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!)
One reader, Kat, commented: “Wonderful recipe! By far my favorite chocolate chocolate chip cookie and very well received by everyone who tries them. They are like brownie cookies in the best way and stayed the perfect softness for a few days after baking. Adding to my yearly cookie rotation for sure! ★★★★★”
Another reader, Amber, commented: “Arguably the best cookies I’ve ever had. ★★★★★“
And another reader, Cynthia, commented: “Love these. I’ve made them too many times to count, and I always double the recipe. I’ve made them with dark chocolate chips, white chocolate, nuts, coconut, Andes candies in the middle. So many ways. It’s just a perfect chocolate cookie. ★★★★★“
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, chocolate frosted 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. If you need extra guidance on this step, I have a separate tutorial on how to cream butter and sugar. 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 double 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 success tips 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 (8 Tbsp; 113g) 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 3 minutes. (Here’s a helpful tutorial if you need guidance on how to cream butter and sugar.) 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; I like to use this medium cookie scoop) 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 | Cooling Rack
- 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 success tips AND these are my 10 must-have cookie baking tools.
Reader Comments and Reviews
Maybe change the name to Blackout cookies… they are so indulgent, chocolatey, gooey, pillowy, goodness in one beautiful cookie, you just may blackout ( in a good way ) from the eating experience! Adding this to my holiday cookie rotation. Many Thanks
This is my new ‘go to’ cookie! I couldn’t wait to chill all the dough, so baked just one to test it — perfection! Then also added walnuts and dried sour cherries (no added sugar) — also perfection!
I mixed and rolled my double chocolate dough into balls and refrigerated them yesterday and today I just realized that I forgot to add the milk. What do I do?
Thank you.
Hi Terdy, we would bake the cookies still!
Can i use self rising flour instead of all purpose flour? Will it still be the same?
Hi Brooklyn, no, we do not recommend using self-raising flour here instead. It’s best to stick with all-purpose flour + baking soda as written in the recipe.
My husband is obsessed and crushes these! Sooo good
I don’t normally leave recipe reviews but these are divine!!!!
They are chocolatey, fudgy & all round delicious!! Highly recommend.
THE MOST AMAZING COOKIES EVER!
Perfectly chewy i swapped out the milk chocolate for white chocolate and it was great
Hi, Sally. My dough is chilling in the refrig right now, but I just realized I forgot to add the milk to the dough mixture ☹️. Is there anything I can do about that? Should I even shape and bake the cookies or will they be too dry? Thank you!
Hi Brianne! You can definitely still shape and bake the cookies. 1 Tbsp milk won’t completely make or break these cookies!
Thank you Trina! Also I’ve made these cookies a couple of times and they are absolutely AMAZING!! Thank you for a great recipe!
These were seriously the best cookies I’ve ever made. Crispy on the outside and soft in the inside. Thank you!
Can I halve this recipe? I don’t want to make too many…
Hi Ruzgar, You could halve the recipe (you would have to use half of one egg though). We would recommend making the whole recipe, freezing any extra dough balls, and then just baking as many as you want at a time.
Hi Sally,
Can these baked Double Chocolate Cookie be frozen while I get some other things together to send them out to my grandson at college?
Thank you for your attention.
Hi Karen, Baked cookies freeze well for up to 3 months.
I never find double chocolate chip cookies well…chocolate-y enough for me. What would happen if I bloom the cocoa powder and fold it in before the dry ingredients?
Hi Cam, you could certainly try that! We haven’t, but would love to hear how it goes for you!
These are so amazing. Hard to share, double the batch
I made this recipe last night and the cookies are sooo good! If your looking for deep, dark, chocolate decadence in a cookie – this is the recipe. Super easy to make but patience is needed since you have to cool the dough for three hours… it was worth it!
Can I add in caramel or salted caramel chips with this recipe?
Hi Ali, you could use salted caramel chips in place of some/all of the chocolate chips. Or you might enjoy these salted caramel dark chocolate cookies, too!
Thank you, that recipe looks amazing too.
I made today and used mini peanut butter m&m’s. Great! And always top with flaky sea salt.
The only thing I did differently was use white chocolate chips. I’m bringing them to a labor day barbecue and couldn’t resist the temptation to test taste one while it was still warm and gooey from the oven. Oh my gosh, so scrumptious! They are soft, rich, and they spread so nicely. I used a kitchen scale to match the size for the dough balls and they are perfect. I’m going to make this again tomorrow with M&M’s!
has anyone tried this with like 50% reg choc chips and 50% white choc chips?
Should be great, Maria!
These cookies are delicious! Sally, I love your recipes and your website. Thank you for putting the check boxes by the ingredient list. Makes baking easier for me! In a world where people are turning to AI for their recipes, I will be singing the praises of Sally’s Baking. Haha! Love you!
Can I make it eggless?
Hi Sakshi, we haven’t tested this recipe with egg substitutes, so can’t give any advice. Let us know if you try any! Here are all of our egg free baking recipes if you are interested in browsing there.
This recipe is fab! Is there any way I can make this gluten free? Can I just sub in gluten free flour?
Hi Madi, we haven’t tested these cookies with gluten free flour, so we’re unsure of the results. Let us know if you do give it a try.
I only make GF cookies and these were perfect with GF flour. King Arthur is what I used
Can i add your homemade marshmallows as add-ins?
Hi Claire, we haven’t tested that but think it could work well. You may also love these marshmallow surprise cookies!
I (a 16 year old girl) made these as a way to try and get better at making cookies, and they are SOO good, and even better if you dunk them in some milk or crumble them and put them on ice cream, that tatse amazing, also, I didnt have any all purposes flour or baking sods at the moment so I just used self rising and it worked about the same, but honestly I really recommend you make these cookies, 10/10 highly recommend
Hi! If I want to make these cookies crispy do I have to increase the baking time?
Hi Sue, you can try increasing the bake time for a crispier cookie. You can also press the dough into a flatter shape before baking to promote more spread and more crisp. Hope you enjoy the cookies!
I can’t find natural cocoa powder anywhere. Is there a way to adjust the recipe the recipe to work with dutch process cocoa powder? Thank you!
Hi TJ! We’d recommend these death by chocolate peanut butter cookies instead, as you can use Dutch process cocoa there. Feel free to use all chocolate chips, too, instead of the peanut butter chips called for in the recipe. Enjoy!
How long do I bake these cookies if I’m doing 100g cookies at 350??
Hi Zai, we’re unsure of the exact bake time needed. Bake the cookies until the edges appear set and the centers still look soft.
Can I bake without cooling the dough?
Hi Faith, without chilling the dough, the cookies will spread too much. Best to follow the recipe as written!
If I was using this dough in a cookie cake, like the chocolate chip cookie cake recipe on this site, would I have to chill the dough?
Hi Brooke, no need!
I made these with only 30 minutes cooling time and they cooked fine
I made these cookies and also the maple brown sugar pecan cookies, both wonderful! I made them for a bake sale and I have some of each left over. I don’t seen instructions about freezing cookies that have already been baked, and I want to save these for the next sale. What’s the best way to do that? Thank you!
Hi Jane, yes, baked cookies freeze well for up to 3 months!
I made this with a mixture of roasted honey macadamia nuts ( I highly recommend ) chocolate chips and white chocolate chips, they were amazing , I followed the recipe Excately ( overnight refrigeration) and they came out perfect ✨
I made these cookies and out of all the cookies i have made in my lifetime these are by far the best. they taste amazing and i recommend cooking them for only 10 or 11 minutes for the best texture.
These double chocolate chip cookies look absolutely delicious! The texture is perfect, and I can’t wait to try them. I love finding new cookie recipes to bake at home, but sometimes it’s nice to visit a local Bakery in Placentia for a treat.