Extra Egg Yolk
Another way to promise a super chewy chocolate chip cookie is to use an extra egg yolk. The extra egg yolk adds richness, soft tenderness, and binds the dough. You will need 1 egg and 1 egg yolk. You can freeze the extra egg white in a ziplock bag for up to 1 month or use it to make my Skinny Chocolate Peanut Butter Cupcakes. ?
The dough will be soft and the chocolate chunks may not stick because of the melted butter. Just keep stirring it; I promise it will come together.
The most important step is next.
Chill the Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough
Chilling the cookie dough is so important! Unless you want the cookies to spread into a massive cookie puddle, chilling the dough is mandatory for this cookie recipe. It allows the ingredients to settle together after the mixing stage but most importantly: cold dough results in thicker cookies. Cover the cookie dough and chill the dough for at least 2-3 hours and even up to 3-4 days. After chilling, let your cookie dough sit at room temperature for 10 minutes before rolling into balls.
After chilling, sometimes I roll the cookie dough into balls and freeze them in a large zipped-top bag. Then I bake them straight from the freezer, keeping them in the oven for an extra minute. This way you can have just one of two cookies whenever you want!
These cookies are huge–about 3 Tablespoons of dough is rolled to make one cookie. The batch only makes about 16 cookies since you will be rolling them so large. Feel free to make the cookies smaller (about 2 Tablespoons of dough per cookie) instead. If you do that, be sure to reduce the baking time by a couple minutes.
When you remove the cookie dough from the refrigerator after chilling, the dough will be slightly crumbly. The warmth of your hands rolling it will make it stay intact. Roll the cookie dough balls taller, rather than wide as I discussed and showed in my cake batter chocolate chip cookies recipe. This little tried-and-true trick will result in thicker cookies. I do it for every single cookie I bake.
Secrets to Thick, Soft, & Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies
Underbaked cookies are the secret to softness.
Using cornstarch in the dough is another secret to softness, as well as the secret to thickness.
Using more brown sugar than white sugar results in a moister, softer cookie.
Adding an extra egg yolk increases chewiness.
Rolling the cookie dough balls to be taller than wider increases thickness.
Using melted butter (and slightly more flour) increases chewiness.
Chilling the dough results in a thicker cookie.
Bonus: try them with half M&Ms and half chocolate chunks!
chocolate chip cookies on a silpat baking mat
Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies
Prep Time:10 minutes
Cook Time:12 minutes
Total Time:3 hours, 22 minutes
Yield:16 large cookies
Description
Pinned over 3 million times, these super soft and chewy chocolate chip cookies are the most popular cookie recipe on my website. Melted butter, 1 extra egg yolk, and more brown sugar than white sugar guarantee the chewiest chocolate chip cookie texture. Chilling the cookie dough is imperative. No mixer required!
Ingredients
2 and 1/4 cups (280g) all-purpose flour (spoon & leveled)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 and 1/2 teaspoons cornstarch*
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup (1.5 sticks or 170g) unsalted butter, melted & slightly cooled*
3/4 cup (150g) packed light or dark brown sugar
1/2 cup (100g) granulated sugar
1 large egg + 1 egg yolk, at room temperature
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 and 1/4 cups (225g) semi-sweet chocolate chips or chocolate chunks
Instructions
Whisk the flour, baking soda, cornstarch, and salt together in a large bowl. Set aside.
In a medium bowl, whisk the melted butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar together until no brown sugar lumps remain. Whisk in the egg, then the egg yolk. Finally, whisk in the vanilla extract. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix together with a large spoon or rubber spatula. The dough will be very soft, yet thick. Fold in the chocolate chunks. They may not stick to the dough because of the melted butter, but do your best to combine them. Cover the dough and chill in the refrigerator for 2-3 hours or up to 3-4 days. Chilling is mandatory. I highly recommend chilling the cookie dough overnight for less spreading. (Some readers have asked if it’s possible to roll into balls and then chill, but I don’t recommend it. The cookie dough is quite sticky and loose to section into balls before chilling.)
Take the dough out of the refrigerator and allow to slightly soften at room temperature for 10 minutes.
Preheat oven to 325°F (163°C). Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. (Always recommended for cookies.) Set aside.
Roll the dough into balls, about 3 Tablespoons of dough each. The dough will be crumbly, but the warmth of your hands will help the balls stay together. Roll the cookie dough balls to be taller rather than wide, to ensure the cookies will bake up to be thick. See this post for more detail and a photo. Place 8 balls of dough onto each cookie sheet. Press a few more chocolate chips/chunks on top of the dough balls for looks, if desired.
Bake the cookies for 12-13 minutes. The cookies will look very soft and underbaked. They will continue to bake on the cookie sheet. Allow to cool on the cookie sheet for 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
Cookies stay fresh covered 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 2-3 days. Allow to come to room temperature then continue with step 4. 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. on freezing cookie dough.
Cornstarch: If you don’t have cornstarch or don’t want to use it, simply leave it out. The cookies are still very soft.
Butter: Salted butter can be used instead. Reduce salt in the cookie dough to 1/4 teaspoon.
Room temperature egg + egg yolk are best. Typically, if a recipe calls for room temperature or melted butter, it’s in good practice to use room temperature eggs as well. To bring eggs to room temperature quickly, simply place the whole eggs into a glass of warm water for 5 minutes. What to do with the extra egg white? Here are all of my recipes using egg whites.
Be sure to check out my top 5 cookie baking tips AND these are my 10 must-have cookie baking tools.
