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
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 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
- 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 (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) 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.
Keywords: inside out chocolate chip cookies, chocolate white chocolate cookies
So good even people who don’t like cookies keep eating them. I tried a bunch of different chocolate chips with it. If you put dark chocolate cacao powder and dark chocolate chips its chocolate death, its my favorite version. I can never make enough since its so good.
I got a question for freezing can I make the dough and put it in freezer straight away or should I chill it first for 3 hrs or 3 days and then put it in freezer.
★★★★★
Hi Victor, you can pop them right in the freezer, but they may stick together a bit as they freeze. You may wish to chill the balls first and then put them in the freezer when they’re less sticky.
These cookies were very yummy! They were cooked perfectly, chewy on the inside and nice and crispy on the outside. I also added mini chocolate chips along with some white chocolate chips. I love these cookies and will definitely make them again!
★★★★★
Delicious! Third recipe I try from this site and they have all been excellent! Thank you!
★★★★★
Love your recipes! How could I turn this into a bar cookie?
Hi Erin, Yes- you can make them as cookie bars. We recommend using a square baking pan instead of a cookie sheet. You can follow the baking directions for our chocolate chip cookie bars. Enjoy!
I made two batches of this batter last night; one batch had semi-sweet chocolate chunks and the other batch had mint-fudge baking chips. I baked the cookies today. Both batches were SO very good! I used a cookie scoop that was nearly 1 1/2- inches in diameter and each batch had a yield of 3 dozen cookies. I have been using my convection bake option on my oven, so I baked these at 350 degrees for 7 minutes. I highly recommend this recipe!
★★★★★
So excited to try this one! Your soft chocolate chip cookies recipe is my go to but I wanted to try something different. My question- I wanted to add mini marshmallows, can I add them together with the chocolate chips in the last step of dough mixing or will they just break up? Should I just press them in at the end of baking? I was hoping to have them inside the cookie and not just the top. Thanks!
Hi Shruti, We find that marshmallows disappear into the batter when baked but right after the cookies/cookie cake comes out of the oven you can press them on top (like we do in our S’mores Chocolate Chip Cookies).
I put mini marshmallows and some m&m’s alongside the white chocolate chips called for in the recipe. Absolutely divine combination! The mini marshmallows I used was a brand called Dandies and they melted great into the cookies. Probably the best decision I made was to add these into the batter and bake! Hope this helps- mini marshmallows were safe for me to add and bake just fine!
★★★★★
I’ve made these several times now, and they’re my go-to chocolate cookie recipe. (I do omit the chips, simply because I don’t care for white chocolate.) Today I had what turned out to be a really good idea: I made larger-than-usual cookies and then used them to make an ice cream sandwich with some high-quality French vanilla ice cream. SO DELICIOUS. I highly recommend that folks give this a try. I would’ve rolled the edges in chopped nuts or sprinkles or something along those lines, but I was a little pressed for time. Next time, for sure!
★★★★★
These were really popular among
my friends! I didn’t chill them to save time and they still came out thick and held their shape. Be careful not to over bake them. You wont see the edges browning like classic cookies. They look very soft even though they’re ready.
★★★★★
I make these cookies all the time. They’re my favorite go-to recipe.
Also, I’ve only chilled the dough once, then got impatient and never did it again and they still turn out perfectly.
Sally – what are the pitfalls of making this a drop instead of rolled cookie? My dominant hand is in a cast for another four weeks, so rolling is (temporarily) out.
Hi Sue! You can definitely drop this dough without rolling it between your hands. The surface may not be as smooth, but will be delicious!
Great recipe, but I do disagree that you need to use natural cocoa powder. I use the Dutch processed and have had no problems or complaints. I wish I could send you a picture of my bast batches so you could see.
Can you substitute margarine for the butter?
Hi Jill, We don’t recommend margarine as it does not have the same chemical makeup as butter. It’s much more watery. For the best results, stick to butter here.
These cookies turned out delicious, like a brownie. I did run into the issue that mine don’t look that pretty. They have really big cracks, similar to a crinkle cookie. Any advice?
Also, all of my go to cookies recipes are from your website. I’ve learned a lot about baking from you!
★★★★★
Best. Cookies. Ever!!! I’ve made them three times and they come out perfect every time. I add a little extra salt and bump up the chips to 1.5 cups, but mix it up with half white chocolate, a quarter semi sweet, and a quarter chopped Oreos. The cookies and cream flavor is to die for. I also only bake one sheet to eat, then roll the rest into balls and freeze individually, then combine them all in a freezer bag. Then bake an individual frozen dough ball at 350° for 20 minutes, so I can have the best cookie ever anytime!
★★★★★
I have made this recipe many times and it always turns out great! I LOVE these cookies, especially when they are warm and with a scoop of vanilla ice cream!
★★★★★
I made some slight modifications to this recipe and it still came out so well! I substituted the milk with a shot of espresso (thought I messed up by making the dough too runny, but it’s absolutely fine) and also added half white chocolate chips and half dark chocolate chunks. I refrigerated the dough for 8 hours and also baked them while cold- absolutely recommend this as the flavours somehow just taste better to me. Finished off with some flaky sea salt on top, delish 🙂
★★★★★
Loved it. It’s fudgy and crispy at the edge
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Hi Sally, ran out of milk at home! Could I substitute with water?
We would recommend skipping the milk instead of using water. The cookie dough will be thick and may not spread as easily – but you can slightly flatten the dough balls before baking to help!
I’m excited to try this recipe! Could I use half and half or oat milk instead of regular milk? Thank you!
Hi Maggie, You can use any milk, dairy or non in this recipe. Enjoy!
I had to laugh when I saw your note about wiping your hands clean between rolling cookies…..am I the only one who licks my fingers? How can you resist? These are some legit cookies, and were the perfect use for my precious stash of white chocolate chips (they aren’t available where I live ). Thanks for the recipe!
★★★★★
Hi Sally,
I’ve been meaning to try these and was wondering if I might also add chopped walnuts? Would you happen to have any thoughts on this?
Thank you so much
Hi Ivy, Absolutely. We recommend 3/4 cup of chopped walnuts. You can add them along with the white chocolate chips or reduce/leave out the white chocolate chips.
These cookies turned out amazing! I used sea salt caramel chips and they were so yummy. I didn’t chill at all except for putting the dough in the fridge while one batch was baking- turned out just fine.
★★★★★
Got many compliments on these cookie! A lot of them said it was too chocolatey and would pair well with milk. I prefer bigger cookies, because they look nicer, but usually you can tell they are done when they have a crinkly top so I didn’t time anything.
★★★★★
I doubled the recipe because I saw that it only yielded 20, but these cookies came out sooooo small. They were like mini cookies. I followed the instructions for the 1.5 tbspns, but they were so itty bitty – I definitely ended up with more than 40 mini cookies. Also, for my first batch, I baked them for 12 mins and they came out overbaked, so the subsequent batches I dropped the time to 11 mins. Overall, delicious cookie but I will definitely increase the dough portion per cookie in the future.
★★★★
Thanks! Truth be told though, I didn’t chill dough, used Crisco instead of butter and peanut butter chips instead of white “chocolate” otherwise, I followed your recipe – delish!
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Cacao instead of cocoa for health benefits of cacao: Sub baking powder for baking soda. Use just 1/2 cup ground cacao for the 1/2 cup + 2TBL cocoa powder. Cacao is more absorbent so have you to reduce the volume. Turned out great! All other steps and ingredients, leave the same.
★★★★★
I just wanted to drop by and say that it’s my first time using your recipe. I made this cookies the other day and my whole family loved it so much. I used sea salt caramel chips instead of white chocolate ones and I think it made all the difference. Plus, I was actually scared the amount of cocoa would make the cookie bitter but it’s just hits the sweet spot as it acts like a contrast to the chocolates. Thank you for this wonderful recipe
So glad you and your family loved these cookies, Alex!
I had no trouble with big, thick cookies. But I made a whole bunch of happy mistakes. I melted instead of softening the butter in the microwave so I had to wait for it to get firm again, it was 2 sticks instead of 1 so I had to double the recipe. I only had 1 cup of golden sugar so I added a cup of coarse turbinado sugar with a dash of molasses for brown sugar. When I blended the dry with wet ingredients, I had a cocoa dust cloud in my kitchen. I did thin it out with lactose free evaporated milk but it took half the carton. I did chill the dough overnight. I baked at 350 convection and I believe that helped them spread just enough to be big, thick cookies. If you can get any hints out of this concoction, your welcome! Delish!
Hi, Thanks for the great recipe. I have tried this and now it is my go-to recipe. Can we bake these inside small steel bowls on the cookie sheet so that the thickness can be maintained, over-spreading is avoided and the shape is perfect?
Thanks!
Hi G! We haven’t tested that but let us know if you do! If you’re having issues with spreading, this post should be helpful. Happy baking!
Used Sally’s tip at the bottom and used butterscotch chips with a little semisweet chocolate instead of white chocolate. So good! It was hard to wait for them to chill but I’m glad I waited overnight.
★★★★★
These cookies are the best! I love all the cookie recipes that I have tried from here. I saw about using peanut butter chips instead of the white chocolate chips. I am wanting to try to make a chocolate peanut butter cookie, but also wanted the cookie batter to have some of the peanut butter flavor as well. Any ideas on how much peanut butter to use in the batter? The dough is so great that I do not want to mess up the consistency of it, so I wasn’t sure if just adding some peanut butter would work or not.
Hi Abbey! Adding peanut butter to this cookie dough would take some testing to ensure good results. Peanut butter chips would be the best way to add peanut butter flavor.
I was looking for a cookie recipe to replace my favourite cookies that are no longer available, and these did not disappoint. They are fantasticly soft and fudgey.
I feel that I should also mention that I do not like chocolate very much (As an adult I realized that it really is just milk chocolatethat I don’t like). But the unsweetened cocoa powder against the sweet white chocolate is to die for.
This will probably become my go-to cookie recipe.
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