The flavor will be dramatically different and I can’t guarantee that the texture would turn out the same either.
I am impressed with this recipe and I don’t think I’ll ever roll another chocolate chip cookie again. I love how they look with that pull apart method. So glad I found your site! Thanks!
I love this recipe! Whenever I have a craving for cookies this is my go too. Every time I make them they get better and they look so gourmet. I prefer using dark chocolate chips and I have even chopped up the chocolate truffles from Costco and made a chocolate chunk version. <3
AMAZING COOKIES!
sooo easy to make and they are simply delicious!:)
thank you for the recipe!
ps: i am no expert baker I think anyone could make this recipe! i chilled mine for a little bit in the fridge and used hersey chocolate chunks because I did not have any chocolate chips!
I made these cookies today with mixed results. Let me start by saying these are unbeliveably tasty, and the flavor is not at all the problem I had. I followed the recipe to the tee, going so far as to weight all the ingredients, and mix by hand so as to be sure not to over mix. I weighed each cookie to 62 grams, and it did indeed make identically sized18 cookies (first time that’s ever happened) . I rolled them, then pulled them apart then squished them together again, and they really did have that uneven look i’ve always tried to get. That’s the good part, however, despite the fact that I did all of that, and I rotated the sheets and timed them to 18 minutes (because no way was 15 enough) and took them out before they looked done to me, the first 2 sheets came out looking great, then they cooled and flattened out like all my other cookies do. The 3rd sheet was different. I actually wound up cooking them for about 20 minutes somewhat by accident, and they are PERFECT !!!!! So, now I know, my oven is 20 minutes.. i also sprinkled with cinnamon and sea salt. Some may think this is weird, I can assure you, it is not. Try it, you might be surprised. In short don’t over mix or under bake.. and they will turn out awesome. I can’t wait to make them again !!!!! THANKS !!!!
I could not agree more with the importance of weighing your ingredients, especially when baking. Thanks for the recipe. The pic looks amazing!
OMG – these are the most perfect chocolate chip cookie I have ever eaten . thank you
Simply amazing! Debuted these lovelies on 4th of July and not a crumb left. This is simply fab with Ghirardelli chips and pecans! I’m definitely the cookie champ! Thanks a dozen times!