Double Chocolate Cookies With Dark Chocolate Chips Recipe

It's hard to beat a classic gooey chocolate chip cookie. Besides being the perfect treat for chocolate-lovers, the base recipe can be changed, upgraded, and manipulated to include all kinds of ingredients from nutty tahini to sea salt or even rum. The cookies usually feature bittersweet chocolate chips, which are neither too sweet nor too bitter and melt perfectly into the sugary cookie base. For most, the bittersweet chocolate is enough to satisfy a chocolate craving, but for real chocolate lovers, that envelope could be pushed just a little bit further.

This dark chocolate chip cookie recipe, written with developer Michelle McGlinn, is a chocolate-lover's ultimate decadent dessert. We mix dark chocolate chips into a dense and fudgy cocoa base for a soft, chewy, melty dark chocolate treat. For a finishing touch, flaky sea salt is sprinkled across the warm cookies for just a little bit of savory flavor. The cookies come together in less than 30 minutes, and the result is a sophisticated melty, sweet, ever-so-slightly bitter, and just a touch salty cookie that's perfect for pairing with bourbon or red wine

The ingredients you'll need for this recipe aren't too different from a regular chocolate chip cookie, so if you're an avid baker (or even just a sometimes-baker) you'll likely already have most of what you need. For example, you'll need flour, baking soda, salt, brown sugar, granulated sugar, butter, vanilla, and eggs. For chocolate, you'll need regular unsweetened cocoa powder and dark chocolate chips — you can also maximize the chocolate flavor by using chocolate chunks or even chopped dark chocolate candy bars, too. Lastly, you'll need Maldon flaky sea salt for finishing the cookies — which you can skip if you prefer them salt-free.

Preheat the oven to 350 F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Sift the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt into a bowl and set aside.

In another large bowl, beat the butter and sugars together until fluffy.

Incorporate the egg and vanilla, scraping the sides of the bowl to fully distribute.

Slowly add the dry ingredients in ¼ cup increments, beating until just combined. The batter will be thick and dry.

Gently fold in the chocolate chips into the batter.

Scoop heaping 1-inch balls onto the parchment-lined sheet and gently press down to flatten slightly.

Bake for 10 minutes, or until the edges are firm and the centers are set, then gently remove to a rack to cool.

Top with flaky salt to serve.

There are a few types of cocoa powder, and some have a more intense chocolate flavor than others; however, the chocolate's acidity will make a difference in which cocoa powder is best to use in a particular recipe. Unsweetened cocoa powder, which is what is used in our recipe, is more acidic in flavor (with a pH level to match) and is used in recipes with baking soda, an acidic leavener. Dutch process cocoa, on the other hand, is alkalized, meaning that the acidity is neutralized and will no longer react with baking soda. This means that while the cocoa itself is darker and more richly chocolatey, the cookie won't rise unless you also swap the leavening agent — which can be tricky to do as it isn't 1:1.

Because of this, we recommend using the suggested unsweetened cocoa in these cookies for the best rise and fudgiest cookie — plus, it will help balance the rich dark chocolate chips added to the dough. If you would like a more chocolatey base, there is one more cocoa powder you can try that won't require changing the recipe: Hershey's Special Dark. The cocoa powder is made up of both unsweetened and Dutch process cocoa, meaning you can have your cake (or cookies) and eat it too.

As if cocoa powder wasn't interesting enough: Not only does cocoa alter the flavor and rise of the cookies, but it also affects the spread. Cocoa powder contains starch, which absorbs moisture. What causes cookies to spread is the fat — in this case, butter — melting and spreading the cookie into a flatter circular shape. The flour typically helps to stop the cookie from overspreading, which is why overly flat, large cookies are likely the result of too much butter, milk, or oil. On the other hand, too much flour — or in this case, starch in the form of cocoa powder — can cause the opposite effect so you end up with no spread at all.

This doesn't necessarily mean that the cookie will be dry and crumbly, though. The cocoa also contains cocoa butter, which helps keep the cookie from drying out completely. What you're left with is a cookie that, while moist and chewy, doesn't spread, leading to a mound-like appearance. The fix is simple — just press down on the cookie to flatten before baking, and it will bake to a perfect, round cookie shape.