This Thick and Chewy Chocolate Cookies recipe is truly the BEST recipe for a classic soft and chewy chocolate chip cookie. Infinitely adaptable into all kinds of customized cookies, all you need is a glass of milk!
I know it’s hard to imagine that one could possibly NEED a new chocolate chip cookie recipe. After all, most people have a favorite recipe that they have been making for years.
For as long as I can remember, it’s been the Toll House recipe. It’s a classic, right? I mean, it’s THE classic chocolate chip cookie recipe.
I have so so many memories of making Toll House chocolate chip cookies with my mom and as you can see, I was a blooming food stylist at just the early age of 4. I’ve since inherited the very bowl and sheet pan that we used to bake those cookies with, which I now use with Riley when we make chocolate chip cookies.
But you know what? Sometimes it’s time for a change. I know, I know: change isn’t always easy.
However, when you come across a life-changing recipe, change isn’t so difficult.
The Best Chocolate Chip Cookies
Can you say YUM?! These cookies are incredible!! They were thick. They were chewy. They are THE BEST.
The edges were just a wee bit crunchy, making the perfect texture complement to the cookies’ chewy centers.
And let me tell you: they didn’t last too long in the house. That’s really saying something because Kyle is the staunchest of staunch conservatives when it comes to his cookies.
He’s a Toll House fan through and through so to even get him to agree to me making a new cookie was a feat on its own. So more importantly, I think I’ve swayed the cookie monster of the house into loving this recipe so much that I can make them again!
Ingredients
Here’s the grocery list of ingredients you’ll need for these cookies. Be sure to scroll down to the recipe card for the full list!
- All-purpose flour
- Baking soda
- Table salt
- Unsalted butter
- Light brown sugar
- Granulated sugar
- Eggs
- Pure vanilla extract
- Semi-sweet chocolate chips
Tips and Tricks
- Weigh your ingredients. Pull out your kitchen scale and quickly weigh up your cookie ingredients. It’s faster and so much more reliable than using measuring cups. Plus, there will be fewer tools to clean up afterwards!
- Use cool melted butter. Hot melted butter will melt the sugar and make your dough too soft. Be sure the butter is just warm or cool to the touch before you mix it with the sugar.
- Take your time mixing. Pay attention to the mixing instructions in the recipe card below. You’ll want to allow some rest time between mixing times.
- Don’t overmix. The dough will be finished mixing when it still looks just a little crumbly.
- Bake in batches. In the hundreds of times I’ve made these cookies, I’ve found that the bake up better when only 1 baking sheet in the oven at a time. This way, the single pan of cookies gets all of the oven heat. And since you’ll bake them in the center of the oven, you don’t have to worry about hot spots in the bottom or top of your oven.
- Freezing the dough and cookies. You can scoop the dough out and freeze on a baking sheet. Once the dough balls are frozen, toss them into a zip-top bag for up to 2 months to bake later. If you bake the cookies and want to freeze a bunch of leftovers, just slip them inside a zip-top bag and press all of the air out of it. The baked cookies will freeze well for about 1 month.
What to Serve with These Cookies
A big glass of milk is almost a non-negotiable with chocolate chip cookies. But if a hot drink is more of your thing, a hot latte is a terrific drink to make if you’re looking for something with a little more oomph than a cup of coffee.
Chocolate chip cookies are also an easy Christmas cookie recipe to make and if you want to really up your Christmas cookie game, add them to a giant dessert board! It’s got tons of cookie and dessert dip options that will keep everyone happy.
Adapting this Recipe
Over the years, I’ve made this recipe more times than I can count. Seriously, like hundreds of times! Needless to say, since I first tried it in 2009, it’s become my all-time favorite cookie recipe.
And because it’s such an easily adaptable recipe, I’ve made other recipes with this base recipe, like these Chocolate Chip Toffee Bars and these Reese’s Pieces cookie bars.
If you remove a little flour and add some cocoa powder, you’ve got yourself a batch of Thick and Chewy Double Chocolate Cookies! Not a bad way to change a recipe up now is it?
The Best Thick and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies
The best thick and chewy chocolate chip cookies are life-changing cookies that you'll make again and again. They're made with melted butter and are heavy on the brown sugar which leaves them chewy in the centers and a tiny bit crispy around the edges. This has been my go-to chocolate chip cookie recipe since 2009 and I've made it hundreds of times over the years!
Ingredients
- 2 cups plus 2 tbsp (10 ⅝ oz) all-purpose flour
- ½ tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp table salt
- 12 tbsp (6 oz) unsalted butter, melted and cooled until just warm to the touch
- 1 cup (7 oz) light brown sugar, packed
- ½ cup (3 ½ oz) granulated sugar
- 1 large egg plus 1 large egg yolk
- 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1 ½ cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
Instructions
- Adjust an oven rack to the center position. Preheat oven 325° F. Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper. Whisk the dry ingredients together in a medium bowl; set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddel attachment, or by hand, mix butter and sugars until thoroughly combined. If the butter is difficult to fully incorporate, let the mixture sit for 1 minute before continuing to mix. Repeat if needed after 15 seconds of mixing. Beat in the egg, yolk, and vanilla until combined. Add the dry ingredients and beat at low-speed just until combined. Stir in chocolate chips. The dough should look a little dry and crumbly but be able to hold its shape when gently squeezed.
- Roll a scant half-cup of dough into a ball. Holding dough ball in fingertips of both hands, pull apart into two equal halves. Rotate halves 90 degrees and, with jagged surfaces facing up, place each of the formed dough pieces onto cookie sheet, leaving ample room between each ball.
- Bake 1 sheet at a time for 11 to 14 minutes, rotating the baking sheet front to back halfway through baking, until cookies are light golden brown and outer edges start to harden yet centers are still soft and puffy. You should just be able to lift the edge of the cookie up without it loosing its shape. Do not overbake. Keep the 2nd pan in the fridge until ready to bake. Repeat with the 2nd pan after the 1st pan is finished baking.
- Transfer the pans to wire racks and allow the cookies to cool for 5 minutes before moving them to the racks to cool completely.
Notes
adapted from Baking Illustrated by the editor's of Cook's Illustrated
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Those look picture perfect!
Yummmm…. and I’m planning to try this CI/ATK recipe tomorrow!
The chocolate chips look like they weren’t even cooked! Perfectly formed, still shiny and gorgeous! Not like the blobs of chocolate I always get.
They look perfect. Uh, I would like one now please, No two:) Photo s certainly mouthwatering.
Yay! I am so happy you decided to make the switch! These are my absolute favorite chocolate chip cookie now. I make them far too often, and eat far too many 🙂 Glad you enjoyed them.
Just made a half batch and they turned out pretty good. I used King Arthur AP flour so they didn’t spread that much which was fine with me. I also put them in the fridge for about an hour. They were gobbled up pretty quickly!
Hi. i have decided to try the recipe. but i kinda have a few questions.
1. i use a convectional oven and the max is 250° Can it still be done?
2. when i put them in the oven, (11-14 mins) what’s the temperature for it?
im new to this baking thing so pls try to reply 🙂
thanks
I’m sure these cookies can be made in a convection oven but I’ve never used one before so I don’t have any advice on the temperature conversion – I’m sorry! When you put them in the oven, the temperature should be 325 degrees F (for a conventional oven). I hope that helps!
Okay thanks. But what about the preheat timing?
I don’t know how long it will take your oven to preheat to the appropriate temperature as all ovens are different. If you don’t have one already, a great kitchen investment is an oven thermometer. They cost between $5-$10, are smaller than the size of your palm, and you can usually find them in the grocery store. This will remove a lot of guesswork that comes with oven temperatures especially when you’re a new baker. Hope that helps!!
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I made these and they came out lovely. I have a preference for fewer chocolate chips, and was overwhelmed by them, but I gave them to some friends of mine who begged for more. CERTAINLY a keeper recipe!
I just made them and I loved them! They are chewy, not too sweet, not too buttery. I made them with dark chocolate and it tasted amazing. Thank you! I was looking for a good recipe for these type of cookies.
I just put a batch in the oven. I had to use self rising flour because my regular flour was too old & yucky. LOL. Other than that I followed your recipe exactly. Or at least I think I did.
Only problem was my dough was too soft & squishy to roll into balls. Any thoughts? Do you refirgerate at all first? Or could I?
Thanks.
Kristi: Yes, if the dough is too soft, stick it in the fridge for a few minutes when portion it out.
Yum, these look so good! Chocolate chip cookies come out flat too often for me, so thick and chewy sounds perfect.
I’m on a quest for the best chocolate chip cookie recipes and I hope you’ll consider adding this post to the Chocolate Chip Cookie Challenge link-up on Aug 15th. Learn more here: http://bit.ly/NOm7mT
Not to be offensive, but this recipe wasn’t “adapted” from anything. It is, word for word, taken from the Cook’s Illustrated January 1996 edition. It is a great recipe, but you should give the proper credit. I used it for many years until they came out with a better one.
I guess you missed my disclaimer above the recipe. You should also know that America’s Test Kitchen and Cook’s Illustrated publishes this recipe in many of their cookbooks so the January 1996 CI edition isn’t the only place it is published. Thanks for taking the time to comment.
Oh, dear. I’m going to have to make a great deal more of these. I have been baking for many years now I can passably make a lot of things but chocolate chip cookies have never been one of them. I have NEVER produced a perfect batch of cookies. Not once. Until yesterday when I made these. They are geogeous! And so are you for sharing them, thank you, thank you, thank you. From the bottom of my biscuit deprived heart.
AMAZING ! I rolled them into balls and froze the dough and baked when I had a sweet tooth. So far the best chocolate chip cookie recipe. 😀
Is it a must to use parchment paper to bake them? or can I just spray/grease cookie sheet?
thanks!
Rachel
This version was my favorite until I discovered a recipe for the Levain Bakery clone. To.Die.For!! OMG and then some! Check it out: http://www.fransfavs.com/2012/07/levain-bakery-chocolate-chip-walnut-cookie-clone/
I tried these last night, after my faithful chocolate chip cookie recipe failed on me more than once. They were perfect! Chewy, a bit crunchy, looked like the picture… My hubby raved about them. Thanks for a great new recipe!
Can I make these cookis with almond extract?
Sure! I would use a little less though since it could definitely overpower the cookies.
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Hi Elizabeth! I read each and every comment that comes through so please don’t be afraid to comment on older posts. I’m sorry these cookies didn’t work out for you. If they didn’t come together and you followed the recipe exactly, it’s likely because of too much flour in the dough. If the flour gets packed into the measuring cups (sometimes this happens when we aren’t even trying!), your dough will turn out dry. Next time, try fluffing the flour up before scooping the cup into it or sprinkling it into the cup with another cup and leveling it off with a knife. Alternatively you can weigh your flour – for this recipe, you’ll need 10 2/3 ounces. Hope that helps!
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I love this recipe! It’s my new go-to non-vegan chocolate chip cookie recipe. However, I did find that the dough was just too soft, so I just added 1/4 c of flour extra for every cup, and I think that makes them a bit firmer, but still so delicious!
Great to hear! Yes, depending on how you measure the flour, the dough can turn out a little soft. I’ve had the same trouble from time to time. So glad the cookies were a hit!