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Chocolate Chunk Cookies

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Chocolate chunk cookies

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Tender, puffy, and fudgy with perfectly crisp edges — these chocolate chunk cookies taste better than Toll House and are more reliable.

chocolate chunk cookies

I’ve been baking chocolate chip cookies since the fifth grade, and have yet to come across a recipe that’s markedly better than the back-of-the-bag Nestlé Toll House version that everyone knows and loves. It’s not for lack of trying – I’ve rested the dough overnight to develop flavor, browned the butter, experimented with different varieties of flour, and so on. But to me, the difference in taste never justifies the extra time or effort. That said, the Toll House recipe isn’t perfect (sorry Toll House!). If you follow the recipe as is, the cookies often come out disappointingly flat. Over the years, I’ve tweaked the recipe to make it more reliable and just a little bit tastier. I use less sugar, more flour, two types of high-quality chocolate instead of ordinary chocolate chips, and I always chill the dough before baking. The result is a chocolate chunk cookie that’s tender, puffy, and fudgy with perfectly crisp edges.

What You’ll Need To Make Chocolate Chunk Cookies

ingredients for chocolate chunk cookies

How To Make Chocolate Chunk Cookies

To begin, combine the butter and both sugars in the bowl of an electric mixer.

butter and sugars in mixing bowl

Beat until light, fluffy, and cafe au lait-colored. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl as necessary.

creaming butter and sugar

Add the vanilla and eggs and beat for 2 minutes more. Scrape down the bowl.

adding eggs to butter and sugar mixture

Add the salt and baking soda and beat briefly until evenly combined.

beaten mixture with baking soda and salt

Add the flour and both chocolates.

adding flour and chocolate chunks to the mixing bowl

Mix on low speed until the flour is completely blended and the chocolate is evenly distributed throughout the dough.

mixed cookie dough ready to scoop

Cover the bowl with plastic wrap or scrape the dough into an airtight container and let rest in the refrigerator until firm, a few hours. When you’re ready to bake the cookies, preheat the oven to 350°F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Drop the dough in 1.5-tablespoon balls onto prepared baking sheet, spacing them about 2 inches apart. (I use a #40/1.5-T cookie scoop with a wire trigger.)

scooped chocolate chunk cookie dough ready to bake

Bake for 11-13 minutes, until golden around the edges but still soft and pale in the center. Let cool for a few minutes on the baking sheet, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

baked chocolate chunk cookies on cooling rack

Enjoy! For more classic cookie recipes, check out my Oatmeal Brown Sugar Cookies with Raisins & Pecans and my Crave-Worthy Sugar Cookies.

Chocolate Chunk Cookies on serving platter

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Chocolate Chunk Cookies

Tender, puffy, and fudgy with perfectly crisp edges — these chocolate chunk cookies taste better than Toll House and are more reliable.

Servings: About 3 dozen cookies
Prep Time: 30 Minutes
Cook Time: 12 Minutes
Total Time: 45 Minutes, plus a few hours for the dough to chill (see note)

Ingredients

  • 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
  • ⅔ cup granulated sugar
  • ¾ cup (packed) dark brown sugar (fine to substitute light)
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 2½ cups all purpose flour, spooned and leveled (preferably King Arthur flour - see note)
  • 6 oz bittersweet chocolate, best quality such as Ghriardelli, roughly chopped
  • 2 oz milk chocolate, best quality such as Ghirardelli, finely chopped

Instructions

  1. In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat the butter and both sugars for 3 minutes, or until light, fluffy, and cafe au lait-colored (use high speed on a hand mixer and medium speed on a stand mixer). Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl as necessary. Add the vanilla and eggs and beat for 2 minutes more. Scrape down the bowl. Add the salt and baking soda and beat briefly until evenly combined. Add the flour and both chocolates, and mix on low speed until the flour is completely blended and the chocolate is evenly distributed throughout the dough.
  2. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap or scrape the dough into an airtight container and let rest in the refrigerator until firm, a few hours. (Alternatively, if you don't want to wait, form the dough into balls on the baking sheet as instructed below and chill in the fridge until firm, about 30 minutes.)
  3. Preheat the oven to 350°F and set a rack in the middle position. Line a 13 x 18-inch baking sheet with parchment paper.
  4. Drop the dough in firmly packed 1.5-tablespoon balls onto the prepared baking sheet, spacing them about 2 inches apart. (I use a #40/1.5-T cookie scoop with a wire trigger.) Bake for 11 to 13 minutes, until golden around the edges but still soft and pale in the center. Let cool for a few minutes on the baking sheet, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Repeat with remaining cookie dough. The cookies can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days.
  5. Note: Some readers have had issues with the cookies being flat. This can happen as a result of using a "softer" flour. I highly recommend King Arthur All Purpose Flour for this recipe -- it's high in protein and gluten, and helps cookies hold their shape.
  6. Freezer-Friendly Instructions: The cookie dough can be frozen for up to 3 months. Roll the dough into balls, let set on a baking sheet in the freezer, then place in a sealable bag and press out as much air as possible. Bake as needed directly from the freezer. (Allow 1 to 2 minutes longer in the oven.) The baked cookies can also be frozen for up to 3 months. Let the cookies cool completely and store in an airtight container separating layers with parchment paper or aluminum foil. Before serving, remove the cookies from the container and let them come to room temperature.

Nutrition Information

Powered by Edamam

  • Serving size: 1 cookie
  • Calories: 143
  • Fat: 7g
  • Saturated fat: 4g
  • Carbohydrates: 19g
  • Sugar: 12g
  • Fiber: 1g
  • Protein: 2g
  • Sodium: 76mg
  • Cholesterol: 24mg

This website is written and produced for informational purposes only. I am not a certified nutritionist and the nutritional data on this site has not been evaluated or approved by a nutritionist or the Food and Drug Administration. Nutritional information is offered as a courtesy and should not be construed as a guarantee. The data is calculated through an online nutritional calculator, Edamam.com. Although I do my best to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures should be considered estimates only. Varying factors such as product types or brands purchased, natural fluctuations in fresh produce, and the way ingredients are processed change the effective nutritional information in any given recipe. Furthermore, different online calculators provide different results depending on their own nutrition fact sources and algorithms. To obtain the most accurate nutritional information in a given recipe, you should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe, using your preferred nutrition calculator.

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Comments

  • Can I add coconut to this recipe?

    • — Vicki Hinshaw on March 15, 2024
    • Reply
    • Sure!

      • — Jenn on March 15, 2024
      • Reply
  • Very good, love the intense chocolate hit from pieces instead of chips. I used some espresso flavored chocolate bars (Trader Joe’s) that were a little too bitter as candy, but excellent in the cookies. Used dark instead of milk chocolate too (it’s what I had, also by TJ). Will try with the ones in the recipe next time.

    • — Susan on January 24, 2024
    • Reply
  • These are very good. Last year I used a #40 scoop and bittersweet chocolate chunks and milk chocolate chips. The chips did not melt, though the cookies were still good.
    This year I wanted a few more cookies so I used a #50 scoop. I baked them for 12 minutes and got 51 cookies about 2 1/2 inches wide. Maybe that is flatter than other people like them but they are great IMO. This year I used a 4 oz bar of semisweet and a 3 1/2 oz bar of milk chocolate, both chopped up, and they are super yummy!

    • — Wendy S on December 23, 2023
    • Reply
  • I’ve made the recipe two times and found it to be the best chocolate chip cookie recipe I have ever tried. I have tried many. Thank you for sharing your recipes.

    • — Sandra on September 20, 2023
    • Reply
  • Absolutely delicious!
    I recommend for anyone with spare time. It was quick and easy and the cookies turned out delicious! I only chilled them in the fridge for a couple minutes (5-8 min) but they still were great. A must try for every baker, and very beginner friendly!

    • — Kara on June 16, 2023
    • Reply
  • Made these and they were super good. I used a different kind of flour (GF something) they were perfect. Gooey in the middle and firm on the outside and crispy on the bottom. I altered the recipe to use 12 tablespoons of olive oil because I didn’t have two sticks of butter and I used 2 quarters of a cup of applesauce instead of egg and vegan till house chocolate chips to make it vegan. Best cookies I’ve ever made. Next time I’ll try to use chocolate chunks for an even gooier inside. I added it to my journal with all my favorite recipes.

    • — Joseph Daley on January 23, 2023
    • Reply
  • Love chocolate chip cookies.These sound great. Will try. An improvement perhaps but still a mere derivative of the original. You need to give credit where credit is due. Ruth Wakefield INVENTED the Toll House aka chocoate chip cookie in 1938. She served them at her Toll House Inn in Whitman, Mass. Subsequently the Nestle company made a deal with her — they created chocolate chips (she had used bars that she chopped up) and supplied her with a lifetime supply in return for the use of her recipe. She refrigerated the dough over night — something the recipe doesn’t include.

    • — Barbara on December 1, 2022
    • Reply
  • Mine ended up flat too. And I only use King Arthur flour… my baking soda wasn’t old. My butter was at room temperature…

    • — NSales on October 23, 2022
    • Reply
  • These came out so well I will never, ever use another cookie recipe again!

    I am gluten free to subbed King Arthur’s GF 1:1 flour which was totally fine. I was a bit worried since I saw you mention the gluten being part of what prevented these from falling flat, but only a couple did. The rest were well risen, tender, and beautiful.

    I also had to sub almond extract for vanilla extract as I didn’t realize I had run out, but that also wasn’t a big deal as you can hardly tell. I will definitely try the vanilla next time, though.

    I brought them into work for my coworkers who devoured them all and couldn’t tell they were GF:) thank you so much, Jenn!

    • — Chandler on September 27, 2022
    • Reply
  • I have no idea why these cookies are so special, but they are. Since finding this recipe, I’ll never go back to plain old chocolate chips…although your variation of the toll house cookies are yummy, as well! Thanks Jenn!

    • — Liz on August 14, 2022
    • Reply
  • I just made these and they came out great! Thank you!

    • — MaryBDx2 on July 10, 2022
    • Reply
  • Excellent recipe. I like that thè cookies dont spread. Also i baked for 8 minutws because 11 minutes made the cookies more cakelike.

    • — Theo on June 12, 2022
    • Reply
  • This has been my go-to chocolate chip cookie recipe ever since I stumbled upon it. My sons love it! They are asking if can I make it into a cookie cake. Any instructions on how?

    • — Renee on April 18, 2022
    • Reply
    • Hi Renee, So glad you and your sons like these! If you want a cookie cake, I’d recommend my skillet cookie on page 179 of my second cookbook (but bake it for a few minutes extra if you want it firmer). If you don’t own the cookbook, email me at jennifer@onceuponachef and I’ll send you the recipe.

      • — Jenn on April 19, 2022
      • Reply
    • Oh I got that cookbook the day it was available! I did see a skillet recipe. Will try that. Thanks!

      • — Renee on April 20, 2022
      • Reply
      • 👍

        • — Jenn on April 21, 2022
        • Reply
  • I just made these (for like the 100th time) with Reese pieces. They came out fantastic. These are the best cookies, I usually use chocolate chunks. I absolutely love the one bowl simplicity of this recipe. Thanks so much.

    • — Sheryl T on March 31, 2022
    • Reply
  • Hi Jenn,
    The flavour of these are delicious, but sadly mine baked flat. King Arthur flour isn’t available where I am so I just used regular flour. Should I expect to get a different result if I use a high protein flour, such as bread/bakers flour? Is there any other reason they would turn out flat? I followed the recipe as stated, just didn’t use the same flour.. thanks, Nicole

    • Hi Nicole, There’s a lot of variation with different brands of flour. If you’d like to try these again, you could increase the flour by a few tablespoons or use a higher-protein flour, like bread flour. King Arthur is high in protein, but not quite a bread flour.

      • Thanks..I will definitely try them again 🙂

  • These cookies turned out perfect! I was worried because I’m in Canada and we don’t have King Arthur flour. They still turned out perfectly. I love that they aren’t too sweet. Thank you for another delicious recipe.

  • I’m just wondering why you don’t mix the salt and baking soda with the flour – isn’t there a possibility that the soda and salt don’t mix throughout the batter?

    • Great question, Bonnie! I just happened to do it that way when I was developing the recipe – no rhyme or reason! Feel free to combine all the dry ingredients together as is typically done. Hope you enjoy if you make the cookies!

  • Sorry Nothing like cookies by george and did not look anything like the picture perhaps user error but I’m not sure what I may have done wrong. I will try again though as the flavour is there.

  • These are PERFECT!
    There has been a running joke in our family that baking cookies is my Achilles heel. My husband teases that I can do many things well, but making cookies isn’t one of them 😂. Not matter the recipe or oven, my cookies always came out flat, burned or just blah. Until now…. I am so excited to have found your recipe and process. I have tried for 22 years and YOU finally made it happen for me. These are AMAZING! I didn’t change anything… they turned out perfect. THIS will be my go to forever more. Thank you.

  • Jenn, I have some Guittard bittersweet chocolate wafers. Can they be used.

    • Sure, I think those will work. Enjoy!

  • These cookies are just fantastic!!!
    I divided the portion on sugar by 2 and it is marvelous !!!
    Also, I added some dry coconut and it is so good!
    Thanks for the recipe and I recommend it!

  • Hi Jenn, wonderful cookies!! Followed the instructions as written and they were perfect. I baked them few at a time and kept the dough in the fridge. I was wondering if you have a link to your cookie scooper? I found it difficult to scoop with the one I have. Thank you!!

    • So glad you enjoyed them! Here’s a link to the scoop I use (it’s the middle-sized one in the set of 3).

  • Sadly, I found these cookies NOT to be soft and chewy but crispy…and am not sure why. Maybe I should have added an egg yolk? I didn’t even use all the flour. Comments? thanks.

    • — Palm Springs Diva Cooks
    • Reply
    • Hi there, Happy to help troubleshoot. How much flour did you use? I’m wondering if that might be the issue, as using less flour would actually make the cookies crisp rather than chewy.

  • I absolutely love this cookie recipe! I only had a #60 cookie scoop that worked great. I substituted ROLO chocolate candy which I chopped into large chunks instead of chocolate chips. OMG these were amazing!!! Thank You 🙏

  • These cookies replaced my all time favorite cookie because they are so wonderful.

  • My daughter and I have made these cookies several time and they always come out great! We are needing to make a chocolate chip cookie cake to bring to a birthday party. Would we need to change anything to bake this in a round pan as bars?

    • Hi Becky, so glad you like this! I’m not sure how these would work baked as bars. If you have my 2nd cookbook, I would recommend the skillet chocolate chip cookie which is on page 178. If you don’t have the book and would like the recipe, please email me at jennifer@onceuponachef.com. The blondie recipe would also be a good option. Hope that helps!

  • Foolproof Recipe! If I don’t make chocolate chip cookies, I use this cookie recipe as base and add in crushed cadbury mini eggs – to make a mini egg cookie! Everyone loves! I’m sure you can do this with other forms of flavors and combos! Amazing recipe!

  • Well these were amazing! Another hit! One trick I use after ice cream scooping the dough is I go back and give each cookie dough ball a little hat of extra dough – gives them a nice little height and makes them all a little different looking! Thanks Jen

  • These cookies came out perfect, not flat like all my previous attempts over many years. They’re puffy, full of flavor, and beautiful. I followed the recipe precisely. The only comment other than absolutely delicious, is that the refrigerated dough is tough to scoop up into those balls since it’s dense and cold, but I got a good upper arm workout in the process. I will always use this recipe. My boyfriend is going to love me even more when I give him a box of these beautiful babies!
    Thanks so much Jenn❤️

    • Susan, you can use the hint Jen gave in her note….you can make them into balls before putting them in the fridge while the dough is still soft, put them on a baking sheet, then refrigerate. I hope this hint helps you.
      Marge

  • I made them exactly as written except I added a few chopped pecans. I only ever use KA flour as well. Put the dough in the fridge Sunday afternoon and made them Monday morning. I got 35 cookies using my #40. I always rotate my baked goods 1/2 way through time. They puffed up beautifully and held their shape. Texture is soft, not cakey, just soft. That’s how we like them. I used 2 bars (8oz) of Ghirardelli semisweet chocolate for chunks.

    Would give them 100 stars if I could. I’ll never use another recipe again. I’ve printed it out and have it bookmarked.

  • Jen – Thank you so much for all your amazing and delicious recipes as I have been a long time fan of your site as well as cookbook. My question is after making the cookie dough, can I scoop it out and freeze each of the individual uncooked cookie dough balls and then bake at a later date? If so, could you let me know would I need to thaw them first or could they go straight to the freezer into the over? Could they bake at the same temperature and if so, for how long. I always love having fresh homemade coookies on hand and this would be an awesome way also for portion control too. Thank you so much and keep all the recipes coming!

    • Hi Celeste, So glad you like the recipes! Yes, you can freeze the dough balls. Here’s a post I wrote that will answer all your questions. 🙂

  • This is another keeper! Jenn, have you experimented with adding malted milk powder to this recipe? I have not and I’m wondering what your thoughts are.

    • Glad you like them! No, I’ve never added malted milk powder to these. If you try it, I’d love to hear what you think!

    • Hi Evelyn, what a great idea! Joy Wilson from Joy the Baker adds Ovaltine to her chocolate buttercream frosting. It is delicious!

  • I just made these and they came out AMAZING— so chocolatey, so full of flavor! (I did add the extra 2 tblspns of flour like some of the comments suggested) Thank you Jenn for this recipe!!

  • Even with using Bob’s Red Mill One-to-One gluten free flour mix, these turned out fabulous. I can’t say they were as tall as if I had used regular flour, but they were good enough. I kept them at just the right time to make them squishy inside, a little crispy outside.

  • For the few years this has been my “go-to” chocolate chip cookie recipe. The dough is easy to prepare, one bowl, got to love that! Everyone who has tasted these cookies has exclaimed “These are the best chocolate chip cookies ever!” My boys will sit down with a glass of milk and devour a whole sheet pan of them right out of the oven. We can’t keep them in the house!

  • These cookies in cookie dough form are absolutely addicting! So yummy! But for some reason, once baked, the flavor falls flat. Kind of like how pop tarts are better straight out of the package rather than toasted. I don’t get it. If you’re looking for yummy cookie dough, this is definitely the recipe, just be aware that flavor doesn’t translate through baking.

  • Until I found this recipe, my chocolate chip cookies were flat and inconsistent. These cookies are consistently great! Not greasy, cake-like in the middle, crispy on the outside and great flavor.

  • Hi Jenn!
    I would like to make these cookies for serving Friday late afternoon. I am restricted time wise to either making them Sunday or Monday and freezing them until I want to serve them, or maybe making them Wednesday and leaving them on the kitchen counter.
    Which would yield a better result? If I freeze them, how early should I take them out to come to room temp? How long do you think it would take to come to room temperature-want to make sure I don’t get fooled and they are still cold in the center!
    Thanks so much!
    Elise

    • Hi Elise, I would make them on Sunday or Monday and freeze them, and then take them out of the freezer on Thursday afternoon. Hope that helps!

      • Hi Jenn,
        Another winning recipe! These cookies are so yummy! I did not have dark brown sugar but even with light brown they were good!

        Do you have a preference for butter? Thank you, Pam

        • — Pamela Parsons
        • Reply
        • Glad you liked them! I generally use Land O Lakes butter. 🙂

  • Cookies turned out great, even added a few walnuts. As always another great recipe, Thank you Jenn. From reading some of the posts, some have had difficulty with this and other recipes. I’ve been baking for years, but always appreciate professional tips.

    I learned a huge lesson from Jenn when she sent out her email entitled, “How To Make Baked Goods From Scratch That Aren’t Dry,” and her post – Chef Secret #5: How To Make Moist & Tender Baked Goods. I’ll quote one of her tips -“Use Room Temperature Ingredients – When a recipe calls for room temperature ingredients, it’s important to comply. Cold butter cannot be creamed, and cold eggs can curdle a batter. When room temperature ingredients are called for, it’s best to leave ingredients on the countertop for a few hours before baking.” I’ve been following her advice and have noticed a huge improvement in the outcome of my bakes.

    If you haven’t signed up for her “5 Secrets of a Classically Trained Chef,” Plus free email series – I’d encourage you to do it. Thanks again!

  • Hi Jenn,
    My batch of cookies was very tasty, but I also experienced the flattening-to the point that the cookies ran into each other, destroying the round shape. Also, I left the dough wrapped and refrigerated for two days, and my scoop broke trying to scoop it. So I found the King Arthur flour, bought another scoop, and will try again, but thought it would be more accurately sized if I could scoop and “pack” the dough balls tight while soft and then chill them that way. However, my refrigerator is a bit too narrow for the baking sheet, so I was wondering if I could layer the balls of dough between parchment paper in an air tight container and transfer them to the proper baking sheet when I get ready to put them in the oven? Also, the King Arthur flour indicates “unbleached” in a red and white package—is that correct? Hoping the recommended flour and scooping proper sized balls will solve my issues? And how about layering the dough balls in the fridge?
    Thanks for your help!
    Elise

    • Sounds like you’re fully prepared this time around with the King Arthur flour and a new scoop. And, yes, it’s fine for you to layer the balls between parchment before baking them. Hope you have a good result!

  • I made these with perfect results. After reading the other reviews on the brand of flour, I actually used 3/4 cup of bread flour (which I had only because I accidentally bought it, but after googling I learned it had extra gluten) which I mixed in with my Pillsbury basic white. There was no science to the 3/4 cup, it’s just what I felt like doing. I also did 1/2 the dough with dark chocolate and half with milk chocolate (for my husband) and I sprinkled some fancy Maldon sea salt on them. I’ve never made a cookie like these. They’re fantastic. I’m making a new batch today because the first batch won’t make it to Christmas….

  • The best chocolate chip cookies ever! Easy to make, delicious hot and cold. One batch only lasted one day. Thanks for the great recipe (again) 🙂

  • Could you please provide the weight equivalents for the sugars and the flour? Thank you so much!

    • Hi Patty, The great majority of my recipes (including this one) include conversions to metric/weight measurements. To view them, scroll down to the recipe, and immediately under the recipe title on the right side, you’ll see a little toggle. If you move it from “cup measures” to metric, you’ll see measurements that will work for you. Hope that helps and that you enjoy the cookies!

  • What should I add instead of egg

    • Two of the best substitutes I’ve heard about (I haven’t personally tried either of them) are a combination of water, oil, and baking powder and carbonated water. Scroll down to the bottom of this article for more information about both. I would assume many baking recipes would also work with some kind of store-bought egg substitute.

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