These inside out chocolate chip cookies combine a rich and fudgy chocolate cookie base, the same we use for double chocolate chip cookies. Enjoy super soft and brownie-like centers, chewy edges, and sweet white chocolate chips in each bite. They’re as loved as my chewy chocolate chip cookies and as undeniably rich as my homemade brownies.
Hello and welcome back to 2013 when I initially published this recipe. Now with updated pictures, clearer instructions, and helpful success tips, there’s no excuse not to try the ONLY CHOCOLATE COOKIE RECIPE YOU NEED. Wow, that’s quite the statement.
In the past several years, these inside out chocolate chip cookies have climbed to the top of my most-loved cookie recipe list. Along with chewy chocolate chip cookies, drop sugar cookies, peanut butter cookies, and oatmeal raisin cookies, this is the gold standard of cookie dough recipes to try.
What Are Inside Out Chocolate Chip Cookies?
I know you’re looking at me cross-eyed wondering what, why, and how these are inside out cookies. Think of a regular chocolate chip cookie—buttery brown sugar base with chocolate chips, right? Well, the term “inside out” means that the cookie base is now chocolate and the add-in is white chocolate. Obviously white chocolate chips don’t taste like the buttery brown sugar base of a regular cookie, but I don’t think anyone’s complaining here.
Simply put, these are Chocolate White Chocolate Chip Cookies. (Think of them like the cookie version of chocolate white chocolate cupcakes!)
Video Tutorial
These Chocolate Cookies Are:
- Easy to make with a basic recipe
- A personal and reader favorite
- Soft-baked with brownie-like centers
- Chewy on the edges
- Massively chocolatey
The recipe is also easy to double in 1 mixing bowl without overwhelming/overcrowding your mixer and the baked cookies freeze wonderfully.
How to Make Inside Out Chocolate Chip Cookies
Even though it’s one of my favorite base cookie recipes, I’ve never walked you through the recipe process. We’ll do that real quick:
- Mix dry ingredients together. You need all-purpose flour, natural unsweetened cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt. Do you remember the difference between dutch-process vs. natural cocoa powder? Use natural here.
- Beat wet ingredients together. You need butter, white sugar, brown sugar, egg, and vanilla extract. Room temperature butter and egg will mix more evenly into each other, creating a uniform texture among all the cookies. Additionally, both whip into a greater volume when at room temperature, producing a softer-crumbed cookie.
- Combine all ingredients, then add milk. 1 Tablespoon of milk smooths out the dough. And don’t forget to add the white chocolate chips.
- Chill the cookie dough in the refrigerator. The cookie dough is sticky and unmanageable, so chilling is necessary. I usually chill it overnight, but 3 hours is just enough. Chilled cookie dough is not only easier to handle and roll into balls, it also guarantees thicker cookies. See my tips on How to Prevent Cookies from Spreading.
- Roll cookie dough into balls. After chilling, scoop and roll the cookie dough into tall balls—a heaping 1.5 Tablespoons of dough per cookie.
- Bake. Bake the cookies for 11-12 minutes. If the cookies aren’t really spreading by minute 9, remove them from the oven and lightly bang the baking sheet on the counter 2-3x. This helps initiate that spread. Return to the oven for a couple more minutes.
Let them cool for a few minutes and experience a fudgy brownie in cookie form. I usually don’t like milk with cookies, but this recipe basically demands it.
Sticky Dough
This cookie dough is sticky, even if you’ve chilled it, so a cookie scoop is helpful. The medium size is perfect because each dough ball should be around 1.5 Tablespoons of dough. If you use your hands, expect to make a little mess as you shape the cookie dough balls. Have a kitchen towel or paper towel nearby. I usually wipe my hands clean after every few cookie dough balls. Clean hands make rolling easier.
Same Dough, Different Cookie
Though ultra soft-baked with chewy edges and fudge-like centers, these chocolate cookies aren’t anything new or groundbreaking. In fact, you might actually recognize the base dough because it’s been my go-to chocolate cookie for years. This is the same exact cookie dough as:
- Double Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Salted Caramel Dark Chocolate Cookies
- Peppermint Mocha Cookies
- Chocolate Crinkle Cookies
- Double Chocolate Chip Swirl Cookies
- Andes Mint Chocolate Cookies
Note: The chocolate crinkle cookies and peppermint mocha cookies can over-spread as a result of the sugar coating and peppermint extract (respectively), so I leave out the milk in those versions.
Need cookies right NOW? If you don’t have time to chill the dough, try giant chocolate chip cookies, Nutella chocolate chip cookies, or even one giant chocolate cookie.
And if you’re looking for cookie cutter chocolate cookies, here are my chocolate sugar cookies.
Interested in freezing the baked cookies or cookie dough?
- Here’s How to Freeze Cookie Dough
More of My Classic Cookie Recipes
- Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies & Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
- Peanut Butter Cookies
- Sugar Cookies
- Chocolate Chip Cookies (extra chewy!)
- Snickerdoodles
- Shortbread Cookies
Inside Out Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Prep Time: 3 hours, 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 12 minutes
- Total Time: 3 hours, 30 minutes
- Yield: 20-22 cookies
- Category: Cookies
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
These inside out chocolate chip cookies combine a rich and fudgy chocolate cookie base, super soft and brownie-like centers, chewy edges, and sweet white chocolate chips. Easy to throw together, this is my base chocolate cookie recipe. This cookie dough requires at least 3 hours of refrigeration.
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup (8 Tbsp; 113g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 1/2 cup (100g) granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup (100g) packed light or dark brown sugar
- 1 large egg, at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 cup (125g) all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled)
- 2/3 cup (55g) natural unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 1 Tablespoon (15ml) milk (any kind, dairy or non)
- 1 and 1/4 cups (225g) white chocolate chips, plus a few more for optional topping*
Instructions
- Preliminary note: This cookie dough requires at least 3 hours of chilling, but I prefer to chill the dough overnight. The colder the dough, the thicker the cookies.
- In a large bowl using a hand-held or stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter, granulated sugar, and brown sugar together on medium high speed until fluffy and light in color, about 2-3 minutes. Add the egg and vanilla extract, and then beat on high speed until combined. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl as needed.
- In a separate bowl, whisk the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt together until combined. With the mixer running on low speed, slowly pour into the wet ingredients. Beat on low until combined. The cookie dough will be quite thick. Switch to high speed and beat in the milk, then the white chocolate chips. The cookie dough will be sticky and tacky. Cover dough tightly and chill in the refrigerator for at least 3 hours and up to 3 days. Chilling is mandatory for this sticky cookie dough.
- Remove cookie dough from the refrigerator and allow to sit at room temperature for 10 minutes. If the cookie dough chilled longer than 3 hours, let it sit at room temperature for about 20 minutes. This makes the chilled cookie dough easier to scoop and roll.
- Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C). Line large baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. Set aside.
- Scoop and roll dough, a heaping 1.5 Tablespoons of dough each, into balls. (I like using this medium cookie scoop.) To ensure a thicker cookie, make the balls taller than they are wide (almost like a cylinder or column). Arrange 2-3 inches apart on the baking sheets. The cookie dough is certainly sticky, so wipe your hands clean after every few balls of dough you shape.
- Bake the cookies for 11-12 minutes or until the edges appear set and the centers still look soft. Tip: If they aren’t really spreading by minute 9, remove them from the oven and lightly bang the baking sheet on the counter 2-3x. This helps initiate that spread. Return to the oven to continue baking.
- Cool cookies for 5 minutes on the baking sheet. During this time, I like to press a few more white chocolate chips into the tops of the warm cookies. (This is optional and only for looks.) Transfer to cooling rack to cool completely. The cookies will slightly deflate as they cool.
- Cover leftover cookies tightly and store at room temperature for up to 1 week.
Notes
- Make Ahead & Freezing Instructions: You can make the cookie dough and chill it in the refrigerator for up to 3 days (step 3). Baked cookies freeze well for up to 3 months. Unbaked cookie dough balls freeze well for up to 3 months. Bake frozen cookie dough balls for an extra minute, no need to thaw. Read my tips and tricks on how to freeze cookie dough.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): Electric Mixer (Handheld or Stand) | Baking Sheets | Silicone Baking Mat or Parchment Paper | Medium Cookie Scoop | Cooling Rack
- Larger Batch: The recipe is easy to double in 1 mixing bowl without overwhelming your mixer. Simply double all of the cookie dough ingredients. Dough chill time remains the same.
- Other Add-Ins: Instead of white chocolate chips in the dough, you can use the same amount of peanut butter chips, regular chocolate chips, M&Ms, chopped nuts, or butterscotch chips.
- Be sure to check out my top 5 cookie baking tips AND these are my 10 must-have cookie baking tools.
when I made this I weighed all of the dry ingredients. I skipped over the milk because the dough was already really wet (looked like brownie batter, but with shape), and put in the freezer for an hour to chill. I made them in balls that were slightly taller than wide and they came out really well! I upped the temperature of the oven to 375F (but my oven isn’t great, and everything automatically gets 10F added.) They came out chewy on the outside and a nice mixture of chewy/crunchy along the edges.
I just made these, I could never get my cookies to stay fluffy/thick. This is the best recipe! Thank you so much!!
Sally, your cookie recipes are amazing. In fact, all of your recipes, I’ve never had a fail. I get so many compliments on anything I make of yours! These cookies were no exception. Your key tips to the perfect cookies, are SPOT on. Beautifully thick, chewy but soft and nice round shape. And of course, DELICIOUS! LOVE! This recipe is perfect for chocolate lovers. I follow your instructions to the letter every time and it’s a sure thing. Thank you again for sharing all of your amazing recipes for super yummy treats!
I have tried making these cookies and they are just amazing. Your detailed instructions are extremely helpful.
Yummy cookies! After reading the reviews I decided to NOT weigh the flour like I normally do when baking. I used a one cup measure to scoop the flour from the canister and leveled it with the back of a knife. (I know, I know, bad Cat!) I also omitted the milk. I wanted thick cookies, darn it! I didn’t have white chocolate chips (I never do) so I used a combo of semi-sweet and dark chocolate chips. I was craving chocolate so I just went with what I had. I’m not a huge fan of white chocolate anyway… I also used a large scoop – like the 1/4 cup large scoop – I like big cookies. So, after chilling the dough for about 3 hours, I finally baked the darn things and proceeded to burn the roof of my mouth because I was really, REALLY needing a chocolate fix and didn’t let them cool but maybe a few seconds. OMG! Best chocolate-chocolate chip cookie ever! Thick, chewy, chocolaty heaven! I always cool my cookies on the baking sheet instead of transferring to a rack, I think they stay chewer that way. Sorry for waxing loquacious. I think I’m on a chocolate sugar high 🙂
Hi Sally!
Love your cookies always! I was wondering, how would these cookies turn out if I subbed in half semi-sweet and half white chocolate chips instead of all chocolate chips? would the taste blend well? Thank you! Love your blog!
Absolutely– would be delicious!
Hi Sally,
I love ALL your recipes, they have become a staple in my home. However unlike my fellow bakers in the comments, when i made this it was puffy even after chilling. No thinning out was noticed. Im not sure if it had to do with making a too big of a dough ball. Any tips?
That could be part of the issue– the dough ball was simply too big that it couldn’t spread. I suggest making them a little smaller and even slightly pressing down on them before putting into the oven. To help start the spreading process.
Literally every single other cookie recipe I’ve tried from here has been a huge success and a big hit. This one has been vexing me for the last year though. No matter what I try, I cannot get these to turn out soft, thick, and puffy. I bake by weight. I use King Arthur flour, name brand butter, only large-sized eggs, and natural cocoa powder. For one batch, I bought a brand new box of baking soda even though the other box wasn’t even a month old yet. I bake with room temperature eggs, and soft but not-too-soft butter. I’ve tried chilling the dough for twice as long as called for, overnight, 2 days, and even baking straight from the freezer. I bake on silpats and have nice quality baking pans. I’ve made my balls of cookie dough a lot taller than they are wide. I’ve tried leaving out the milk, using more flour, and doing both of those things at the same time. The cookies come out of the oven looking like they do in the photos, but then as they cool, they flatten out very thin. I feel like there has to be something I’m missing, but I can’t put my finger on it.
Hi Lily! It could just be a case of using a little more flour. Easy fix! I’d add 1/4 cup more flour to start and see how it goes.
Hi Sally! I’m interested in trying this recipe as a skillet cookie- I was inspired by the other one you posted with m&ms! I have made both these chocolate cookies and that skillet cookie multiple times, always to rave reviews 🙂 Do you have any tips on how to successfully go about that? I’m guessing the cooking time will be increased to roughly 35-40 minutes but I’m curious about the amount of dough. Do you think this will fit in a 10″ skillet or should I halve the recipe? Thanks so much! Can’t wait to try it!
Bake time for this as a skillet cookie would be the same as the M&M skillet cookie. 🙂 It will fit into a 10 inch skillet.
This turned out GREAT! Instead of white chocolate chips I used a combo of pb chips and chocolate covered espresso beans. So freaking delicious. I think skillet cookies are my new favorite thing. I may never go back. Thanks for the recipe and your help!
Hi, Sally. I’ve made these cookies quite a few times, and they’ve turned out delicious every time! However, they always seem to turn out a bit flat. Right when I take them out of the oven, they look thick and beautiful but they tend to flatten out as they chill and end up looking way flatter than yours do. I usually chill them overnight. Am I doing something wrong? What can I improve?
Not that these need another comment but, geez, these are so good! I refrigerated the dough overnight and the cookies turned out just like yours pictured. Also, I chopped up a Ghiradelli white baking bar, otherwise, stuck to the recipe. I’m now interested in trying the other variations using the dough. Thank you for another great recipe!
These were delicious and relatively easy to make! I’m thinking peanut butter chips would be pretty awesome as well. Thanks for the recipe!
Sally, I wanted to thank you for another amazing recipe! My boys come home from school on breaks and put in their orders for Sally’s cookies. Last week I made these with peanut butter chips, your classic peanut butter cookies with choc chips added, and to take back to school a double batch of these, and your oatmeal raisin! They were all amazing and there are many appreciative college kids enjoying your cookies. 🙂 With your site I know I have a ‘go-to’ list of no fail recipies for cookies (and a lot more) I can count on!
Hi Sally,
Just wondering if this is your go-to chocolate cookie recipe that you use as a base to add other ingredients, such as Andes mints, reeses pieces for example. If not, can you guide me to the base recipe and any changes you may make in using it? Thanks so much!
Yep this is the one! I never stray from it when making chocolate based cookies.
I’m new to your blog and this is the first recipe I’ve made, although I have pinned quite a few. I had surgery a few weeks ago & wanted to make my husband something special for all of his hard work taking care of not only me, but our 2 1/2 & 4 year old daughters, as i have been on bed rest. Since he is a chocoholic (who am I kidding I’m one, too…win-win), these seemed perfect! We were not disappointed!!! I absolutely cannot wait to bake more of your yummy treats! Thanks…
Oh and by the way, while recovering, I have enjoyed learning about you, your fiancé, and your upcoming wedding. I wish you both a beautiful day, but an even more beautiful marriage!!
Thank you so much Jamie! For all the kind words and I’m glad you all loved these cookies. Here’s to a speedy recovery. Sending you well wishes!
Sally, these are AMAZING! I have made several of your recipes for the folks at work and while they have always been well received, I normally get to go home with one or two cookies as a leftover…these were gone before the lunch hour!
hey sally! I just tried making these cookies and my dough was really wet and sticky so they stuck to the baking parchment 🙁 do you know what I did wrong?
p.s. it’s a lovely simple recipe so thank you for it too!
Yep, the dough is supposed to be wet and sticky. It’s the cocoa powder mixed with wet ingredients that makes it so. That’s why chilling the dough is mandatory. If you chilled the dough, chill for a little longer.
Absolutely delicious – just took them out of the oven and almost gone already! Thanks for a great recipe! I will be making these again and again!
Made these and they are incredible! They didn’t even get the chance to cool ! I had to lecture my husband to save some for the rest of us. So happy I stumbled upon your site and you now have a loyal follower!
I made these yesterday and they were AMAZING! The only thing I changed was using light brown sugar as suggested instead of dark. This will be my go-to cookie recipe! I would recommend these to anyone! Best cookie I’ve EVER had. These were my first time making any homemade from scratch cookies, and I’m glad I chose this recipe! I will FOR SURE be checking out your other cookie recipes! It’s now been a day after, and they are still soft! My husband actually ate THREE in one day, which is unheard of! He’s not a big sweets guy! FIX THIS COOKIE NOW! lol 🙂
Holy moly. I made these w/peanut butter M&Ms & mint M&Ms. Both are absurdly delicious!! You’ve done it again! = ]
Sally you have done it again! These are amazing! I substituted a mix of dark and semisweet chocolate chips. I have tried over a dozen if your recipies and each one has been awesome. I look forward to reading your blog eagerly awaiting the next yummy confection that I will be making and my family will benjoying.
These cookies are beyond delicious! I made them a few days ago and they were just divine! Thanks for sharing such a great recipe! This has to be one of my top 3 cookies!
I made these cookies yesterday. They are OMG GOOD!!!! Love them! I made changes only because I didn’t have white chocolate chips. I had mini chocolate chips. The cookies came out so good. Only thing was they fell a little flat. That wasn’t the recipe’s fault it was mine. Either over mixing or lol I was low on cocoa(I had Dark Cocoa). I had less than required. I made a double batch. So my dough was a little less firm than it should have been before and after refrigerating. I added a bit more flour but I guess not enough. That being said…….the recipe is very forgiving!!!! It is one of the best if not THE BEST I’ve ever tried. I also tried the XXL Death by Chocolate cookie. It was huge, thick chewy, extra chocolatey…..perfect. Your site is my new favorite!!!
I made your chocolate chip cookies last week and loved them, so I took your advice on freezing the dough and made extra! Does the dough for the inside out chocolate chip cookie freeze nicely, too?
Thanks!
Jamie
Hi Jamie – yes! This dough freezes wonderfully as well.
Sally,
This is yet another AMAZING recipe. I have already made this twice in the past week. Can you shed some light on what I might do to make them thick and pillowy? Mine are more flat. I’ve made sure the butter is not too soft, put the dough briefly in the fridge after forming balls and prior to baking, and even putting them in the freezer for a few minutes. Any other mistakes that can contribute to flatter cookies?
Thank you for such a great recipe!
Hi Lina! Do you think your baking soda is up to date? Always get a new box every 6 months. Are you measuring your ingredients correctly? If you chilled the dough and the btuter was perfectly soft, I’m not sure how yours became flat. Are you at high altitude?
Hi Sally! Love these cookies especially still warm from the oven with a glass of milk. I took some into the office and my coworkers loved them too. I’m thinking of making a batch with Andes mint pieces instead of the white chocolate chips..
Another amazing recipe, you cookie queen! Great tips for getting the cookies to stay thick and chewy!
Oh my gosh. I just made these and they are to DIE for. Perfect for a chocolate lover like me! They spread out beautifully, and the 12 minutes baking time was just right. I also let them sit in the fridge for 2 hours. I will definitely be making them over and over for my family who are also chocolate addicts!