These cookies are thick and soft, with gooey centers straight from the oven. I like a mix of milk chocolate chips and dark chocolate, but you can use whatever you prefer here. Makes 15 large cookies.

This post may contain affiliate links. Read the disclosure policy here.

jump to recipe

I scoured the internet to find an easy recipe for a thick, chunky, and gooey chocolate chip cookie, and all of the recipes were dissappointing.

Each of the recipes I came across either called for special ingredients (ie: corn starch, bread flour, cake flour) or had techniques like a chill time or a long rest to achieve the thick gooey texture, which meant that I wouldn’t be able to have a cookie now. Typically when I’m making a cookie, it’s because the craving hits, and I know that not just a handful of chocolate chips will do. A few of the recipes I tried were good, but most had too much flour and were kind of boring once fully cooled.

Unsatisfied, I became set on developing my own recipe. I settled for a time with my ASAP CCC, which isn’t thick, but I forgave that defect because of it’s beautifully caramelized edges and gooey center (it’s a marvelous cookie for people who love flatter chewier cookies).

This recipe in particular was a happy accident. When I hosted my home coffee shop for my birthday, I had doubled the batch of my ASAP CCC, and some of the flour didn’t get mixed in all of the way at the bottom of the mixing bowl. I decided to squish it all together and see what happened, and they baked up to be beautifully puffy and perfectly sweet cookies. Much to my surprise and delight, I worked on the recipe for this version as soon as I could.

The only difference with this recipe compared to the original is 1 more cup of flour (by weight from 300 to 420 gr) and 1/4 more of a cup of milk chocolate chips.

If you are a chunky cookie lover, try this recipe out! It takes just as much time to make as store bought cookie dough, since the cookies are ready to bake in the time it takes to preheat the oven. Let me know what you think of this recipe in the comments!

Ingredients

2 sticks Butter, cold from the fridge: For flavor and texture
1/2 cup Sugar: For sweetness and texture
1 cup Brown sugar: For softer texture and caramel flavor
3 Egg yolks: Provides richness and helps bind everything
1 1/2 teaspoon Vanilla: For flavor
1 teaspoon Salt: To bring out the sweetness and balance flavors
1/2 teaspon Baking powder: A leavening agent, makes the dough more “cakey”
1/2 teaspoon Baking soda: A leavening agent, and helps with spread and crispy edges
2 1/2 cups (300 grams) All purpose flour: To act as a base for the dough
1 cup Semisweet or dark chocolate chips or chunks: Use your favorite baking chocolate
3/4 cup Milk chocolate chips or chunks: Use whatever you have on hand
2 tsp Flakey sea salt: This isn’t necessary, but a fun extra touch

Equipment you’ll need:

Electric stand mixer or hand mixer: To mix the dough

Measuring cups: To measure the sugar and chocolate chips

Kitchen scale: To measure the flour, for better accuracy

Measuring spoons: To measure the leavening agents and vanilla

Small bowl: For separating the yolks from the eggs

Baking pan or cookie sheet: For baking the cookies

Parchment paper: To line the cookie sheet for baking

Step by Step Recipe:

Preheat your oven to 375°F, and line two baking sheets with parchment paper. You’ll need three sheets, but you can reuse one after the cookies have slightly cooled and you can move them to a cooling rack.

Add cubed butter (cutting cold butter into cubes allows you to start with cold butter since the mixer can break it down) to mixer with sugars and mix on low until it starts to clump up, then turn mixer to medium & mix for five minutes. I like to set a timer and walk away, only coming back to scrape the bowl one or two times. When the butter and sugar are ready, they will have lightened in color considerably due to the air incorporated into the butter.

Scrape the sides bowl, & add the egg yolks one at a time, scraping the sides of the bowl to make sure it is thoroughly mixed. After you add the third yolk, add the vanilla and mix for about one minute. The batter will start to look fluffy and smell delicious.

Add the baking soda, baking powder, and salt, and mix for ten seconds. I like to add these first to make sure they are fully mixed in, and so I can also avoid over mixing when I add the flour. If you are measuring the flour with a measuring cup, this next step is very important to get the consistency right. Flour compacts quite a bit when packaged, so what you think is one cup when you measure by volume could actually be closer to 1.33-1.5 cups.

First, thoroughly whisk the flour with a fork or a whisk to fluff it up. Then carefully scoop the flour into your measuring cup with a large spoon, once you have a little bit extra then level the flour with the flat side of a knife; do not shake to level.

If you measure without fluffing the flour, you’ll end up with a cakey cookie that doesn’t taste as sweet. A good indicator if you measured too much flour is if you end up with enough dough for more than 15 cookies.

Add the flour to the mixer and mix on low until almost no flour is visible, then turn off the mixer. Add the chocolate chips all at the same time. Finish the mixing by hand with a rubber spatula if you’re using a hand mixer.

Mix on low for about 30 seconds until all of the flour is picked up from the bottom of the bowl. If it’s still not fully mix, then mix in the rest by hand so you don’t over work the dough.

Using a 1/4 cup cookie scoop, put 6 dough balls evenly apart on the prepared baking sheet. Bake for 12 minutes, rotating halfway through. Cookies are done when the edges are brown and they start to brown slightly on the top.

Cool for ten minutes before eating. Store in an airtight container for up to 3 days.

Can this recipe be doubled?

I have a large stand mixer, and this recipe barely fit in it. If you plan to double, make sure your mixing bowl is at least 7 quarts. A hand mixer would not be able to handle a double batch of this recipe.

Can this recipe be halved?

It would be tricky to half it since you’ll have to measure out half of an egg yolk, but you could if you needed to. I would recommend just freezing the other half of dough in an airtight container for another time.

Can I make this ahead of time?

Yes, you can make the dough and freeze in an airtight container or resealable bag for up to 2 months. I like to let the dough thaw on a cookie sheet while the oven preheats. If baking from frozen, reduce cooking temperature to 350 F and bake closer to 15 minutes. You can also mix and store covered in the fridge for up to 3 days and bake at 375, adding a couple more minutes to the bake time.

What are the “special techniques” you mentioned for this recipe?

There are two special techniques that are essential to this recipe:

1) Cutting the cold butter into cubes, which saves time by preventing you from having to wait for the butter to reach room temperature (a trick I learned from Tawnie at Kroll’s Korner)

2) Using egg yolks without the whites. Egg whites contain a lot of water which causes the cookies to spread and can dilute the flavor. Egg yolks help combine and emulsify the ingredients and create a rich gooey texture in the cookie.

Can this recipe be made gluten-free?

I have not made this recipe with a gluten-free flour blend, but I have had great success with King Arthur Flour Gluten Free Bread Flour* (affiliate link). However, this flour still contains wheat, and is not safe for people with wheat allergies.