14 Slam-Dunk Twists on Chocolate Chip Cookies

Chocolate chip cookies are a nearly universal joy, celebrated each year on National Chocolate Chip Cookie Day (Aug. 4). They're also easy and cheap to make. Whether you're baking a batch of a classic family recipe or the original Nestlé Toll House recipe, absolutely no one will complain about the tasty and heartwarming result. Still, it might be time to try one of these fun, bakery-worthy versions to mix it up.

Related: This Grocery Store Chocolate Chip Cookie Beat Top Brands in Our Taste Test

These indulgent cookies are an ooey, gooey twist on two family favorites. Incorporating toasted marshmallow s'mores into soft cookies is surprisingly simple and especially fitting for summer, the season for cooking s'mores over a campfire. When there's no camping trip on the calendar, a batch of s'mores cookies can be ready in less than three hours.

Recipe: Sally's Baking Addiction

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Sprucing up regular chocolate chip cookies with colorful M&M's is an easy way to bring a classic to the next level. It's a common upgrade at the holidays, thanks to the festive look from seasonal bags of red and green candies, but it can add extra fun anytime. There's no special technique: Simply supplement the chocolate chips with M&M's.

Recipe: Crunchy Creamy Sweet

Related: The 20 Best Classic Cookie Recipes

Chocoholics unsatisfied with just a few morsels will gobble up this cookie, which takes a good thing and makes it better — by adding more chocolate. This recipe has a 4.5 rating (out of 5) from thousands of reviews, with 80% of users giving it top marks.

Recipe: Allrecipes

Adding visual appeal to a dish can greatly enhance its enjoyment, which is part of the idea behind these cookies infused with three kinds of chocolate chips: white, milk, and dark. The different chips also create richly layered flavor.

Recipe: Allrecipes

Using bacon in sweets is a trend that has thankfully stuck around. The interplay of the umami-rich and salty bacon offsets the sweet chocolate, making all the flavors pop. These piggy cookies are sure to be a welcome cap to barbecues and other savory meals.

Recipe: Serious Eats

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Beer aficionados will rejoice over this combination of two favorite things: beer and cookies. Milk stout adds depth and richness to a simple chocolate chip cookie (and the alcohol cooks out, making these treats family-safe).

Recipe: Craft Beer Club

Related: 12 Bizarre Dessert Combinations That Work

Cookie cakes — really just giant, communal cookies — are fun for celebrations and make a big impression using the same inexpensive ingredients and without being much more complicated than a batch of traditional cookies. A specialized pan is required to pull off a cookie shape, though.

Recipe: PopSugar

Related: 17 Scrumptious Cake Recipes for Chocoholics

From the large to the small: This innovative twist on the milk-and-cookies combo turns the cookie into a glass for the milk (or something stronger). Using store-bought dough makes the recipe even easier.

Recipe: Instructables

Chocolate and coconut have had a long love affair. Adding coconut flakes to the classic goodie is an easy way to lend richness and decadence. One reviewer reminds bakers to store the cookies in tins to retain crispness, rather than let them soften by putting them in Tupperware.

Recipe: Allrecipes

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Caramel lovers will rejoice at the way soft, creamy, buttery caramel enhances a tender chocolate chip cookie. The main trick is inserting a caramel candy inside each cookie-dough ball before baking, but there are a few other details that make this recipe diverge from conventional chocolate chip cookie making. 

Recipe: Chef Savvy

Coffee and chocolate combine in each bite of these irresistible cookies, a "grown-up" version of the classic. The addition of espresso powder isn't overpowering; it provides a subtle depth of flavor that supports the chocolate.

Recipe: Celebrating Sweets

Related: A Surprising Ingredient Makes These Desserts Irresistible

Purists may insist raisins are the appropriate adornment for oatmeal cookies, but there's no reason chocolate chips can't make an appearance. The extra heft from the oatmeal makes a chocolate-flecked cookie into a hearty treat that doubles as an on-the-go snack.

Recipe: King Arthur Flour

Give chocolate chip cookies a boost of protein and flavor from macadamia nuts. They combine seamlessly with semisweet chocolate and the traditional dough base. Feel free to double up and include another type of nut or just substitute a favorite into this treat — but if the nuts are salted, consider skipping the salt used in the batter.

Recipe: Allrecipes

Sea salt brings out the flavors of sweet treats such as chocolate chip cookies. These are likely to appeal more to adult palates and adventurous kids. It could be interesting to leave some unsalted, to taste the difference and see which plate empties faster at a family gathering. The recipe from has some advanced refinements: It uses three kinds of sugar and specifies an oven heated to 360 degrees — not 350 — for baking.

Recipe: Smitten Kitten

Related: 20 Most Decadent Chocolate Desserts Across America