These bakery-style chocolate chip cookies are deliciously soft, chewy, and thick with gooey centers.

As a professional pastry chef, I’ve worked in enough bakeries to know all of the tips and tricks to make a perfect chocolate chip cookie. With just a few secret ingredients, these cookies will rival any from a bakery.

They’re large and in charge and bursting with chocolate flavor. My recipe testers collectively agreed this is the BEST chocolate chip cookie recipe they’ve ever made!

A soft chocolate chip cookie on a black rack sprinkled with sea salt.

Aside from my chewy toffee cookies or pecan chocolate chip cookies, of course.

Step-by-Step Instructions

A glass mixing bowl with the creamed butter and sugar.

Step 1: Cream the butter and sugars together. In a stand mixing bowl or with a hand mixer, cream the softened butter, white sugar, and brown sugar until light and fluffy.

A glass mixing bowl with the cookie dough after mixing in the egg and vanilla bean paste.

Step 2: Mix in the wet ingredients. Mix in the egg and vanilla bean paste, scraping the bowl as needed with a rubber spatula.

A glass mixing bowl with the cookie dough after folding in the dry ingredients.

Step 3: Mix in the dry ingredients.  Mix in the all-purpose flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and vanilla powder until almost combined with some dry flour pockets remaining.

A pile of chocolate chips on top of the cookie dough before mixing.

Step 4: Fold in the chocolate chips. Then gently fold in the dark chocolate wafers, semisweet chips, and chopped milk chocolate bar until just combined.

Balls of chocolate chip cookie dough scooped onto a baking sheet.

Step 5: Scoop the chocolate chip cookie dough. Drop 5 ounces of cookie dough onto a parchment-lined baking tray using a large spring-loaded cookie scoop. Ensure accuracy with a scale.

Finish the bakery-style look by adding chocolate morsels on top. Cover tightly and refrigerate overnight or a minimum of 5-6 hours.

A spatula scooting in the edges of a cookie after baking to make it perfectly round.

Step 6: Bake the cookies. Bake 2-3 cookies 4-5 inches apart, rotating the pan halfway through baking, until they have golden brown edges with a soft and underbaked center.

This is key to achieving super soft and gooey centers! While the middle will seem raw, they will continue to bake on the cookie sheet out of the oven.

A stack of bakery style chocolate chip cookies that are cut in half to show the gooey centers.

If you tried this or any other recipe on my website, please let me know how it went in the comments below, I love hearing from you! Also, please leave a star rating while you’re there! You can also tag me on Instagram or Facebook so I can check it out!

Chocolate chip cookie sprinkled with flaky sea salt on a wire rack.

Bakery Style Chocolate Chip Cookies

5 from 5 votes
These bakery style chocolate chip cookies are deliciously soft, chewy, and thick with gooey centers. I'm sharing all of my bakery secrets to achieving the BEST chocolate chip cookies at home!
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Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 16 minutes
Total Time: 36 minutes
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: American
Servings: 6 very large cookies
Need Metric Measurements?Use the button options below to toggle between US cups and Metric grams!

Ingredients 
 

  • 1 cup unsalted cultured butter, cool room temperature
  • 3/4 cup brown sugar, packed (I like using half dark brown sugar and half light brown sugar)
  • 1/4 cup granulated sugar
  • 1 large egg, room temperature
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla bean paste
  • 1 3/4 cups + 2 tbsp all-purpose flour, *See notes below for measuring*
  • 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
  • 3/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla powder, optional, but adds tons of flavor!
  • 3/4 cup dark chocolate wafers
  • 2/3 cup chopped milk chocolate bar
  • 1/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Instructions

  • Before you start, line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Note that the dough must be chilled overnight or at least for 6-8 hours before baking! Baking them any sooner will result in excess spreading.
  • Cream the butter and sugars. Cream together the butter, light brown sugar, and granulated sugar until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
    1 cup (226 grams) unsalted cultured butter, 3/4 cup (150 grams) brown sugar, 1/4 cup (50 grams) granulated sugar
  • Mix in the wet ingredients. Mix in the egg and vanilla bean paste until just combined. Scrape down the sides of the bowl if needed.
    1 (50 g) large egg, 1 tablespoon vanilla bean paste
  • Mix in the dry ingredients. Mix in the flour, baking soda, baking powder, vanilla powder, and salt until almost combined. Then fold in the chocolate chips.
    1 3/4 cups + 2 tbsp (240 g) all-purpose flour, 3/4 teaspoon baking soda, 1/2 teaspoon baking powder, 3/4 teaspoon fine sea salt, 2 teaspoons vanilla powder, 3/4 cup (100 g) dark chocolate wafers, 2/3 cup (80 g) chopped milk chocolate bar, 1/4 cup (40 g) semisweet chocolate chips
  • Scoop and chill the dough. Scoop the cookie dough into six 5 oz balls onto the prepared baking sheet. Mold the dough so that it is just over 2 inches tall. This allows them to bake slowly and not spread as much. Press more chocolate morsels on top for melty pools of chocolate.
    Use a scale for accuracy, it's a little more than a 1/2 cup of dough. Cover the tray tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight or for at least 6-8 hours.
  • Bake! Preheat the oven to 350 F/180 C. Place 2-3 chilled cookies max on a parchment-lined baking tray (leave the others in the fridge). Bake for 16-18 minutes, or until the edges are golden brown but the center is still soft and underbaked. Sprinkle with flaky sea salt out of the oven if desired. After 10 minutes, use a spatula to transfer the cookies to a wire rack to finish cooling. You won't be able to fully pick them up for about 30-60 mintues!
  • Storage: Store leftovers in an airtight container at room temperature for 3-4 days. They can be reheated in the oven or microwave to soften.
  • For freezer chill: Chill the dough balls until firm, then transfer them to an airtight container or freezer bag for 1-3 months. Defrost them in the fridge for 24 hours before baking!

Video

Notes

*Measure your dry ingredients properly. This is my #1 baking tip! Do not ever scoop a measuring cup into your flour as this always leads to using too much flour. Instead, use the spoon-level method. This means fluffing the flour first, then spooning it into your measuring cup/spoon. For the BEST results, use a kitchen scale!*
Chocolate brand recommendations: The number one brand I recommend is Guittard. Other great brands include Lindt, Ghiradelli, and Valhrona! You can find Guittard at Whole Foods or online.
Butter notes: Kerrygold Cultured Butter is unsalted and in a silver package. You can use the gold salted version or another European sweet cream butter like Plugra, Danish Creamery, or Vermont Creamery. Kirkland also has a Grass-Fed butter that is similar to these! If you prefer using American butter you can, although you will miss out on the flavor.
Cool room temperature butter: This is KEY to any cookie recipe. Stick a thermometer into your stick of butter. The ideal temperature range is between 64-68 F.
Scoop size: This recipe was specifically developed to bake into very large cookies. I have tested baking the dough into 4oz, 3oz, and 2oz and the results are just not the same. I highly recommend baking them into the 5oz size.
 
Serving: 1serving | Calories: 976kcal | Carbohydrates: 125g | Protein: 12g | Fat: 49g | Saturated Fat: 32g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 11g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 109mg | Sodium: 754mg | Potassium: 381mg | Fiber: 5g | Sugar: 57g | Vitamin A: 991IU | Vitamin C: 0.1mg | Calcium: 145mg | Iron: 5mg

The calorie information provided for the recipe is an estimate. The accuracy of the calories listed is not guaranteed.

Tried this recipe?Leave a comment below & tag @cambreabakes on social!

The calorie information provided for the recipe is an estimate. The accuracy of the calories listed is not guaranteed.

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3 Comments

  1. What brand of vanilla powder do you use? It looks like yours is white vs the brown ones I’ve seen on Amazon.

    Reply

    1. Hi Sarah! I used Watkins because it was all I had. The vanilla powders that are brown are higher-quality and cost more than the Watkins one, but any vanilla powder will work!

      Reply

  2. Everyone at the office loved these!5 stars

    Reply