Our must-have chocolate chunk cookies recipe uses simple ingredients, crispy edges with chewy and a rich gooey center. Bakery-style chocolate chunk cookies with big chunks of dark chocolate and Heath bar.
Well-tested and perfected, soft, chewy and delicious every time. It’s our new favorite cookie recipe – everyone will be raving about this one!
Prep ahead, make the cookie dough and scoop it onto half sheet pans. Refrigeration allows the flour to fully hydrate, ensuring cookies keep their shape and prevents them from spreading too much.
Why this recipe works
- Nostalgic – Classic chocolate chip cookies, but even better with dark chocolate and health bar pieces.
- Easy to make – Simple ingredients, readily available in your pantry. Achieve perfect cookies each and every time.
- Flavor – Incredible flavor.
- Texture – Chewy and gooey chocolate centers with slightly crispy edges.
What you’ll need
- Unsalted butter – Unsalted butter lets you control the amount of salt in a recipe. Let it soften overnight on the counter.
- All-purpose flour – Use a high-quality brand such as Bob’s Red Mill or King Arthur Flour.
- Granulated sugar and brown sugar – The combination of these two sugars makes the cookies soft and spread properly.
- Eggs – Acts as a binder, keeping the cookie dough together and makes them soft.
- Vanilla extract – Use a high-quality brand, adds a depth of flavor.
- Molasses – Molasses adds a depth of flavor and helps the cookies spread nicely.
- Baking powder & soda – Leavening agents help the cookies rise.
- Salt – Added to baking recipes, it heightens the flavor of sweets.
- Heath bar pieces – Gives the cookie pieces of toffee that add incredible flavor and texture. (Heath bars can be ordered in bulk on Amazon)
- Dark chocolate – Dark chocolate bars rough chopped or 60% chocolate chips work great for this cookie.
How to make chocolate chunk cookies
- Make the dough – In a large mixing bowl cream together the butter, sugar and brown sugar until fluffy.
Add the eggs, vanilla and molasses. Gradually incorporate the flour, salt, baking powder and soda. Mix until incorporated. Scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula to be sure everything is mixed thoroughly. - Scoop cookies and refrigerate – Scoop out cookie dough using an ice cream scoop and place them on a parchment lined sheet pan, placing cookie rounds right up against each other. Cover and refrigerate for a minimum of 2 hours or overnight.
- Place cookie rounds on sheet pans – Place cookie rounds evenly on a half sheet pan lined with parchment paper leaving a little bit of space in between each cookie. 9-12 cookies will fit on a half sheet pan.
- Bake – Bake in a preheated 375 degree F oven for 16-18 minutes, or until lightly golden brown.
This is the dark chocolate I used, though you may find something similar in Walmart. The main ingredient of the dark chocolate I recommend is cocoa, not sugar. Hershey’s dark chocolate is filled with sugar as the first ingredient. 60% cocoa chocolate chips also work great with this chocolate chunk cookie recipe.
For chocolate chunk cookies – I use this cookie scoop. Make a big batch of cookies and scoop them onto a half sheet pan, cover with a plastic sheet pan cover, refrigerate for a few hours or freeze.
Keep in mind, every oven is different. Rotating baking pans from top to bottom rack and bottom to top, plus rotating sheet pans 180 degrees about half way through baking helps cookies bake more evenly.
9-12 cookies fit perfectly on a half sheet pan. Using a scoop will help you achieve more uniform cookies.
Benefits of refrigerating cookie dough
Refrigerating cookie dough allows the flour to fully hydrate and helps prevent cookies from spreading too much while baking. Leading to a more flavorful and chewy cookie.
More easy cookie recipes
- Peanut butter cookies
- Peanut butter blossoms
- Snickerdoodle cookie recipe
- Old fashioned molasses cookies
- Chocolate chip cookies
- Lemon crinkle cookies
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Chocolate Chunk Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
- 1 cup packed brown sugar
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons molasses
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 2 large eggs (room temperature)
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1-2 Heath bar (1.4 ounces) (crushed)
- 2-3 large bars of dark chocolate bars (3.17-3.50 ounces) (chopped)
Instructions
- In a large mixing bowl, cream together butter, brown sugar and sugar.
- Add the vanilla, molasses and one egg at a time and combine.
- Add the flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda. Combine thoroughly. Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl occasionally with a rubber spatula.
- Add the chocolate chunks (or 60% chocolate chips) and Heath bar pieces. Mix only until it's combined.
- Scoop out cookie dough using an ice cream scoop and place them on a parchment lined sheet pan, placing cookie rounds right up against each other. Cover and refrigerate for a minimum of 2 hours or overnight. (Or transfer the cookie dough into a large zip-style freezer bag and refrigerate, scooping cookies the next day.)
- Place cookie rounds evenly on a half sheet pan lined with parchment paper leaving a little bit of space in between each cookie. (9-12 cookies will fit on a half sheet pan, depending on how big you scoop them)
- Bake in a preheated 375-degree F oven for about 16-18 minutes or until lightly golden brown. Turn the sheet pans around half way through baking.
- The cookies will look soft, but will set while cooling. Let cool on a sheet pan until set (about 10 minutes) before removing with a spatula to cool completely on a wire baking rack.
- Store any remaining cookies in an airtight container for 4-5 days.
Nutrition
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Mary says
Do you bake the cookies right out of the freezer if you choose to freeze the cookies or do you let them thaw then bake?
Jessica Robinson says
We only freeze cookies if needing to make a big batch or wanting to stock your freezer with cookie dough. Cookie dough thaws very quickly. Just take it out while you preheat the oven and they should be perfect to bake then.