Baking chocolate cookies

The chocolate cookies I bake always turn out too hard.
What can I do to make them chewy?

I read online that in order to make them chewy - you have to use a chewy cookies recipe, putting it in for a shorter amount of time wont have the same effect. Here's a chocolate chewy cookie recipe I found for you:
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Chewy-Chocolate-Cookies-I/Detail.aspx

Oh, and I also read that adding vanilla pudding to any brand of cookie dough will make it chewy, that's interesting.

cook them for a shorter amount of time.
YUM =]

The main thing that makes cookies chewy is mass and moisture.

So use big dollops of cookie dough, not just little spoonfuls. Also bake the cookies for a shorter time at a higher temperature.

On the back of Nestles chocolate chips there is a recipe for cookies (it's really good chocolate chip cookies). Anyway make the round mounds a little bit more than the recipe calls for and bake them a few minutes less. I've never turned up the heat, just used what the recipe calls for. Take them out of the oven when the center looks wet still and transfer them right away to a cooling rack, the longer you leave them on a cookie sheet the more they cook.

Another option would be to chill or freeze the cookie dough before you cook it. You would have to measure it out before freezing but starting with cold dough holds more moisture inside longer than cooking the dough when it's at room temperature. Another way to add more moisture is to increase the brown sugar and decrease the plain white sugar.

Enjoy

When I bake cookies I stand there and watch them. When they start to puff up in the oven I take the oven mitt, and tap the cookie sheet on the rack. It makes them go flat, and then they puff up again. Repeat first part. I realized that once I started to really smell them, they were done, and depending on your altitude it could effect the cookie. If you take them out of the oven before the timer, leave them on the cookie sheet for a minute. The will continue to cook for as long as the cookie sheet is at the temperature, then move them to a cooling rack. Once the sides look a bit crispy they should take a few more minutes. Try a bunch of batches.