Ultimate Fudgy Double Chocolate Chip Cookies: The Best Chewy, Gooey Recipe!

Prepare to fall in love with these incredible double chocolate chip cookies! They are the epitome of chocolate decadence: wonderfully thick, irresistibly soft, and boasting a rich, fudgy, and intensely chewy center packed with chocolatey goodness. This isn’t just another cookie recipe; it’s the ultimate guide to creating a truly unforgettable chocolate experience that you’ll be eager to share with everyone you know. Whether you’re a seasoned baker or just starting out, this easy-to-follow recipe promises bakery-quality results right in your own kitchen. Get ready to bake the most perfect, intensely flavored chocolate cookies that will become a new favorite in your household!

This post was originally published on January 20, 2022. It was updated with new recipe information, enhanced tips, and additional details on January 10, 2024, to ensure the best possible baking experience for these delicious double chocolate chip cookies.

Essential Ingredients for Perfect Double Chocolate Cookies

Crafting the perfect fudgy double chocolate chip cookie starts with understanding the role each ingredient plays. Using high-quality ingredients and ensuring they are at the correct temperature will elevate your baking from good to extraordinary. Here’s a detailed look at what you’ll need to create these truly decadent chocolate cookies:

• Butter: For the most luxurious flavor and texture in these chewy double chocolate cookies, opt for unsalted butter. It allows you to control the overall saltiness of your recipe. For those seeking a dairy-free option, good quality vegan butter sticks work beautifully. It’s crucial that your butter (whether dairy or vegan) has a fat content of approximately 8g per 2 teaspoons (10g). If your butter has a lower fat percentage, reduce the amount to ⅔ cup and supplement with ⅓ cup of shortening or refined coconut oil to maintain the right texture and richness. Make sure it’s softened to room temperature for proper creaming.
• Brown Sugar and Granulated Sugar: This recipe utilizes both types of sugar for a reason! Brown sugar, with its molasses content, contributes moisture, chewiness, and a subtle caramel note, resulting in a softer, fudgier cookie. Granulated sugar, on the other hand, aids in spreading, promotes crisp edges, and provides sweetness without adding extra moisture. The combination creates a balanced texture that is both soft in the center and slightly crisp at the edges—the hallmark of a perfect double chocolate chip cookie.
• Egg: A large egg is essential here. It acts as a binder, helps with leavening, and adds richness and moisture to the cookie dough. Allowing the egg to come to room temperature is vital for seamless incorporation into the butter-sugar mixture. A cold egg can cause the batter to curdle, affecting the final texture of your fudgy chocolate cookies.
• Honey (or Corn Syrup): Just a touch of honey or corn syrup is a secret ingredient for enhancing the chewiness of these double chocolate cookies. It contributes to their moist texture and slight bend without making them overly sweet. If you don’t have honey, light corn syrup is a perfect substitute, serving the same purpose.
• Vanilla Extract: Vanilla is a flavor enhancer, bringing out the depth of the chocolate and adding a warm, aromatic note to the cookies. Don’t skimp on quality; a good pure vanilla extract makes a noticeable difference. You can also use an equal amount of vanilla bean paste for an even more pronounced vanilla flavor and delightful specks.
• All-Purpose Flour: Unbleached all-purpose flour is recommended for its consistent quality and ability to provide the necessary structure for these thick and chewy chocolate cookies. It helps to ensure the cookies hold their shape while remaining tender. For gluten-free adaptations, please see our dedicated section below for specific recommendations.
• Cocoa Powder: This is where the “double chocolate” truly shines! Make sure to use pure unsweetened cocoa powder, not a hot cocoa mix, which contains sugar and other additives. You can use either natural cocoa powder (like Hershey’s) or Dutch-processed cocoa powder (like Ghirardelli or Valrhona). Natural cocoa powder is more acidic and reacts with baking soda to aid in leavening, often resulting in a slightly lighter, fudgier cookie. Dutch-processed cocoa powder is less acidic, offering a darker color and a smoother, mellower chocolate flavor. Both work well for these fudgy chocolate chip cookies, yielding slightly different but equally delicious results.
• Salt: Even in sweet desserts, a pinch of salt is crucial. It balances the sweetness, enhances the chocolate flavor, and adds depth, making the overall taste more complex and satisfying. Fine salt dissolves more readily and distributes evenly throughout the dough.
• Baking Soda & Baking Powder: This recipe calls for a combination of both leavening agents to achieve the perfect rise and chewy texture in these double chocolate cookies. Baking soda reacts with acidic ingredients (like natural cocoa powder, brown sugar) to create spread and tenderness. Baking powder, often double-acting, provides an initial lift and another during baking, contributing to a soft, cake-like crumb while still retaining that essential chewiness.
• Chocolate Chips: The second layer of chocolate! While semi-sweet chocolate chips are a classic choice and highly recommended for their balanced sweetness, feel free to experiment. Dark chocolate chips will provide a more intense chocolate experience, while milk chocolate chips will add extra creaminess and sweetness. For double chocolate chunk cookies, you can chop up your favorite chocolate bars into varying sizes, which results in wonderful pockets of melted chocolate throughout the cookie.

How to Make Easy Double Chocolate Chip Cookies (Step-by-Step Guide)

Creating these rich, fudgy double chocolate chip cookies is a surprisingly straightforward process, especially if you have a stand mixer to do the heavy lifting. Follow these detailed steps to achieve perfect, chewy cookies every time. Precision in preparation and patience during chilling are key to their ultimate texture and flavor.

Step 1: Cream the Butter and Sugars. In the spacious bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or using a large bowl with a hand mixer, combine your softened room-temperature butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar. Beat these ingredients together on medium-high speed until the mixture becomes wonderfully light and fluffy. This typically takes about 3 minutes. This creaming process is vital; it incorporates air into the butter, which creates tiny pockets that will expand during baking, resulting in a lighter, more tender cookie crumb and a well-spread cookie.

Step 2: Incorporate Wet Ingredients. Reduce the mixer speed to low. Add the large room-temperature egg and continue to beat until it is fully incorporated into the sugar mixture, ensuring no streaks of egg yolk remain. Next, add the honey (or corn syrup) and vanilla extract, beating just until combined. It’s important not to overmix at this stage. Stop the mixer frequently to scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl with a spatula, ensuring all ingredients are evenly mixed and no pockets of unmixed ingredients remain, which can lead to an uneven texture in your finished fudgy chocolate cookies.

Step 3: Combine Dry and Wet Ingredients. In a separate medium-sized bowl, thoroughly whisk together the all-purpose flour, cocoa powder, salt, baking soda, and baking powder. Whisking ensures that the leavening agents and salt are evenly distributed throughout the flour, preventing pockets of unmixed ingredients in your cookies. Gradually add this dry ingredient mixture to the creamed butter mixture, adding a little at a time (about a third of the mixture at a time) and beating on low speed after each addition until just combined. Be careful not to overmix the dough, as overmixing can lead to tough, dense cookies by developing too much gluten.

Step 4: Add Chocolate Chips and Chill the Dough. Once the dry ingredients are just incorporated, scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl one last time with your spatula. Now, gently fold in the chocolate chips until they are evenly distributed throughout the rich chocolate cookie dough. Overmixing at this stage can also develop gluten, so mix just until the chips are incorporated. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and transfer it to the refrigerator. Allow the dough to chill for a minimum of 2 hours, or ideally, overnight. Chilling the dough is a critical step for these fudgy double chocolate cookies, as it allows the flour to fully hydrate, the flavors to meld, and the butter to solidify. This results in thicker, chewier, and more flavorful cookies that spread less in the oven.

Step 5: Preheat Oven and Prepare Baking Sheets. When you’re ready to bake, preheat your oven to 375°F (190°C). Line a large baking sheet (or two, depending on your oven size) with parchment paper. Parchment paper prevents sticking and ensures even baking, making cleanup a breeze. Having your oven at the correct temperature is important for the cookie’s structure and spread.

Step 6: Scoop the Cookie Dough. Using a cookie scoop (approximately a heaped tablespoon or 1.5-inch diameter), portion out the chilled cookie dough onto the prepared parchment-lined baking sheet. Leave ample space, about a 2-inch gap, between each dough ball to allow for proper spreading during baking without the cookies merging into one another. Do not flatten the dough balls; they will naturally spread as they bake. A scoop ensures consistent size, which leads to more even baking.

Step 7: Bake and Shape for Perfection. Bake the cookies for 7-9 minutes. The baking time can vary slightly depending on your oven, so keep a close eye on them. The cookies are done when the edges are set but the centers still look slightly soft and gooey. They will continue to set as they cool. Immediately after removing the baking sheet from the oven, take a large round cookie cutter (slightly larger than your cookies) and enclose each flattened cookie individually. Gently swirl the cookie cutter around the cookie to push in the edges and shape it into a perfectly circular, professional-looking cookie. This trick works wonders because the cookies are still warm and pliable. Let the newly shaped double chocolate cookies cool on the baking pan for at least 5 minutes before carefully transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely. This prevents them from breaking and allows their fudgy centers to fully set.

How to Make Gluten-Free Double Chocolate Chip Cookies

Adapting this sensational double chocolate chip cookie recipe to be gluten-free is incredibly simple! The key is to swap the all-purpose flour for a high-quality gluten-free measure-for-measure flour blend. It is absolutely essential that your chosen blend includes xanthan gum (like this one), as xanthan gum acts as a binding agent, replicating the elasticity and structure that gluten provides. Without it, your gluten-free chocolate cookies may be crumbly. Follow all other steps precisely, especially the chilling time, to ensure your gluten-free cookies are just as thick, fudgy, and delicious as their traditional counterparts.

Expert Tips for the Best Fudgy Double Chocolate Cookies

Achieving bakery-level double chocolate chip cookies at home is entirely possible with a few simple tricks. These expert tips will help ensure your cookies turn out perfectly thick, soft, and fudgy every single time, making your homemade chocolate cookies truly stand out.

• Use Room Temperature Ingredients: This tip is paramount for the success of your cookies. Ensuring all your perishable ingredients like butter and egg are brought up to room temperature before mixing is crucial. Room temperature butter creams beautifully with sugar, incorporating air evenly, which contributes to the cookies’ light texture. A cold egg can seize the butter, leading to a lumpy batter and an inconsistent cookie texture. Plan ahead and take them out of the fridge at least an hour before you start baking.
• Chill the Cookie Dough Thoroughly: Do not skip or shorten the chilling time for these chocolate cookie dough! Resting the dough in the refrigerator for a minimum of 2 hours (and ideally overnight for even better results) allows several important processes to occur. First, the flour fully hydrates, leading to a more tender and cohesive dough. Second, the butter solidifies, which prevents the cookies from spreading too much in the oven, resulting in those desirable thicker, chewier cookies. Finally, chilling allows the flavors to deepen and meld, yielding a more robust and complex chocolate flavor. This step is a game-changer for fudgy double chocolate cookies.
• Employ a Cookie Scoop for Uniformity: A simple cookie scoop is an indispensable tool for consistent baking. Using a scoop ensures that each portion of cookie dough is roughly the same size and weight, which in turn guarantees that all your cookies bake evenly. No more guessing or hand-rolling, which can be messy and lead to varying cookie sizes. Consistent portions mean consistent baking times and perfectly baked chocolate cookies across the batch.
• Master the Cookie Cutter Trick for Perfectly Circular Cookies: For that professional, perfectly round cookie aesthetic, this trick is invaluable. Immediately after your double chocolate chip cookies emerge from the hot oven, while they are still warm and pliable on the baking sheet, take a large round cookie cutter (one that’s slightly larger than your baked cookies). Place the cookie cutter around an individual flattened cookie and gently swirl it in a circular motion. The soft edges of the warm cookie will be molded into a neat, perfect circle, giving them a beautiful, uniform appearance that’s sure to impress.

Storage and Freezing Instructions for Double Chocolate Chip Cookies

Once you’ve baked a batch of these glorious fudgy double chocolate chip cookies, you’ll want to make sure they stay fresh for as long as possible! Proper storage is key to preserving their delicious texture and flavor. Whether you plan to enjoy them over a few days or save some for later, here’s how to store your homemade chocolate cookies effectively.

Storing Baked Cookies: These freshly baked double chocolate cookies are best enjoyed within a few days. To maintain their soft and chewy texture, store them in an airtight container at room temperature. A cookie jar with a tight-fitting lid or a sealed plastic container works perfectly. They will retain their peak freshness for up to 4 days. Beyond that, while still edible, their texture may start to change. If you anticipate needing to store them for a longer period, freezing is highly recommended to lock in their freshness.

Freezing Baked Cookies: Freezing baked cookies is an excellent way to prepare ahead or enjoy your homemade chocolate treats weeks later. Allow the cookies to cool completely before freezing. Once cooled, place them in a single layer on a baking sheet and freeze for about 30 minutes until solid. This prevents them from sticking together. Then, transfer the frozen cookies to an airtight freezer-safe container or a heavy-duty freezer bag. Squeeze out as much air as possible to prevent freezer burn. They can be stored in the freezer for up to 3 months. When ready to enjoy, simply thaw them at room temperature for an hour or two, or gently warm them in the microwave for a few seconds for that fresh-baked feel.

Freezing Unbaked Cookie Dough: Preparing cookie dough ahead of time is a fantastic way to have fresh, warm double chocolate chip cookies on demand! After chilling the dough as instructed in the recipe, use a cookie scoop to portion out individual cookie dough balls onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Place the entire baking sheet into the freezer for about 30 minutes, or until the dough balls are firm enough to handle without losing their shape. Once firm, transfer the frozen cookie dough balls into an airtight freezer-safe container or a heavy-duty freezer bag. Label with the date. The cookie dough can be stored in the freezer for up to 2 months. When you’re ready to bake, you can bake them directly from frozen (adding a minute or two to the baking time), or let them thaw in the refrigerator for a few hours before baking as usual.

Frequently Asked Questions About Double Chocolate Chip Cookies

We’ve gathered some of the most common questions about making these irresistible double chocolate chip cookies to help you troubleshoot, customize, and perfect your baking experience. Read on for expert answers to ensure your fudgy chocolate cookies are a success every time!

More Irresistible Cookie and Dessert Recipes You Need to Try

If you’re a true dessert enthusiast and loved these fudgy double chocolate chip cookies, then you’re in for a treat! We have a collection of other beloved recipes that are sure to satisfy your sweet cravings. Explore these delicious options and expand your baking repertoire:

• Looking for a classic chocolate chip cookie that hits all the right notes? Try either my browned butter chocolate chip cookies for an enhanced nutty flavor, or my incredibly popular gluten-free chocolate chip cookies! Both recipes deliver those coveted crisp edges paired with a delightfully soft and chewy center.
• If you prefer a soft-baked cookie with a less chewy but equally tender crumb, then these elegant gluten-free sugar cookies are perfect for you. They’re simple, versatile, and melt-in-your-mouth delicious.
• For those who adore chewy chocolate chip cookies but also crave a unique sweet and salty sensation, our kitchen sink cookies are an absolute must-try! Packed with a delightful medley of pretzels, potato chips, and buttery toffee bits, they offer an exciting flavor and texture adventure in every bite.
• Do you have a bag of almond flour patiently waiting in your pantry? Put it to delicious use with my delightful almond flour chocolate chip cookies! They’re rich, tender, and a fantastic option for a slightly different cookie experience.
• Are you a true chocoholic whose love for chocolate knows no bounds? Then these gluten-free brownies are an absolute essential. They are hands down the fudgiest, most intensely chocolatey brownies you’ll ever make, and without a doubt, a personal favorite!

We hope you thoroughly enjoy making and devouring these amazing Double Chocolate Chip Cookies! If you tried out this recipe, we would absolutely love to hear from you. Please let us know how they turned out by leaving a star rating and commenting below your experience. Your feedback helps other bakers, too! For more delicious inspiration and to stay updated on new recipes, don’t forget to sign up for my email newsletter – I promise to only send you the good stuff, no spam!