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Bakery Style Chocolate Cookies are big, soft, chewy, and ridiculously rich! These chocolate-loaded cookies have gooey, thick centers and slightly crisp edges.

Bakery Style Chocolate Cookies

After years of being disappointed with fairly lackluster chocolate cookies (that weren’t rich/flavorful enough or too dry), I worked on and published my favorite Chocolate Cookies recipe. Those cookies are a total chocolate lover’s dream and a huge favorite at my home.

Unfortunately, though, that recipe doesn’t translate well to large bakery-style sized cookies; in fact, they work best when rolled into fairly small (1 tablespoon-sized) cookies. And since bakery-style and bakery-sized cookies are all the rage these days, I knew it was time to get back to the drawing board!

After a few months of testing, I’m so excited and thrilled to share this recipe — big, bakery-style chocolate cookies that are moist, rich, and loaded with chocolate. And when I say big, I mean, big. Each cookie is 4 ounces in size!

We highly recommend using the exact ingredients called for to achieve the best results in re-creating these cookies. So wait for a grocery store run if you don’t have the right cocoa powder or flour; the wait will be worth it so you don’t end up with lackluster cookies — or worse, cookies that don’t bake up properly.

Bakery Style Chocolate Cookies: Special Ingredients

There are two ingredients in particular that aren’t super common in cookie recipes that you’ll want to pay close attention to for this recipe: cake flour and Dutch-process cocoa powder. Depending on how often you bake, you may already have these ingredients in your pantry. But if not, you can readily find both ingredients in most grocery stores.

Special Ingredient #1: Dutch-process Cocoa Powder

• The cocoa powder really sets these cookies apart; Dutch-process cocoa powder offers a more robust and intensely deep chocolate flavor and adds a darker color to the cookie. It also produces a softer and more moist cookie. Regular cocoa powder will create a less flavorful and drier texture. 
• Hershey’s® “Special Dark” cocoa powder is a Dutch-process cocoa powder that is delicious in these cookies and is readily found at most grocery stores. 
• We’ve also had a lot of luck finding Dutched cocoa powder made by Ghiradelli® in local grocery stores. You’ll know you have a Dutch-process cocoa powder because the container will say either “Dutch process” or “Dutched” cocoa. The cocoa powder shouldn’t be sweetened.

Special Ingredient #2: Cake Flour

• The other special ingredient in Bakery Style Chocolate Cookies is cake flour which isn’t a typical ingredient in cookies but is integral to the structure and flavor in this recipe.
• Cake flour has been milled to a fine consistency. It’s a low-protein flour which essentially means less gluten is formed when mixing together the cookie batter. Less gluten is going to produce a softer, gooier cookie texture. For reference, cake flour has about 7-9% protein while all-purpose flour clocks in at about 10-12% and bread flour has an even higher protein content.

Bakery Style Chocolate Cookies: Tools

• Silicone liner. We recommend baking these cookies on a silicone liner — they bake evenly and the bottoms won’t get overly crispy when baking on a mat.
• Food scale. A food scale ensures even-sized cookie dough balls ensuring evenly baked cookies. If simply eyeballing portions, you may end up with some slightly over-baked cookies while other cookies aren’t fully baked through because of inconsistent cookie dough ball sizes. And, since they’ll all be measured to the same size, the presentation will look nicer — truly, even-sized cookies give that perfect “bakery-style” appearance.
• Hand mixer or a stand mixer. To get the right dough consistency you’ll need to use a mixer. When creaming together the butter and brown sugar, we’re looking for a thick and creamy mixture similar in consistency to peanut butter. This consistency can’t be replicated with a wooden spoon.

Bakery Style Chocolate Cookie Tips

• Don’t substitute ingredients. This cookie recipe has been tested (and re-tested some more!). For best results, follow the recipe carefully using the right ingredients. I know there are some unique ingredients called for, but I recommend using those ingredients instead of trying random substitutes. Baking is finicky — it’s hard to say what will and won’t work out in place of what has been tested.
• Use your favorite chocolate chips. We love a combination of semi-sweet and milk chocolate chips in these cookies, but use your favorite — semi-sweet, dark, or even white would all work great.
• Add a sprinkle of sea salt. For the perfect salty-sweet treat and contrast against the richness of the chocolate cookie, add a sprinkle of sea salt flakes — yum! If you aren’t a fan of salted cookies, these are still plenty delicious without the salt!
• Don’t skip or shorten the chilling time. Not only does the dough become more flavorful as it sits, but the chill time is also important for the texture and structure of the cookies. The chilling time ensures these cookies bake up nice and thick instead of spreading too much.

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