Chocolate Chunk Cookies — These chocolate chunk cookies are made with both chocolate chunks AND chips. These are hands down the BEST chocolate chip cookies I’ve ever made!
Table of Contents
Best Ever Cookies … with Chocolate Chunks!
I’ve been on the quest to find the perfect end-all be-all chocolate chip cookie recipe. And this recipe is as close as I’ve come.
These chunky chocolate chip cookies are so soft, similar to Keebler Soft-Batch Cookies, minus the store-bought taste. And they bake up with the perfect height; not too thick or overly domed and not too thin like flat pancakes.
I stuffed these cookies to the max with both chocolate chips and chocolate chunks. As the cookies bake, the chips retain their shape more than the chunks, which turn into oozing luxurious puddles.
What Makes These Chocolate Chunk Cookies “The Best?”
If you’re looking for an easy, straightforward, chocolate chunk cookie recipe that yields fantastic results, I encourage you to give this one a try. These cookies are as close to my definition of The Perfect Cookie as I’ve come and here are the highlights why I love the recipe:
- No two-day waiting period between making the dough and baking the cookies — and dough chilling is optional.
- No egg plus yolk situation to contend with so nothing is wasted.
- The overall batch size is manageable, about two dozen.
- Each cookie is decent-sized, but not ginormous.
- The cookies get softer, not harder or drier, the next day and continue to stay soft for up to a week.
- The holy grail of cookie qualities are present — thick, puffy, soft, and chewy.
And let’s not forget, there are two kinds of chocolate in every bite! The more the merrier.
Ingredients in Chocolate Chunk Cookies
To make this chocolate chunk cookie recipe, you’ll need:
- Unsalted butter
- Brown sugar
- Granulated sugar
- Egg
- Vanilla extract
- All-purpose flour
- Bread flour
- Cornstarch
- Baking soda
- Salt
- Semi-sweet chocolate chips
- Bittersweet chocolate
How to Make Chocolate Chunk Cookies
The double chocolate chunk cookies come together quickly, although you do have to chill the dough before baking it (no way around it, sorry!). Let’s review how the cookies loaded with chocolate chunks are prepared:
- Cream together the butter and sugars until light and fluffy.
- Add in the egg and vanilla, then stir in the dry ingredients.
- Add the chocolate chunks and chips last, then scoop the dough into balls.
- Refrigerate the cookie dough balls for about 2 hours before baking them.
- Bake until barely golden brown around the edges, even if slightly undercooked in the center.
- Allow cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before removing and transferring to a rack to finish cooling.
How Long Should You Bake Chocolate Chip Cookies?
I recommend baking 8 to 9 minutes, and not more than 10 minutes, period. I found given the size of my dough mounds, my oven, and my taste preferences, 9 minutes is the magic number for me. Even though the centers will seem underdone at 8 or 9 minutes, as the cookies cool out of the oven, they firm up.
If you wait to pull the cookies until they look done, as they cool they will set up far too firm and crumbly and won’t stay soft and chewy. Don’t overbake.
Cookie Baking FAQs
I used two types of flour in these chocolate chunk cookies, both bread and all-purpose flour. The original recipe just calls for all-purpose but because bread flour adds extra chewiness and since my dream cookie is one with a high degree of chewiness, I utilized a combination of bread flour and all-purpose.
If you don’t have bread flour, solely using all-purpose is fine. Your cookies may not be quite as chewy nor as thick, since bread flour also lends increased structure to baked goods, but they’ll still be plenty good.
Unbaked cookie dough may be refrigerated for up to 5 days prior to baking it, or frozen for up to 3 months
The chewiness comes from the bread flour in this particular recipe (see above for my answer to that FAQ).
To create a soft cookie, you need to use larger amounts of dough. I used about 2.25 ounces dough per cookie. I weighed each mound of dough, but if you don’t have a scale or don’t want to be bothered, that translates to two heaping tablespoons of dough, and with the chocolate pieces dangling off, possibly 3 tablespoons.
I learned when I made those cookies that a larger mass of dough allows the cookie center to remain soft and tender since it never gets the chance to dry out or overbake while the edges crisp up.
I chilled the cookie dough before baking it and always advocate doing so because as dough chills, the flavors marry and cold dough spreads less during baking, resulting in puffier and thicker cookies.
Brown sugar helps cookies stay softer and gives them a richer flavor profile since brown sugar has more depth of flavor than granulated sugar does. Ironically, cookies made with more brown than granulated sugar become softer over time as they absorb atmospheric moisture, rather than drying out.
Where this chocolate chunk cookie recipe veers way off the path compared to any other cookie recipe I’ve ever tried is that it uses cornstarch, and just two mere teaspoons, but enough to work its softening magic. Cornstarch is not only a softening agent, but it’s also a thickening agent. Just as it thickens gravy or soup, it helps to create thick and puffy cookies.
Nope! You may use one or the other, if desired. I was going to make the cookies exclusively using semi-sweet chocolate chips, but I enjoy having a variety of textures and flavors in my cookies, especially when those textures and flavors are of the chocolate variety. I opted to use both semi-sweet chocolate chips and bittersweet chocolate chunks, courtesy of a Trader Joe’s 72% Pound Plus bar.
Recipe Variations to Try
It’s easy to customize this recipe for chocolate chip chunk cookies! You may add up to 12 ounces (roughly 2 cups, but no more) of mix-ins, such as:
- Chopped nuts
- White chocolate chips
- Butterscotch chips
- Diced candy bar pieces
- Dried fruit
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Chocolate Chip and Chunk Cookies
Ingredients
- ¾ cup unsalted butter, softened
- ¾ cup brown sugar, packed (I use light)
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- 1 large egg
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 cup bread flour or all-purpose flour*, See Notes
- 2 teaspoons cornstarch
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt, optional and to taste
- 6 ounces 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 6 ounces bittersweet or dark baking chocolate, chopped into bite-sized chunks (I use Trader Joe’s 72% Pound Plus bar)
Instructions
- To the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter on low speed until smooth, 1 to 2 minutes.
- Add the sugars and beat on medium-high speed until creamed and well combined, about 3 minutes.
- Stop, scrape down the sides of the bowl, and add the egg, vanilla, and beat on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
- Stop, scrape down the sides of the bowl, and add the flours, corn starch, baking soda, salt, and mix until just combined, about 1 minute.
- Add the chocolate chips and chunks, and either fold in by hand or beat for a few seconds on low speed.
- Using a 2-ounce cookie scoop, form heaping mounds weighing 2 1/4-ounces each (weighed on a scale, which is approximately a scant 1/4-cup measure. Dough mounds will look large for their weight because there’s lots of chocolate pieces adding bulk).
- Place mounds on a large plate or tray, cover with plasticwrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, up to 5 days.
- Preheat oven to 350F, line a baking sheet with a Silpat Non-Stick Baking Mat, parchment, or spray with cooking spray. Place dough mounds on the baking sheet, spaced at least 2 inches apart; I bake 8 cookies per sheet.
- Bake for 8 to 10 minutes, until barely golden brown around the edges, even if slightly undercooked in the center, noting the tops will not be browned and will be pale. Do not cook longer than ten minutes as cookies will darken and firm up as they cool (The cookies shown in the photos were baked for 8 minutes, rotated once midway through baking, and have chewy edges with soft pillowy centers).
- Allow cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before removing and transferring to a rack to finish cooling.
Notes
- *Edited to add May 2013 – I prefer these cookies using exclusively all-purpose flour and have stopped baking them with a combination of all-purpose and bread flour. I am leaving the recipe up as I wrote it back in 2012, but note that I prefer all-purpose because the cookies are softer, more tender, and more moist.
- Store cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days or in the freezer for up to 3 months.
- Alternatively, unbaked cookie dough can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 5 days, so consider baking only as many cookies as desired and save the remaining dough to be baked in the future when desired.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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More Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipes:
You can check out all of my chocolate chip cookie recipes HERE.
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Hi Averie, I absolutely LOVE the result of this recipe-by far the best chocolate chip cookie I’ve ever made and I’ve made alot! I usually make a chocolate cookie with my old favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe by substituting about 1/2 cup of flour for cocoa powder. Do you think that would work with this recipe to make a chocolate cookie dough?
1/2 cup cocoa could give you the chocolate flavor you want, but I fear it will get dried out b/c cocoa is more drying than flour, IMO.
Look at this page
https://www.averiecooks.com/category/dessert/cookies
And I’d go with the Dark Brown Sugar or the Brownie Cookies; or the Nutella PB Chunk or the Thick & Soft if you want more PB-chocolate cookies.
Hands down these are the best. https://www.averiecooks.com/2012/12/quintuple-chocolate-fudgy-brownie-cookies.html Work, yes, but the best choc cookies you will ever eat. The photos don’t do them justice.
Thank you so much for the response! After that tip I am tempted to get in the kitchen and bake a batch of those brownie cookies right now!! Again, I absolutely love this recipe-as well as your entire blog. I love baking and sharing and every single recipe I have tried of yours (M&M oreo bars, cinnamon bars with white chocolate, soft and chewy oatmeal cookies, snickers cookies-so far!) not only turns out perfectly but has gotten RAVE reviews. All thanks to you!! :)
The brownie cookies or those quintuple fudge cookies – those would be my #2 & #1 cookies for a straight up amazing choc cookie. LMK what you pick or do!
And thanks so much for trying to many recipes!! Wow, awesome! And glad they’ve been turning out perfectly with rave reviews. I love knowing that – thank you!
Love, love, love your website! Thank you for sharing your love of baking :) I am trying to make a milk choc chip, macadamia, coconut cookie for a friend – she’s dying for this combo. Would this recipe serve as a good base? If so, how much of each addition would be appropriate? Looking forward to hearing from you! Thank you again.
This is a great base, yes. Can’t go wrong with this base.
Based on what you just said though with coconut and milk choc chips…this recipe came to mind. Based on 7 layer bars….SO GOOD!
You could swap out the semi sweet chips for milk and add maybe 1/2 cup maca nuts
https://www.averiecooks.com/2013/07/soft-and-chewy-seven-layer-magic-bar-cookies.html
If you wanted to say take out the butterscotch for the maca nuts, you could do that..or just add the nuts, too.
LMK what you try
Just discovered Averiecooks.com and wanted to stop by to thank you for a great recipe and an inspirational blog!
The cookies turned out wonderful – chocolaty and tender – reminding me of my favorite Subway cookies, only better… By far the best I’ve ever made! For a crunchier top, I baked them a little longer – and surprisingly enough the inside was still soft!
I’m so glad to hear that you loved them and that they’re the best cookies you’ve ever made. Subway cookies..you know now that you say that, I can see the resemblance! I remember eating those cookies as a kid and I can see how there are some similarities. Glad you’re so happy with my recipe :)
I do have one question, though:
Do you usually bake cookies with your oven fan on or off?
(I’m relatively new to this whole baking business and haven’t yet figured out the whole convection oven thing…)
I don’t have a convection oven or option to turn the fan on or off. I just turn my oven on and it bakes how it bakes – and I believe that’s no fan. It’s just a very standard oven, nothing fancy!
Great, thank you so much for the quick response!
Made these yesterday and they are awesome!!!!
Thanks for telling me, Anne! Glad you love them!
I have been making my mother’s chocolate chip cookie recipe for years, which always seem to be a crowd favorite. They are huge and packed full of chocolate chips, with crispy outsides and soft insides. However, I tasted someone’s secret recipe for chocolate chip cookies and I won’t say they were better than mine but they were just…different! Soft, super moist, and a little bit smaller. So delicious! Since the recipe is secret, I am determined to re-create them. Your recipe sounds like it will do the trick! I will let you know as soon as they’re baked. Just one question. In one of your paragraphs before the recipe, you said the mounds should be two solid tablespoons. This would be perfect with my 2 tbsp scoop. Although, in the recipe, it says the mounds should be a scant 1/4 cup. Which one is more accurate?
I updated the recipe to give a bit more info about the size but you want to be VERY generous with your 2 tbsp scoop, have the dough really heaping off the bottom and rounded and mounded, including all the chocolate chunks. So depending on how you look at it, you are in the 3-ish tbsp of dough range but it’s hard to put a number on it b/c some mounds will have bigger chunks of choc than others. Be generous rather than skimpy, that’s my advice. Aim for about 22-24 cookies for the batch. LMK how they compare to this top secret recipe you know of!
Averie,
I have made these cookies several times and they always turn out so soft and delicious! This past time, I made a double batch and actually chilled the dough for the full 2 hours. I usually get bored and only wait 30-60 minutes. They turned out the best I’ve ever made them! I am officially a firm believer in chilling! I also split the dough in half and made one half chocolate chunk and the other with cinnamon & butterscotch chip with a teaspoon or two of actual cinnamon. They turned out just as great!
Just make the dough and keep a big batch of dough balls in the fridge since it sounds like you like them. And any time you want cookies, just bake a few balls. The cookies are even better with dough that’s been chilled for a few days. If you dont bake the raw dough within about 5 days, move it to the freezer, where you have another 4 months or so before you need to bake it.
Glad to hear you love them and that you’re a believer now with chilled dough. Huge difference, yes.
And I love the cinn/butterscotch with actual cinnamon version. Sounds wonderful! I have a few cookie recipes for cookies with butterscotch (oatmeal scotchies and carrot cake cookies) as well as cinnamon chip snickerdoodles. They’re all here in case you have extra cinn or butterscotch chips to use!
https://www.averiecooks.com/category/dessert/cookies
This is my go-to chocolate chip recipe. Thanks! If I add cookie butter are other modifications needed? I can’t use peanut butter because of an allergy.
Glad you love these and if you want a Cookie Butter Cookie recipe, make these! https://www.averiecooks.com/softbatch-cookie-butter-brown-sugar-cookies/
I made these. Best yet. I halved the recipe since it’s only mee and still turned out fine.
Next time, I will press the dough a bit as they were too big when I took them out. Consequently, they were just a TAD undercooked in the middle (strictly following the ‘don’t overbake’ rule here)
Yes ovens can vary slightly and so can size of the dough – pressing them down will help if you don’t like them undercooked at all in the middle (I do!) Your cookies sound perfect to me :) Thanks for trying the recipe!
Hi Averie!
These cookies look absolutely wonderful and I can’t wait to make them tomorrow. I’ve been hunting for a good chocolate chip cookie recipe for weeks now. I just have two questions for you though. 1 – How do you think these would hold up using flax + water as an egg replacement? 2 – I’m thinking about freezing some individual dough balls so I can bake a few individually later on. Should I thaw them bit before baking them or should I just stick them right in the oven?
Thanks for sharing such a fabulous looking recipe a b-e-a-utiful pictures!
They ARE absolutely wonderful and unless you have strong reason to keep them vegan with a flax egg, I would make the recipe EXACTLY as written. It’s foolproof that way. As you start altering things, you will not get the same results as I do and as seen in the photos.
The dough is fine to be frozen and just put on baking trays and thaw it while your oven preheats 10-15 mins or so; do not need to thaw completely. Bake as directed. Enjoy.
Hi!! A pretty stuoid questionbut after i chilled the dough for say 24h, wouldnt the dough be too hard? Can i use the mixer to mix it up and loosen it? Or will that be too much mixing? Should i leave it to room temperature? For how long? Thank you!!!
Make the dough as written, form it into balls, put them on a plate, cover with plasticwrap, put it in the fridge, and chill for up to 5 days. When ready to bake, put the amount of balls you want on a cookie sheet and bake.
Oh my word, they look plain amazing!
Yummy chocolatey-ness. Yeah, Chocolatey-ness a new word!
I have to try these!