Wasted my whole life scooping out cookie dough to make individual cookies when what I should have been doing, is haphazardly dropping the dough into ramekins and eating gooey, just slightly under-baked, melty, buttery cookies straight out of them. They have a crispy top and edges that give way to a moist, soft center, packed with chocolate chips and optional (not really) ice cream that melts right into it. These are seriously so good, and this recipe makes two portions, which means one for you and…one for you. Let’s bake!

This deep-dish, cookie pot format is not new, just something I’ve been wanting to try for a long time. I modified my favourite cookie dough, to scale it down, make it super quick by using melted butter (which makes things more gooey) instead of beating butter and sugar together. Baking cookie dough this way just needs a tiny amount of baking soda to help it rise and as the baked cookies cool and firm up, they will fall a bit in the center, which is basically where you must drop a scoop of ice cream. I happened to have coffee flavoured ice cream on hand, but vanilla or anything else would be great too!

I do like these a bit gooey and underbaked but if you prefer to add a few minutes to the baking time, feel free. This way, they will also fall in the center a bit less because they have more time to firm up. You can also bake this as a one-dish cookie, but I really do recommend ramekins for the proper deep-dish effect which leads to the crispy edges and soft centers.

They are super comforting to eat and are impossible to stop eating, so the small-batch recipe is perfect 🙂 You can of course scale it up and I’ll talk more about that in the recipe below. Hope you love it!

Please read the recipe notes before beginning.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Pots

Gooey chocolate chip cookies baked in ramekins

Prep Time: 10

Cook Time: 20

Total Time: 30

Makes: 2 cookie pots

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Ingredients

55 gms butter (1/4 cup)
1/4 cup soft light or dark brown sugar (50 gms)
2 tbsps caster sugar
1 egg yolk (see notes)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup + 1 tbsp all-purpose flour (70 gms)
1/8 tsp baking soda (half of a 1/4 tsp measure)
Pinch of salt if using unsalted butter
1/3 cup dark chocolate chips (55 gms; or 1/4 cup for a more restrained amount of chocolate!)

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 170 C. Lightly grease two ramekins (3.5 inches in diameter and 2 inches in height). See notes for alternatives.
Place the butter in a microwave-safe mixing bowl and melt it, making sure it's not boiling hot. Stir to melt down any remaining lumps, then whisk in both the sugars, mixing until dissolved.
Add the egg yolk and vanilla and stir well to incorporate. Sift in the flour, baking soda and salt, if using. Gently fold till just combined. Finally, stir in the chocolate chips, making sure they're evenly distributed. The dough is quite soft. Let it rest for a couple of minutes and it will firm up slightly.
Now divide the dough equally among the ramekins, smoothen the tops and bake for 20 minutes for gooey, slightly under-baked cookie pots (highly recommended!), or up to 25 minutes if you prefer browner tops and less gooey centers. If you like, sprinkle a few chocolate chips and some flaky sea salt on top, as soon as they're out of the oven.
Allow the ramekins to cool for 10 minutes. The centers of the cookies will fall slightly. Then add a scoop of ice cream to each and dig in! Best eaten fresh and warm, but you can store them in the fridge for 4 to 5 days and reheat as needed. Happy baking!

Notes

*I used ramekins from Freedom Tree. If you don't have ramekins, you can use a baking dish, about 6 inches wide, keeping in mind that the cookie dough will spread more and you won't have the same 'deep dish' effect.

*If you want to make more cookie pots, you can scale this recipe up as needed.

*I do have an eggless cookie recipe which could be baked in ramekins but I haven't tried that myself. I suspect it won't be quite as gooey without the yolk.