These soft, thick Dark Chocolate Cookies are about to become your favorite cookie! Filled with chocolate chips, M&M's, or any of your favorite mix-ins!
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Why I Love These Dark Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Double dose of chocolate flavor: These soft cookies are a chocolate lover's dream! A rich chocolate cookie loaded with gooey dark chocolate chips.
- No chill time: The best thing about these cookies? Just scoop and bake! Not having to chill the cookie dough means these cookies are ready in just 25 minutes!
- A crowd favorite: Everyone will love these giant chocolate cookies! You can also scoop them into small cookies for holiday baking trays or cookie exchanges.
Ingredient Notes & Substitutions
- Butter: Use real butter here, not margarine. I prefer to use unsalted butter in most of my baking so I can control the amount of salt. If you only have salted butter, you can just omit the additional salt.
- Sugar: You'll need both light brown sugar and granulated sugar for these cookies. You can also use dark brown sugar, if you have it on hand.
- Egg + egg yolk: Adding the egg yolk helps create a richer, chewier texture in the cookie.
- Cocoa Powder: I use and recommend Hershey's Special Dark Cocoa powder to give them a moist, rich flavor. You can substitute for regular unsweetened cocoa powder, just note that your cookies will have a puffier texture and won't have as rich of a taste.
- Chocolate chips: I use semi-sweet chocolate chips or chunks but you can use mix-ins of choice here!
How to Make Double Chocolate Cookies
Step 1: Make Dough
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- In a large bowl, use an electric mixer (or stand mixer with the paddle attachment) on medium high speed to cream together softened unsalted butter (½ cup, 1 stick), light brown sugar (¾ cup), and granulated sugar (¼ cup) for about 1 minute.
- Add the eggs (1 whole egg + 1 extra egg yolk) and vanilla extract (1 teaspoon) and mix on low speed until combined.
- Add in baking soda (½ teaspoon) and salt (½ teaspoon) to your wet ingredients and mix for another 5-10 seconds until combined.
- Add dark cocoa powder (½ cup) and all-purpose flour (1 ½ cups) and mix on medium speed until combined.
- Add in chocolate chips (1 cup) and mix until just combined.
Step 2: Scoop Dough
- Spray a light-colored metal pan with cooking spray, then line pan with parchment paper (having the grease underneath the paper will help the paper stay down).
- Scoop dough into ¼ cup (4 tablespoons) sized scoops (I use this stainless steel cookie scoop!), roll into balls, then gently flatten each dough ball into a ½" thick disc; this will also help them spread instead of be puffy. Press extra chocolate chips on top of each cookie for a pretty presentation, if desired.
Step 3: Bake & Cool
- Bake at 350°F for 10-12 minutes. Do not overbake. The cookies will continue to bake on the hot pan, allowing them to firm up without overbaking.
- Sprinkle with a little flaky sea salt, if desired.
- Once slightly cool, move to a wire rack and allow to fully cool. It's important for them to cool; they will be fragile while they're warm.
- Enjoy!
Tips & Variations
- Smaller cookies: For smaller cookies, use a 2-tablespoon scoop and bake for 8-10 minutes.
- M&M variation: To make a M&M variation, use ½ cup chocolate chips & ½ cup M&M's.
- More mix-in ideas: White chocolate chips, milk chocolate chunks, peanut butter chips, chopped nuts, caramel pieces, etc.
- Chop half the chocolate: By doing so, you'll get more chocolate dust in every bite and it will also help the cookies spread a bit more!
- Sprinkle of flaky sea salt: After removing from the oven, sprinkle with a little bit of sea salt if you love sweet and salty!
- Don't overbake: The centers may look a tiny bit wet and you may be tempted to leave them in the oven after the recommended time but they will continue to bake on the hot baking sheet which will allow them to firm up without over-baking.
- Want more chocolate? Dip these chewy dark chocolate cookies into my homemade melted chocolate ganache!
Storage & Freezing
- Storing: For best texture, these are best enjoyed within 2 days but will last in an airtight container for 3-5 days.
- Freezing: Freeze baked cookies in an airtight container or freezer bag for up to 1 month, then allow to thaw before eating.
Frequently Asked Questions:
You can, just keep in mind that you won't have as moist, rich, and fudgy of a cookie. There are several types of cocoa powder and each will result in a different tasting baked cookie. Regular unsweetened cocoa powder is more acidic and will react with the baking soda, creating a puffier cookie.
If you follow the instructions and use a ¼-cup sized scoop, your cookies should end up being around 4 inches. This can vary depending on your altitude and climate, but that's how big mine spread in Tennessee. The size and shape of your cookies will also depend on the mix-ins you add to the cookies. If your cookies are wonkey-shaped after taking out of the oven, you can use a bowl or round cookie cutter (slightly larger than your cookie) to wiggle warm cookie into a circle after baking.
Yes, if you want to make these cookies smaller use a 2-tablespoon scoop and bake for 8-10 minutes. Just be careful to keep an eye on them so they don't overbake.
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Dark Chocolate Cookies
Ingredients
- ½ cup unsalted butter (1 stick) softened
- ¾ cup light brown sugar
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- 1 large egg + 1 yolk (i.e. 1 whole egg + 1 extra egg yolk)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup dark cocoa powder I used Hershey's "Special Dark"
- 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (or other mix-ins of your choice!)
Before you begin! If you make this, will you do me a huge favor and leave a review and rating letting me know how you liked this recipe? This helps my small business thrive so I can continue providing free recipes and high-quality content for you.
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- In a large bowl, use an electric mixer on medium-high speed to cream together softened unsalted butter (½ cup, 1 stick), light brown sugar (¾ cup), and granulated sugar (¼ cup) for about 1 minute.
- Add the eggs (1 whole egg + 1 extra egg yolk) and vanilla extract (1 teaspoon) and mix on low speed until combined.
- Add in baking soda (½ teaspoon) and salt (½ teaspoon) and mix for another 5-10 seconds until combined.
- Add dark cocoa powder (½ cup) and all-purpose flour (1 ½ cups) and mix on medium until combined.
- Add in chocolate chips (1 cup) and mix until just combined.
- Scoop dough into ¼ cup (4 tablespoons) sized scoops (I use this stainless steel cookie scoop!), roll into balls, then gently flatten each dough ball into a ½" thick disc; this will also help them spread instead of be puffy.If desired, press extra chocolate chips on top of each cookie for a pretty presentation.
- Bake at 350°F for 10-12 minutes. Do not overbake. The cookies will continue to bake on the hot pan, allowing them to firm up without overbaking.
- Allow to cool, then enjoy! It's important for them to cool; they will be fragile while they're warm.
Last Step! Please leave a review and rating letting me know how you liked this recipe! This helps my small business thrive so I can continue providing free recipes and high-quality content for you.
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