These rich and chewy Fudge Cookies are the ultimate indulgent treat! They’re filled with a gooey fudge center and studded with chocolate chips for maximum chocolatey flavor. Recipe includes a how-to video!
Soft and Gooey Chocolate Fudge Cookies
With a chocolate cookie base, chocolate chips, and a soft, fudgy center, these chocolate fudge cookies are truly a chocolate lover’s dream! Today’s recipe is a rich and decadent spin on my double chocolate chip cookies, enriched and filled with rich chocolate ganache.
Thanks to carefully selected ingredients, the cookies stay soft and chewy, but are still firm enough to hold in that chocolate fudge filling. They’re indulgent, but still super simple to make, and I can’t wait for you to try them!
While the cookies are still warm, the fudge will be more like chocolate lava (so they’re sort of like lava cake cookies!). You’ll want to be very careful with the cookies at this stage, or you could burn yourself with the filling! Once the cookies have cooled completely, the filling becomes more of a fudgy consistency. Warm or cool, they’re delicious!
Let’s get started.
What You Need
Making perfectly flavored, soft and chewy fudge cookies is easy when you’ve got the right ingredients. Here are the heavy lifters in this recipe:
- Semisweet chocolate chips. You’ll need these for the fudge filling and for the cookies themselves. I like to reserve a few tablespoons of chips to lightly press into the tops of the cookies after they’ve come out of the oven; it gives them a bakery-style appearance!
- Heavy cream. When combined with the chocolate chips, this will make your fudgy filling (it’s essentially a thickened ganache.).
- Butter. Use unsalted butter and make sure it’s softened, but not melty. If all you have on hand is salted butter, you can use that in a pinch, but you’ll need to reduce your salt by a ½ teaspoon. My preference is to use unsalted butter as it gives us better control over the final flavor of the cookie.
- Sugar. A combination of granulated and light brown sugar makes for rich, chewy fudge cookies.
- Eggs. This recipe uses a whole egg plus an egg yolk. The added yolk which makes for a more tender cookie. Room temperature eggs work best, so remember to set yours out ahead of time.
- Flour. All-purpose flour will work fine. Make sure you know how to measure your flour properly, or your cookies could turn out too thick or end up dry.
- Cocoa powder. I like using natural cocoa powder, but Dutch process will also work in this recipe.
- Cornstarch. This help the cookies stay firm enough to hold their fudgy filling.
SAM’S TIP: The ganache needs to be made 30 minutes in advance, long enough for it to be dropped by dollops and maintain its shape. If it’s still too loose or melting into puddles when you drop it, put it back in the fridge! If you wait much longer than 30 minutes, it can become difficult to scoop, so you may need to let it sit at room temperature for a bit. If at any point the dough becomes too sticky to be manageable, you can just pop it back in the fridge for a few minutes.
Remember, this is just an overview of the ingredients I used and why. For the full recipe please scroll down to the bottom of the post!
How to Make Fudge Cookies
- Prepare the fudge filling and place it in the fridge to chill for 30 minutes. While the filling chills, prepare your dough, cover the bowl with plastic wrap, and place it in the fridge.
- Remove your ganache from the fridge and scoop 2-teaspoon sized dollops onto a wax paper lined baking sheet. Place the baking sheet in the freezer for 15 minutes.
- Remove the chilled dough from the fridge. Scoop a 1 ½ Tablespoon-sized scoop of dough, make an indent in the center with your thumb, and place a frozen ganache ball in the indent. Work the dough around the ganache ball until it is totally covered and smooth, then place on a parchment lined baking sheet. Repeat with the remaining cookies.
- Bake the cookies at 350F for 12-13 minutes. Let them cool completely on their baking sheet before enjoying.
SAM’S TIP: When you add your dry ingredients, do so gradually! Fudge cookie dough is fairly dry already, and if you add the dry ingredients all at once, you will have a difficult time getting the dough to come together. I like to do this in 3-4 parts.
Frequently Asked Questions
These will keep for up to 5 days when stored in an airtight container at room temperature. These cookies do not need to be refrigerated.
Yes! Not only does this prevent it from being sticky and unmanageable, but it also keeps the fudge cookies nice and chewy.
Yes! I preferred the flavor of regular cocoa powder in these fudge cookies, but you could use Dutch process too. The flavor will be more intense with Dutch process cocoa.
Enjoy!
Let’s bake together! I’ll be walking you through all the steps in my written recipe and video below! If you try this recipe, be sure to tag me on Instagram, and you can also find me on YouTube and Facebook
Fudge Cookies
Ingredients
Fudge Filling
- 1 cup (170 g) semisweet chocolate chips
- ½ cup (118 ml) heavy cream
Cookie Dough
- 1 cup (226 g) unsalted butter softened
- 1 ¼ cup (250 g) light brown sugar firmly packed
- ½ cup (100 g) granulated sugar
- 1 large egg + 1 large egg yolk room temperature preferred
- 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 ¼ cups (265 g) all-purpose flour
- ½ cup (50 g) natural cocoa powder
- 1 Tablespoon cornstarch
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¾ teaspoon table salt
- 1 ½ cups (255 g) semisweet chocolate chips
Recommended Equipment
Instructions
Fudge Filling
- Prepare the fudge filling first by placing chocolate chips in a heatproof bowl. Place cream in a small saucepan and heat until steaming, then immediately pour over chocolate chips. Cover and let sit for 5 minutes, then stir until chocolate is completely melted and mixture is smooth.1 cup (170 g) semisweet chocolate chips, ½ cup (118 ml) heavy cream
- Place filling in refrigerator and allow to chill for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, begin preparing your cookie dough.
Cookie Dough
- In a large bowl use an electric mixer (or you may use a stand mixer with paddle attachment) to beat together butter and sugars until creamy and well-combined.1 cup (226 g) unsalted butter, 1 ¼ cup (250 g) light brown sugar, ½ cup (100 g) granulated sugar
- Add eggs and vanilla extract and stir well.1 large egg + 1 large egg yolk, 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
- In a separate, medium-sized bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa powder, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.2 ¼ cups (265 g) all-purpose flour, ½ cup (50 g) natural cocoa powder, 1 Tablespoon cornstarch, 1 teaspoon baking powder, ½ teaspoon baking soda, ¾ teaspoon table salt
- With mixer on low speed, gradually stir flour mixture into butter mixture until completely combined, then stir in chocolate chips.1 ½ cups (255 g) semisweet chocolate chips
- Cover dough tightly with plastic wrap and place in refrigerator to chill.
Assembly
- Meanwhile, once ganache has mostly solidified, remove from refrigerator. Line a baking sheet with wax paper and drop ganache by 2 teaspoon-sized dollops onto prepared baking sheet.
- Place baking sheet in freezer and allow ganache to freeze for at least 15 minutes.
- Meanwhile, preheat oven to 350F (175C) and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Set aside.
- Once ganache has frozen enough to be manageable/easy to pick up, remove cookie dough from the fridge and scoop by heaping 1 ½ Tablespoon-sized scoop. Use your thumb to make an indent in the center then remove a ganache dollop from the freezer and insert it into the center of the cookie (you want the ganache to stay cold, so I work in batches and keep what I can in the freezer while I’m waiting for the first batch to cook). Use your hands to cover the ganache dollop with the dough and roll the dough into a smooth ball. Place on baking sheet and repeat with remaining dough, spacing cookies at least 2” apart.
- Transfer to 350F (175C) preheated oven and bake for 12-13 minutes. Allow cookies to cool completely on baking sheet before enjoying, keep in mind they will be fragile while warm and, before cooled completely, the fudge filling will be molten and could burn.
Notes
Cocoa powder
You may substitute Dutch process cocoa for this recipe, but natural was my preference for the best flavor for the cookies.Storing
Store cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days.Nutrition
Nutritional information is based on third-party calculations and should be considered an estimate only. Actual nutritional content will vary based upon brands used, measuring methods, cooking method, portion sizes, and more.
Stephanie
can tou freeze this cookie dough? would you simply make it into balls with the ganache in the middle and freeze?
Sam
Hi Stephanie! While I haven’t personally tried it I think that could work just fine. You may still need to freeze the ganache prior to sticking it in the dough to make it workable. 🙂
Bea
This didn’t really work for me as the ganache never really solidified. I plan to dip the cookies in them when they come out.
Sam
Hi Bea! I’m confused as to what happened? What do you mean by the ganache never set up? Did you make any alterations to it?
Peta
My son is making these and taking them to his band recital tomorrow. He is making the recipe as it stands however I was wondering if you have ever added fresh raspberries to the cookie dough?
Sam
Hi Peta! I have not experimented with adding fresh raspberries so I’m not sure exactly how it would be done. I hope everyone loves the cookies! 🙂