Are you looking for an intensely chocolatey double chocolate chip cookie? A cookie that spreads out and is all soft and chewy? I was looking for a cookie like that too, so I made some and now I’m sharing them with you!
Some recipes I share here, like my One Bowl Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies, are old favorites which I’ve made hundreds of times before and I simply need to take their picture for the blog. Others, like my Chocolate Chip Butterscotch Bars, are new recipes which are just right the way they are – for those I scribble down everything I did to make them and go right back in the kitchen to make them again for their close-up.
And then there are recipes like this one for double chocolate chip cookies.
I kept coming back to these cookies, making batch after batch, in the background of getting many other recipes done, and trying new variations, but they were never quite right. Never matching up to the ideal Double Chocolate Chip Cookie I had in my head.
Don’t get me wrong, every batch of cookies was really, really good and they were all cookies I was happy to share with people! But I knew what I wanted and I was going to keep trying until I got there.
I wanted:
- soft and chewy
- cookies that spread
- not a hint of dryness
- or cakiness
- deep, dark chocolate flavor
- cookies that just about melt in your mouth
As my odyssey continued (okay, not really an odyssey but I have been tinkering with the recipe since last Christmas 🙂 ), I got closer to what I wanted, but wasn’t sure what to try next.
This meant I needed some reference materials! Like the Ultimate Guide to Chocolate Chip Cookies and The Science of the Best Chocolate Chip Cookies. Each of these articles go into the details of what makes a cookie soft or crispy, fluffy or flat, wide or compact. Finally my cooking nerd side could have some fun and apply logic to cookie making.
With all this science on my side, and a few recent Girl Scout events where I could give away cookies, I experimented with melting the butter instead of creaming it with the sugar (ditch the mixer!), adding another egg, using just baking soda, and adding some milk to mix. Each of these changes brought me closer and adding that milk finally gave me the cookies I wanted.
And just in time too! We won’t have any more Girl Scout meetings until fall. I don’t know about you, but I didn’t want to wait that long for perfectly soft and chewy double chocolate cookies.
As a last, little twist I decided to add a few macadamia nuts to the tops of some of the cookies. Just to see since I do love macadamia nuts in chocolate chip cookies. And they were both pretty and tasty so I would definitely recommend it as an option. Another idea for the color contrast would be to add a few white chocolate chips to the top. Then you would have triple chocolate chip cookies, and that does sound pretty awesome. 🙂
With optional toppings or without, this recipe will make deep, dark chocolate cookies which are as chewy and soft and melt in your mouth as I could ever wish.
– Happy Baking, Annemarie
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Soft and Chewy Double Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 3/4 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp table salt
- 12 tbsp (6 oz) unsalted butter
- 2/3 cup cocoa powder
- 2 large eggs
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup light brown sugar
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 cups bittersweet chocolate chips
- 3 tbsp milk
Instructions
- Mix together the flour, baking soda, salt. Set aside.
- Melt the butter over medium heat. Take the butter off the heat and whisk in the cocoa powder.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs and granulated sugar until the mixture is a light, creamy yellow color and very thick, about 3 minutes. Add the brown sugar and vanilla and whisk until smooth. Then whisk in the butter and cocoa mixture. Next, add the flour mixture and fold it in with a large silicone spatula. And last add 1 cup of the chocolate chips and the milk and mix those in.
- Cover the bowl and refrigerate the cookie dough for at least 3 hours and up to 3 days. When you are ready to make the cookies, if they were refrigerated for over 3 hours, let them warm up for 20-30 minutes before beginning.
- Preheat oven to 325F.
- Divide the dough into 24 portions and arrange them 8 portions to a cookie sheet. Flatten out each ball of dough a bit and top with some of the reserved chocolate chips. Bake for 14-16 minutes. Let cool for 2-3 minutes on the baking sheet then transfer the cookies to a cooling rack.
Notes
- I used a #24 cookie scoop which holds about 2 1/2 tablespoons per scoop.
- Additional toppings which can be fun to use include chopped macadamia nuts (or other chopped nuts) or white chocolate chips. One half cup of any topping is all you'll need to top the cookies.
- You can use a hand mixer to whip the eggs and sugar together, but I find that the whisk does a great job and saves me from pulling out the mixer.
- Mixing the cocoa powder in the melted butter allows the cocoa to 'bloom' and deepens its flavor.
- Don't skip the resting step! While 3 hours is the minimum, I would recommend an overnight rest. That will allow the flavors to fully develop.
L says
The recipe doesn’t tell you when to add the butter mixture
justalittlebitofbacon says
Hi! If you look at step 3, you’ll see the cocoa and butter are added after the brown sugar and before the flour.
Liesl says
Thanks! I saw that when I read it again. Sorry, I guess the snow has me in a brain freeze!
justalittlebitofbacon says
No worries! Glad I could help. 🙂