These chewy egg yolk chocolate chip cookies are my version of the best chocolate chip cookies! They have perfectly soft and chewy centers with slightly crispy edges, and of course pools of chocolate throughout.
I use four different tricks that are known to create the best qualities most seek in a chocolate chip cookie. They each add to the softness, chewiness, or slightly crispy edges. Many chocolate chip cookie recipes use one or two of these tricks, but I have never come across one that uses all of them. So of course, I had to take on the challenge of developing a recipe for what I believe is the perfect chocolate chip cookie!
For more twists on chocolate chip cookie recipes, try Soft Double Chocolate Chip Cookies, Espresso Chocolate Chip Cookies, Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookies, and Pan-Banging Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Cookies.
Jump to Recipe
Ingredient Notes
- All-Purpose Flour: You’ll need 90g or about ¾ cup of all-purpose flour.
- Bread Flour: Bread flour gives these cookies the perfect chewy texture! If you do not have bread flour on hand, you can use an equal amount of all-purpose flour instead.
- Cornstarch: Cornstarch imparts a nice soft texture in these cookies.
- Baking Soda: Be sure your baking soda is fresh by testing it some vinegar!
- Brown Sugar: Use light or dark brown sugar to give these cookies moisture for soft and chewy centers.
- Granulated Sugar: Adding less granulated sugar than brown sugar, ensures that the cookies do not spread too much and maintain that soft, chewy texture.
- Unsalted Butter: You'll need one stick of room temperature unsalted butter.
- Vanilla Extract: Never never never skip the vanilla.
- Egg Yolks: You'll need three egg yolks to maximize the chew factor.
- Chocolate: I prefer the look of chocolate chunks in cookies, but I only had chocolate chips on hand, so I melted about 135g of chocolate with a teaspoon of oil, then spread it out on a baking sheet, froze it, then chopped it up!
See recipe card for full information on ingredients and individual quantities.
Step by Step Instructions
Here are step by step photos and instructions on how to make this egg yolk chocolate chip cookie recipe! For the full ingredient list and method, see the recipe card at the end of this post.
STEP 1: Make and freeze dough. In a medium size bowl, whisk together the flours, cornstarch, baking soda, and salt. Set aside. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, or in a bowl with an electric hand mixer, beat the sugars and butter on medium-high speed until light and paler in color, about 2-3 minutes. Add in the vanilla and egg yolks and beat until fully combined. Then, add in the dry ingredients and mix on low speed until just combined. Lastly, fold in the chocolate. With a 2 tablespoon cookie scoop, place 12 balls of cookie dough on one baking sheet, top each with more chopped chocolate, and freeze for 15 minutes.
STEP 2: Bake. While the dough is in the freezer, preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Place the cookie dough 2 inches apart on a parchment lined baking sheet and bake for 15-16 minutes.
Expert Baking Tips
- If you do not have bread flour on hand, you can use an equal amount of all-purpose flour instead.
- Do not over-mix your cookie dough!
- I do not recommend skipping the chill time. Freezing the cookie dough ensures that they do not spread too much in the oven.
- Always lean toward slightly under-baking your cookies, as they will bake slightly more while they cool on the baking sheet.
- To get perfectly round cookies, use a large round cookie or biscuit cutter to round out each cookie immediately after they come out of the oven.
- The only downfall to using bread flour, is that the cookies do not stay soft for more than a day or so. To avoid this, you can store a piece of bread with the cookies to help them maintain their softness. Otherwise, freezing the cookie dough and baking one or two whenever you would like them is always great idea!
Recipe FAQs
1. The recipe calls for part all-purpose flour, part bread flour. Bread flour adds to the chewy texture we're looking for.
2. Cornstarch is used as the leavener, which also makes the centers soft.
3. A greater amount of brown sugar than granulated sugar adds moisture to make them soft and chewy, while the granulated sugar helps them spread just enough to create slightly crispy edges!
4. An extra egg yolk is often added to a cookie recipe to add even more chewiness, but I went with three whole egg yolks to not only maximize on the chewiness, but also have a go-to recipe that uses up three egg yolks after I make macarons, which use three egg whites.
Store these cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for 3-5 days or in the freezer for up to 3 months.
Baking in Grams
All of the recipes on this blog are carefully developed with gram measurements so you can easily recreate them in your own kitchen with success. Volume measurements are extremely inaccurate and leave room for significant errors. Not all measuring cups are made equally, so your one cup of flour will be different from my one cup of flour. By providing precise measurements in grams (aside from minor ingredients, which are given in tsp/tbsp), you can make these recipes accurately and with less cleanup! All you need is this kitchen scale.
If this still isn't enough to convince you, I have provided volume measurements in the recipe card. If you are interested in understanding the conversions, this is the best conversion chart.
But trust me, once you try baking in grams you'll never turn back!
Happy baking! x
Other cookie recipes you'll love
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📖 Recipe
Chewy Egg Yolk Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
- 90 g all-purpose flour
- 90 g bread flour
- 1 teaspoon cornstarch
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 138 g light brown sugar
- 50 g granulated sugar
- 113 g unsalted butter, room temp
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 3 egg yolks, room temp
- 115 g dark or semisweet chocolate, roughly chopped (+ more for topping)
Instructions
- In a medium size bowl, whisk together the flours, cornstarch, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, or in a bowl with an electric hand mixer, beat the sugars and butter on medium-high speed until light and paler in color, about 2-3 minutes. You may need to scrape down the bowl after a minute and keep beating to ensure everything is evenly incorporated.
- Add in the vanilla and egg yolks and beat until fully combined.
- Then, add in the dry ingredients and mix on low speed until just combined.
- Lastly, fold in the chocolate.
- With a 2 tablespoon cookie scoop, place 12 balls of cookie dough on one baking sheet, top each with more chopped chocolate, and freeze for 15 minutes.
- While the dough is in the freezer, preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Place the cookie dough 2 inches apart on a parchment lined baking sheet and bake for 15-16 minutes.
Notes
- If you do not have bread flour on hand, you can use an equal amount of all-purpose flour instead.
- Do not over-mix your cookie dough!
- I do not recommend skipping the chill time. Freezing the cookie dough ensures that they do not spread too much in the oven.
- Always lean toward slightly under-baking your cookies, as they will bake slightly more while they cool on the baking sheet.
- To get perfectly round cookies, use a large round cookie or biscuit cutter to round out each cookie immediately after they come out of the oven.
- The only downfall to using bread flour, is that the cookies do not stay soft for more than a day or so. To avoid this, you can store a piece of bread with the cookies to help them maintain their softness. Otherwise, freezing the cookie dough and baking one or two whenever you would like them is always great idea!
Jackie says
Followed the recipe and mine turned out super puffy; they didn’t look like the photos. Do you know why this would be?. They also had to bake closer to 20 minutes and I have a oven thermometer
Sloane says
Hi Jackie! Did you use a kitchen scale? If you did, then most likely it could have been the size of the cookies and/or the freezing time. 20 minutes isn't too far off from the recommended bake time, and if the cookie dough was frozen longer than 15 minutes, it would need a few extra minutes to bake. A longer freeze time would also hinder them from spreading as much. If you try them again, let me know if you have any questions!
Irene says
I'd been looking for a cookie recipe that yields results like these. The cookies have loft without relying too much on the chips for thickness. The center is caramel-ly and the cookie holds its shape not long after they come out of the oven. I'll find some way that works into my current repertoire to use up extra egg whites, as these are worth it.
Katelyn says
Absolutely amazing!! I've wasted so many egg yolks making macarons over the years but never again! The dough comes together so easily, freezing the dough after scooping definitely helps keep their shape, and they taste just incredible. Thank you for my new go-to CCC recipe!
Elizabeth Holliday says
These are so chewy and delicious! I’ve literally had to cook them a couple at a time, so that I don’t eat them all in one go!
Keesh F says
Really easy to make and delicious!! I baked mine in two batches, and the first batch was a little too undevaked at 16 minutes. (Not sure my oven is accurate.) The second batch was perfect! I baked them a little longer - like 20 minutes, and maybe also since they were in the freezer longer, they really held their height well. Would definitely make again!