How to Make Those Big, THICK Bakery-Style Chocolate Chip Cookies

An intoxicating happiness comes with holding a cookie that has the heft of a small child’s head. If you’ve ever found yourself with one of those monstrously large chocolate chip cookies (the kind you only encounter at hip restaurants and bakeries) before you, you understand the sense of power and glee—almost like, if for only a moment, you have a much sweeter version of the world in your hands. The anticipation that builds around that first bite… ugh, there’s nothing like it!

I believe that’s a level of bliss you should be able to experience in your own kitchen. Now, more than ever.

Caitlin Bensel
Caitlin Bensel

No, making cookies the size of asteroids isn’t as practical as making a sourdough starter and baking bread, but it’s important to carve out room for pure, unadulterated joy where you can. And that’s exactly what these dense, thick, doughy, absurdly large cookies deliver: overwhelming size and overwhelming joy.

Do you have other people in your home? Just imagine the looks on their faces when you reveal cookies of such epic proportions. Or hey, bake a batch with friends from afar, as a virtual group baking therapy exercise, and share the photos with each other. (Don’t worry about excess, these cookies freeze well.) And while you’re at it, share them with us too, by tagging @myrecipes on Instagram.

Now, here’s everything you need to know.


How to Make Thicccck Chocolate Chip Cookies

The process for making these ginormous cookies really isn’t all that different from following the recipe on the back of the chocolate chip bag. There’s no mind-blowing magic trick involved here, just a few small details that lend to their epic volume.

Caitlin Bensel
Caitlin Bensel

Get the Recipe: THICK Chocolate Chip Cookies

Shift the Flour-to-Sugar Ratio

This, folks, is the most significant key to the entire puzzle. Sugar plays a number of roles in a cookie beyond providing a sweet flavor; it’s also a leading factor behind the cookie dough’s ability to caramelize and crisp to a beautiful golden brown, and it helps the cookie dough ball you’ve placed on a baking sheet spread into a disc. In a classic chocolate chip cookie recipe (like this one), you’ll have 1 ½ cups of sugar for roughly the same amount of flour called for in the recipe above (2 cups and some change). However, in the THICK Chocolate Chip Cookies recipe, there is only 1 cup of sugar. Cutting back on the sweet stuff cuts down on the cookies’ inclination to spread as they bake, leading to a thicker, puffier construct. But don’t worry, the cookies still brown beautifully and aren’t lacking in sweetness.

Cream It, Cream It Good

Creaming your butter and sugar well is always a good idea, but there are moments in life when it is especially important—this is one of them. When you’re looking to achieve impressive height, starting off with a well aerated base is an important first step in the right direction. Which is why this recipe asks you to beat your butter and sugar for at least 5 minutes.

Boost Your Baking powder

As noted in our guide to making the perfect chocolate chip cookies for you, baking soda and baking powder are both commonly called for leaveners in chocolate chip cookies. However, baking soda encourages spreading while baking powder gives your cookies more lift. So, emphasizing baking powder over soda in the ingredient list is going to give you a more jacked cookie.

Don’t Skimp on the Chocolate Chips

Another way we’re adding volume to the dough is via the quantity of mix-ins we're packing in. (And by “packing in,” I mean stirring in by hand, please.) There’s no doubt, these cookies aren’t exactly for those who are lukewarm on chocolate. And while we’re talking chocolate, I highly recommend using a blend of chocolate chips in your cookies for a more dynamic flavor (I use a blend of milk chocolate, semisweet, and 60% bittersweet). This is a brilliant tip I picked up from Serious Eats, and if you’re not feeling confident when faced with the multitude of options on the baking aisle, definitely take a gander at their buying guide for supermarkt chocolate chips. You can additionally bulk up the volume of your dough with toasted pecans or walnuts, but I realize not everyone is a fan of nutty chocolate chip cookies, so I’m leaving that ball entirely in your court.

Chill Out

Not every chocolate chip cookie recipe is going to ask you to chill the dough—this one does. For at least a few hours. Again, this small test of patience will help combat spreading during baking.

Dough Mountains, Not Spheres

The overwhelming, delight-inducing size of these cookies is, in part, a sheer product of the amount of dough you’re using to make each cookie. I mean, you’re making six cookies with enough dough to yield dozens of more rationally sized cookies… but that’s what makes these beautiful, don’t overthink it. No need to roll your dough portions into uniform balls either. I use a heaping ½-cup measure to scoop the dough into tall mounds before giving them their chill time in the fridge.

High Temp, Shorter Bake Time

While I was developing this recipe, I tried baking the cookies at varying temperatures and time intervals. And while most recipes instruct baking at 350°F, going up to 400°F allows you a shorter bake time, which again, reduces the cookies’ spreading. This higher temp allows the cookies to puff and crisp up on the outside, while the interior remains soft and gooey. It’s a winning combination, but one that does require that you allow the cookies to cool down fully before pouring that glass of milk and biting in.

(Note: If you can’t resist a warm chocolate chip cookie straight from the oven, by all means, have at it—just brace yourself for the molten chocolate lava that’s about to cover your hands.)

And that’s that; you’re ready to go forth and bake big, THICK cookies. But when you’re piling all of your cookie dough into six mounds and you’re tempted to bust the mountains into smaller portions—just remember, this recipe isn’t about rationality. It’s about over-the-top delight.