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Bakery Style Chocolate Cookies with flakey sea salt are rich, thick & dense, chewy and perfectly fudgy. You can make this easy cookie recipe in under an hour!

The Best Fudgy Chocolate Cookie Recipe

I didn’t think it was possible to love my double chocolate chip cookies more than I already did, but here we are, I’ve outdone myself.

These are giant chocolate cookies loaded with gooey chocolate chips and flakey sea salt. Don’t skip the sea salt you guys, trust me. I’ve eaten more than my fair share of these when we were testing recipes, and it was worth every calorie.

I’ve packed even more chocolate into these cookies, do you see all those chocolate chips on top? I am sharing all my tips with you today so you can enjoy these anytime the craving hits.

What makes these cookies so good?

• They are thick and dense and did I mention they’re huge?
• The edges are crisp, but the centers are gooey and fudgy!
• They’re rich and chewy thanks to the additional brown sugar and egg yolks
• You don’t need to chill the dough, so you can have warm cookies in less than an hour

The secret to bakery style cookies- don’t skip this step

I’ve been chasing the elusive giant bakery style cookies since I originally set out to make a perfect chocolate chip cookie.

Let me tell you the secret- it’s two big scoops of cookie dough stacked on top of one another.

This allows the dough to spread enough when baking, but still produce a thick & dense cookie with a crispy edge and a fudgy center.

These cookies are giant though, like the size of my hand, and I am not the least bit mad about it. This recipe is specifically designed to be this way, so baking them with only one scoop of dough will not produce the same results as I described above.

It’s best if you can use a large cookie scoop for the dough because it’s a bit sticky, and it will help you to maintain the right size, which is 3 tablespoons of dough per scoop. So each cookie is approximately 6 tablespoons of dough. Also be sure to bake these on parchment paper or a silicone baking mat. 

Pro tip: Right when these come out of the oven, take the flat edge of a knife, spatula or angled spatula, and press the edges of the cookie back towards the center of the cookie. Then throw a few more chocolate chips on top with another sprinkle of sea salt.

What makes these different than my original double chocolate chip cookies?

Besides the actual size (these are double the size), I’ve added more brown sugar and egg yolks. The combination of the two provide the right amount of softness and chewiness for these cookies.

My original recipe uses melted butter, but this recipe uses softened butter. It should be slightly softened, but not fully room temperature, this holds the dough together better during baking, so they don’t spread too thin. I suggest letting the butter sit for about 20 minutes.

What makes these cookies so chewy?

Using more brown sugar than granulated sugar makes for a much chewier cookie. This recipe has 3 times the amount of brown sugar than white sugar.

The addition of egg yolks also adds fat which helps to make them richer and maintains moisture but also adds to the chewiness to these cookies.

Recipe Ingredients

• Butter: I’ve made this recipe with both salted and unsalted butter. Either will work. If using salted butter, reduce the added salt to 1/2 teaspoon. It should be slightly softened, but not fully room temperature.
• Light brown sugar & granulated sugar: This recipe uses mostly brown sugar for added chewiness
• Eggs & egg yolk: The addition of egg yolk adds richness and chewiness to these cookies
• Vanilla extract
• All-purpose flour
• Hershey’s Special Dark Cocoa powder is my preferred cocoa powder for this recipe. It’s dark color lends to a more fudgy and rich flavor. It produces very consistent results.
• Salt & baking soda
• Chocolate chips: Any type of chocolate chips can be used, but I recommend semi-sweet.
• Flaky sea salt: Don’t skip this, it seriously makes these cookies SO much better.

Cocoa powder: I only tested this recipe with the Hershey’s special dark. However, when developing my original double chocolate cookie recipe, I tested it with a Dutch processed and natural unsweetened cocoa powder and all 3 variations worked just fine, but the special dark is what gives this cookie the rich dark chocolate color and deeper flavor.

How to Make Giant Chocolate Cookies

1. Prep: Preheat the oven, soften the butter for approximately 20 minutes.
2. Cream the butter and sugars together
   
   
3. Add the liquid ingredients: eggs, egg yolks and vanilla extract and continue beating until well incorporated.
4. Add the cocoa powder: I prefer to add this separate from the flour to ensure it incorporated into the dough without over beating the flour.
   
   
5. Combine and add remaining dry ingredients. The dough will thicken to a fudgy consistency. As the dough is thickening, add the chocolate chips.
6. Stacking the dough (super important- don’t skip this step!) Using a large cookie scoop, place two scoops of the dough, one stacked on top of the other, and place on baking sheet, 2 inches apart. Sprinkle with flaky sea salt
7. Bake for 15-16 minutes.

Storing and Freezing these cookies

These are best stored in an airtight container once completely cooled. You can also freeze these baked cookies in an airtight container. Microwave the frozen cookies for approximately 15-20 seconds.

I have not tested this pre freezing the dough. If you would like to pre freeze the dough, I would recommend freezing single scoops of dough, thawing to room temperature and then proceeding to stack the dough prior to baking.

More of my favorite cookie recipes

• Chewy Chocolate chip cookies
• Salted Caramel Oatmeal Cookies
• Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
• Simply the best cut out Sugar Cookies

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