These HUGE, thick chocolate chip cookies are the kind you’d find front and center in a bakery case. My recipe takes just 15 minutes to prep before chilling and yields an incredible, gourmet chocolate chip cookie. Recipe includes a how-to video!
Bakery-Inspired Chocolate Chip Cookies
We’ve made giant and mini chocolate chip cookies, thin & crispy chocolate chip cookies, and even my best chocolate chip cookies… but these thick chocolate chip cookies are a first! Another gourmet-style cookie, these super thick and fat cookies are tender, soft, melt-in-your mouth, and oh-so-chocolatey.
They’re the sort you’d spy behind bakery glass and just wouldn’t be able to resist ordering one… or a dozen.
But before we get started, it’s so important that I note that while they are thick, these cookies are NOT cakey (dry, cakey cookies are unwelcome here!).
In order to achieve this tricky balance of melt-in-your-mouth-ness AND pillowy thickness, it’s very important you don’t accidentally overmeasure your flour, or your cookies could actually end up cakey. I recommend using a kitchen scale to be safe, but if you don’t have one of those (you should really get one), check out my post on how to (properly) measure flour!
What You Need
Most of these ingredients will be pretty familiar, but let’s chat about a few that can be customized to your liking:
- Brown sugar. You can use either light or dark brown sugar, or do what I do and use equal parts of each. Personally, I find that using all dark brown sugar yields a cookie that’s just a bit too rich.
- Cake flour. For someone who doesn’t stand for cakey cookies, I’ve found cake flour has made its way into an awful lot of my cookie recipes, recently. From my blueberry muffin cookies and coffee cake cookies to my Lofthouse cookies, I’ve found that, while not a typical cookie ingredient, cake flour contributes to the thick, tender texture we’re going for here. It creates a fine crumb that really does melt in your mouth. You can substitute all-purpose flour (instructions below), but the texture won’t be the same.
- Vanilla extract. I love using my homemade vanilla extract in these cookies. By the way… if you start making a batch of homemade vanilla now, it will be ready just in time for holiday baking 😉
- Chocolate. Chocolate chips work great (opt for semisweet), but I really enjoy using 8-10 oz of chopped dark chocolate or semisweet chocolate bars. The bars just melt nicer and leave varying sizes of chocolate throughout the dough.
- Cornstarch. Okay, this one isn’t customizable or negotiable, but it is highly important and therefore worth mentioning! Cornstarch helps with the thickness of these cookies (it prevents them from spreading too much) and their melt-in-your-mouth (I have repeated this phrase so often only because it is so relevant, I promise) tenderness. Don’t skip it!
SAM’S TIP: Add the dry ingredients gradually! If you add the flour all at once, you will have a tough time mixing everything together and your dough will be dryer and more difficult to work with than necessary (and this is already a stiff dough).
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 Thick Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Cream together the softened butter and sugars until light and fluffy.
- Add the eggs and vanilla and stir well to combine.
- Whisk together the dry ingredients in a separate bowl, then gradually add them to the wet ingredients.
- Fold in the chocolate until thoroughly incorporated, then cover the dough and let it chill in the fridge for 30 minutes.
- Scoop ⅓-cup sized scoops onto a parchment lined baking sheets, spacing at least 2″ apart.
- Bake for 13-14 minutes at 375F or until the edges look slightly golden brown. The centers will still be a bit underdone and fragile when you remove them from the oven, so let the cookies cool completely on the baking sheet before enjoying.
SAM’S TIP: I use an ice cream scoop for this dough since we are going for huge chocolate chip cookies. You can always drop the dough right on the baking sheet, but I like to roll mine into smooth balls to make them more uniform first.
Frequently Asked Questions
If you don’t let these cookies cool completely on their baking sheets, they will likely fall apart on you (they are super fragile while warm). This isn’t a bad thing, but it can be unexpected if you are were planning to enjoy the cookies right after baking!
Yes! This dough can stay tightly covered in the fridge for up to 3 days. The dough might be a bit hard to scoop at first, so you can let it sit at room temperature for a bit to soften back up.
Unfortunately I don’t have a great substitute. I know sometimes bakers use tapioca starch and arrowroot powder instead, but I’m not sure how they would work here. If you do try either of these, please let me know how it goes for you!
Love these cookies? Try my thick peanut butter chocolate chunk cookies next!
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
Big Thick Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup (226 g) unsalted butter softened
- 1 cup (200 g) brown sugar firmly packed (use light, dark, or a blend of the two)
- ½ cup (100 g) granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs room temperature preferred
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 4 cups (450 g) cake flour (see note)
- 2 Tablespoon cornstarch
- 2 teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- 2 cup (340 g) semisweet chocolate chips see note
Recommended Equipment
- Ice cream scoop
Instructions
- Combine butter and sugars in a large mixing bowl and use an electric mixer (or stand mixer) to beat until light and well-creamed.1 cup (226 g) unsalted butter, 1 cup (200 g) brown sugar, ½ cup (100 g) granulated sugar
- Add eggs and vanilla extract and stir well.2 large eggs, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- In a separate mixing bowl, whisk together flour, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.4 cups (450 g) cake flour, 2 Tablespoon cornstarch, 2 teaspoon baking powder, ¾ teaspoon salt, ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- Gradually add dry ingredients to wet, stirring until completely combined.
- Add chocolate chips and use a spatula to fold in until well distributed.2 cup (340 g) semisweet chocolate chips
- Cover bowl and chill for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, line a baking sheet with parchment paper and preheat oven to 375F (190C).
- Once dough has chilled, uncover and scoop into ⅓-cup sized scoops (I use an ice cream scoop). Drop onto prepared baking sheet, spacing at least 2” apart, and bake for 13-14 minutes, until edges are just beginning to turn light golden brown. Allow cookies to cool before removing from the baking sheet, cookies will be fragile and prone to breaking while warm and will appear under-baked in the center if they’re broken into before they’re cooled completely.
Notes
Flour
I recommend cake flour for best results. However, you may substitute all-purpose flour (cookies will be less tender). Use 3 ⅔ cup (450g) all-purpose flour. DO NOT use 4 cups of all-purpose flour and please DO NOT make a cake flour substitute where you remove some of the flour and replace it with an equal amount of cornstarch. You’ll end up using too much flour! The commenters who complained of too dry cookies made these mistakes, don’t be one of them!Chocolate
I like to use a blend of mini and regular-sized chocolate chips or I’ll chop up 8 oz of semisweet chocolate and use that instead.Storing
Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days. Cookies may also be frozen after baking and cooling. Wrap tightly and frreeze up to several months.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.
Erin
I want to try this with brown butter! I’ll refrigerate the brown butter after cookies until it’s softened. Have you tried this ? Thank you!!😊
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Hi Erin! We haven’t tried brown butter in this recipe. If you do, let us know how it goes for you 😊
Erin
I will def let you know! Your Brown Butter Chocolate Chip recipe is THE BEST!! The best cookie ever! Thank you! 😊
Stephanie
The cookies came out tasting flour-y. Your recipe says to stir in the flour. So I did not mix it in with the mixer, I stirred it with a spatula. Perhaps I didn’t get it incorporated well enough. Also, I converted the four cups of flour to 520 grams of cake flour. Cake flour does not convert at the same grams rate as AP flour. Maybe its too much flour? The cookies barely melted. They look like mountains. I did bake for 15 min (my oven runs a bit low). They are fully cooked, just disappointed with the taste.
Sam
Hi Stephanie! You can use a mixer to stir in the flour, it should have a “stir” setting. However, unfortunately you used 70 grams of flour too much, which is why they came out floury. The measurements listed in the recipe are correct and are given for both cake flour and all-purpose flour (listed in the notes). I think if you try it again with the correct amount of flour written in the recipe you will be happier with the taste.
Kathy Terzian
Just made these cookies.
Turned out perfect and delicious!!
My new favorite chocolate chip cookie
Thank you, looking forward to trying other recipes.
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Thanks for giving them a try, Kathy! 💜
Mary
I’ve been trying for years to make a good chocolate chip cookie they either run all over the tray or end up tasting like store bought. Tried these without much hope. What a pleasant surprise these are very good! Thank you!
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed them so much, Mary! 🙂
Bev
These came out great. Thank you for this recipe!
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed them so much, Bev! 🙂
Esther
I can’t find cookie flour anywhere, I’m in the US. Do you know of any options here to subs the flour in the recipe?
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Hi Esther! This recipe uses cake flour. You should be able to find it in your local grocery store. If not, we include instructions for using regular, all-purpose flour. Hope that helps!
Ralph Chapman
Our households new favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe. We used a stand mixer and whipped the butter and sugar a bit longer while measuring the dry ingredients and they turned out wonderful. We even made 6 extra large ones that were about 2/3 cups of batter and cooked them for a extra 1-2 minutes than the first batch and the turned out perfectly.
A perfect cookie to enjoy with a big glass of milk while visiting with friends. Thank you for sharing your hard work.
Jason
it’s cake flour not cookie flour.
Megan
I have been searching for the best thick and soft cookies and I’m so glad I finally found these! They are perfect! I didn’t see the note about subbing less regular flour in until it was too late but they still turned out so incredibly delicious! I also used a combo of milk and salted caramel chips! Thanks for the recipe:)
M
Hi! If making half of the recipe, do I also cut the baking time in half? Thanks!
Sam
If you are making the cookies the same size they will need the same baking time. You will just get fewer cookies. 🙂
Kim
I just came across this recipe and was wondering if I could use sourdough discard? I love your brown butter cookies but want a thick cookie like this one.
Sam
Hi Kim! I haven’t tried using sour dough discard with this particular recipe so I can’t say for sure how it would go.
Sara
Hi Sam 🙂
I absolutely love all your recipes, I’m really wanting to make a version of this but with a coffee flavour in the cookie. Was just wondering if the small amount of water I’d use to dissolve the coffee would affect the consistency of the cookie overall?
Thanks so much
Sam
Hi Sara! The water could change the texture, and not necessarily for the best. Could you try adding in chopped up chocolate espresso beans? That could give some coffee flavored punch without changing the recipe. 🙂
Diane Smith
I’m anxious to try these – I am hoping to make them to be sold in a galley on a tour boat (small boat, small company). Please advise the BEST way to wrap for individual sale – and about how many days they should stay fresh enough to sell/ eat…Thank you!
Sam
I hope you love the recipe, Diane! I never have sold them but I would either wrap in plastic wrap or maybe heat-seal in cute cellophane bags? I’d probably want to sell within 3 days of preparing.
Diana
I made these cookies last night. I checked them at the 13-14 minutes recommended baking time and they were still pretty gooey so I baked them 4-5 minutes longer and they were definitely cakey rather than chewy. Is it okay to take them out of the oven even when the toothpick comes out with dough on it?
Sam
Hi Diana! Yes definitely take them out when the centers are still gooey, I would not use the toothpick test here. Just let them cool completely to finish cooking through and they will be perfectly tender in the centers.
Jennifer
Hello! I’m a huge fan of thick chocolate walnut cookie so, when I baked your recipe, I added about 1 cup roasted walnuts. The cookies were delicious but slightly too dry for my liking. Do you have any tips for a moister cookie next time? My current considerations are to use chunkier walnut pieces and reduce the amount to 3/4 C. Thank you!
Sam
Hi Jennifer! Nuts tend to dry out the dough a little bit. You may want to try just cutting the nuts a bit, you could also try baking for slightly less time 🙂
Barbara
Hi, looking forward to making these cookies today! I was going to add pecans to the mix. Any suggestions for an amount and any instructions for altering the recipe with the added pecans to keep it just as perfect as it is, thank you.
Sam
Hi Barbara! Adding nuts will make the cookies less likely to spread and slightly more dry. I think you could probably use 1/2 if you don’t reduce the chocolate added in, or up to a cup if you reduce the chocolate. 🙂
Alysha Kautz
My new favorite recipe!
Susan
These cookies were pale, flavorless, and disappointing. I’m not sure if it was the corn starch or baking powder, which I’ve never seen in a chocolate chip cookie recipe, but these were not the satisfying, rich chocolate chip cookies that come out from typical recipes.
Sam
Most likely it was over-measured flour or baking too long, sadly. They are by design not as rich as classic chocolate cookies, but pale, flavorless, or disappointing they should not be, and I haven’t had anyone else report this issue. Did yours look like the photos or video? I would recommend using a kitchen scale for weighing your ingredients and perhaps baking slightly less time. I hope that helps!