Introducing the sister recipe to my BEST Bakery Style Chocolate Chip Cookies - it's Bakery Style Double Chocolate Chip Cookies! These Double Chocolate Cookies are thick and chewy with crisp edges and chewy insides. The recipe is designed to make big bakery-style cookies with a crackled surface to hold pools of melted dark chocolate. These cookies are for true chocolate lovers so get ready to be swooned! The recipe is simple with one secret ingredient and it does benefit from a little resting time in the fridge to really bring out the chocolate flavor and improve the chewy texture. If you love chocolate cookies but don't always need a full batch, check out my popular Small Batch Double Chocolate Cookies recipe.
WHY YOU WILL LOVE THIS RECIPE?
- Rich chocolate flavor - these cookies have a deep rich chocolatey taste backed by buttery caramel undertones from brown sugar and underlying notes of natural vanilla.
- Crisp edges and soft gooey middles - just like my original Bakery Style Chocolate Chip Cookies, this chocolate version makes cookies with crisp caramelized edges, but they are soft and gooey in the middle.
- Super chewy chocolate chip cookies - if you like chewy cookies, these are certainly for you! And, they stay chewy for days thanks to my secret ingredient that you can read about below.
- Big cookies - each cookie is a nice large size to give you that contrast of textures.
- Not too sweet - there's just the right amount of sugar to give the chewy texture, but they are not overly sweet.
- Dark chocolate chunks - puddles of melted dark chocolate chunks instead of chips takes your "chocolate chip cookies" to a whole other level!
COOKIE SCIENCE: HOW TO MAKE THE BEST CHEWY DOUBLE CHOCOLATE COOKIES
- Ratio of Butter: Getting the right amount of butter to egg ratio is very important. Too much egg will dominate the taste and also make the cookies puff rather than spread so the texture more cakey rather than chewy.
- Egg ratio: The liquid in egg serves to help dissolve sugar in the dough but too much will prevent the edges from becoming crisp. That means you will need to bake the cookies longer to crisp the edges, and they will often become dried out before that point.
- Amount of Flour: It is so important to either weigh your ingredients using a scale, or measure your flour correctly without packing it into your measuring cup. Too much flour will lead to thick cookies, but they will be more doughy and less gooey. Too little flour will make a very soft dough that will spread too much and lead to greasy cookies.
- Baking soda: Not only is baking soda important to help the cookies spread, but it also gives them color! Baking soda is an alkaline ingredient (the opposite of an acid), and the Maillard Browning reaction is encouraged in an alkaline environment. Baking soda will make chocolate cookies look even chocolatier. However, too much baking soda means the cookies will spread too much and maybe burn too quickly, while not enough means the cookies will not spread much at all and will be pale in color.
INGREDIENTS
- Butter - there is no substitute for butter in chocolate chip cookies in my opinion! It is the foundation of the rich butterscotch flavor after all. In this recipe, you can use salted or unsalted butter, but if you choose unsalted then I recommend doubling the added salt to ½ teaspoon. I like to use salted butter because it adds another level of richness.
- Granulated sugar - this recipe uses a combination of simple white granulated sugar and brown sugar. White sugar helps create the crunchy caramelized edges. I wouldn't recommend reducing the sugar because it will compromise the chewy texture.
- Brown sugar - I highly recommend dark brown sugar for this recipe as it has twice as much molasses as light brown sugar and will make a big difference to the flavor. It will also make the dough more acidic which means it will react more thoroughly with the baking soda so that you won't be left with a soapy taste (a defect I find common in many chocolate chip cookie recipes)
- Egg - you'll need one whole egg for this recipe. It's the perfect amount of moisture to make these cookies chewy and not cakey.
- Pure vanilla extract - vanilla is essential to making delicious chocolate cookies. I like this Madagascar Bourbon Vanilla extract.
- Honey - it's the secret ingredient, just like in my Bakery-Style Chocolate Chip Cookies! Honey is a moisture trap so it will keep the cookies soft and chewy for days.
- Salt - don't leave out the salt! It really elevates the rich buttery, caramel flavors! It also enhances the chocolate taste and balances the sweetness.
- All purpose flour - regular unbleached all-purpose flour makes the best chewy chocolate chip cookies in my opinion.
- Cocoa powder - I recommend getting your hands on some good quality cocoa powder! It’s the main flavor and you want it to shine so use the best you can find. I love to use this Dutch Process cocoa powder for this recipe, but natural cocoa also adds a nice fruity flavor - it just means your cookies will be a bit lighter in color. Make sure you use unsweetened cocoa powder and not cocoa mix.
- Dark chocolate chunks - this is important! I highly recommend using bar chocolate, that is, chunks that you chop up from a bar of chocolate instead of chocolate chips. Why? That is because chocolate that is made into bars, also known as "tablets" has a higher cocoa butter content and typically melts smoother than chocolate chips to give you puddles of chocolate in the cookies. I love this effect! Chocolate chips will hold their shape and spread less.
STEP BY STEP INSTRUCTIONS
- STEP 1). Beat together butter and sugar. You can use an electric stand mixer, a hand mixer or do this by hand with a spatula. You want to beat until slightly pale and a bit fluffy, but not overly creamed. It will still look like a thick paste or damp sand and this will leave us with chewy cookies. Over-mixing at this point would make more crisp cookies.
- STEP 2). Beat in egg. Add the egg, honey and vanilla and beat until well incorporated and smooth.
- STEP 3). Combine dry ingredients. Blend flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt in a separate bowl and whisk it to blend evenly. Then, add it to the butter mixture and mix it in until evenly combined.
- STEP 4). Fold in chocolate chunks. Dark chocolate with a higher cocoa content will melt better to give these luxurious pools of chocolate. Chips will hold their shape and won't melt into the cookie. I find milk chocolate too sweet for these cookies and they also don't melt as well due to the high sugar content.
- STEP 5). Refrigerate the cookie dough. This is crucial to developing the chewy texture and rich chocolate flavor.
- STEP 6). Bake. Roll mounds of cookie dough into smooth balls or scoop them directly onto the baking sheet for a more rustic look and bake until darker around the edges, cracked at the surface and still soft in the middle. Do not over-bake as they will continue cooking on the hot baking tray.
EXPERT BAKING TIPS FOR BAKERY STYLE DOUBLE CHOCOLATE COOKIES:
- Secret ingredient: honey! Just like my popular Bakery-Style Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe, a teaspoon of honey is the key to making them stay chewy for days. Honey is a humectant which means it is an ingredient that binds water tightly and prevents them from drying out. It is also acidic so it will react with the baking soda to help the cookies spread just the right amount. You can use corn syrup, but do not use maple syrup as it wouldn't have the same effect.
- Don't skip the salt. The right amount of salt is so important in chocolate recipes. You can even use salted butter if that is all you have on hand and they will be even more delicious!
- Use regular large size eggs. Large eggs weigh 57g. Using an extra large egg will add up to 2 teaspoons more liquid to the cookie dough which can throw off the moisture balance and make the cookies spread too much.
- Refrigerate the cookie dough for at least 4 hours. Refrigerating cookie dough serves several purposes: 1.) Flour hydration - time in the fridge allows the flour to fully hydrate from the moisture of the egg and the water in the butter. If the flour is evenly hydrated, the cookies will be thicker and they will bake more evenly; 2.) Flavor development -as the baking soda becomes more evenly incorporated with the flour hydration, the cookies will brown more evenly which will help them develop flavor more quickly; and, 3.) Chill the butter - butter in the cookie dough will also firm up in the fridge so that the cookies wont be so greasy after they've baked. Chilled fat will also spread less readily during the initial stages of baking so the cookies won't spread uncontrollably.
RECIPE FAQ
Chilling this cookie dough is so important for the best results. Of course you can bake them right away, but they will not be as golden, as thick or as chewy and flavorful as they could be if you chill the dough. Ideally you would chill the dough for a minimum of 2 hours. 4 hours is better and overnight (8 hours) will lend the richest flavor and chewiest texture. Chilled cookie dough also yields cookies with a longer shelf life so they will stay chewy for longer.
If your cookies spread a lot, then it could be that the dough wasn't chilled long enough, there was too much honey added (you only need just 1 teaspoon), or there was not the right amount of flour added. Too little flour will mean the cookies will not have enough structure to hold their shape and the dough will be too wet. The best way to measure the flour is using a scale to ensure you use the right amount. Too much will make the cookies thick and less chewy, but too little will mean they will be crispy and thin.
A bit of honey is my secret to making cookies stay chewy for days. Honey is a humectant which means it is an ingredient that binds water tightly and prevents them from drying out. You can use also use corn syrup, but do not use maple syrup as it wouldn't have the same effect.
For the best results, use dark chocolate with over 60% cocoa solids, and use a high quality block of chocolate that you chop into chunks.
To get melted puddles with irregular shapes like in these photos, use chopped chocolate from a bar with over 70% cocoa solids. The darker the better when it comes to meltiness because the higher the total cocoa content, the more cocoa butter it will have and that high fat content is what makes chocolate melt and spread easier. Also, block chocolate is tempered as a block that you will break up and expose all sorts of jagged edges whereas chips are tempered in a specific shape that will stay in place.
When you chop chocolate from a block you make a variety of different shapes and shards that will get in all the crevices of the cookie dough. So, use your favorite dark chocolate - the kind that you snack on. Using block chocolate instead of chips will also give you better texture in the cookies. Block chocolate has a higher cocoa butter content so it will melt more evenly and readily to create pools of chocolate that will melt into the crevices. It also helps the dough spread. You can also use dark chocolate feves, callets or discs which are often made from couverture chocolate (high cocoa butter chocolate).
STORAGE AND FREEZING
How do I store double chocolate chip cookies?
These cookies are best stored at room temperature in an airtight container for up to 1 week. They stay nice and soft and chewy!
Can I freeze double chocolate cookies?
Just place the cooled cookies in a resealable freezer bag and freeze for up to 3 months. They just need 5-10 minutes to thaw.
How to serve double chocolate cookies?
With nothing more than a tall glass of cold milk!
If you love cookies, check out these recipes!
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Bakery Style Double Chocolate Cookies
Ingredients
- 10 tablespoon 140g unsalted butter
- ⅔ cup 145g packed dark brown sugar
- ½ cup 100g granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon 5ml honey
- 1 teaspoon 5ml pure vanilla extract
- 1 large egg
- 1 ½ cups 215g all purpose flour
- ½ cup 42g Dutch process cocoa powder (I prefer this one)
- ¾ teaspoon baking soda
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- 7 oz 200g dark chocolate, coarsely chopped into chunks
Instructions
- Combine soft butter and both sugars in a bowl and beat with a hand mixer for 1-2 minutes until slightly fluffy but more like damp sand. You can also "cream" the mixture by hand using a wide spatula. Mix in honey and vanilla. Beat in egg until well incorporated.
- Combine flour, sifted cocoa, baking soda, salt and whisk well to blend evenly.
- Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and fold it in until almost combined, then add the chopped chocolate and fold it in until evenly distributed and the cookie dough is homogeneous. Cover the bowl and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes or up to 4 hours.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and line two cookie sheets with parchment paper. Scoop mounds of about dough (about 3 tablespoons) using a large ice cream/cookie scoop and roll into smooth balls. Place them on the baking sheets so there is at least two inches of space around each dough mound. You should have no more than six cookies per cookie sheet (assuming you are using an 18x12” cookie tray). Press a few extra chunks of chocolate into each dough ball and sprinkle on some sea salt.
- Bake the cookies for about 9-11 minutes, until they have puffed a bit in the center and cracked at the surface. Transfer cookie sheets to a wire rack too cool for 2 minutes before transferring them individually to the rack to finish cooling.
- Enjoy them warm or at room temperature and then store in an airtight container overnight to keep them from drying out.
Pamela
Yup! These are great! Probably the best chocolate cookie I’ve made.
shane
I've never been happy with the double chocolate cookie recipes I've used in the past and this changed everything. I'll be keeping this recipe forever.
Arlene
Ummmm… Incredible!! These are deadly!
Rachel B.
I really love the look of these! The crackly tops with the chewy centres is just what I’ve been looking for.
Ryan
These cookies are outrageous. They have exactly the texture I've been looking for. Thank you thank you!
Caitlyn
They are dreamy! I froze half the batch but I don’t think they will be there for very long!