You all know I am obsessed with cookies, so when I heard that Disney Springs was opening up a branch of Gideon’s Bakehouse, famous for their gigantic cookies, I had to investigate. Their cookies are huge, coated in chocolate, and famous in Orlando for being, well…. the best! So here I am, giving you a way to have the best chocolate chip cookie at home – I present: The Gideon’s Bakehouse Copycat Chocolate Chip Cookie.
Now I can’t recreate the multiple vanilla extracts, various baker’s chocolates and years of testing that goes into a Gideon’s cookie, but I CAN make a gooey, thick, huge, crave-able chocolate recreation that any home baker can easily make. Plus the best part is this recipe is vegan friendly and made with simple, approachable ingredients. It might not fix your Disney cravings but it will DEF fix your cookie cravings.
Table of contents
- Wait, what is Gideon’s Bakehouse?
- The dry ingredients you will need to make the Gideon’s Bakehouse Chocolate Chip Cookie
- The wet ingredients you will need to make the Disney Springs Gideon’s Bakehouse copycat recipe
- A bit about the baking science
- The instructions for this Gideon’s Bakehouse chocolate chip cookie Disney remake recipe
- Craving more cookies?
Wait, what is Gideon’s Bakehouse?
Gideon’s Bakehouse is an Orlando area bakery that is honestly, so cool. It has a spooky-ish bakery vibe (think Tim Burton movie…but with cake?) and these gigantic cookies that they are famous for.
The bakery is iconic, and after opening its Disney Springs flagship store, it’s gaining even more accolades and international attention. The virtual queue for their cookies is almost always overrun, proving that these guys know what they are doing when it comes to baking in Disney Springs.
Now that you have the background, let’s make the cookie.
The dry ingredients you will need to make the Gideon’s Bakehouse Chocolate Chip Cookie
- 135 grams all-purpose flour, about 1 cup
- 8 grams cornstarch, 1 tbsp
- 1 tsp baking powder
- ⅛ tsp salt
The wet ingredients you will need to make the Disney Springs Gideon’s Bakehouse copycat recipe
- 84 grams butter or plant-based butter, 6 tbsp, softened
- 20 grams vegetable shortening, 2 tbsp
- 80 grams brown sugar, 1/2 cup packed
- 1 tbsp almond milk, or any plant-based milk of choice
- 1 tbsp maple syrup
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract
- 160 grams chocolate chips, about 1 cup
- 1 tsp flakey sea salt
A bit about the baking science
Now when it comes to a cookie like this – there’s a lot of science that goes into developing the recipe. You want some spread on the cookie but not too much, enough buttery flavor and sweetness, plus moisture that will make the cookie gooey on the inside but crisp on the outside. A lot goes into it.
So for all my baking nerds, here’s the how-and-why of this recipe!
Why vegetable shortening?
I’m combining vegetable shortening and butter for this recipe. This is to limit the spread in the cookie but still keep the fat content in the recipe.
Shortening limits the spread in a cookie. This is because it is a hydrogenated fat, meaning that it is nearly 100% fat and 0% water. Butter, on the other hand, is about 80% milk solids and 20% water, so when butter is in a cookie, it causes significant spread. Spread is usually ideal in a cookie, but for this one we want them to hold their shape!
Why only brown sugar in this Gideon’s bakehouse chocolate chip cookie recipe?
Brown sugar has more moisture, flavor and acid than white sugar. We need the moisture for texture, the flavor for complexity and the acid to react with the baking powder.
Sugar also impacts spread in a cookie – the more sugar the more spread. So we are sticking to only one kind of sugar here!
What does creaming the sugar and butter do in a cookie recipe?
This is arguably the most important part of making a cookie dough! When you beat together the sugar and fat in a cookie recipe, you are aerating the butter. This means whipping air molecules into the butter to create – you guessed it – more lift.
This cookie is a lot of things, but it is mostly…lift.
What makes these cookies so tall?
It’s a mixture of the ratio of flour to fat, the hydrogenated fat source, the brown sugar and the cooking temperature that makes these cookies so tall. Baking is a science, and this Gideon’s chocolate chip cookie recipe uses all the cookie science hacks!
Why don’t chocolate chips melt during baking?
Here’s another thing that might blow your mind – chocolate chips are not designed to melt. They are supposed to hold their shape. Which is why you can coat a cookie with chips, bake it, and they’ll still come out holding their shape.
Of course they will be a bit melty when they are fresh out of the oven, but that’s what makes a cookie goooooood. Proceed with no caution when you add these to the dough – they’ll survive the heat!
The instructions for this Gideon’s Bakehouse chocolate chip cookie Disney remake recipe
- In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together the flour, cornstarch, baking powder and salt.
- Using an electric mixer or stand mixer, beat together the butter, shortening and brown sugar for 3-4 minutes, or until it is well blended, fluffy and noticeably lighter in color.
- When the sugar mixture is thoroughly creamed, add in the vanilla, maple syrup and almond milk and beat again on high until the mix is smooth and fluffy.
- Gradually add the dry ingredients into the wet and use a spatula to fold together to form a dough.
- Add about a half of your chocolate chips to the batter and mix. Add the rest of the chocolate chips to a small plate.
- Chill your dough in the fridge while you preheat the oven to 400F. The longer you can chill this dough the better, but I suggest 30 minutes as a minimum starting point!
- When you are ready to bake, prepare a parchment lined baking sheet. Split the dough into three equal balls and dip each in the chocolate chips so that the tops of the cookies are dotted in chocolate chips.
- Bake at 400F for 12-15 minutes or until golden brown.
- Remove from the oven and immediately top each cookie with a sprinkle of sea salt.
- Serve immediately!
Craving more cookies?
Here are a few of my absolute favorite recipes:
Gideon’s Bakehouse Chocolate Chip Cookie Copycat Recipe
Ingredients
Dry ingredients:
- 135 grams all-purpose flour about 1 cup
- 8 grams cornstarch 1 tbsp
- 1 tsp baking powder
- ⅛ tsp salt
Wet ingredients:
- 85 grams butter or plant-based butter 6 tbsp, softened
- 20 grams vegetable shortening 1/4 cup
- 80 grams dark brown sugar 1/2 cup packed
- 1 tbsp maple syrup
- 1 tbsp almond milk or any plant-based milk of choice
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract
- 160 grams chocolate chips about 1 cup
- 1 tsp flakey sea salt
Instructions
- In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together the flour, cornstarch, baking powder and salt.
- Using an electric mixer or stand mixer, beat together the butter, shortening and brown sugar for 3-4 minutes, or until it is well blended, fluffy and noticeably lighter in color.
- When the sugar mixture is thoroughly creamed, add in the vanilla, maple syrup and almond milk and beat again on high until the mix is smooth and fluffy.
- Gradually add the dry ingredients into the wet and use a spatula to fold together to form a dough.
- Add about half of your chocolate chips to the batter and mix. Add the rest of the chocolate chips to a small plate.
- Chill your dough in the fridge while you preheat the oven to 400F. The longer you can chill this dough the better, but I suggest 30 minutes as a minimum starting point!
- When you are ready to bake, prepare a parchment lined baking sheet. Split the dough into three equal balls and dip each in the chocolate chips so that the tops of the cookies are dotted in chocolate chips.
- Bake at 400F for 10-14 minutes or until golden brown.
- Remove from the oven and immediately top each cookie with a sprinkle of sea salt.
- Serve immediately!
Amazing! 10/10
So glad you liked!!
Does this recipe need to be adjusted for high altitude?
Hi! I’m not super familiar with altitude baking, but I know this recipe has been specifically calibrated so I’d recommend adjusting based off of recommendations from high altitude blogs!
these doesnt have eggs? and why? thank you!
Hi! These don’t have eggs because I’ve found cookies don’t always need eggs for structure. A lot of my cookies can be made plant based! You can read more in the “impact minimizing” section of my FAQ
I made this following all your steps and they turned out like pancakes. Wondering what you think would help them keep their shape. Thanks 🙂
Hi! Did you measure everything by weight? These are designed to have enough fat content to have a moist interior, while still having a perfect ratio to flour so that they keep their height, but flour is finicky when measured in cups. An easier way to trouble shoot is to switch from 6 tbsp of butter and 2 tbsp of shortening to 1/4 cup of each. This will guarantee height but you’ll lose a bit of the butter flavor. I hope this helps!
I’m thinking I may have to try make these gluten free. My daughter looked over my shoulder when I found these recipe and asked me to make them 😉
If you do try please let me know how they turn out! I’d love to have a gf option
These turned out fine, and I like the look of the chocolate chips on top, but I think I’ll stick with the ghiradelli/toll house/guittard recipe. These are really crumbly instead of chewy and crispy.
Oh no! Did you measure everything by weight? These are designed to have a thick cookie-dough like interior texture so I’m worried something went wrong!
Hi! Is there a substitute for the vegetable shortening?
Omg this is the best vegan cookie I’ve had in a while! I used enjoy life chips and it was heaven.
Hello
I just finished reading your recipe. I want to let you know that when I use the link to double or triangular the recipe, it does not change the amount of CUPS, only the grams.
Can’t wait to try. Thanks, Debra
Can you add pecans and have the same result? Thanks!!
You should be able to!
Absolutely AMAZING! 10 out of 10. This is a must make cookie recipe
So glad you liked it!
Absolutely delicious! Made these last night and loved them, but the inside was still dough-like even after 20 minutes of cooking. Should I have kept them in for longer?
Hi! So glad you liked them! For the cooking part, a few things that might help: you could lower your oven temp to 350F and bake for longer, but the cookies will spread more. But also when you let them completely cool on the pan instead of a cooling rack, residual heat should help them continue to “cook” without burning, so after a cooling period of 30 minutes they should be more set. I hope this helps!
I made the dough three days ago and forgot about them 😭 I finally baked them today and they still turned out fabulous. Very good cookies I was nervous about the middle not baking correctly, but they were ready after 14-15 minutes. They didn’t look quite as polished as the picture, but they tasted divine. Thanks for the recipe!
So glad you liked it!!
I’ve been wanting to make these for a while, but I just got around to doing it yesterday. This morning I woke up to a text from my brother telling me how good they are. Thank you so much for the recipe, my whole family loves it.
I am THRILLED you guys love it! Thanks for taking the time to leave a comment ❤️
Absolutely DELICIOUS! Just pulled the ingredients to make them again! My cookies spread out, though not completely like a pancake, so I am going to weigh the flour in lieu of the measuring cup. Here’s hoping for an even higher, wink wink, success rate! I must say, the flavor of these cookies far outweigh the disappointing fact that they spread out!!! Superb!
I’m so glad you liked them! Another way to eliminate any spread in the cookie is to up the shortening amount to 1/4 cup and decrease the butter amount to 1/4 cup. Since shortening is a hydrogenated fat, it eliminates spread, whereas butter is 80% fat and 20% water (approximately) so it causes more spread in a cookie. The flavor should stay relatively the same, but I hope this helps!
Made them and they turned out flat. I saw your suggestions of changing the butter and vegetable shortening amounts, but also wondering what brand of butter you use? I know that can make a difference sometimes for some reason haha
Hey there! Ok that is somewhat true, some butter brands range higher in milk fat % compared to others. I used Miyokos Creamery in my first test of these, and then used Kerry Gold in the second. I had relatively consistent results but I hope this helps!
Made these with Cup 4 Cup GF Flour AND at high altitude in Colorado and they are amazing!! Might bake them a little longer the next time I make this recipe, but other than that, they turned out great (as all of Justine’s recipes do)!
and at altitude? Amazing!! Teach me your ways haha. I’m so glad you liked it!