Ultimate Chocolate Chunk Cookies (+ A Secret Ingredient)

The epitome of the perfect chocolate chunk cookie: thick and crispy on the outside, soft, chewy and gooey in the middle and packed with oodles and oodles of melted pools of chocolate! These cookies are to die for!

Friends, I must warn you! These chocolate chunk cookies are ADDICTIVE!

It took me soooo many trials and errors to finally come up with this recipe, but it was totally well worth it!

These cookies are thick, soft, and chewy. And they’re about 3.5 inches (9.5 cm) in diameter – go big or go home, I always say!

Not only do these chocolate chunk cookies taste phenomenal, but they are also really easy to make – you don’t even need a mixer!

Here’s what you’ll need:

Flour: I use all-purpose.

Butter: I use unsalted, but you could use salted butter instead, just omit the salt.

Sugar: I use a combination of granulated sugar, packed light brown and dark, packed brown sugar. The dark brown sugar gives a really nice, caramel flavor!

1 Egg: I use organic.

Salt: I use to enhance the overall flavors, but you could leave it out if you’re using salted butter.

Cornstarch: I use a tablespoon.

Baking soda: This is needed to leaven the cookie, of course. Make sure it hasn’t expired!

Chocolate: I use good quality dark, semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, cut into chunks instead of chocolate chips.

SECRETS TO MAKING THE ULTIMATE CHOCOLATE CHUNK COOKIE

• See all those puddles of chocolate in the picture below?

You won’t get the same gooey results with chocolate chips; use good quality dark, semisweet or bittersweet chocolate instead. Also, when you chop the chocolate, you have complete control over how big you want your chunks to be! This is important because when the chunks are all different sizes, they make the cookies all gooey, rich, luscious, and chocolaty!

• My secret ingredient is cornstarch! Using cornstarch helps make the cookies chewy and maintain a soft center. This is something I learned from one of my favorite pastry gurus, Anna Olson.
• DO NOT OVERMIX THE DOUGH. This could make the cookies hard.
• DO NOT OVERBAKE. The best time to take them out of the oven is when they still look a bit underbaked – soft in the middle, but brown around the edges.
• When you take them out of the oven, let them cool on the cookie sheet for about 10 minutes, otherwise they’ll fall apart when you transfer them.
• Using a cookie scoop ensures that all the cookies are the same size, allowing them to bake uniformly.
• For an extra chocolate kick, press a few chocolate chunks on top of each cookie as soon as you take them out of the oven. Trust me on this one, guys! It’s unbelievable!

TIPS

• Before adding the chocolate to the dough, you could sift the chocolate chunks after you chop them if you don’t want the really tiny bits and shards to spread throughout the cookies.
• You could keep the cookie dough in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.

How to freeze the cookie dough

Use a small cookie scoop or teaspoon to make small balls of dough and then put them on a baking tray lined with parchment paper. Cover them with plastic wrap and put them in the freezer. After about an hour, take the tray out of the freezer and put the frozen dough balls in a freezer bag or other container and freeze for about a month. Defrost them in the refrigerator and then bake as directed or you could bake them frozen; just add a few more minutes to the baking time.

How to store your baked cookies

When the cookies are completed cooled, store them in an airtight container. They will stay fresh at room temperature for about a week.

If you’re looking for some more cookie inspiration, check out my other cookie recipes!

~Voula

Let me know how these chocolate chunk cookies turned out for you in the comments below! I’d love to hear from you!