Thick and Cakey Chocolate Chip Cookies
Learn how to make perfectly thick and cakey chocolate chip cookies. With the right ingredients and chilling time, they will be so soft and delicate like a muffin top!
OVERVIEW
- Skill Level: Beginner
- Technique: The Creaming Method for Cookies
This chocolate chip cookie recipe is a unique one. It’s thick, pillowy-soft, and cakey. It reminds me of a muffin top! This is the recipe for someone who’s tried my thin and crispy chocolate chip cookies and my soft and chewy chocolate chip cookies and thought “I’m looking for something a little different“.
Most chocolate chip cookie recipes include the same ingredient list but it’s the ratio of ingredients and the method that differ. With this method and ingredients, you will create a cookie that is tall with a soft, cake-like texture.
What makes a cookie thick and cakey?
There are a few distinctions in this recipe that make it what it is: thick and cakey
- Creaming the Butter and Sugar: We want to cream the butter and sugar just until well incorporated. Creaming too much will incorporate more air, increasing spread of the cookie.
- Mix of Brown and White Sugar: Brown sugar in a cookie recipe results in a chewy cookie while white granulated sugar results in a crunchy cookie. To combat this, I’m using a little bit of each.
- Adding the Flour: The cookies will stay much fluffier if the glutens are not overdeveloped. This means when the flour is added it is mixed just until incorporated and no more. Mixing too much will result in a soft and chewy cookie.
- Chilling Time: With the dough going into a moderately heated oven, chilled dough will allow the outside of the cookie to set before the fat and sugar melt and completely spread. This will keep our cookies nice and thick!
HOW TO MAKE THICK AND CAKEY Chocolate Chip COOKIES
The key to making a thick and cakey cookie is the chilling time. Chilling the dough will ensure that the cookies rise up thick in the oven and do not spread. They will remain soft and delicate with a cake-like texture.
Make the Cookie Dough
Using the paddle attachment in a stand mixer or using a hand mixer, cream together the soft butter, brown sugar, and white sugar on medium high speed. Only cream together for about 1 minute until well incorporated but not to incorporate air.
Incorporating too much air will cause the cookies to spread out in the oven.
Add the egg and vanilla extract to the bowl and mix in.
Add the dry ingredients including the flour, salt, and baking soda to the bowl and mix together. Scrape down the sides of the bowl to make sure everything is incorporated. Do not over-mix.
Add the chocolate chips or chunks to the bowl and fold them in until evenly distributed.
Chill the dough for at least 1 hour (and up to 24 hours) in the refrigerator. If desired, you can scoop the dough onto baking sheets lined with parchment paper or baking mats and chill the dough mounds.
Scoop and Bake
Scoop rounded mounds of dough onto parchment lined baking sheets, about 2-3 tablespoons in size mounded tall.
Bake one sheet pan at a time as directed until the edges are set but the tops appear pillowy but not gooey. Allow to cool for 5 minutes on the sheet pans before moving to a cooling rack to cool completely. Enjoy!
Prep & Storage
This cookie dough recipe is perfect for chilling and freezing for when you want to plan ahead! Just make sure the dough is cold before baking.
How to store dough in the refrigerator
Chill the dough in an airtight container or wrap the dough in plastic wrap. Alternately, you can pre-scoop the dough balls onto a baking sheet and then wrap the entire baking sheet in plastic wrap.
The dough can be refrigerated for up to 3 days.
When ready to bake:
- Let the cookie dough sit out at room temperature for about 30 minutes to soften. Then scoop the dough balls and bake as directed. If the dough warms up too much before baking, pop them back in the refrigerator to chill before baking.
- Pre-scooped dough balls should be baked directly from the refrigerator. They should not sit out too long or they will become warm and then spread out in the oven while baking.
How to store dough in the freezer
Pour all of the cookie dough onto a large sheet of plastic wrap and flatten into a disc. Wrap tightly and then place the disc into a plastic zipper bag.
Alternately, you can pre-scoop the dough balls onto a baking sheet and freeze. Once frozen, you can move the dough balls into a zipper bag. Because they were pre-frozen they will not stick together.
The dough can be frozen up to 3 months.
When ready to bake:
- Remove the disc of cookie dough from the freezer and let thaw in the refrigerator overnight. Let the cookie dough sit out at room temperature for about 30 minutes to soften. Then scoop the dough balls and bake as directed. If the dough warms up too much before baking, pop them back in the refrigerator to chill before baking.
- Frozen pre-scooped dough balls can be baked directly from frozen. Add about 2-3 minutes to the bake time.
How to store baked cookies
These baked cookies can be stored in a container at room temperature for up to 1 week.
Baked cookies can be stored in the freezer for up to 2 months.
FAQ
Can I use salted butter instead of unsalted butter?
Yes! If you only have salted butter on hand then you can use that. Use the same amount of salted butter as the recipe calls for unsalted but reduce the extra salt in the recipe by half.
What if I don’t have time to chill the dough?
You can still bake these cookies without chilling the dough however, the cookies may spread and become crispy and less cake-like than intended. They will still be delicious but will have a different texture.
MORE RECIPES FROM BAKER BETTIE!
If you loved this recipe, you might like to try these other chocolate chip cookie recipes!
Thick and Cakey Chocolate Chip Cookies
Learn how to make perfectly thick and cakey chocolate chip cookies. With the right ingredients and chilling time, they will be so soft and delicate like a muffin top!
Ingredients
- 98 grams (7 tablespoons) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 75 grams (¼ cup + 2 tablespoons) granulated sugar
- 25 grams (2 tablespoons) brown sugar, light or dark
- 1 large egg, room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 135 grams (1 cup + 2 tablespoons) all-purpose flour
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- 150 grams (1 cup) chocolate chips, dark, semi-sweet, or milk
Instructions
- Cream the room temperature butter (98 grams/ 7 tablespoons), granulated sugar (75 grams/ ¼ cup + 2 tablespoons), and brown sugar (25 grams/ 2 tablespoons) on medium speed in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment or in a large bowl with a hand mixer. Cream until well incorporated, but not to incorporate air, about 1 minute.
- Reduce the speed and add the egg (1 large) and the vanilla extract (1 teaspoon). Increase the speed and mix until well combined.
- Slowly add the flour (135 grams/ 1 cup + 2 tablespoons), baking soda (¼ teaspoon), and salt (½ teaspoon) to the butter mixture, scraping the sides of the bowl until thoroughly combined. Mix just until combined, do not overmix!
- Stir in the chocolate chips (150 grams/ 1 cup).
- Chill the dough for at least 1 hour in the refrigerator. If desired, you can scoop the dough onto baking sheets lined with parchment paper or baking mats and chill the dough mounds.
- Preheat oven to 350ºF (175ºC).
- Scoop mounds of dough (about 2-3 tablespoons, mounded tall) onto the prepared baking sheets.
- Bake for 10-12 minutes.
- Remove cookies from baking sheet and move to a wire rack to cool completely.
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69 Comments on “Thick and Cakey Chocolate Chip Cookies”
Cookie science! I love this series! I can’t wait for more. There’s more, right?? 🙂
There’s more! Get excited!
The chocolate chips are not listed as an ingredient. How much and what kind of chocolate chips are used?
Look again, 2 cups, your favorite flavor!
HA! What a typo. Can't make chocolate chip cookies without chocolate chips. Thanks for the catch! Any kind you like, you need about 2 cups. I will add to the list. I like dark chocolate chips!
What a great post that is really helpful in understanding why some cookies turn out thick and chewy while others don’t. I’ll take one of each!
Come on over! My kitchen is overflowing with cookies. I need a cookie intervention!
This recipe is the recipe I have been looking for…for years! These cookies are perfection! I love how fussy the recipe is… because it makes them amazing!! Thank you for sharing!!
That is so great to hear Karena! I’m so happy you enjoyed them so much!
I can’t wait for the next poooost! so much learning!
Get ready!
Wow! I have a lot of learning to do! Thanks for all this cookie math. I’m bookmarking each and every post. 🙂
I’m here at your service Ruby! To teach my expertise, cookie science! There should be a degree in that!
COOKIES WILL KNOCK YOUR SOCK OFF
how many cookies do you get?
How many cookies does this make?!
I need to take a trip to Tennessee.
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This recipe turned out wonderfully well! Thank you so much for the science and the post.
I just made these cookies and they are okay, but not exactly how I thought they might turn out to be.
Firstly, if we’re talking about science, the recipe calls for baking soda when there is no acid in the recipe to react with, therefore it should call for baking power, equal rations, and you will avoid a bitter salty taste after cooked. That taste is the cooked baking powder that had nothing to react with while cooking.
The cookies rose well, but using my 3 tablespoon cookie scoop, as directed, I turned the oven down to 325 and baked for 18 minutes to ensure they were cooked through while not burned on the bottom. These are very large cookies. Because I swapped for baking powder, the cookies rose to be as tall as about your pinky finger, and are not as flat as the ones pictures in this recipe post.
As for the taste, they are good, but not the chocolate chip cookie taste you would imagine…they remind me more of a chocolate chip shortbread recipe. I think in the future I would use demerara sugar in place of regular golden, and I would adjust the ratio’s of white and brown sugar used.
I think these cookies are a solid 7.5/10, thanks for sharing.
Hi Ellish,
I appreciate the feedback. This recipe does have an acidic element. The molasses in brown sugar is acidic and it is enough to activate the baking soda. I have never had the problem of noticing the baking soda taste in these. It sounds like you only made it with baking powder and not with baking soda as written? Did you actually make it with baking soda and notice an off taste or are you just guessing that it would because I’ve never had the problem?
If you do prefer to up the brown sugar ration and lower the white sugar ratio that is definitely an option and that would give you more acidity to react with the baking soda. The cookies will start to move toward a chewy texture if you do that, which isn’t bad, but just not what I had in mind for the texture of this cookie. I have a separate recipe for chewy cookies that has a higher brown sugar ratio.
@Eilish Please don’t waste people’s time bloviating your critique when YOU CHANGED THE INGREDIENTS, for goodness sakes. Hilarious that you don’t even know the baking soda acts off the ACID in the brown sugar. JUST LIKE THE VENERATED ORIGINAL TOLL HOUSE COOKIE and Inventor Ruth Graves Wakefield recipe. NEITHER contains baking powder. My guess is you’re not even American and therefore have no clue.
I have to say this provided the laugh of the day- “I just made these cookies …. [They’re] not exactly how I thought they might turn out to be”
… Followed by an explanation of how you mangled the recipe.
If this had been me, I would have said “I thought I was better at science than you so I tweaked the recipe. Then I remembered I don’t know what I’m doing. Anyway, are you interested in a chocolate chip shortbread recipe??”
Bettie,
I’m so happy my daughter (Kaley) clued me into you! I think I understood her correctly that you two met in Lawrence? I love your blog and recipes!
Hi Gayle! I do know a few different Kaleys. But I’m guessing it must be Kaley that I worked at Bert Nash in Lawrence with? Tell her hello and thanks for sending you over!
OH, and I’m making this recipe now! Back to my baking… Can’t wait for a bite of warm cookie 🙂
Awesome! Hope they turned out well!
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These cookies turned out perfectly! Cakey, soft, puffed up just like in the pictures, they are exactly as described. I followed the directions exactly except I baked mine for 14 minutes and I only used 1 cup of chocolate chips, I love to get just a little bit of chocolate chips in each bite. Also I was able to get 32 cookies out of this recipe, even better 🙂
Thanks for the recipe, I’m going to try out the one-bite chocolate chip cookies next!
I have made these twice now and they are just PERFECTION! Thank you for the recipe!!
Why do you use unsalted butter instead of the normal salted butter?
Hi Hilary,
Most bakers use unsalted butter for 2 reasons: you can control the salt in your recipe and it tends to be more fresh because salt is a preservative. However, if you want to use salted butter you can reduce the salt in a recipe by 1/4 tsp per 4 oz (1 stick) of butter used. Hope that helps!
turned out perfectly. Live at a high altitude and was worried they wouldn’t turn out but they were amazing
That’s so great Susanne! So glad it worked at high altitude for you!
This recipe is the same as the recipe printed on the Tolhouse chocolate chip package and it is amazing!! It makes perfectly cakey cookies!
Hi Jennifer! This recipe definitely has different ratios than the Tollhouse recipe (less sugar, less butter, and less baking soda) to make them more cakey. I’m so glad you enjoy them!
Hi Bettie!
I attempted making a cookie recipe after reading your helpful advice and I need help….
I first did
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
2 sticks butter
2 tsp vanilla
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
Along with my mix in
I baked that for 5 min at 375 and my cookies spread like crazy !
I then added 80 grams flour to the mix which is approx 3/4 cup and baked it at 350 degrees and it didn’t melt as much but it wasn’t as thick. This cooked for 13 min approx
Both were cooked right away and the mix wasn’t stored in the fridge to cool.
Perhaps it’s because I didn’t put the mix in the fridge before baking ?
I don’t know what I did wrong
Sorry I forgot to add that I initially put 2 1/4 cups flour
Hi Dana! After seeing this picture, I definitely think your oven is not heating hot enough at all! How long are you letting it preheat? Sometimes it needs longer even though the oven tells you it is ready. Also, sometimes you have to set the temperature hotter than what you want it to be actually heated at. Oven thermometers are very affordable! Definitely get one and see what your oven is doing.
Hi Bettie,
I am curious… if you want to add baking powder like other recipes suggest, how much do you use? And what would you substitute out?
I’ve been looking for a good thick and soft chocolate chip cookie and these are the best that I’ve come across! I followed the recipe to a T and they turned out perfectly! They were gone the same night I made them! So yummy! A definite favorite in my house!
That is so great to hear Nicole! I’m so glad that you enjoyed them!
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Can these be made in a sheet pan?
Hi Cheryl! That is what I mean by baking them on “baking sheets”. You can use a sheet pan or a cookie sheet. Whatever you have!
I’m wondering if the cookie dough can be spread into a sheet pan to form cookie bars?
Is there any alteration to the recipe?
Ah, yes you can. I’m not sure on the exact baking time as I haven’t tried it with this recipe. It will likely take longer, just watch it closely. You might also like my cookie cake recipe. You could bake it in a square dish instead of a round dish if you like: https://bakerbettie.com/a-cookie-cake-for-chris/
Made a half batch of these and they turned out great! Around 11-12 cookies.
Conversions below (not by weight).
1/4 cup and 2 TBSP granulated sugar
2 TBSP brown sugar
7 TBSP unsalted butter, room temp
1 large egg, room temp
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1 cup and 2 TBSP flour
1 cup chocolate chips of your choice
I… always use salted butter when baking, but that’s just my preference! I also didn’t have kosher salt, so I actually used a 1/4 tsp of table salt.
Excellent texture. Thanks for sciencing this out for us!
What baking sheet did you use?
My friend asked me to make him some’Cakey’ traditional chocolate chip cookies and then he handed me a bag of Guittard Extra Dark chocolate chips at 63% cocoa to make them with! Holy Chocolate chip This is The best recipe ever! And I am a foodie and a food junkie and I loved your article and this recipe is amazing and I look forward to following and making more of your recipes! Thank you for the science behind it LOL, my brain thinks very logically and there’s a recipe made total sense to me! I’m not bragging by stating the next sentence, however I’m an excellent cook, and I questioned your ratios and I also questioned the 3 tablespoon size dough. However I truly believe in following someone’s recipe if you’re going to attempt something and I’m so grateful I did! To all you folks wanting to try this recipe make it exactly as it’s written and it will be perfection❤️
i made these cookies using one cup plus two tablespoons of cake flour and one and a quarter cup apf and they were amazing! i didn’t have to chill the dough. will definitely b making these again. i wasn’t trying to change the recipe, just something different.
Isn’t this the same recipe from “Martha Stewart’s Cookie” Cookbook? They are awesome!
Abso PERFECTION!!! I’ll be using the recipe from here on out.
I’m so glad you like them!
I discovered why some of my cookies did not taste like good fashioned swet treat cookies. It was the sugar. The bag of sugar must say pure cane sugar. Most cheap sugar in not cane sugar and not sweet. Now I only buy yellow bag Domino sugar.
Made these and delicious!!!! How did you get your cookie so light in color? I used light brown sugar btw. Mine came out darker.
These are the BEST chocolate chip cookies I’ve made. I’m know for my baking and was searching for recipes and found this one by accident. My only change would be to use 1 tsp vanilla.
Omg, I think these are the most PERFECT Chocolate chip cookies I’ve ever made. They turn out beautifully every time. Thank you so much for the recipe!!!
This sucks
I left my butter out too long, it’s a bit oily, can I still use it.
Judy
What temperature was it left at? If it’s around 60-70F then it’s fine. You can also pop it back in the refrigerator for a few minutes.
I made these yesterday with my niece. We used Tollhouse morsels and light brown sugar and followed your recipe to the T by weight. We ended up getting 28 cookies from the batch. I definitely like that we got slightly more than slightly fewer.
Our oven is small so we would dole out six cookies per baking sheet (on parchment paper) and would then place the dough back in the fridge. When the oven dinged at 12 minutes, we would remove those to cool on the tray and then dole out six cookies on the next baking sheet. After those were in the oven, we used a spatula to transfer the cookies from the previous baking sheet to wire racks to cool. Rinse & repeat.
The family had one cookie each last night, but I think they were still too soft & the chocolate still too gooey. Stored them in a large Tupperware container in single layers (about five cookies each) separated with a paper towel each layer. We all had a cookie tonight after dinner and I feel that they came to the perfect texture.
100% will make again but will time the dry ingredients better so we can get a cakier cookie. Also will look at addition of nuts and alternate our chocolate type with our next batch(es!).
Thank you so much!!!!
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I’ve made this recipe into apple cinnamon cookies and it was a hit with my coworkers! Thanks!
Oh wow! I’m so glad thet enjoyed it.
Why is this recipe put as 14 tablespoons of butter why can’t it just be put into cups like everybody understands?
The ingredient list says one egg, but in the explanations for getting a thicker cake or cookie it says two eggs. Which is it?
In the ingredient list it lists one egg. In the information before that, it says two eggs. Which is it?