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 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 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
Great Recipe! These cookies are always in demand at my office and home. I add a mixture of milk, semisweet, and white chocolate chips, plus some espresso powder.
Follow the recipe and make sure to chill and mold the cookies into cylinders for the perfect cookie texture.
I wanted to enjoy this recipe, but could not. I followed the recipe directly and the cookies were not good. I think the white chocolate chips were way too much, but I’m not really tying the recipe again to experiment. Some people seem to really enjoy these, so maybe it’s just preference.
I really loved them, I ended up adding 3 tablespoons of milk because the mixture was dry and it worked
Amazing !! Like a brownie and cookie made combined! I used white crème Easter chips, a subdued flavor to white chocolate. Looking forward to making with other add ins. Thank you!
What if I add a sachet of instant coffee to the cookie dough recipe, and then use it for an ice cream sandwich?
Hi Katie, you can certainly give it a try! These cookies work great for cookie ice cream sandwiches.
SO GOOD! These were a big hit with my friends and disappeared in record time. Super chocolaty, soft, and fudgy – which is exactly how I like my cookies. I was short on time so I popped the dough in the freezer about 45 minutes and they baked up perfectly. Sprinkled a little flaky salt on top and they were just *chef’s kiss*
The wet ingredients were in a paste, not wet. Did you intend for me to melt the butter? I used 6tbsp of milk before it stopped being a chocolate dust Sahara.
Followed directions exactly.
Hello! The video above (in the recipe card) will show exactly how it should look. The butter should be softened to room temperature, not melted of these cookies. Hope this helps!
I softened to room temp along with egg. It was not liquidy, so mixing it with the dry ingredients just puffed up a lot of cocoa powder in the air. I really struggled to get it to come together, idk..
They also came out cakey.
Not sure.
Still tasty though
First time making these kind of cookies and they turned out perfect! Fire department loved them. I’ll definitely be making them again.
I made this recipe and these cookies were gone before we could say, “Jiminy Cricket!” I didn’t have any moo juice milk, so I used some chocolate oat milk. I will make these cookies again and again. i might even try dissolving some espresso powder in the milk next time. Sooooooooo good!
Awesome! Unbelievable! My husband said these were the best cookies I have ever made (and I’ve made a lot during the course of our marriage). Try this recipe. If you like chocolate, you won’t go wrong here.
Can I substitute the cocoa powder with Swiss Miss? Thank you!
Hi Anna, we don’t recommend it. Swiss Miss is not pure cocoa and the additional ingredients will change the overall taste and texture of the cookies. Best to stick with natural unsweetened cocoa powder here.
Hello! Is it possible to bake the dough as a cookie cake? Like your chocolate chip cookie cake recipe?!
Hi Bee, absolutely! Use the baking time and directions from chocolate chip cookie cake as a guide.
Outrageous! Deep and dark, chewey on the outside. I used a mix of semi sweet and white chocolate chips, used dark brown sugar, and doubled the recipe.
Wonderful recipe. Thank you for sharing all your awesome recipes. I love this new recipe!!!!
These are fabulous cookies. I added dried tart cherries and called them Black Forest cookies. They were a huge hit!
omg. wtf. Just made these. They are literally PERFECT.
ahh THANK YOU SOO MUCH. THEY ARE SO GOOD!!
How come you don’t use the melted butter in this recipe or the more brown sugar then white like in your chocolate chip cookies? I was just wondering because those tips made a huge difference and I wanted to know if I should do that with these too!
Hi Jennifer, Melted butter is the same as using a liquid ingredient. Here we need a solid to cream together with the sugar to provide our dough structure. If you used melted butter for these cookies you would end up with flat greasy cookies.
These cookies turned out great!! Thank you.
Cecile, I have been using this recipe for years. These cookies are everyone’s favorite. Maybe follow the recipe a bit closer instead of the resize.
How many cookies does this recipe make without doubling it?
Hi Chris, this recipe yields 20-22 cookies.
I made these for thanksgiving and they were absolutely amazing! They turned out exactly like the pictures, I plan on making them again tonight!!!
These cookies are really delicious! I had a moment of panic when I realized the Hershey’s special dark cocoa is dutch processed after I had already added it to the dry ingredients. I decided to go with it and while the cookies may have been a little flatter than the pictures, they were incredibly delicious. So, if all you have on hand is dutch processed cocoa, I’d say that this recipe will work!
Sam, I used Hershey’s Special Dark too. I followed the author’s instructions to make the drops taller than they were wide. They came out picture perfect!
Just made these tonight, was browsing the internet & this recipe caught my eye for sure.
These cookies came out absolutely stunning.
I added some dark chocolate as well as my white, & it is so gooey, & delicious.
Thank you for sharing your recipe!
This was an awesome recipe and delicious recipe ! I have used it twice and the second time I doubled the recipe. Thanks Sally!
One of my favorite cookie recipes. So rich and delicious. What a treat!!
This recipe is perfect. I wanted to make a batch of cookies in a hurry so I did not chill the dough. I only used one tablespoon of milk and made drop cookies. Incredibly delicious.
These flattened out pretty bad, so I am experimenting with this recipe right now. I am going to try baking from frozen cookie dough balls to see if that alleviates the issue. All the chocolate cookie dough recipes are basically the same and delicious! Can we add cornstarch to this batter to help with the spreading? Send help!
Hi Erin, we’re happy to help troubleshoot. It sounds like either your butter may be a bit too warm (here’s more on what room temperature butter really means) or that the flour may be under measured. Be sure to spoon and level or use a food scale for the most accurate measurements, so there is just the right amount to help soak up the wet ingredients and prevent spread. If you’re having issues with spreading, this post should be helpful as well. Thank you for giving this recipe a try!
All five of my kids asked me “How did you make these? They are so good Mom.” And they are. And beautiful too when baked. The spread was beautiful. Putting this recipe in my recipe book to be carried on…
Just made this recipe. It was great, thanks for the recipe 🙂
This recipe is a hit! I didn’t notice a difference between needing to be refrigerated. It wasn’t too sticky. Also, I mixed milk chocolate chips and white chocolate chips and it turned out great.
The first time I made these I did NOT chill the dough and they came out beautiful and thick! This time I chilled it for about 5 hours and they all flattened out Anyway, these are my kids favorite! Definitely a keeper!
My Grandson loved them. Plan on making them again!