A Copycat Recipe for DoubleTree Hotel’s Legendary Chocolate Chip Cookies
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Be ‘in the know’ with this copycat recipe for the popular DoubleTree Hotel’s Signature Chocolate Chip Cookie!
This recipe adapted from HiltonSuggests.hilton.com with express permission; yields 26 REALLY BIG cookies!
There is just something entirely comforting about a warm, ever so slightly melted chocolate chip cookie. And especially when you are greeted with said cookie upon checking into a hotel far from home. Such would be my personal experience during a not too distant hurricane evacuation from our home in Charleston, South Carolina. And yes, I was over the moon when Hilton/DoubleTree Hotels revealed This Copycat DoubleTree Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe!
This recipe is NOT your run of the mill average chocolate chipper. Nope. It’s made with rolled oats, walnuts, and gooey semi-sweet morsels. And there’s a peculiar ingredient hidden in these cookies, one I have certainly never seen in a chocolate chip cookie recipe before. Lemon juice. You read that correctly!
The addition of lemon juice in the dough reacts with the baking soda to yield a much softer, chewier cookie. Bake up a batch of your own to experience their salty-but-sweet taste and melty deliciousness!
If you’ve ever been offered a warm, gooey chocolate chip cookie upon arriving at a Hilton DoubleTree Hotel, you absolutely know the famous story of the DoubleTree chocolate chip cookies recipe.
The DoubleTree Hotel Cookie Recipe
I don’t know why I don’t post more cookie recipes to Not Entirely Average. When I began sharing my recipes with the planet two years ago, I suppose I figured most everybody had their favorite cookie recipes.
That adding to this splendidly sweet category would be for naught. I focused instead on jumping in with both feet hard and fast right to the big stuff.
Along the way, I did manage to force myself to add ‘favorites,’ though just a few. Pecan Tassies, Brownie Mix Chocolate Chip Cookies, and Southern Tea Cakes.
ALL AMAZING. Yet, this copycat DoubleTree Chocolate Chip Cookies recipe may just be the most popular of all time.
Having the opportunity to travel, even if only day or weekend trips, is a privilege. And travel not only affords us the chance at a little R&R, but also the chance to experience the unique histories that states, cities, and even the tiniest of towns were built on.
Charleston, South Carolina is a jewel along the eastern seaboard with just such a history. And living here has enabled me to learn so much.
It’s also taught me that I truly LOVE travel and history. Combine those two fervencies with my biggest passion, food, and I instantly make a great tour guide for friends and family who come to town!
A Necessary Evacuation
Living in Charleston also makes a great starting point for day tripping away from the Palmetto State. In just about 4 hours, I can be to Chapel Hill, NC, Macon, GA, or Jacksonville, FL.
Not too long ago, and due to a big named hurricane moving in on the east coast, I began following the weather models to see if there were even vague predictions on where this gal was expected to make landfall. I sure was NOT going to be wherever ‘there’ was.
I also began to book hotels in several different directions. I’d cancel the rooms for the directions we did not travel in as the days and the storm forecast edged closer.
The DoubleTree Hotel chocolate chip cookie is THE SECRET COOKIE RECIPE among cookie recipes. Well, WAS SECRET…
48 hours ahead of landfall, it was clear that the spaghetti models (that’s what I call them anyway) were showing a northern South Carolina/southern North Carolina hit.
I immediately knew me and mine would then be headed south and away from the winds and the rain that were still certainly going to affect Charleston.
I cancelled the reservations I’d made in Atlanta and Hickory, but confirmed the ones I’d made for Saint Augustine, Florida.
It’s hard enough to board up your home and pack everything important to you in the cars to then leave, let alone try to get comfortable elsewhere while all hell is breaking loose at home.
This ‘trip’ was not one I was looking forward to because of the circumstances, but I was glad I’d thought enough ahead to secure a beautiful hotel and in a vibrant ancient city to boot. If you’ve ever visited Saint Augustine, you already know EXACTLY what I’m talking about…
We rolled into Saint Augustine, cars packed with pets, people, and important property just before dinner the day of the storm. Guest services was handling A LOT of North and South Carolina evacuees who’d made the trek and were clearly in a stressed state of mind.
That was, until four or five guest services staff stepped into the lobby with large plates of chocolate chip cookies, the legendary DoubleTree cookies…
And The Headlines Read ‘DoubleTree Hotel Shares Signature Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe with The World’
The DoubleTree chocolate chip cookie recipe is a big deal. The cookies have been nagging recipe developers and the copycat cookie recipes community for decades, trying to recreate this fabled flavor profile, but even more so, it’s texture.
This is where the science and hospitality industries comingle without really knowing it! The DoubleTree iconic chocolate chip cookie recipe is well received when it’s first introduced in 1986, so much so that this now famous Hilton DoubleTree cookies recipe is deemed secret and not to be shared.
But what the heck is it about this dough that makes better cookies than other chocolate chip cookie recipes??
Why Put Lemon Juice in Chocolate Chip Cookies?
So, on one hand you’ve got the good folks at Hilton/DoubleTree passing out these comforting and soft cookies upon guests’ arrivals. A small nicety which turns out not to be small at all.
The feedback is fantastic, and the payback is big. The DoubleTree cookie recipe is being requested…a whole lot.
And the method, which specifies the addition of the tiniest amount of LEMON JUICE, is altering the outcome of the bake as it reacts with the agent baking soda…and that science is what built the better cookie.
When the pandemic hit, and after what I understand were “many meetings,” the secret recipe for DoubleTree cookies was officially released by Hilton’s execs in corporate.
Stay-at-home orders forced millions to postpone travel. And as talks about company survival across so many affected industries was had, the hotel chain decided to break some good news despite the pending financial blows hospitality and restaurants were about to endure. The DoubleTree cookie recipe 2020…
Ingredients for Copycat DoubleTree Hotel Chocolate Chip Cookies
- butter
- granulated sugar
- light brown sugar
- eggs
- vanilla
- lemon juice
- flour
- rolled oats
- baking soda
- salt
- cinnamon
- Nestle Toll House semi-sweet chocolate chips
- walnuts
All images and text ©Jenny DeRemer for Not Entirely Average, LLC
A Copycat Recipe for DoubleTree Hotel’s Legendary Chocolate Chip Cookies
Equipment
- cookie sheets
Ingredients
- ½ pound unsalted butter softened to room temperature
- ¾ cup + 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
- ¾ cup packed light brown sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 ¼ teaspoons vanilla
- ¼ teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice ** NOT OPTIONAL – DO NOT SKIP THIS INGREDIENT
- 2 ¼ cups flour
- ½ cup rolled oats
- 1 teaspoon baking soda ** NOT OPTIONAL – DO NOT SKIP THIS INGREDIENT
- 1 teaspoon salt
- pinch cinnamon
- 2 ⅔ cup Nestle Tollhouse semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 1 ¾ cups walnuts chopped
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 300°F.
- Cream butter, sugar and brown sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer on medium speed for about 2 minutes.
- Add eggs, vanilla and lemon juice, blending with mixer on low speed for 30 seconds, then medium speed for about 2 minutes, or until light and fluffy, scraping down bowl.
- Add flour, oats, baking soda, salt and cinnamon, and stir using the tines of a fork. Don’t overmix. Dough will appear dense and slightly dry. This is correct. Stir in chocolate chips and walnuts, again using a fork.
- Portion dough with a scoop (about 3 tablespoons) onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper about 2 inches apart.
- Bake for 20 to 23 minutes, or until edges are golden brown and center is still soft.
- Remove from oven and cool on baking sheet for about 1 hour.
Notes
The nutrition value can vary depending on what product(s) you use. The information below is an estimate. Always use a calorie counter you are familiar with.
Please note that table salt and iodized salt are NOT substitutions for Kosher salt. Do not deviate unless otherwise specified.
I love these cookies usually make them for the Christmas holidays but it’s almost June and l am going to make them again ! Thanks for sharing this recipe with the world!!!!
Connie, aren’t these THE BEST Chocolate Chippers??? I’m so glad to know you love these as much as I do!!! x- Jenny
We stayed at this hotel chain in Asheville NC in January of 2020, and had these cookies upon checking in 😮🍪🍪🍪They were so good. The gal at the front desk gave me extra cookies, when I said how much I liked them. I was in cookie heaven ☺️😋
What a great perk ❣️
Deb, I promised myself the day I tasted these at the Amelia Island property, I would figure out how to copy them. Seems I didn’t have to, as the company had already let the full recipe to the planet! The key is the FRESH lemon juice…in a cookie…I know! Happy New Year, Deb! x- Jenny
These remind me of the bakery style cookies growing up! I’ll have to bake up a batch soon 😀
Tammy, remember to add the secret ingredient! I’m betting as a fellow baker, you know all about this. The devil is in the details, right?? 😉 Jenny
Made these today. Mine looked very different from yours. Wish I could attach a picture. I baked them at 325°, and it took 25 minutes for them to turn very light brown. No golden edges, even though my oven leans to the hot side, especially at high temps. They are both crispy and chewy. I have to agree with my husband, they are very good
Barbara, I cannot think of one reason why they shouldn’t have browned a good bit except for oven rack location, BUT even that does not have a great affect…so, hmmm. But it sounds like they are super tasty which is why I bake them! In fact, I’ve already had two requests for these or an oatmeal cookie for today. Raining here so may as well bake. Thank you Barbara, for swinging back around and taking time out to comment on the recipe. I really appreciate feedback 😉 x – Jenny
I thought it strange too, since I upped the temperature somewhat. I may bake it with convection next time and see if that makes a difference and go with 20 minutes, so they are more chewy.
The additional few minutes may (?) help and without having to increase the temperature. Ovens vary soooo widely.