This is a copycat of Australia’s most famous chocolate chip cookie – Byron Bay Milk Choc Chunk Cookies. They’re big, crunchy, buttery and generous on the chocolate! At $3.50 for a single biscuit, they aren’t cheap – so save a ton by making them yourself!
BONUS: They stay 100% crunchy for 2 whole weeks! (Possibly longer – I caved).
Chocolate Chip Cookies – Byron Bay Copycat!
Australia’s most famous cookie are Byron Bay Cookies. They come in all sorts of flavours, and three of the most popular ones are White Chocolate Macadamia Cookies, Triple Chocolate Fudge and the chocolate chip cookies.
They’re sold at cafes all across Australia, and they are without a doubt the most well known cookie brand. While sometimes you find them individually packaged and sold at grocery stores for around $2.50 each, most cafes will charge $3.50 to $4 for a single cookie.
Which means a dozen of them cost $42…. or you can make them at home for around $7!!
These chocolate chip cookies stay 100% crunchy for 2 whole weeks!
What they taste like
These cookies are crunchy but it’s a soft, buttery crunch – sort of like Shortbread Cookies, except not as sandy/crumbly. The mouthfeel is what’s quite unique about these thick cookies – most crispy cookies this thick are noticeably rougher and drier (rice flour is the secret ingredient here that specifically achieves this).
There’s generous chunks of chocolate littered throughout, and the really great thing is that they stay 100% crunchy just like they’re freshly made for up to 2 weeks!!! (Probably longer, I just couldn’t hold out any longer).
Ingredients for Byron Bay Chocolate Chip Cookies
Here’s what you need to make these cookies. The ingredients are basically a replica of the ingredients disclosed on the Byron Bay Cookie packets, with minor tweaks to achieve the same mouthfeel and flavour using ingredients available to home cooks (eg. things like cultured dextrose, emulsifiers and soy lecithin that normal folk like us can’t get).
Just a note on a few ingredients:
Rice flour – this is the secret ingredient to give these crunchy cookies a sort of “velvety” mouthfeel which is unique to Byron Bay Cookies and one of the reasons people love them so much. You can substitute with more flour – the cookies still work out perfectly but the mouthfeel is “rougher” (still extremely delicious and this is what I use if I don’t have rice flour). Cornflour/cornstarch also works but the texture becomes more crumbly like Shortbread but the mouthfeel is drier than shortbread;
Yolks – we use 2 egg yolks in these cookies to give them richness.
Leftover egg whites – Here’s my list of what I do with them and all my egg white recipes can be found in this recipe collection;
Softened butter – you need softened butter for these cookies so they whip up creamy and smooth. If you’re like me and always forget to leave it out to soften, or if it’s so cold that it just never softens even if you leave it out all night, you’ll love this trick: microwave a jug of water for 3 minutes, then remove and put in a plate of diced butter and just leave it. The residual heat softens the butter perfectly. Never try microwaving butter to soften it – it doesn’t soften evenly, you will always end up with melted pockets which will affect the success of the recipe;
Brown and white sugar – each of these bring something different to the cookie. White makes them crispy while the brown sugar adds flavour and adds softness to the crunch; and
Chocolate – Byron Bay calls their chocolate chip cook “Milk Choc Chunk Cookies”, being that they’re made with a darkish milk chocolate. Good quality milk chocolate for baking isn’t readily availably, so I’ve taken the liberty of using dark chocolate instead. If anything, it makes them even BETTER with a more intense chocolate flavour! Use chips or chunks if you prefer.
How to make Byron Bay Chocolate Chip Cookies
And here’s how to make them – pretty standard really. We need the chill time to make the cookies sliceable and also to stop them from inflating when they bake (yep, tried to shortcut it and ended up with sumo cookies).
Cookie emergency? No beater?
No worries! Make these super easy Chocolate Chip Cookies instead (they’re soft and chewy, no chill time).👍🏼
Ahh, it’s a good moment when you pull them out of the oven.
I know, I know, you want to grab one right away while it’s hot and the chocolate is all melty and glistening but WAIT!! We have to let them cool on the tray so they become nice and crunchy. It’s worth it!!
Use the cooling time to think about the people in your life who will be lucky enough to put one in their gob. Think very carefully – there are only 12 of them, which makes them exponentially more valuable than most cookies that make a couple of dozen in a single batch. These are very, very special Chocolate Chip Cookies! 😉 – Nagi x
Watch how to make it
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Byron Bay Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
- 175g / 12 1/2 tbsp unsalted butter , softened (6.2 oz, Note 1 – softening tip!)
- 1/3 cup brown sugar (light or normal, not dark)
- 1/3 cup white sugar , caster / superfine
- 1/8 tsp salt
- 2 egg yolks , at room temperature (Note 6 for using leftover whites)
- 2 tsp vanilla extract/essence
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 cup rice flour (sub with plain/all purpose flour, Note 2)
- 1 1/2 cups flour , plain/all purpose
- 200g / 7 oz dark or semi-sweet chocolate block , chopped into pretty small pieces (Note 3)
Instructions
- Place butter, salt and both sugars in a bowl. Beat on speed 5 for 1 minute until it’s soft, creamy and fluffy.
- Add yolks and vanilla – beat for 1 minute until well incorporated.
- Add baking powder, rice flour and half the plain flour. Beat until you can’t see flour anymore, then add remaining flour and beat again until incorporated.
- Mixture will be fairly clump and thick, but if you press between your fingers, it should stick together (rather than being dry and crumbly).
- Use a wooden spoon to stir chocolate through.
- Tip out onto a work surface then press together into a 22cm / 9″ log. Wrap in cling wrap or paper, twisting to seal the ends.
- Refrigerate 1.5 – 2 hours (Note 4).
Baking:
- Preheat oven to 200°C/390°F (180°C fan).
- Line 2 trays with baking/parchment paper. Put one shelf in the middle of the oven, and the other underneath.
- Remove from fridge, unwrap.
- Use a serrated knife to slice into 1.75cm / 2/3" thick slices. Saw carefully through choc chunks. If it falls apart on edges, just press if back together, no big deal. Place 6 on each tray.
- Bake 10 minutes. Turn oven down to 170°C/340°F (150°C fan), switch trays (Note 5)
- Bake for a further 15 minutes until surface is light golden and edges are a bit golden.
- Remove from oven and cool completely on trays – this makes them crunchy.
- STORAGE: Keeps for at least 2 weeks in an airtight container – they stay 100% crunchy, just like they’re freshly made.
Recipe Notes:
- cut into 1 cm cubes (or for US sticks, slice 1/3″ thick) and place in single layer on small plate
- place 2 cups water in a microwave proof jug or bowl. Microwave on high for 2 – 3 minutes until just before boiling
- working quickly, remove jug, put plate in microwave and shut door, DO NOT TURN MICROWAVE ON! Leave for 10 minutes – the residual heat in the microwave will soften the butter perfectly!
- if still not soft enough (eg cut too big, microwave has lower power), then just repeat (but for round 2, check after a few minutes)
Nutrition Information:
For Cookie Monsters
Life of Dozer
“Everybody” thinks I bundle Dozer up in jumpers just because I’m a crazy dog lady / for my own amusement. And while both these hold true, the main reason is because it holds in his fur and sand which means marginally less littered all over the house.
Honestly, I seriously reckon it reduces sweeping by almost half. You should see how much fluff/sand poofs out when I pull the jumper off him (outside of course!!!)
Kerry Duff says
tHESE ARE THE BEST COOKIES EVER!!!.Just need to know where I went wrong? Instead of staying thick and round like yours mine spread and flattened out. Definately a C for presentation but an A+++ for flavour
Nagi says
Hi Kerry, sorry you had issues here – was the dough cold from the fridge when you baked it? N x
Lynda Shelley says
Hi Nagi, these are great thanks! I have never made cookies before and they worked out fine. My only problem is they were quite scorched on the bottom. I had to scrape the burnt bit off (less than 1mm) as it impacted the taste. Metal baking trays and FF oven. Any thoughts?
Samantha says
Hi Nagi,
Sorry if this is a silly question but I really want to try this recipe and unfortunately don’t own a handheld beater. Would combining the ingredients with a wooden spoon and some elbow grease work? Or perhaps using an electric whisk be a suitable substitute?
Nagi says
Hi Samantha, you really need to cream the butter here – do you have a stand mixer that you could use? N x
Yuling says
I made them today and omg they are so good! My daughter gave big thumbs up and demanded me making chocolate chip cookies like this in the future. Thank you for sharing this recipe Nagi!
Rita says
Hi Nagi,
No butter in the house but a craving for choc,chip cookies.Can I substitute some other fat for the butter?
Nagi says
Hi Rita, sorry you need butter here unfortunately. N x
Tamsin says
My new favourite cookie! One question though, and it may be a stupid one! But how do you get yours so round? I always have a flat edge from where they’ve sat in the fridge. Do you simply just reshape them? I’m worried that they’ll get too warm from my hands if I try that and flatten when they cook.
Nagi says
Hi Tasmin! You can give it a little roll before you start slicing to make the bottom round again, and also I use a bread knife so I can saw back and forth to slice it without having to press down which flattens the base of the log 🙂 And yep you can also reshape after slicing, as long as you aren’t spending like 30 seconds on each slide, you won’t “melt” the butter in it! N x
Carolyn says
Aw Nagi that pic of Dozer is sooo cutie, cutie I so did laugh. what a good idea. i must tell my daughter about that she lives in Sydney too! Nagi can you off a recipe for Oat milk please? I’m guessing it would be a similar method to Almond milk?
Anna says
These are our new favourite biscuit! Totally different to a standard choc chip cookie. So easy too. Highly recommend!
Nagi says
Thanks so much for the great feedback Anna! N x
Stephanie Groat says
These are amazing! I added some flaked almonds and they were fantastic! Looking forward to experimenting with different flavours!
Aileen says
Hi Nagi! I just wanted to share that I have tried baking this and everyone loves it, including my Dad who’s quite picky 😊! Thanks for the recipe and I find all the notes really helpful. Looking forward to trying out more recipes from your site.
Nadya says
Such an easy to follow recipe that yields the best cookie I’ve ever baked!
Nagi says
Wahoo, thanks so much Nadya! N x
Bec says
I am absolutely going to try this! It would be absolutely amazing if you could do a recipe for the sticky date and ginger flavour – they’re almost impossible to find but they’re the best!!
Nagi says
YUM! One to add to the recipe list! N x
Robyn says
Made these while my 13year old grandson was here in Sydney during the school holidays, (he lives in Byron and says these are as good as!) Really delicious, only problem? Didn’t last too long in this family! Thanks Nagi, your site is fabulous and most of my cooking is now done with your great recipes.
Nagi says
I know the problem all too well, tie to make a double batch Robyn! N x
Julie says
These cookies are so easy to make and taste soooo good! My boys LOVED them! Thank you for another wonderful recipe ❤️❤️
Jonathan Clemence says
Hi Nagi, I don’t think the metric conversion is correct. You have 2 cups of flour which should be 240g but the metric conversion has 305g. Can you clarify? Thanks!
Nagi says
Hi Jonathan, 2 cups of plain flour is 300g here, rice flour is slightly more dense and weighs slightly more. If you’re eve unsure, use my gram & ml measurements as that will be the same no matter where you are located! N x
Belinda de Meyer says
Hi Nagi, firstly I love your site and have passed it on to friends that also love it. We are all coeliacs so no gluten. Would you adjust the flour for this recipe? GF flour seems to be rather thirsty.
Nagi says
I haven’t tried with GF flour sorry Belinda, it would make these far too crumbly and all the other ingredients would need adjusting. N x
Susi V says
I have made these twice with GF cake flour (a South African brand) and simply followed the recipe as is. Both times they were a hit with my gluten intolerant friends and everyone else alike. The kids all begged me to give their moms the recipe! I have made the white choc/macadamia version with wheat flour but cannot say that the GF version is inferior at all. It is quite a crunchy biscuit, but we love them and will make again (this time I used 200 g eating milk choc with whole hazelnuts and it was a winner).
I know GF flours vary so cannot guarantee another flour will yield the same results but I’m sure you will make totally satisfactory cookies by substituting the wheat flour with GF flour and using the rice flour as per the recipe. Just make sure the GF flour is fresh.
Romali says
Made these last week. Everyone loved them. It’s my go to recipe for Chocolate chunk cookies now. Thank you very much for sharing the recipe.
Kim Baird says
Hi!
My cookies were quite dry and the dough seemed dry too. Butter was room temp. Should I have added more butter to the mix? What can I add at the end if I notice the mix is too dry?
Thanks, Kim
Nagi says
Hi Kim, if you’ve followed the ingredients exactly it shouldn’t be dry – did you change any of the flours by any chance? N x
SaraB says
That has got to be the funniest pic of Dozer ever. His expression is screaming “I still have my dignity” 🤣🤣
Stella says
Being from Canada, I’d never heard of Byron Bay cookies, but I thought I’d give them a shot. The first day I was a little uncertain about how much I liked them. Then I baked the rest of the dough that’d been in the fridge for 48 hours… now I think I’m a little obsessed! Thanks for sharing these, Nagi!
Zehra Qureshi says
Hi Nagi, so excited to try it. Just wanted to know if I can sub baking powder with anything and also, can I beat by hand or do I need an electric mixer. THANK YOU!
Nagi says
Hi Zehra, you need the baking powder in this recipe and you could definitely do it by hand with a bit of elbow grease! N x