Soft and Chewy Chocolate Cookies
These soft and chewy chocolate cookies have an intense chocolate flavor and almost brownie-like texture. They’re one of my all-time faves!
Our family has been making these cookies for as long as I can remember. We use them to make ice cream sandwiches, sometimes they’re topped with marshmallows and melted chocolate, but most often they’re enjoyed just as you see here— with a simple sprinkling of salt or sugar.
Not only are they soft and chewy, but they’re also dense and intensely chocolaty. These cookies will satisfy that chocolate craving, and then some! We love them so much, and I promise they’ll become one of your favorites too.
Table of Contents
- Ingredients you'll need
- So easy to make, no chilling required!
- My best cookie tips
- More chocolate cookies to try
- Soft and Chewy Chocolate Cookies recipe
Ingredients you’ll need
You probably already have all of the ingredients in your kitchen!
- Unsalted butter
- Granulated sugar
- Eggs
- Vanilla
- All-purpose flour
- Unsweetened cocoa powder
- Baking soda
- Salt
- Flaky salt or coarse sugar, for sprinkling
So easy to make, no chilling required!
These soft and chewy chocolate cookies are just your basic drop cookies—
- Cream butter and sugar
- Add eggs and vanilla
- Add dry ingredients
- Portion and bake
And there’s no need to chill the dough before baking, so you can have fresh baked cookies in as little as 20 minutes!
My best cookie tips
- Butter should be soft enough that a pressed finger will leave an indent, but not soft enough that your finger can press all the way through. If it’s shiny or melty at all, the butter is too warm and your cookies may spread.
- Be sure to measure flour correctly! All of my recipes are tested using the spoon and level method (more info through that link).
- These pre-cut parchment sheets are perfect for cookie baking.
- I like to use a cookie scoop for portion out dough so that all cookies will be the same size. I like to use either a medium #40 (1.5 Tbsp) or large #20 (3 Tbsp) scoops. Baking time will need to be adjusted if you use the larger scoop.
- If cookies come out slightly misshapen, use a spatula to press them back into a circle right after they come out of the oven. See more of my tips for how to bake pretty cookies.
- Cookie dough freezes really well. I like to keep a stash in the freezer for fresh-baked cookies on demand.
- These cookies will keep at room temperature for about a week, but are best within a few days of baking.
More chocolate cookies to try
- Spicy Chili Chocolate Cookies
- Chocolate Hugs Cookies
- Chocolate Crinkle Cookies
- Chocolate Marshmallow Cookies
Recipe was originally published in 2014.
Soft and Chewy Chocolate Cookies recipe
Soft and Chewy Chocolate Cookies
Soft and chewy chocolate cookies are dense and intensely chocolaty.
Ingredients
- ¾ cup (170 grams) salted or unsalted butter , at room temperature
- 1 ½ cup (300 grams) granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 cups (260 grams) all-purpose flour (see Notes about measuring correctly)
- ⅔ cup (60 grams) unsweetened cocoa powder (see Notes)
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- Coarse sugar or salt , for sprinkling (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350° F. Line a sheet pan with parchment paper.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugar on medium high speed until light and creamy, about 4 minutes. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing after each. Add the vanilla.
- In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt. Add to the mixer and mix until just combined. Scrape down the bowl as needed to make sure it's mixed evenly.
- Scoop by the rounded tablespoon (I use a medium #40 1.5 Tbsp cookie scoop) onto the prepared sheet pan.
- Bake until edges are crisp and the tops just barely appear set (no longer wet), about 9 minutes. Baking times may vary based on your oven and cookie size!
- Immediately sprinkle with coarse sugar or salt while cookies are still hot. If they're misshapen, use a spatula to push them back into a circle. Let them cool on the pan for a few minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
- Repeat with remaining cookie dough. Store the cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for several days (if they last that long!).
Video
Notes
- Measure flour correctly! Several readers have had issues with the cookies not spreading, being too thick, or needing to add a little water to the dough to get it to come together. This is most likely an issue with adding TOO MUCH FLOUR because of not measuring it correctly. If possible, use a kitchen scale, or use the “spoon and level” method when using measuring cups (more info through that link).
- If using Dutch-process cocoa powder, change 1 tsp baking soda to 1 tsp baking powder. (Traditional unsweetened natural cocoa powder is acidic and will react with the baking soda, but Dutch-process cocoa powder is not acidic and so you will need to use baking powder instead to get the same rise.)
Calories: 192kcal, Carbohydrates: 26g, Protein: 3g, Fat: 9g, Saturated Fat: 6g, Cholesterol: 29mg, Sodium: 102mg, Potassium: 97mg, Fiber: 2g, Sugar: 15g, Vitamin A: 201IU, Calcium: 13mg, Iron: 1mg
Have you tried this recipe?I’d love to hear about it! Leave a rating and review below, or take a photo and tag it on Instagram @completelydelicious with #completelydelicious.
These delicious cookies were easy to make and turned out. Perfect. I sprinkled a little Celtic salt on top and my family went wild.
These were AMAZING!!!!! They were exactly what I’ve been looking for!
absolutely DELICIOUS cookies! i’ve made them twice in a week since they’re just that good. my coworkers and fiancée are obsessed. i wanted to find a recipe similar to trader joes sea salt brownies and stumbled upon this, and i highly prefer making cookies to brownies, so these are just incredible.
Yum! These are so good I made them again within a few days of the first time. The second time I ran out of flour (!) and was able to partially substitute corn starch. They were equally excellent (I couldn’t tell the difference but be sure to do the conversion right if you do this!) I also added shredded coconut to the top on some!
Wanted to mention I appreciate the detailed instruction – like how long to blend the butter and sugar.
Chocolatey chewy goodness!
Thank you for the comment and review Madeline!
Family favorite
This recipe is amazing. Very easy and cookies very much resemble a soft brownie and are delicious.
Yes! So happy to hear they turned out exactly how they should. That brownie texture is amazing!
I only used a cup of flour as that’s all I had and I had already started making the recipe. They turned out good. Like mini brownies.
Not a techie, looked for place to ask question, this is only place I could find so hope it’s ok: may I use a heart-healthier organic, cold-pressed canola in this recipe, instead of vein-clogging butter, or will it ruin soft chewy texture you mention.
You cannot substitute a liquid oil for solid butter in this recipe, it simply won’t work the same. I recommend trying to find a chocolate cookie recipe that uses canola oil (or another type of oil).
I didn’t like the way you write it but it taste tastes amazing
I just want to say I did a lot of things wrong in this recipe: I didn’t wait for my butter to come to room temp (she was straight out of the fridge), I used salted butter and still added the salt because I forgot I used salted butter haha, and I used brown sugar because I didn’t have normal sugar. They still turned out amazing!
I actually now use salted butter in this recipe! I just haven’t quite updated that in the recipe card. I’m so happy all of these adjustments worked for you! Thanks for the comment and feedback Mikayla 🙂
Great recipe! Super simple to follow. I opted to use 1 cup granulated sugar and a bit less than a half cup of dark brown sugar because i love the taste and they came out incredible!
I bet brown sugar would be great here too, thanks for the feedback Ashley!
This recipe was so good! Five stars all the way
Great cookie. Can I substitute almond extract or Kahlua for the coffee?
I don’t have any coffee in this recipe, so I’m not sure where you’re getting that from. You can always add almond extract to desserts if you want, and the only thing it will affect is the flavor. Some recipes taste better with a hint of almond than others, but that’s really up to your preferences! I don’t recommend using Kaulua in recipes where something like that isn’t already listed in the ingredients, as it’s a liquid and will change the composition and results. I hope this helps!
Great recipe, do you know the shelf life?
Cookies always keep for up to about a week at room temperature, though they do start to dry out after a few days.
Hey so, I’m about to make these cookies for christmas, and I wanna know, since the replies and the recipe doesn’t quite say, how would you describe them?, would they be soft and airy? Also, could I add powdered sugar for a bit of the regular sugar?
As stated in the article, these cookies are soft and chewy, but also a little dense and brownie-like. I have not tested this recipe with powdered sugar. It’s a great recipe as written! I hope this helps.