Dark chocolate chunk cookies are the perfect chocolate chip cookies for those dark chocolate lovers. With 70% bittersweet chocolate, it feels like a real grown-up cookie.
This recipe isn’t your standard chocolate chip cookie for your kids and their friends. This cookie is for me and all the grown-ups who love dark chocolate. I also love adding weird combinations of dried fruit and nuts to these cookies because- again- these are not for the kids!
If you’re looking for more cookie recipes that cater to your grown-up palate, try our Jalapeno Lime Shortbread Cookies. Ok, if you feel compelled to have “kid cookies” too, try these Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies and Funfetti Cookies with White Chocolate Chips.
What do you need to make these grown-up dark chocolate chunk cookies:
- Dark chocolate- let’s start with the most important ingredient. You need a bar of bittersweet chocolate. I prefer 70% cacao chocolate for this recipe. If you don’t enjoy dark chocolate, you could dial down the cacao percentage in the chocolate you pick.
- Butter- you want to ensure it is room temperature before incorporating it into your dough. If you didn’t think about it ahead of time- like me most days- just zap the butter in the microwave for 10 seconds at a time. Ideally, you get it soft without it becoming a puddle. But if you end up with melted butter- don’t stress- the texture of the cookie might be slightly different, but it still will be delicious.
- Granulated sugar- adds structure and obviously makes them sweet.
- Brown sugar- also make for more sweetness, and brown sugar contributes to these cookies soft and chewy texture.
- Eggs- help all the ingredients combine, add structure, and help with leavening.
- Vanilla extract- chocolate love a little bit of vanilla to balance the flavor.
- Baking soda- acts as the Leviner, which helps the cookies rise.
- All-purpose flour- of course
Additional Optional ingredients:
Get weird with your additional combination of ingredients. These cookies are for you! Here are a few of my favorite combinations:
- Dried cherries and walnuts
- Dried Craisins and peanuts
- Dried apricots and pistachios
- Orange zest with dried cherries
- or simply flaky sea salt sprinkled over them right after they come out of the oven
When you chop up a bar of chocolate, you end up with large Chunks and tiny little flakes of chocolate. The larger chunks look beautiful and create these delicious-looking puddles of chocolate. The tiny bits get fully incorporated into the dough, making a speckled look, and distributing the chocolate flavor.
Chocolate chips are designed to hold their shape and texture at much higher temperatures, so you end up with concentrated little pockets of chocolate.
You can obviously use whatever you have, but I love how the chocolate chunks look in these cookies. It makes it look like a fancy cookie from a bakery rather than something I got in the package.
I suggest chilling the dough for at least 30 minutes or more. It helps the cookies keep a bit more shape and texture while staying deliciously soft. But if you’re in a rush – skip it and throw them in the oven. The texture of the cookies might just be slightly different.
How to make these cookies:
Start by bringing your butter to room temperature and Preheat the oven to 350
Mix the butter, sugar, eggs, and vanilla extract in a large bowl until fully combined. Mix the flour, salt, and baking soda in a separate bowl.
Gradually incorporate the flour mixture into the water mixture.
Chop your chocolate into ½-inch chunks. Combine the chocolate chunks and all the tiny little shavings from the chocolate bar.
Now is the time to add other ingredients like dried fruit and nuts. (I suggest half a cup to a cup of each additional ingredient.)
Chill the dough for 30 minutes in the refrigerator while the oven preheats.
Use an ice cream scoop, or just a spoon in your hands, to create golfball size balls of dough. Play some on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Leave enough room between the cookie dough balls for the cookies to spread.
Bake the cookies in the oven for 10 to 12 minutes.
Now is the time to sprinkle with flaky sea salt if you desire.
Cool the cookies on a wire rack for 10 minutes before eating. (waiting might be the most challenging part of this recipe, but I’ve burnt the roof of my mouth one too many times)
Freeze the extra cookie dough!
I try to freeze most of the cookie dough to save myself from eating the entire batch of cookies in one sitting. After the cookie dough has chilled for 30 minutes, I use an ice cream scoop to make even balls. Then I simply place the cookie dough balls in a gallon-size plastic bag.
How long will cookie dough last?
The cookie dough will be good in the refrigerator for up to two weeks or in the freezer for six months (as if you won’t eat them before then)
Notes about baking after freezing:
When baking directly from the freezer, add 2 to 3 minutes. The chilled dough won’t spread out as much.
You have two options if you desire the same consistency as when you first made them.
- 1. let the frozen dough thaw in the refrigerator for a day before baking.
- 2. Flatten the cookie dough balls out a little before storing them in the freezer.
Looking for more cookie recipes:
- Funfetti Cookies with White Chocolate Chips
- Jalapeno Lime Shortbread Cookies
- Orange Cookies with Chocolate Drizzle
- Lemon Sugar Cookies
- Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies
If you’ve tried this Dark chocolate Chunk Cookies recipe or any other recipe on BalancingBowls, please let me know how it turned out in the comments below! You can also follow me on Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest to see more tasty meals and anything else I’m up to.
Dark Chocolate Chip Cookies (with chocolate chunks)
Ingredients
- 2 cups flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 sticks butter soft
- 2 eggs
- ¾ cups brown sugar
- ¾ cups granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 4 oz bittersweet chocolate 70% cacao
Instructions
- Start by bringing your butter to room temperature and Preheat the oven to 350
- Mix the butter, sugar, eggs, and vanilla extract in a large bowl until fully combined. Mix the flour, salt, and baking soda in a separate bowl.
- Gradually incorporate the flour mixture into the water mixture.
- Chop your chocolate into ½-inch chunks. Combine the chocolate chunks and all the tiny little shavings from the chocolate bar.
- Now is the time to add other ingredients like dried fruit and nuts. (I suggest half a cup to a cup of each additional ingredient.)
- Chill the dough for 30 minutes in the refrigerator while the oven preheats.
- Use an ice cream scoop, or just a spoon in your hands, to create golfball size balls of dough. Play some on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Leave enough room between the cookie dough balls for the cookies to spread.
- Bake the cookies in the oven for 10 to 12 minutes.
- Now is the time to sprinkle with flaky sea salt if you desire.
- Cool the cookies on a wire rack for 10 minutes before eating.
