The best recipe for double chocolate chip cookies must obviously include extra doses of chocolate. These soft-baked thick and chunky cookies are as indulgent as they look: rich and fudge-like with chewy centers, slightly crisp edges, and oodles of melty chocolate chips in each glorious bite.
It’s the chocolate dough recipe I’ve been making for years and even included it in my cookbook stuffed with peanut butter cups. There’s no reason to stray from this basic chocolate dough!
Included in my cookbooks and used all over my website, this cookie dough is my go-to base for chocolate cookies. There’s a reason I work with this dough often: it’s because it WORKS and it’s pointless to stray from a tested, dependable recipe. (That’s also delicious!)
Why You’ll Love These Double Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Easy to make with a basic dough
- Soft-baked and chewy with fudge chocolate centers
- Recipe is easily doubled
- Cookie dough balls freeze well
- You can use the cookies to make chocolate cookie ice cream sandwiches
- Versatile dough! Turn them into s’more chocolate crinkle cookies in the summer, peppermint mocha cookies, Andes mint chocolate cookies, or peppermint frosted cookies in the winter, chocolate crinkle cookies or salted caramel dark chocolate cookies any time of year, or switch to white chips for inside out chocolate chip cookies
My team and I receive many questions about turning this base chocolate dough into regular double chocolate chip cookies, so I figured having a separate spot for that particular cookie recipe would be ideal for chocolate cookie lovers everywhere. And I’m guessing that’s you. 😉
Grab These Ingredients
All of the ingredients required for this cookie recipe are kitchen staples. You need:
- Wet ingredients: Butter, white & brown sugars, egg, vanilla extract, and milk
- Dry ingredients: Flour, unsweetened natural cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt
You also need chocolate chips and I recommend semi-sweet. Mini chocolate chips, chocolate chunks, or other flavors such as peanut butter chips or butterscotch morsels work too. You could even keep them plain and roll in chopped pecans to make chocolate turtle cookies.
Success Tip: Use Natural Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
Because the double chocolate chip cookies use baking soda, it’s important to use natural cocoa powder since it’s acidic. You could get away with dutch-process here (since brown sugar is also acidic), but the cookies may lose shape and taste dense. To avoid issues, I recommend natural. For further information, you can read about the differences between natural and dutch process cocoa powder.
Did you know? Cocoa powder is a very light, yet drying ingredient. To keep the cookies tender and moist, the dough needs liquid like milk. That’s why chocolate cake calls for so much liquid.
Overview: How to Make Double Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough
Cream the butter and both sugars together before adding the egg and vanilla extract. Separately, whisk the dry ingredients together and don’t be concerned about how little flour this recipe requires. (Remember that cocoa powder is another dry ingredient to bulk up the dough.) Combine wet and dry ingredients, then beat in the milk and then the chocolate chips.
Ensure you use proper room temperature butter, which should still be cool to the touch at about 65°F (18°C). If it’s too cold, it cannot cream and if it’s melty in the slightest, your cookies will be a mess.
Success Tip: Chill the Dough
The dough definitely comes together easily, but it’s sticky and tacky as a result of the cocoa powder mixing with liquid. It’s even stickier than the chocolate layer of pinwheel cookies. Therefore, the dough requires chilling before you can shape and bake. I recommend at least 3 hours in the refrigerator, but you can also refrigerate it overnight. Need cookies right NOW? Try giant chocolate chip cookies, Nutella chocolate chip cookies, or even one giant chocolate cookie.
Expect a sticky, tacky dough:
How to Shape The Cookie Dough
This cookie dough is still a bit sticky even if you’ve chilled it, but it’s much more compact since it’s cold. Use a cookie scoop to help you portion the sticky dough. The medium size is perfect because each dough ball should be around 1.5 Tablespoons. After scooping the dough, shape it as best you can into tall column-like balls. I know that sounds odd, but it’s the trick I teach when making regular chocolate chip cookies. Taller balls of chilled dough = thicker baked cookies.
The cookie dough will undoubtedly stick to your hands during the shaping step, so have a kitchen towel or paper towel nearby. I usually wipe my hands clean after every few cookie dough balls because clean hands make rolling easier. (Same tip I recommend for peanut butter filled brownie cookies.)
If you’re looking for cookie cutter style cookies, here are my chocolate sugar cookies.
Get your cookies to spread: The cookies take at least 11 minutes to bake, however if they aren’t really spreading by minute 9, remove them from the oven and lightly bang the baking sheet on the counter 2-3x. This helps initiate that spread. Return to the oven for a couple more minutes.
How Do You Know When Double Chocolate Chip Cookies Are Done?
It’s hard to see when the cookies are done because they’re so dark. Instead, give a cookie a light tap on the edge and if it feels slightly set, they’re done. Be careful with this because they’re hot! The centers will still look very soft and that’s ok. They usually take about 11-12 minutes.
Can I Freeze the Cookie Dough Balls?
Yes, once portioned and before baking, the chocolate cookie dough balls freeze beautifully. If the dough balls are a bit sticky, chill them in the refrigerator for 30-60 minutes first. Place the balls in a single layer in a zipped-top freezer bag and freeze for up to 3 months. You can take a few dough balls out of the freezer at a time, and bake (no need to thaw) whenever that chocolate craving hits. Simply add another minute to the bake time. Read my full tutorial on how to freeze cookie dough here.
After publishing 200+ tested cookie recipes and 3 cookbooks, I know what works and what doesn’t, so check out my top cookie baking tips for success if you’re ever having trouble. Additionally, my entire team and I put together our recommended 10 best cookie baking tools if you need top-rated suggestions. Happy baking!
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Favorite Double Chocolate Chip Cookies Recipe
- Prep Time: 3 hours, 15 minutes (includes chilling)
- Cook Time: 12 minutes
- Total Time: 3 hours, 30 minutes
- Yield: 20-22 cookies
- Category: Cookies
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
These soft-baked thick and chunky double chocolate chip cookies are rich and fudge-like with chewy centers, slightly crisp edges, and oodles of melty chocolate chips in each glorious bite. The dough needs to chill for at least 3 hours, but you can make it ahead of time and refrigerate overnight.
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup (115g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 1/2 cup (100g) granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup (100g) packed light or dark brown sugar
- 1 large egg, at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 cup (125g) all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled)
- 2/3 cup (55g) natural unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 1 Tablespoon (15ml) milk (any kind, dairy or non)
- 1 and 1/4 cups (225g) semi-sweet chocolate chips, plus a few more for optional topping*
Instructions
- Preliminary note: This cookie dough requires at least 3 hours of chilling, but I prefer to chill the dough overnight. The colder the dough, the thicker the cookies.
- In a large bowl using a hand-held or stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter, granulated sugar, and brown sugar together on medium high speed until fluffy and light in color, about 2-3 minutes. Add the egg and vanilla extract, and then beat on high speed until combined. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl as needed.
- In a separate bowl, whisk the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt together until combined. With the mixer running on low speed, slowly pour into the wet ingredients. Beat on low until combined. The cookie dough will be quite thick. Switch to high speed and beat in the milk, then the chocolate chips. The cookie dough will be sticky and tacky. Cover dough tightly and chill in the refrigerator for at least 3 hours and up to 3 days. Chilling is mandatory for this sticky cookie dough.
- Remove cookie dough from the refrigerator and allow to sit at room temperature for 10 minutes. If the cookie dough chilled longer than 3 hours, let it sit at room temperature for about 20 minutes. This makes the chilled cookie dough easier to scoop and roll.
- Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C). Line large baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. (Always recommended for cookies.) Set aside.
- Scoop and roll dough, a heaping 1.5 Tablespoons (about 35-40g) in size, into balls. To ensure a thicker cookie, make the balls taller than they are wide (almost like a cylinder or column). Arrange 2-3 inches apart on the baking sheets. The cookie dough is certainly sticky, so wipe your hands clean after every few balls of dough you shape.
- Bake the cookies for 11-12 minutes or until the edges appear set and the centers still look soft. Tip: If they aren’t really spreading by minute 9, remove them from the oven and lightly bang the baking sheet on the counter 2-3x. This helps initiate that spread. Return to the oven to continue baking.
- Cool cookies for 5 minutes on the baking sheet. During this time, I like to press a few more chocolate chips into the tops of the warm cookies. (This is optional and only for looks.) Transfer to cooling rack to cool completely. The cookies will slightly deflate as they cool.
- Cover leftover cookies tightly and store at room temperature for up to 1 week.
Notes
- Make Ahead & Freezing Instructions: You can make the cookie dough and chill it in the refrigerator for up to 3 days (step 3). Baked cookies freeze well for up to 3 months. Unbaked cookie dough balls freeze well for up to 3 months. Bake frozen cookie dough balls for an extra minute, no need to thaw. Check out my tips + tricks for how to freeze cookie dough.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): Electric Mixer (Stand Mixer or Handheld) | Medium Cookie Scoop | Baking Sheets | Silicone Baking Mats
- Larger Batch: The recipe is easy to double in 1 mixing bowl without overwhelming your mixer. Simply double all of the cookie dough ingredients. Dough chill time remains the same.
- Natural Cocoa Powder: Do you know the difference between natural cocoa powder and dutch-process cocoa powder? Use natural in this dough.
- Other Add-Ins: Instead of chocolate chips in the dough, you can use the same amount of peanut butter chips, white chocolate chips, M&Ms, chopped nuts, or butterscotch chips.
- Be sure to check out my top 5 cookie baking tips AND these are my 10 must-have cookie baking tools.
Keywords: double chocolate chip cookies
I used this recipe as a guide rather than following exactly, but they still turned out so well! Intense chocolate flavor, nice crispy edges and fudgy centers. 🙂
Notes for myself in case I want to make it the same way again: I went a bit past “softened” butter (nearly melted) so I omitted the milk to avoid excessive spreading, swapped out about 20g of the cocoa for black cocoa, mixed the cocoa into the butter+sugar mixture before adding the egg to avoid the need to sift, added the egg in cold, used about 1/2 cup of chopped chocolate, chilled for 1 hour, baked for 11 min on a Silpat.
★★★★★
A lot of work & time for a mediocre cookie. Very cakey.
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Hi Nadine, So sorry to hear these cookies didn’t turn out for you. A cakey cookie is likely caused by too much flour in the dough. How did you measure the flour? Make sure to spoon and level (instead of scooping) to avoid packing in too much flour into your measuring cups – or use a kitchen scale. You can read more about properly measuring baking ingredients in this post.
Unfortunately this recipe didn’t work for me. I added less chocolate chips since the dough seemed a little wet (tho it was just as it is presented in a video) and I suspected something wasn’t right. I baked the dough frozen, every batch was a different size – NONE of the cookies were baked right. Every batch turned out thin and not crispy at all. I’ll definitely add more flour or less butter next time 🙁 Shame
★
Literally the BEST cookies my family and I have ever had in terms of both flavor and texture. If you like chocolate, these are a slam dunk.
★★★★★
Can I use this recipe to make bigger cookies? Maybe just increasing the cook time? I’m bringing them to my son’s school for his birthday and would love the wow factor of a larger cookie.
Hi Julie, you can certainly the cookies larger with a slightly longer bake time. We’re unsure of the exact bake time, but keep a close eye on them. Hope they’re a hit!
This recipe is perfect, but for the record you absolutely do not need to bring the egg to room temperature or chill the dough. I had nice thick, fluffy, fudgy cookies without doing any of the extras. Let’s be real, who is planning to make cookies a day ahead of time? Don’t hesitate to make these if you’re doing it on a whim.
★★★★★
I love this recipe! I also added some peanut butter chips this round, cant wait to try them!!
★★★★★
Best recipe for high altitude I have made to date – I have been converting my recipes since moving to Nevada – weight, ratio of sugar and fat is critical along with temp – Sally is first site which required almost no tweeking – this is my husbands new favorite cookie
★★★★★
Hi Sally. I just made this dough and realised that I forgot to add milk!! Will this affect the cookies badly?
Hi Sonia, the dough may be a little thick, but they should turn out OK. Let us know how they go!
My hubby LOVES these more than any other cookie. He is a lover of dark chocolate, and these were flat but very chewy (not at all dry or crumby). Thank you!
★★★★★
These might be the best cookies I have ever made! Sooo good freshly baked and equally good cooled off a few hours later. I added a half cup of coconut and it added a nice texture.
★★★★★
Epic recipe! Everyone who has tasted these cookies has raved and requested the recipe. Cannot recommend highly enough. Bravo, Sally!!
★★★★★
I doubled the recipe, regfrigerated for 3 hours, then shaped the cookies as directed. They turned out great. A new family favorite!
★★★★★
I didnt have Brown sugar but was eager to try this recipe so I went ahead with only White sugar. They are a little bit less fudgy, so a little less perfect but oh boy! These are great. I also used White chocolate chips and the contrast between the dark cookie and the White chocolate chunks is beautiful. Thanks for the recipe!
★★★★★
Best double chocolate cookies of all time! Definitely going to make again – this recipe is perfection
★★★★★
Mine came out visually perfect after a 12+ hour rest in the fridge. Taste wise they are very good, though I think some flaky salt sprinkled over them right out of the oven would add a lot, very fudgy and could use some extra saltiness.
★★★★
These cookies turned out very good! I made some changes- twice as much salt, half as much vanilla, and half a tablespoon of sour cream instead of milk (plus a bit of water) and they turned out perfect! I was unaware of the trick to get them to be thicker and it turned out really good!! All in all, a good cookie recipe
★★★★
Hi Sally, I’ve made the One giant Chocolate cookie recipe several times…totally Love!! Its really WOW! But I need cookies for a crowd, will these double chocolate cookies puff up like the the giant cookie does??
Hi Beth, the taste and texture of these cookies is very similar to the one giant chocolate cookie—hope they’re a hit!
I know it says to use natural cocoa powder, but if I use Dutch process will that not work or will it work but just be worse?
Hi Stanley, for best results, we recommend sticking with unsweetened natural cocoa powder. Dutch process could make the cookies a bit flat and even bitter tasting.