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
Thanks, but we like not having to melt the chocolate.
Can we substitute baking powder for the baking soda in some specific ratio?
Or how else can we tweak this to be able to use Dutch -processed cocoa?
Thanks in advance for your assistance.
Thanks, but we like not having to melt chocolate.
Can we swap the baking soda for baking powder?
How best to make these cookies when we only have Dutch-processed cocoa?
Thanks in advance for your assistance.
Thanks, but a definite no to peanut butter!
Can we swap the baking soda for baking powder?
How best to make these cookies when we only have Dutch-processed cocoa?
Thanks in advance for your assistance.
So you don’t like peanut butter, don’t have baking soda and don’t have natural cocoa powder. Why are you even trying to make this recipe?
Hello,
We can only easily find Dutch-processed cocoa, so could we just leave out the baking soda?
Thanks in advance for your advice.
Hi TC, we do not recommend omitting the baking soda, no. 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!
I’m absolutely in love with this cookie recipe !!! I can’t wait to make another batch, the whole family loves them ❤️
These are soo goood! I made 1 batch for me friends and they love it. I bake them weekly. Once I added some oreos ad caremal sauce too they were great!
Hello Sally! All my friends love your recipes here in Greece and these cookies have been on the repeat for years! I was wondering if this recipe could be adapted into a cookie pizza. We love the chocolate chip cookie pizza and a chocolate version would be hugely appreciated. Many thanks for your great work!
Hi Venia, Sure can! The baking instructions will be similar to this cookie pizza.
These were perfect. Soft, perfect structure and taste. Exactly what the teenage daughter was craving!
These are amazing!! Such an upgrade from the traditional chocolate chip cookie. If you’re short on time, I’ve made these as cookie bars several times without chilling in a 9×9 pan at 350 degrees for 25 minutes and they turned out great.
Thanks for the idea!
I’ve made Sally’s recipes many times since finding her website about 10 years ago. I’m in the UK so really appreciate the weights for the ingredients!
I am not one of these annoying people who change the ingredients and them complain about how the recipe turns out, but I did accidentally mess up this recipe! I melted the butter after creaming it with the sugar (long story!) and what I thought was loads of cocoa in the tub was actually 20g short so I had to add a bit of drinking chocolate. And these cookies were still amazing! Just crisp edges, soft chewy centres. I can’t wait to make them again properly.
These cookies are great, however, I added another egg, and it made a huge difference. There is no need to tap the pan, they spread quite nicely and are chocolatey and rich! I also don’t chill them and they work great!
Can I ask what brand of cocoa powder you’re using? I used natural unsweetened but mine is on the lighter brown side than yours.
Hi Herna, we typically use Hershey’s or Ghirardelli unsweetened cocoa powders, but you can use any brand available to you. Hope you enjoy the cookies!
Best cookies ever. You need to follow her tips about shaping the dough & tapping the pan to begin the spreading process. Had them for Christmas Eve & my best dessert yet. Will be making this recipe again & only this one!!
Hiya Sally!
Love these cookies! They’re absolutely delicious! However as a personal trainer I was wondering is there a healthier option?
Hi Amy, for a healthier chocolate cookie, you might enjoy these dark chocolate almond butter cookies. Enjoy!
They were sooo yummy!! All my friends said they tasted like brownies!!
Made these for my dad’s 79th. The cookies were coming out of the oven during the party. I asked my dad if he wanted any, he said “oh, I’ve already had two”. By the end of the party, my husband said he saw my dad sneak another four. A hit!
Omg Sally! I love these cookies! They probably my favourite recipe of yours!
Love your recipes. I haven’t made this one yet but can I add mini marshmallow bits to it?
Hi Michelle, can’t see why not! You may also love these marshmallow surprise hot cocoa cookies.
I was pretty surprised to see the amount of salt in this recipe as only 1/8 of a teaspoon, as it also calls for unsalted butter. In my experience, salt=flavor as long as you don’t overdo it. I researched a few other recipes and chose to up the salt content to 1/2 a teaspoon with unsalted butter. I think if a person only had salted butter, 1/8 would be sufficient. Sally, did you test the recipe with different levels of salt and if so, what was the differences?
On another note, I’ve tried a few of your other recipes and loved them!
Hi Crystal, the reason I use such little salt in this particular cookie dough is because of how bitter cocoa powder is. If you added more salt (I’m sure up to 1/4 teaspoon would be fine), the sweetness wouldn’t be balanced at all. The cookies would likely taste bitter.
yum! I took these to wine club and everyone loved them, especially with a n excellent cabernet
Already made them twice they are the best..
These are so yummy will definitely be making over and over again
Made the dough yesterday and refrigerated overnight. Cookies are perfect! I added chocolate and peppermint chips and they taste amazing! No doubt, I’ll make them again.
These are very tasty cookies! Something I’ve found useful is; when cookie dough needs to be chilled I scoop the cookies prior to chilling, there is no need to have the dough sit out until it becomes “scoopable”. I line a container and any layers with parchment paper. Easy peasy.
This is what I always for chilled cookie dough recipes too! And if there’s extra dough, I freeze the extra scoops to bake whenever.
I use your regular recipe but I use the large dark chocolate morsels. Try them and you’ll never use semi sweet again.
Great recipe! I just now made them for a friend who is gluten free and they turned out perfectly as well! I used Bob’s Red Mill 1 to 1 baking flour, weighing out ingredients instead of measuring. (1 cup of the GF flour was a bit more than 125 g.) I followed everything else per the recipe. I think that GF baked items are usually a bit grainier than using regular flour, but that’s to be expected. They were delicious!
My family is a chocolate & peanut butter clan. I’m thinking these would be great with peanut butter chips and may a few chopped salted peanuts on top!
Wow, these were really nice and thick, crispy on the edges and soft and chewy in the middle and I only chilled them for an hour!
However, I always have a problem of losing that crispiness when I store them in plastic containers, they always get soft – is there any way to retain that crunch? And would this work as a regular chocolate chip cookie recipe if I omit the cocoa powder?
Have you tried our recipe for our Crispy Chocolate Chip Cookies? You may enjoy those!
These cookies are fabulous!!! I followed the recipe exactly and they came out perfect. 12 min bake and they came out soft and gooey center perfect with ice cream
Super easy recipe and cookies came soft and chewy!
I didn’t chill the dough at all or use a mixer and they came out perfect!