Thick Chocolate Chip Cookies

Crisp on the outside, gooey in the middle and packed with milk chocolate chips – these are my best-ever Thick Chocolate Chip Cookies!

The cookie debate: thick & gooey vs. thin & chewy cookies

Which side of the fence do you sit on?

If you were to ask me, I sit right in the middle on the fence! Sometimes a thick, gooey cookie in all its molten lava glory is exactly what is needed! But then other times, I love a thin chewy cookie to dunk in a cup of tea. Which is why I’ve created a recipe for both!

Here you’ll find the recipe for my thick NYC-style chocolate chip cookies. But if you’re looking for thin chewy chocolate chip cookies (similar to Millie’s cookies) then check out this recipe instead. 

5 tips for baking thick chocolate chip cookies

This recipe took a lot of testing, trial and error to make sure it was absolutely fool-proof and perfect. Along the way, I learnt a few tips that will help you bake the best ever thick chocolate chip cookies.

1: Use cold butter

It may seem strange to use cold butter for cookies, as typically you would start with room temperature or even melted butter. But for thick cookies, it’s all about reducing spread in the oven as much as possible and that’s why we start with cold butter. 

The cold butter is creamed with two types of sugar, so it’s best to take it out of the fridge 30 minutes or so before starting the recipe to make sure it’s not completely solid.

2: Use good-quality chocolate chips

Thick cookies are stuffed with lots of chocolate chips which turn into melted pools of chocolate when baked into the cookie. For the best result, use a good-quality chocolate chip like Guittard or Food Thoughts, they’re maxi in size and taste delicious! Alternatively, you could chop up bars of milk chocolate into big chunks and fold them into the cookie dough.

3: Freeze the cookie dough before baking

For this recipe you will bake the balls of cookie dough from frozen rather than from chilled. Frozen cookie dough = less spread = thick cookies!!!

I recommend at least 90 minutes (enough time to tidy up, make a cuppa and watch an episode of your favourite series). However, the longer you leave the cookie dough, the thicker your cookies will be. 24-48 hours is ideal!

TIP: prep the dough in advance and leave it in the freezer for up to 2 months. On the day, bake the cookies so they’re fresh, gooey and delicious! 

4: Use a pre-heated, dark baking tray

What makes thick cookies extra special is their crisp golden outside with a gooey texture inside. Using a pre-heated, dark-coloured baking tray will heat up the outside of the cookie more quickly, making it crisp and golden. It also stops the cookies from spreading too quickly which keeps them nice and thick.

5: Thick cookies are best enjoyed straightaway

The fresher the cookies the better the flavour and texture! If you do need to bake ahead of time, freshen them up in the oven for 5 minutes 100°C (fan) to make the gooey and delicious agin.

Thick Chocolate Chip Cookies

Crips on the outside, gooey in the middle and packed with milk chocolate chips – these are my best-ever Thick Chocolate Chip Cookies!

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Prep: 10 minutes minutes

Cook: 15 minutes minutes

Freezing time: 1 hour hour 30 minutes minutes

Total: 1 hour hour 55 minutes minutes

Servings: 10

Ingredients

• 200 g Cold unsalted butter Take the butter out of the fridge 30 minutes before you start baking so that it's not completely solid
• 180 g Light brown sugar
• 80 g White caster sugar
• 2 large Eggs at room temperature
• 1 tsp Vanilla extract
• 250 g Self-raising flour
• 150 g Plain flour
• 1 tsp Salt
• 1 tsp Baking powder
• 300 g Milk/white/dark chocolate chips – or a mixture of all three see notes above on choosing the best chocolate chips

Instructions

Start by making the cookie dough

• Chop up the butter into chunks and place in a large mixing bowl. Beat using an electric mixer or wooden spoon for 1 minute. You want the butter to be slightly softer, broken up, but not at the 'creamed' stage.
  200 g Cold unsalted butter
  
• Add the light brown sugar and white caster sugar and beat together until just combined. Try not to over-mix at this stage otherwise the butter will become too soft.
  180 g Light brown sugar, 80 g White caster sugar
  
• Mix in both of the eggs and the vanilla extract. The mixture won't look very appealing at this stage but don't worry it will do soon!
  2 large Eggs, 1 tsp Vanilla extract
  
• In a separate bowl, stir together the self-raising flour, plain flour, salt and baking powder until well mixed. Tip into the butter mixture and fold everything together until it forms a thick cookie dough.
  250 g Self-raising flour, 150 g Plain flour, 1 tsp Baking powder, 1 tsp Salt
  
• Now add all of the chocolate chips and use your hands to mix them into the dough.
  300 g Milk/white/dark chocolate chips – or a mixture of all three
  

Shaping the cookies

• Line a baking tray or tin (one that will fit inside your freezer) with greaseproof paper.
• Weigh out 120g of the cookie dough, then use your hands to roughly shape it into a ball and place it on the baking tray. Thick cookies are meant to look rustic, so lumps and bumps on the cookie dough is exactly what you're looking for.
  
• Repeat this step until all the cookie dough is used up. You should get between 9-10 cookies in total. At this stage, you don't have to worry about the cookies being too close together on the baking tray. As long as they're not touching it's all good.
  
• Cover the baking tray with clingfilm and freeze the cookie dough balls for at least 90 minutes or up to 48 hours for best results. The longer you leave them, the thicker your cookies will be.

Baking the cookies

• Whilst the cookies are in the freezer, preheat your oven to 180°C (fan).
• Do this step 5 minutes before the freezing time is finished:

  Line a large baking tray with greaseproof paper and place in the oven for 5 minutes to heat up. The heated tray will help the cookies crisp up and brown on the outside but still keep a gooey centre.
• Place 3 to 4 of the frozen cookie dough balls onto the tray. These cookies are very chunky so make sure you leave plenty of room between them.Bake the cookies in batches if you need to.
• Bake on the middle shelf of your oven for 15 minutes until golden on the outside edge but still only lightly browned on the top and in the middle. The cookies should still be nice and thick, with very little spread.
  
• Leave to cool for 5 on the baking tray, or just until you're happy to pick them up without them falling apart.
• Enjoy your cookies straightaway!

Notes

Store your cookies in a cake tin at room temperature. They’re best eaten within 24 hours, but will keep for up to 4 days. 

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