Chocolate Cookies
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These soft and chewy double chocolate cookies, with a warm, gooey dark chocolate center, are absolutely irresistible! They’re easy to make and perfect for all of the chocolate lovers out there!
Table of contents
The gooey chocolate center in the picture above tells you everything that you need to know about these cookies. They’re life-changing! A cocoa cookie with a soft, chewy texture surrounds dark chocolate chunks that melt inside the cookie as it’s baked, creating the most amazing chocolate cookie experience!
It tastes like a chocolate molten cake met a chocolate chip cookie and together they made chocolate cookie bliss! The best part is, they’re easy to make in less than 30 minutes, so you don’t need to save this recipe for special occasions, you can literally make them anytime!
You can even make extra dough and freeze the cookie dough balls to make more later. Future you will be so happy to find chocolate cookie dough balls in the freezer!
Ingredients
See the recipe card at the bottom of the post for the ingredient amounts.
- All-purpose flour
- Salt
- Baking soda
- Baking powder
- Unsweetened cocoa powder
- Unsalted butter
- Granulated sugar
- Eggs
- Vanilla extract
- Dark chocolate chunks – you can also use dark chocolate chips, or purchase a dark chocolate candy bar and chop it up into small chunks.
Step by step instructions
- Combine flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda and cocoa powder in a medium bowl.
- Add room temperature butter and sugar to a large bowl, or the bowl of a stand mixer. Cream the butter and sugar together on medium speed with a stand mixer or electric hand mixer for 2 minutes. Add two large eggs and vanilla extract. Beat on medium speed until combined.
- Note: You can also stir the ingredients together by hand, but using a stand or electric mixer will make your baking life so much easier!!
- Add the cocoa flour mixture to the butter sugar mixture.
- Beat until all of the ingredients are combined.
- Shape the dough into 1 inch balls. Use your thumb to press an indentation in the center of each ball of dough.
- Fill the center of each ball of dough with dark chocolate chunks.
- Fold the dough over the chocolate chunks and place the cookie dough balls 2 inches apart on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
- Place in the oven and bake at 350°F for 9-11 minutes.
Optionally dust the chocolate cookies with powdered sugar or top with flaky sea salt when they come out of the oven. Allow the cookies to cool for 5-10 minutes before transferring them from the baking sheet to wire racks to cool completely.
Frequently asked questions
- Can you use another type of chocolate in the center? Sure thing! Fill the cookies with milk chocolate, white chocolate or semi-sweet chocolate chips. You could even fill them with peanut butter chips, butterscotch or caramel chips, if you’d like to switch things up!
- Do the cookies need to be refrigerated? Once baked, the cookies can be stored in an airtight container on the counter for up to 3 days. After that, they should be transfered to the refrigerator for up to 3 more days. To reheat a cookie from the refrigerator, pop it in the microwave for 20-30 seconds.
- Can you make these cookies gluten free? Yes, simply prepare the cookie dough with a gluten free flour blend instead of all-purpose flour. It’s easy to make this swap and the cookies still turn out delicious!
- What type of cocoa should I use? You should always use unsweetened cocoa powder to make this recipe. You can use natural or dutch process cocoa. The dutch processed cocoa powder will give you a richer dark chocolate flavor, so if you want to double up on the dark chocolate goodness in these cookies, I’d recommend it!
Recipe tips
- Always use room temperature butter! Using cold butter or melted butter will affect the final texture of the cookies.
- Bake at 350°F for no more than 11 minutes for a cookie that is soft and chewy with perfectly melted chocolate in the middle.
- I actually do NOT recommend chilling the dough. When you chill the dough, the butter hardens in the dough and it will make the cookies spread out slower on the baking sheet. This will affect the perfectly melted center and soft, chewy outside of the cookie.
- Cookie dough can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks, when stored in an airtight container. After that, it should be transfered to the freezer, where it can be stored for up to 6 months.
- I recommend making cookie dough balls from any extra cookie dough and storing them in a freezer-safe bag in the fridge or freezer. Since they’re already made into balls, it’s easier to pop 1, 2 or 4 onto a cookie sheet and bake immediately.
- Quick tip within a tip! Chilled cookie dough does not spread as much as room-temperature cookie dough. So if you’d like the same consistency of the cookie, just like the first time you baked them, be sure to set the dough out of the refrigerator at least 30 minutes before baking the cookie.
How to freeze the dough
I recommend freezing the dough in balls, already filled with the dark chocolate center. This way, you can easily pop them in the oven, straight from the freezer. Follow these 4 simple steps for perfect freezer-to-oven cookies every time!
- Form the dough into balls and fill with the dark chocolate center.
- Arrange the balls in an even layer on a parchment-lined baking sheet and place them in the freezer for 30 minutes.
- Remove from the freezer and transfer the balls of dough into a freezer-safe bag or airtight container, then place them back in the freezer.
- When you’re ready to bake the cookies, place them straight from the freezer onto a baking sheet and into a 350°F oven for 11-13 minutes.
What to serve with them
These cookies are amazing on their own, but you can never go wrong pairing them with one of my famous no-churn ice cream recipes! You don’t need an ice cream machine to make any of these homemade ice cream flavors. They’re easy to make, so creamy and delicious!
- No Churn Peanut Butter Ice Cream
- Salted Caramel Ice Cream
- Peppermint Bark Ice Cream – perfect for the holiday season!
- Moose Tracks Ice Cream
More cookie recipes
Try these other tested and perfected cookie recipes!
Chocolate Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- 1 ¼ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup dark chocolate chunks
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- Combine the flour, salt, baking soda, baking powder and cocoa in a medium mixing bowl.
- Add the room temperature butter and sugar to a large mixing bowl, or the bowl of a stand mixer.
- Cream the butter and sugar together on medium speed for 2 minutes, using an electric hand mixer or stand mixer.
- Add the eggs and vanilla extract.
- Beat on medium speed until combined.
- Add the flour mixture and beat until all of the ingredients are combined.
- Shape the dough into 1 inch balls.
- Use your thumb to press an indentation in the center of each ball of cookie dough.
- Fill the center with dark chocolate chunks and fold the dough over to cover the chocolate.
- Place the cookie dough balls 2 inches apart on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
- Place in the oven and bake for 9-11 minutes.
- Remove from the oven and allow the cookies to cool for 5-10 minutes before transferring them to wire racks to cool completely.
Notes
- Topping options: optionally dust the chocolate cookies with powdered sugar or top with flaky sea salt when they come out of the oven.
- Chocolate options: if you’d like, you can replace the dark chocolate chunks with milk chocolate, white chocolate or semi-sweet chocolate chips.
- Cookie storage: once baked, the cookies can be stored in an airtight container on the counter for up to 3 days. After that, they should be transfered to the refrigerator for up to 3 more days. To reheat a cookie from the refrigerator, pop it in the microwave for 20-30 seconds.
- Gluten free option: prepare the cookie dough with a gluten-free flour blend instead of all-purpose flour to make the cookies gluten free.
- Cookie dough storage: cookie dough can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks, when stored in an airtight container. After that, it should be transfered to the freezer, where it can be stored for up to 6 months.
- I recommend making cookie dough balls from any extra cookie dough and storing them in a freezer-safe bag in the fridge or freezer. Since they’re already made into balls, it’s easier to pop 1, 2 or 4 onto a cookie sheet and bake immediately.
Nutrition Facts
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One Comment on “Chocolate Cookies”
Very easy and tasty! I used dark chocolate chips instead of chunks for the filling – they didn’t fully melt in the middle so it’s more akin to a chocolate chip experience but still very yummy!