These inside out chocolate chip cookies combine a rich and fudgy chocolate cookie base, the same we use for double chocolate chip cookies. Enjoy super soft and brownie-like centers, chewy edges, and sweet white chocolate chips in each bite. They’re as loved as my chewy chocolate chip cookies and as undeniably rich as my homemade brownies.
Hello and welcome back to 2013 when I initially published this recipe. Now with updated pictures, clearer instructions, and helpful success tips, there’s no excuse not to try the ONLY CHOCOLATE COOKIE RECIPE YOU NEED. Wow, that’s quite the statement.
In the past several years, these inside out chocolate chip cookies have climbed to the top of my most-loved cookie recipe list. Along with chewy chocolate chip cookies, drop sugar cookies, peanut butter cookies, and oatmeal raisin cookies, this is the gold standard of cookie dough recipes to try.
What Are Inside Out Chocolate Chip Cookies?
I know you’re looking at me cross-eyed wondering what, why, and how these are inside out cookies. Think of a regular chocolate chip cookie—buttery brown sugar base with chocolate chips, right? Well, the term “inside out” means that the cookie base is now chocolate and the add-in is white chocolate. Obviously white chocolate chips don’t taste like the buttery brown sugar base of a regular cookie, but I don’t think anyone’s complaining here.
Simply put, these are Chocolate White Chocolate Chip Cookies. (Think of them like the cookie version of chocolate white chocolate cupcakes!)
Video Tutorial
These Chocolate Cookies Are:
- Easy to make with a basic recipe
- A personal and reader favorite
- Soft-baked with brownie-like centers
- Chewy on the edges
- Massively chocolatey
The recipe is also easy to double in 1 mixing bowl without overwhelming/overcrowding your mixer and the baked cookies freeze wonderfully.
How to Make Inside Out Chocolate Chip Cookies
Even though it’s one of my favorite base cookie recipes, I’ve never walked you through the recipe process. We’ll do that real quick:
- Mix dry ingredients together. You need all-purpose flour, natural unsweetened cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt. Do you remember the difference between dutch-process vs. natural cocoa powder? Use natural here.
- Beat wet ingredients together. You need butter, white sugar, brown sugar, egg, and vanilla extract. Room temperature butter and egg will mix more evenly into each other, creating a uniform texture among all the cookies. Additionally, both whip into a greater volume when at room temperature, producing a softer-crumbed cookie.
- Combine all ingredients, then add milk. 1 Tablespoon of milk smooths out the dough. And don’t forget to add the white chocolate chips.
- Chill the cookie dough in the refrigerator. The cookie dough is sticky and unmanageable, so chilling is necessary. I usually chill it overnight, but 3 hours is just enough. Chilled cookie dough is not only easier to handle and roll into balls, it also guarantees thicker cookies. See my tips on How to Prevent Cookies from Spreading.
- Roll cookie dough into balls. After chilling, scoop and roll the cookie dough into tall balls—a heaping 1.5 Tablespoons of dough per cookie.
- Bake. Bake the cookies for 11-12 minutes. If the cookies 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.
Let them cool for a few minutes and experience a fudgy brownie in cookie form. I usually don’t like milk with cookies, but this recipe basically demands it.
Sticky Dough
This cookie dough is sticky, even if you’ve chilled it, so a cookie scoop is helpful. The medium size is perfect because each dough ball should be around 1.5 Tablespoons of dough. If you use your hands, expect to make a little mess as you shape the cookie dough balls. Have a kitchen towel or paper towel nearby. I usually wipe my hands clean after every few cookie dough balls. Clean hands make rolling easier.
Same Dough, Different Cookie
Though ultra soft-baked with chewy edges and fudge-like centers, these chocolate cookies aren’t anything new or groundbreaking. In fact, you might actually recognize the base dough because it’s been my go-to chocolate cookie for years. This is the same exact cookie dough as:
- Double Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Salted Caramel Dark Chocolate Cookies
- Peppermint Mocha Cookies
- Chocolate Crinkle Cookies
- Double Chocolate Chip Swirl Cookies
- Andes Mint Chocolate Cookies
- Chocolate Frosted Cookies
Note: The chocolate crinkle cookies and peppermint mocha cookies can over-spread as a result of the sugar coating and peppermint extract (respectively), so I leave out the milk in those versions.
Need cookies right NOW? If you don’t have time to chill the dough, try giant chocolate chip cookies, Nutella chocolate chip cookies, or even one giant double chocolate cookie.
And if you’re looking for cookie cutter chocolate cookies, here are my chocolate sugar cookies.
Interested in freezing the baked cookies or cookie dough?
- Here’s How to Freeze Cookie Dough
More of My Classic Cookie Recipes
- Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies & Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
- Peanut Butter Cookies & White Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies
- Sugar Cookies
- Chocolate Chip Cookies (extra chewy!)
- Snickerdoodles
- Shortbread Cookies
Inside Out Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Prep Time: 3 hours, 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 12 minutes
- Total Time: 3 hours, 30 minutes
- Yield: 20-22 cookies
- Category: Cookies
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
These inside out chocolate chip cookies combine a rich and fudgy chocolate cookie base, super soft and brownie-like centers, chewy edges, and sweet white chocolate chips. Easy to throw together, this is my base chocolate cookie recipe. This cookie dough requires at least 3 hours of refrigeration.
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) white 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 white 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. Set aside.
- Scoop and roll dough, a heaping 1.5 Tablespoons of dough each, into balls. (I like using this medium cookie scoop.) 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 white 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. Read my tips and tricks on how to freeze cookie dough.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): Electric Mixer (Handheld or Stand) | Baking Sheets | Silicone Baking Mat or Parchment Paper | Medium Cookie Scoop | 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.
- Other Add-Ins: Instead of white chocolate chips in the dough, you can use the same amount of peanut butter chips, regular 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.
Reader Comments and Reviews
A little more elegant than a kid cookie. Don’t over-bake, add a little espresso powder, and voila! Four people at a grad party just asked for your recipe, Sally. Thank you!
Tried this recipe and they are my absolute new favorite cookie recipe ever! Even the non-chocoholics in my family loved this one!
They taste great but didn’t spread as anticipated… stayed fairly round. What can I do differently?
Hi Amy, When cookies aren’t spreading, it means that there’s too much dry ingredient (flour) soaking up all the liquid. Make sure you are properly measuring your flour by spoon and leveling instead of scooping. If you’re in the middle of baking a batch and the cookies still aren’t spreading, remove them from the oven, and use a spoon to slightly flatten them out before returning them to the oven. Thank you so much for giving these a try!
These are the absolute best fudge cookie! I never make them without people asking for the recipe! I have successfully shipped them, frozen them, and of course eaten h them! Yummy!
Hey Sally! I know you have a choc chip recipe, but I love the base of these inside cookies so I was wondering if, removing the milk, I could substitute the cocoa for additional flour to have a white base?
Also, if I add shredded coconut, do I need to add some additional moisture so that the cookie doesn’t get too dry, or it is fine to leave the base recipe as it is?
Thanks,
Chiara
Hi Chiara, if you like the soft and chewy texture of these cookies, you’ll love our chewy chocolate chip cookies. Cocoa powder can be a finicky ingredient, so it’s not always as simply as swapping the cocoa powder for flour. You could add sweetened shredded coconut to that cookie dough, or you might enjoy these coconut macadamia nut cookies as well.
Hi Sally! I was wondering, giving that the recipe calls for brown sugar and the baking soda can react with this, can I use either natural or dutch cocoa powder? Or is there a reason for which I have to use natural?
Also, if I want to make a recipe darker and want to use black cocoa when normal cocoa is requested, can I do it? Or black cocoa is considered dutch cocoa and therefore cannot always be used as substitute of natural one?
Thank you!!!!!
Hi Chiara, brown sugar and natural unsweetened cocoa powder are our acidic ingredients in this cookie dough. It’s imperative to use natural cocoa powder instead of dutched cocoa for this very reason. Using dutched cocoa (like black cocoa) in this cookie recipe would require recipe testing. You can try using 2 tsp baking powder + 1/4 tsp baking soda (since brown sugar is an acid) and the dutch cocoa but we have not tested this. Let us know what you try!
I love making your recipes but can you tell me why my white choc chips went brown when cooked please. Still taste amazing.
Hi Sue, Was it just the morsels on the top of the cookies that browned? It sounds like your oven may run a bit hotter than it reads. You can try moving the baking sheet down a rack from the heating element, or you can wait until the cookies have come out of the oven and press some extra white chocolate chips on top for looks. Glad you enjoyed the cookies!
I made these last night but, because I can never leave well enough alone, I made some of my own adjustments. I used black cocoa powder and smoked salt (avoid the black oily stuff that tastes like the fire not the smoke; I used Falk’s). I put a sprinkle of cinnamon in the dry ingredients and used buttermilk. To the vanilla I added 2 extra teaspoons of Kahlua. I also used half white chocolate chips and half caramel chips. They were GLORIOUS!
These cookies are so delicious! Every time I take them to an event or add them to my Christmas cookie boxes people as me for the recipe! Love them and they are a very popular treat!
This made a very good cookie! I’m sure I will make it again. It’s sort of a “brownie cookie with white chocolate chips”. The only down-side is it’s fairly sticky to roll into the cookies, I kept dusting my hands lightly with flour to avoid being too sticky.
Hi, I love these cookies and have made them several times now! Just one question, can I scoop the dough out and then refrigerate it rather than refrigerate first?
Hi Gracie, this cookie dough is too sticky to form into balls right after you mix the cookie dough. We recommend chilling for at least 1 hour, then shaping, then chilling for another 1-2 hours. Bake them from being cold– don’t bring to room temperature first.
Omg. I made this recipe once…absolutely loved it, like it was my favorite cookie EVER…but after the first time, I was NEVER able to make it the same way again and my cookies always turn out wayyyy to dry. Well, after wanting to cry last night over how my dough turned out (again), I decided to re-read the recipe. It’s 55 grams of cocoa powder, not 155 which is what I apparently wrote down in my recipe book!
Even when measuring the cocoa powder, I’m like ‘Wow, she really requires a lot of this stuff.’ Now I’m like ‘Nope! It’s just me not following the recipie as instructed and literally trying to break my kitchen aid with how tough I’ve made this dough’
I wish I could post pictures of my final product haha
Do you think the dough could be rolled and chilled then sliced?
Hi Haley! What do you mean by sliced? Our chocolate sugar cookies recipe may be what you’re looking for.
Great recipe. I used Gluten free 1:1 flour and they turned out delicious. Make sure to underbake slightly. I’m at 7000ft altitude, so I also added a few Tbs more flour and reduced the sugar slightly. Don’t skimp on the chilling time.
My all time favorite cookie recipe! My husband also loves them and gets excited everytime he knows I am making them!
Could I add peppermint extract to these cookies? If so, how many teaspoons would be enough for this recipe? Thanks!
Absolutely! We would add 1 tsp peppermint extract.
Everyone loved the cookies. Very straight forward to make. I followed the recipe and the batch made exactly 22 cookies.
Delicious! I added espresso powder for acid since I only had dutch-process cocoa. Used candy corn for Halloween!
This has been my favorite cookie recipe since it was posted but i recently found out i can no longer eat gluten. Could you recommend a gf substitution?
Hi Moe, we haven’t tested a gluten free version of these cookies, but many readers report success using a 1:1 gluten free flour blend like Bob’s Red Mill in our cookie recipes. Let us know if you try it!
Great recipe! I added some purple, green and orange smarties and eyeball candies on top to make them look like Halloween monsters. Very cute.
This recipe was perfect and the cookies were delicious. I actually didn’t chill (just did not have the time, angry toddler demanding cookies) and they came out great!
This recipe was great! I put marshmallows in mine 🙂
Delicious! I added an equal quantity of chocolate extract (soak cacao nibs in vodka for a months or so) and a half portion of coffee extract (coffee beans, vodka, much less time). Went with PB chips on the second batch. For winter holidays would probably use some mint extract and holiday-colored coated chocolate candies. Rich, dark, and satisfying. One recipient asked *not* to be directed to the recipe lest she overindulge.
Hiii I’ve made these cookies before and they were absolutely amazing but I made them again and I just took them out of the fridge and they’re on the tray ready to go Into the oven when I forgot I never added the milk. Will this make a difference to the outcome of the cookies?
Hi Emma, the milk helps smooth out the dough. You may find they don’t spread quite as much, so feel free to give the pan a quick bang on the counter towards the end of bake time if they need a little help to start spreading.
Very easy to follow, mine were definitely flatter even with weighing all the ingredients. I found the cookie very sweet for me. Nice texture though. Chewy
Just made these, and they’re SO delicious. Used a larger scoop, so resulted in 12 cookies instead of 20-22, but so good. even after cooling, the center remains slightly soft and chewy. Absolutely amazing, and will definitely follow these cookie recipes from now on!
How big of a scoop and how big did they get if you don’t mind me asking
These burnt to a crisp in less than 6 minutes following your direction! I chilled for 3 hours in a fridge set to the coldest setting and I set them out for 10 minutes before baking. I saw another comment with the same issue and you said “chill for 20 minutes before cooking”??? You literally tell us to set them out for 10 minutes before cooking. Which is it? A co.plete waste of a day and ingredients
Hi Jacob, thanks for the feedback. Were your cookies extra small to burn to a crisp in only 6 minutes? I wonder if the oven temperature was incorrect? My team & I recommended a shorter chill time for those whose cookies were not spreading at all. And the 10 or 20 minutes at room temperature after chilling depends on how long you refrigerate the dough (step 4). Apologies for the confusion.
made these fir my friends bday! were a hit!!
Delicious cookies. I tried shaping the dough as balls, as cylinders. and as barrels. The cookies baked up all the same shape and size.
I add espresso powder to the batter. These are deeeeelish!
I substituted margarine for butter, due to one of my kids being lactose intolerant. It still produced a great cookie. 10/10