Double Chocolate Cookies
Soft & chewy homemade chocolate cookies
Soft and chewy double chocolate cookies loaded with rich cocoa flavour and pieces of dark chocolate. The dough is chilled in the freezer for 30 minutes before baking, which gives beautifully thick cookies with set edges and a soft, chocolatey centre.
Ingredients
- 1 cup (227 g) butter, softened
- ½ cup (100 g) white sugar
- 1 cup (200 g) packed brown sugar
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 eggs
- 2½ cups (300 g) plain flour
- ½ cup + 1 tbsp (≈50 g) cocoa powder
- 1 tsp baking soda
- ¾–1 cup (130–150 g) chopped dark chocolate
Nutrition is an estimate per serving.
Method
- Soften the butter until soft but not melted. Beat with white sugar, brown sugar and salt until creamy.
- Add the eggs and vanilla and mix well.
- In a separate bowl combine the flour, cocoa powder and baking soda. Add to the wet mixture and mix just until combined.
- Fold in the chopped dark chocolate.
- Place the whole dough in the freezer for 30 minutes.
- Shape the chilled dough into large, slightly irregular balls and space them out on a lined tray.
- Bake in a preheated oven at low-to-medium heat for 15–20 minutes. Start checking at 15 — edges set, centre still slightly soft.
- Turn off the oven and let the tray rest inside about 5 minutes if needed. Remove, cool and enjoy.
Watch it made
Notes on this recipe
Thirty minutes in the freezer is not optional
This dough is high in butter, and butter that is soft when it hits the oven melts before the cookie has set, so the whole thing spreads into a thin disc. Freezing firms the fat so it melts slowly, giving the structure time to form around it. The result is a thicker cookie with a soft middle. Skip the chill and you will get something flat and crisp — still edible, but not this recipe.
Cocoa changes the flour maths
Cocoa powder is a drying ingredient. Fifty grams of it absorbs a surprising amount of liquid, which is why this recipe carries two eggs and a full cup of butter against two and a half cups of flour. If you are tempted to add more cocoa for a darker cookie, add a tablespoon of milk with it or you will end up with a dry, crumbly dough.
Irregular balls on purpose
Rolling the chilled dough into smooth spheres gives a uniform, slightly dull-looking cookie. Tearing it into rough, irregular lumps gives peaks and ridges that bake into the craggy surface these are known for, and exposes chunks of chocolate at the top. It is a cosmetic choice but it is the one that makes them look handmade.
Judging doneness on a dark cookie
Colour is useless here — they are already brown. Go by the edges: set and firm, with the centre still looking slightly underdone. They continue cooking on the tray. Chopped dark chocolate beats chips, because chips contain stabilisers that hold their shape, while chopped chocolate melts into pools and seams. Airtight for five days.
