Crisp on the outside, gooey in the middle and packed with milk chocolate chips – these are my best-ever Thick Chocolate Chip Cookies!
Why these cookies are the BEST
- Chunky AF – each cookie weighs in at 120g!
- Rustic, golden brown exterior
- Crisp on the outside, gooey lava in the middle
- Chockablock with milk chocolate chips
- An easy, one-bowl recipe
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.
Have you made this recipe?
I really hope you enjoyed it! And I’d also love to hear what you think, so feel free to leave a comment or rating below. You can also drop me a DM on Instagram or tag me @jessie.bakes.cakes so I can see your delicious cookies.
Thick Chocolate Chip Cookies
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
More cookie recipes to love
This post contains affiliate links which means I will make a small commission if you purchase through those links. I only recommend products that I know, trust and love!
Thank you for this recipe, it was so easy to follow and the cookies came out delicious! Best we’ve ever made!
Wow what a review! Thank you so much and I’m super pleased you enjoyed the cookies 😍
Made the cookies this arvo and they taste so good. The guys at work are going to love them 🙂
Thank you for the review, pleased you like them 🙂
Just made these yesterday they are amazing!! How many calories per cookie? Thanks
Hi Sophie, thank you so much for the review! I’m not too sure about the calories, but as a guess… maybe ~500 🤭
Can I make these as mini cookies, how would I adjust the tempreture
Love the idea of minis! The temperature would stay the same, but the baking time would be decreased to 8-10 minutes 🙂
Do they have to be 120g or is it possible to make them smaller?
You can make them smaller but just remember to reduce the baking time 🙂
The cookies I made were amazing. The recipe was spot-on. They were delicious and my family loved them.
Hi Lewis, love to hear that! Thanks for sharing your feedback 🙂
Can this be done in a stand mixer?
Yes absolutely 🙂
just made these while trying to find something similar to levain’s cookies, they tasted delicious! I managed to find a shortcut for the butter, if you put it in the microwave for 10 seconds on low then you can skip the 30 minute wait for it to slightly soften
Great tip for the butter! Thanks for sharing and so happy you liked the cookies 🙂
Can I use a stand mixer?
Love this recipe, they came out super chunky and delicious!
Thanks for sharing Susie 🙂 So happy you enjoyed them!
Hi There,
Can I use chocolate chunk in the Easy Thick Chocolate Chip Cookies recipe?
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Yes absolutely, chips and chunks are interchangeable 🙂
Mine turned out ok but a bit soft for my liking can I put into the fridge ?
Yes you can, they will also firm up and dry out a bit after a couple of days when stored in a baking tin.
This recipe is the best one I tried and I made it and I’m only 10
So happy you enjoyed the recipe!
Hi,
How long does it last in the freezer if I don’t want to bake them yet?
4-6 weeks 😊
It was amazing! My family liked it but when doubling the recipe the salt is a tiny bit to much maybe I also used dark chocolate chips and they were amazing!
Hello! So happy to hear you enjoyed the cookies 😊 The salt is definitely a personal preference I think. Some people prefer a bit more, some people prefer less, just find the amount that works for you 🙂 Also, the dark chocolate chips will contain less sugar, which may have made the cookies taste more salty.
This recipe is well with giving a go, absolutely delicious not too sweet and texture is perfect happy I made these ☺️that’s a 5 ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ cookie. !!!
Yayyy! Another 5 star review, that’s so amazing to hear and thanks for sharing!
Hi. Can I use plain flour instead of self raising flour? Where I live there are one million different types of flour but not self raising one.
Hello, yes you can use all plain flour but increase the baking powder by 2 teaspoons.
Worked so well! I did half the mixture in the oven straight away then half in the freezer and surprisingly when I did it straight away it didn’t spread, where so thick and tastie!
That’s great to hear, thanks for sharing Darcie 😊
Hi! I’m wondering if I could use dark brown sugar instead of light brown sugar and how doing this would affect the recipe?
Hi Emer, I’ve not tried this recipe using dark brown sugar before but from what I know, it has a higher molasses content than light brown sugar which will effect the taste and the texture of the cookies. What I’d suggest is reducing the dark brown sugar amount to 130g and increasing the white caster sugar amount to 130g. That way it should all balance out 🙂 Good luck and let me know how you get on!
Hi! Could this recipe be made with vegan butter & yield the same results? I know vegan butter is softer than regular butter naturally.
Yes absolutely. Many people have commented saying they used vegan butter and flax eggs and the recipe worked perfectly!
100000 out of 10
Love this recipe every time I make it I fall in love with I really reccomend TRY IT OUT PLS YOU WILL BE AMAZED
LOVE this review! Thanks Sharon xx
Hi Jessie,
Me and my dad want to make a Cookie shop together.
Thank you for the tips as my dad is a perfectionist I think he will love them.
I’m ten so I can’t post my name with out permission but I really do enjoy, I promise!
Anonymous
Good luck with your cookie shop! What a lovely idea 😊
This is such a brilliant recipe. Has instantly become my go to cookie recipe, thank you!
I’m SO happy to hear this!
AWSOME love the cookies they are delicious definitely recommend!!!!!
These are gorgeous, and very addictive 😁! Great recipe thank you
You’re very welcome 🙂
I did this last week and it didn’t even last for 2 days. I was wondering if I made it a double chocolate chip cookies how much of the batter I need to replace for the cocoa powder
My classic cookies came out amazing, thanks for the recipe. I also want to make matcha and chocolate flavour. How much matcha and cocoa powder should I add?
Has anyone tried the recipe with dairy free butter?
Lots of people have made this recipe using dairy-free/vegan butter and it’s worked perfectly 🙂
Mine did spread a bit, I also (mistakenly) added a Nutella and Biscoff filling (around 15 to 20 grams, it was frozen) but these ones spread way more 🙁 any tips?
Hi
How crucial is the caster sugar? I know it is super fine but it is hard to come by where I live. Would it be an epic fail if I tried grinding granulated sugar to become slightly finer?
Hi Linda, you can use granulated sugar in replacement of the caster sugar 🙂 It will do the same job and there’s no need to grind it down. Hope that helps!
Mine came out horrible 😫
I’m thinking I’ve maybe over mixed the butter or something. They don’t look good at all.
Hi Pania, so sorry to hear that! How did they look? I’ll help troubleshoot for you
Same! Mine was horrible. I feel hopeless 😭😭
Meilleur recette de cookies, j’en ai essayé pleins, il étaient bon mais ceux là c’est une pure gourmandise 😋👌. Merci pour cette recette.
Hi! I’m wondering with the self rising flour having baking powder in it already (I was planning to make it myself) will that mean I won’t have to add the baking powder that’s noted in the recipe?
For these thick cookies, I always add extra baking powder to give them more rise and thickness 🙂
I made my own self raising flour and I still add baking powder as per instruction and it turned out amazing 😊
Want to try baking these but wondered if you could cook them in an air fryer and for how long? Would you use the ‘bake’ setting rather than standard air fry?
Hi Ellie-Rose, what a great idea to use the airfryer! Yes you could bake them in there for sure, I would actually use the airfryer setting and cook them for 10-15 minutes. It’s hard to give an exact timing as all airfryers cook slightly differently. They will crisp up more quickly and give you that loveeeeeeely crisp outside and gooey middle. You’ll need to bake them in small batches of 2-3 at a time so they have room to spread out too. Test it with one cookie and see how you get on. Oh and pleeaseeeee let me know how they turn out 😍
Can you re-freeze these after baking?
I would say no, just because the cookie dough has already been frozen 🙂
turned out incredible everyone at school loved them. definitely good for impressing people!!!!!!!!!!
So happy to read this review! Thank you for sharing and keep enjoying the cookies 😍
Loved the easy to follow recipe. The biscuits turned out great but I find them too sweet. I think the grandkids would love them. I will have to try reducing suger by a third and say 200g of dark rather than milk chocolate to suit my taste. Thoughts.
Hi Ken, loved reading this review! They are very sweet and a real treat haha! So feel free to experiment with the sugar amount reducing it by 25-50g until it tastes best for you 😊
Fab Fab Fab!!!
Thank you so much!
These are the best cookies I’ve ever tried. So fudgy in the middle and delicious 😋 the kids absolutely loved them
Hi Rebecca, so happy to hear you enjoyed the cookies 😊 thanks for sharing your feedback!
Subs for the eggss to make an eggless version ?
Yes! Someone commented saying that they swapped the eggs for two two flax ‘eggs’ and the recipe still turned out amazing 😍
Any substitute for eggs for the eggless version ??
Looks delicious I will definitely try your recipe..
Enjoy Norma! Look forward to reading your feedback 🤩
Is there a dairy free alternative?
These cookies turned out amazing. They were to die for. I would definitely recommed this recipie to my friends if they want to make cookies. will be making them again.
Thank you for this lovely review Milly. So happy you enjoyed the recipe 😍
These thick chocolate chip cookies look amazing! Your recipe promises a perfect balance of chewy and gooey. Thanks for sharing such a delectable treat!
You’re so welcome! Really pleased you enjoyed the recipe 😊
Do you have this recipe converted into cups/tbsp/tsp etc? Thank you!!!
Can I use cake flour instead of plain flour
You can, but the texture might be slightly different. Less gooey and more cakey. It’s worth a go though!
Is it necessary to freeze them? I don’t mind them not being too thick but will it affect anything drastically if I don’t freeze?
If you’re not too bothered about the thickness, you could bake them straight after you’ve rolled the dough. But I would make them smaller in size, otherwise they will spread out too much. Alternatively, you could just freeze them for 30 minutes so they’re not too soft to begin with. Hope that helps!
These are perfection!! I’ve made them twice and the family go crazy for them! I love that you keep them in the freezer and just bake when you want. It means I don’t bake 12-24 cookies and then overindulge… Rather i just treat my self to 1 occasionally 🙂 Thanks for the recipe!!!
What a lovely lovely review! Thank you so much for sharing your feedback and I completely agree that having a cookie stash in the freezer is a must! Enjoy 😊
The cookies baked nicely. I made 4 batches. Can I put these baked cookie in the freezer for a week? Any tip on freezing would be great. Ty
Hi Colleen, so happy to hear that! Yes you can freeze them for up to 4 weeks. Just place the balls of cookie dough in a lined baking tin or tray, then wrap the tin in clingfilm and then again in foil. Enjoy 😊