30 minute Chewy Chocolate Cookies

This Chewy Chocolate Cookie recipe will be your new go to easy chocolate cookie. A super quick cocoa cookie, these can be ready to eat in less than 30 minutes and are made with pantry staples!

Hi hi! I am just popping in to share this chewy chocolate cookie recipe with you! These cookies kind of came about as an accident - I originally developed them as a base for my chocolate crinkle cookie recipe but was having some issues with the powdered sugar melting. So I switched to an oil based recipe, but this easy chocolate cookie recipe is so so good, I wanted to share it with you still!

These are a part of my holiday cookie recipes that I am posting this year, but they are honestly an amazing chocolate cookie recipe to have in your easy homemade cookie recipes stash year round. These chocolate cookies are cocoa cookies, and are made with pantry staples - no chopping chocolate needed! (although they would be delicious with some chocolate chips or chopped chocolate added)

If you are looking for other easy recipes to make, check out my super easy snickerdoodle recipe, and my thin and crispy ginger snaps! If you are after a vanilla version of these chocolate cookies, my classic vanilla cookies would work perfectly.

How to develop a recipe: Thick chocolate cookies.

I love writing about my recipe development process. Now that I have been a baking blogger full time for quite a few years, I have developed a whole lot of base recipes that I often use as a kicking off point. I love tweaking my own recipes, and changing the ratios of ingredients to give a slightly different outcome.

For this chocolate cookie recipe I used my chocolate sprinkle cookies as a starting point. That recipe bakes up quite thin, and I wanted a slightly thicker, more substantial cookie, but still wanted a chocolate cookie that came together fast without any chill time. Here is what I changed to give a thicker cookie:

• Increased the flour. There are a few ways to get a cookie to be a little thicker, and changing the butter to flour ratio is one of them. Either you can decrease the butter in the recipe, or increase the flour to make the cookie spread a little less.
• Changed the ratio of sugars. The sprinkle cookies use only white sugar, which gives a cookie that spreads a lot and is quite chewy. I wanted some spread and chew while still keeping some of the thickness, so I switched out some of the granulated sugar for brown sugar.

Tips and Tricks for perfect chocolate cookies

These are all the tips and tricks I use when I am making homemade cookie recipes. While these tips may seem simple, they really help to give you the best possible outcome.

Room temperature ingredients.

Having all your ingredients the same temperature really helps here - if your butter is too soft or too cold it will affect the outcome of the cookies. Make sure your butter is not too soft as it can cause the cookies to spread excessively.

Having room temperature eggs is also important - if you keep yours in the fridge and have forgotten to remove them before baking you can warm them in a glass of warm water.

Use a cookie scoop.

Using a cookie scoop is a great way to ensure that you have evenly sized cookies. This doesn't just look nice, but it means that they will all bake evenly. I use a 2 Tbsp cookie scoop for making this chocolate cookie recipe, but you can also weigh the cookie dough balls if you need

Don't overbake your cookies.

This is the best way to ensure that you have a nice soft chocolate cookie - do not over bake them or the texture won't be as nice. Remember that cookies do continue to bake and set up when you remove them from the oven as they sit on the tray.

I usually only need 11-12 minutes to bake my chocolate sugar cookies. You will know they are done when they are puffy and beginning to set around the edges of the cookie.

Use parchment paper.

I often hear from readers that they have had issues with their cookies spreading, and then they tell me that they have lined their pans with silpat or silicone baking sheets. Silpat mats are super slippery, causing the cookie to spread much more.

I use parchment paper on my baking sheets, and use and re-use each piece with each batch of cookies.

Scoot your cookies.

This is a totally optional step, but if you want to, you can scoot your chocolate cookies back into a perfectly round shape when they come out of the oven. To do this, just grab a cookie cutter slightly larger than the cookie, place over the top, and 'scoot' them back into a perfectly round shape using a rounding motion. My very favourite thing to do.

How to freeze chocolate cookie dough

If you would like to make chocolate sugar cookies ahead of time, you can freeze the dough before baking and store in a freezer bag or ziplock. Leave off the sugar mixture and apply that just before baking - I like to give the dough 10 minutes or so out of the freezer to allow the surface to get slightly sticky so that the sugar sticks.

You will want to drop the oven temperature to 325°f / 165°c when baking cookie dough from frozen, and add a few more minutes onto the bake time.

For all my tips and tricks on freezing dough and cookies, check out my post: How to freeze cookie dough

Cookie coating and flavor options

If you would like to change up these chocolate cookies to suit your liking, here are a few ways to finish them, aside from rolling them in granulated sugar like I have. You can also add in mix-ins:

• Roll in cinnamon sugar. Rolling these chocolate cookies in cinnamon sugar would be a super easy way to make them extra delicious and festive!
• Chunky sugar / sparkling sugar: Everything is better rolled in a crunchy sugar. Use a turbinado sugar / demerara sugar to roll these in or a sparkly sanding sugar if you want something a little more textured.
• Add mix-ins. This is a cocoa cookie so fairly straightforward flavor wise. You can add things like chopped nuts or chocolate chips to them to fancy up the flavour as you like.

Frequently Asked Questions

What tools and equipment do you use?
You can find a full list of the tools and equipment I use on my products page

Which Cookie scoop did you use?

I use a 2 Tbsp cookie scoop for making this chocolate cookie recipe, but you can also weigh the cookie dough balls if you need

How do you store chocolate cookies?

Store your baked chocolate cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days.

For more easy cookie recipes, check out:

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