bakery style chocolate chip cookies

these are the best ever bakery style chocolate chip cookies – impossibly thick, with perfectly crackled tops that give way to soft, chewy centres and pools of melted chocolate. they take a little patience – waiting for dough to chill, shaping tall mounds, watching for that perfect moment in the oven. but the result is worth it – cookies that stay soft and chewy for days.

why you will love this thick bakery style chocolate chip cookie recipe

• the best thick bakery style chocolate chip cookies – these cookies have that perfect bakery texture – crispy edges, soft and chewy centres, melty chocolate and a nice balance of spread and thickness. the splash of cream and the addition of cornstarch makes them extra tender and soft!

• easy recipe – although this recipe does require a bit of patience and waiting, it’s otherwise pretty easy and doesn’t require any special equipment like an electric mixer.

• great base recipe – this recipe is a great base recipe that can be adjusted slightly to make variations or different flavours of cookies.

learn how to make thick bakery style chocolate chip cookies

if you want to know how to make bakery style chocolate chip cookies, the instructions are outlined below:

we’re going to start off by creaming together room temperature, granulated sugar and light brown sugar. then, we’ll add some vanilla extract, a splash of heavy cream and a large egg and mix that in. then, in another bowl mix together flour, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda, and a bit of salt. add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture, and gently fold it in until half-mixed in. then, add milk chocolate chips or chunks and dark chocolate chips or chunks. fold these in until a chocolate chip cookie dough is formed. let the dough chill in the fridge for a few hours, but preferably overnight, and then split it into large dough balls.

bake until soft and golden, then remove from the oven and let them cool slightly. serve with a glass of milk and we’re done!

thick bakery style chocolate chip cookies ingredients

• butter – in this bakery style chocolate chunk cookie recipe, we’re going to use room temperature butter instead of melted butter and cream together the butter and sugars. this will help give us a thicker cookie instead of one that spreads too thin. you can use salted or unsalted, and adjust the amount of extra salt in the recipe accordingly. i’m just going to be using unsalted here.

• light brown sugar – the brown sugar in this bakery style chocolate chip cookies recipe helps make these large bakery style chocolate chip cookies soft and chewy and gives them a nicer flavour. if you don’t want to use brown sugar, you can also just use all granulated sugar, but bear in mind that cookies won’t be as chewy and soft. they might be a little drier and crispier.

• granulated sugar – these giant bakery style chocolate chip cookies recipe are made with a mix of granulated sugar and light brown sugar. the brown sugar helps give us chewy chocolate chip cookies and the granulated sugar helps them spread.

• egg – we’re just going to use one large egg to make these soft bakery style chocolate chip cookies – make sure it’s at room temperature so that it’s able to combine easily with the rest of the ingredients.

• vanilla extract – optional, but a splash of it will add a nice, subtle vanilla flavour to your big bakery style chocolate chip cookies.

• heavy cream – my secret ingredient for extra chewy cookies! add a tablespoon of double cream or heavy cream to your chocolate chip bakery style cookies for the softest, chewiest centres.

• flour – we’ll be using plain flour or all purpose flour to make these small batch bakery style chocolate chip cookies.

• baking powder – the use of baking powder in this recipe helps give these jumbo bakery style chocolate chip cookies a bit of rise and thickness.

• baking soda – i use just a small amount of baking soda for these mini chocolate chip cookies to get a good balance of spread and thickness.

• cornstarch – using cornstarch helps keep these bakery style chocolate chip cookies thick and also a bit more tender and soft. the result is a thick cookie with crisp edges and a soft, tender middle. if you don’t want to use cornstarch or don’t have it, you can just replace this with some extra flour.

• salt – a small amount of salt added to the dry ingredients helps balance out the sweetness in these mini chocolate chip cookies.

• milk and dark chocolate chips or chopped chocolate – i use a combination of milk and dark chocolate in these ultra thick bakery style chocolate chip cookies because i think it gives these cookies a nice, balanced sweetness. you can use chocolate chips if you want that classic cookie look, but i personally love to chop up a chocolate bar and add that in because it gives the cookies melty pools of chocolate.

tools:

• large mixing bowl – for the chocolate chip cookie dough

• medium bowl – we’re going to mix all of the dry ingredients separately before adding them to the wet batter, so you’ll need a separate bowl for this

• spoon or silicone spatula – there is no mixer needed for this recipe! just a mixing spoon is fine. you might want to use a mixer to make it easier to cream the butter and sugars together, but it’s absolutely not necessary (and i didn’t use one myself). a silicone spatula will be helpful for gently folding the dry ingredients in.

• baking sheets or baking tray – you’ll need a big baking sheet lined with parchment paper or baking paper for baking the cookies. these cookies are quite big, so you’ll want to make sure there’s enough space for them to spread on the tray.

step by step instructions

for full measurements, keep scrolling down to the recipe below.

step one: in a large mixing bowl, add unsalted butter, light brown sugar and granulated sugar. using a spoon or a mixer, mix these together until combined. the mixture should look soft and creamy.

step two: add the large egg, some vanilla and a splash of heavy cream to the butter and sugar mixture, and mix it in until combined.

step three: in another bowl, add the flour, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda and salt, then mix all of this together.

step four: add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and gently fold them in until about half-combined.

step five: add chocolate chips or chopped chocolate pieces to the cookie dough and gently mix them into the dough.

step six: place the bowl with the cookie dough in the fridge and let the dough chill in the fridge for 30 minutes. this will help the dough firm up a little and become easier to handle.

step seven: once the dough has chilled, split it into big, equal-sized portions. shape each portion into a subtle cone shape, with a thicker base and a narrower top.

step eight: place these back in the fridge and let them chill for a few hours, but preferably overnight.

step nine: preheat oven around 15-20 minutes before baking your bakery style chewy chocolate chip cookies, and line a big baking sheet or baking tray with parchment paper or baking paper.

step ten: bake your bakery style double chocolate chip cookies for about 15 minutes or until they’re golden and crispy, but still slightly underdone.

step eleven: let the bakery style dark chocolate chip cookies firm up and cool slightly on the tray, then serve with a glass of milk and let’s eat!

tips and notes

• use room temperature butter when making these easy bakery style chocolate chip cookies to ensure that it’s easier to cream with the sugars. using a room temperature egg is also recommended as it will just be easier to incorporate into the rest of the mixture.

• make sure that the butter is not too soft for this recipe. when you press on it with your finger, it should only make a slight indent. colder butter will help keep these cookies thick and reduce spread in the oven.

• if using salted butter instead of unsalted, leave out the extra salt stated in the recipe.

• chill the dough for around 30 minutes initially so that the dough is bit firmer and easier to handle. then portion out the dough and shape it and chill again. you can chill these for 2-3 hours, but i would recommend chilling overnight for the best texture and flavour. a longer chill time will also help give you the most perfect bakery style thick cookies and reduce spread in the oven.

• if you the think the dough is a bit too stiff after chilling in the fridge overnight, leave the dough out at room temperature while the oven is preheating so it can soften slightly.

• you want your bakery style chocolate chip cookies to be consistent in size, so i would recommend either weighing out the cookie dough sections so that they’re an equal amount or using a large cookie scoop for each cookie. we want these cookies to be extra big, so i split the dough into six cookie portions, and weighed each one out to be 118g (around 4oz).

• be sure to a fair amount of space between each portion of cookie dough as they’re going to spread in the oven and you don’t want all of the cookies to melt into each other. i typically bake 6 cookies on a large baking sheet, and for these i only baked 4 at a time.

• instead of shaping the cookie dough into balls or flattening them out before baking, for big bakery style chocolate chip cookies, shape the dough into a slight cone shape. it should have a slightly thicker base and a slightly narrower top – this will help the cookies bake with a thicker base and a softer, chewier middle.

• i used a chopped up milk chocolate and dark chocolate bar for these bakery style chocolate chip cookies, but you can use chocolate chips instead if you like, or even a mix of both.

• add a few extra chocolate pieces to your cookies right before baking and right after you take them out of the oven. this will just make them look a little nicer!

• the bakery style chocolate chip cookies bake time will depend on your oven, as well as the size of your cookies. adjust baking time as needed, and keep an eye on your cookies in the oven. smaller cookies will take less time to bake and bigger cookies will take more time to bake. i baked these big bakery style chocolate chip cookies for about 15 minutes, and this gave me cookies that had set, crispy edges with a softer, tender middle. they should look slightly soft and underdone when you take them out of the oven, and will be too soft to pick up, but they will continue to cook and firm up as they cool on the tray. they will still be chewy and soft after cooling for about five-ten minutes, but will be easier to pick up.

• feel free to adjust the salt in these cookies depending on your preference.

• sprinkle with flaky salt right after baking and once you remove the cookies from the oven.

• use a kitchen scale to measure your ingredients. while i add both metric and cup measurements for this recipe, i always recommend using a kitchen scale to weigh out your ingredients for most accurate results.

• if you do decide to use cups, bear in mind that this recipe uses higher than typical flour measurements, as it takes into account the fact that most people tend to scoop their flour.

• enjoy these cookies warm! the best way to eat these bakery style chocolate chip cookies is warm and fresh out of the oven, when the chocolate is still gooey and the edges are crisp. if you end up with leftover cookies (which is doubtful), just reheat them in the microwave for a few seconds to recreate that freshly-baked feel.

frequently asked questions

1. can i make bakery style chocolate chip cookies without brown sugar ?

   – yes, you can make these bakery style chocolate chip cookies using only white sugar. bear in mind that doing this will affect the texture and flavour of the cookies. the cookies will probably be a bit more on the crispy side and won’t have those caramel notes that brown sugar provides, so i would highly recommend making them with brown sugar if you can. either light brown sugar or dark brown sugar will work fine.

2. can i use salted butter instead of unsalted to make these bakery style chocolate chip cookies ?

   – yes, you can. just skip the extra salt stated in the recipe.

3. can i make bakery style brown butter chocolate chip cookies ?

   – absolutely! browned butter would add a lovely caramel-like depth to these chocolate chip bakery cookies. just brown the butter as usual, then place it in the fridge to harden until it’s back to a regular butter consistency. then cream the brown butter and sugars together and follow the rest of the recipe as stated.

4. do i have to use vanilla extract to make these bakery style chocolate chip cookies ?

   – the vanilla extract in this cookie recipe is optional. i like the subtle vanilla flavour it gives to the cookie dough, but if you would prefer not to use it or don’t have it, that’s also completely fine.

5. my chocolate doesn’t melt, how do i get the melted pools of chocolate in my chocolate chip cookies?

   – use chopped up chocolate in your cookies over chocolate chips if you’re looking for pools of chocolate. chocolate chips often come with stabilisers and emulsifiers that help them keep their shape, so they are actually designed not to melt in the oven. for the perfect combination of chewy bite and melty chocolate, you could even use a mix of both chocolate chips and chopped chocolate in these cookies.

6. why did my bakery style chocolate chip cookies turn into a cake instead of gooey like yours?

   – there are a number of reasons why your chocolate chip cookies didn’t come out gooey like mine. the number one reason is likely because of baking times. you should take your cookies out of the oven while they are slightly underbaked as they will continue to cook and firm up as they cool. take them out when the edges are set, and centre still looks soft. even if you followed the exact timings in the recipe, every oven will bake things differently so timings will vary depending on your oven. i highly recommend checking on your cookies every once in a while, especially towards the end of the written times to make sure they don’t over bake.

   – another reason could be that there was too much flour in your cookie dough. to make these bakery style chocolate chip cookies as accurately as possible, i would really recommend weighing out the flour using a kitchen scale.

7. do i have to use heavy cream to make these bakery style chocolate chip cookies ?

   – the use of heavy cream in this recipe helps add extra richness to make the ultimate bakery style chocolate chip cookies – thick, chewy and soft. it adds extra moisture and fat, resulting in a chewier, more tender cookie with a softer center. i would really recommend it. if you’re looking for substitutes for the heavy cream, add the same amount of milk or even add an extra egg yolk in place of the cream to keep these cookies chewy and rich.

8. do i have to make these bakery style chocolate chip cookies with cornstarch ?

   – cornstarch helps create that soft, tender texture that bakeries are known for, so i would really recommend it. however, if you don’t have it on hand or would rather not use it, it’s absolutely fine to make these cookies without cornstarch. they might be just slightly less tender, but they’ll still be delicious. if you decide to skip the cornstarch, just add the same amount (1 tsp) as extra flour instead.

9. why did my bakery style chocolate chip cookies spread so much ?

   – cookies sometimes spread too much due to a number of reasons. it could be that your cookie dough is too warm or that your butter was overly soft. you want to make sure that the butter you use is at room temperature and easy enough to mix, but not so soft that it’s melting. for these bakery style cookies, i like to use butter that’s a bit on the colder side. using colder butter will give you thicker cookies. if you press a finger into the butter, it should only leave a slight indent. you also want to make sure that you don’t skip the chilling time in the fridge.

10. why did my cookies not spread?

    – one of the reasons why your cookies didn’t spread might be due to your oven temperatures being too low. make sure to preheat your oven 15-20 minutes before adding your cookies in so that the oven is hot enough.

11. how do i know when my bakery style chocolate chip cookies are done ?

    – you’ll know that the cookies are done when the edges of the cookies look set and light golden. the middles might look slightly soft and underdone, but they will firm up as they cool.

12. can i make these cookies into smaller cookies ?

    – yes, you can. for bakery style, you’ll want them to be really big. however, if you want to make these as smaller cookies, feel free to do that. just bear in mind that you’ll need to adjust the baking time as smaller cookies will take less time to bake, and you don’t want to over bake the cookies!

13. can i reduce the sugar in this bakery style chocolate chip cookies recipe ?

    – reducing sugar in a cookie recipe can affect both the taste and texture of the cookies, so i wouldn’t recommend reducing it. if you find that the cookies are too sweet, i would recommend increasing the amount of salt in the dough instead of reducing the sugar to help balance out the sweetness. using a mix of milk chocolate and dark chocolate in the dough will also help with the sweetness. if you like, you can use all dark chocolate if you find that the milk and dark combination is too sweet for you.

14. do i have to chill the dough to make these bakery style chocolate chip cookies ?

    – i would highly recommend chilling the before baking these cookies. the longer you chill the dough in the fridge, the better the flavour and the thicker your bakery style chocolate chip cookies will be, so i would really recommend chilling the dough overnight. if you don’t have time for this, i’d recommend chilling the dough for at least 2-3 hours.

15. can i make these bakery style chocolate chip cookies ahead of time ?

    – you can definitely make these bakery chocolate chip cookies ahead of time, as i recommend chilling the dough overnight. i would recommend making the dough ahead of time, splitting into equal sized cookie dough portions, shaping the dough, storing it in the fridge or freezer and then baking the cookies fresh when needed.

    – if you store the bakery style chocolate chip cookie dough balls in the freezer, you’ll need to freeze them flat on a tray first so that they don’t freeze together. then, once frozen, you can transfer them to a freezer bag. you can also bake them straight from frozen, but bear in mind that you might need to bake them for a little longer than stated in the recipe if baking from frozen.

16. how long will these bakery style chocolate chip cookies stay fresh ?

    – as long as you store any leftover bakery style chocolate chip cookies in an airtight container at room temperature, they should stay soft and chewy for 3-4 days. if you find that they have hardened at room temperature, you can warm them in the microwave for 10-15 seconds to make them soft and chewy again.

17. can i make these bakery style chocolate chip cookies without baking soda or baking powder ?

    – although it’s possible to make cookies without baking soda and baking powder, it will have an impact on the texture and appearance of the cookies. baking soda helps cookies spread and brown properly, and baking powder will give them some rise and thickness. if you make these bakery style chocolate chip cookies without either of these, you might get cookies that are denser, cakier and less golden or even cookies that struggle to hold their shape. i would recommend using baking soda and baking powder as stated.

18. can i make these bakery style chocolate chip cookies with walnuts ?

    – absolutely! you can make these bakery style chocolate chip cookies with walnuts, or anything else that you’d like to add to them.

19. can i make bakery style white chocolate chip cookies ?

    – yes, you can. i use a mix of milk chocolate and dark chocolate for these bakery style chocolate chip cookies, but you can use whatever chocolate that you like.

20. can i make bakery style thin chocolate chip cookies ?

    – while this recipe is designed to give you thicker bakery style chocolate chip cookies, you can use melted butter and reduce chill time for a cookie that spreads more and is a bit thinner.

21. how long does it take to bake chocolate chip cookies at 350 f (180 c) ?

    – the amount of time it takes to bake chocolate chip cookies will depend on the size of your cookies as well as on your oven. as for me, i baked these bakery style chocolate chip cookies for about 15 minutes at this temperature.

recipe