Ingredients
- 1 1/4 cups (156 grams) all purpose flour
- 1/3 cup unsweetened natural cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon instant espresso powder (optional)
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 stick (113 grams) unsalted butter, at room temperature
- ¼ cup (50 grams) granulated sugar
- ¾ cup (150 grams) packed light brown sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 large egg yolk
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 8 ounces (227 grams) semisweet chocolate, chopped
Directions
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Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.
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In a medium bowl sift the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, espresso powder, and salt.
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In a large bowl use an electric mixer to beat the butter, granulated sugar, and brown sugar on medium-high speed until light in color and smooth. Add the egg and egg yolk and beat until combined. Add the vanilla extract. On low speed gradually add flour mixture. Fold in the chopped chocolate with a rubber spatula.
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Using a spoon or spring-loaded scoop, drop 1 ½ - tablespoon sized balls of dough onto the prepared baking sheets.
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Bake for about 10 minutes. Let cool on baking sheets for 5 minutes before removing to wire wracks to cool completely. Cookies can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for 3 to 4 days.
Hi Tessa,
How come you used baking powder instead of baking soda?
I read over and over that regular cocoa powder should be paired with baking soda and Dutch processed cocoa powder with baking powder.
I know you test-bake extensively before releasing recipes so I just want to be crystal clear before I move ahead with this recipe.
Hi Laura! You’re correct – typically, natural/unsweetened cocoa powder pairs with baking soda, and Dutched cocoa powder pairs with baking powder – but sometimes, there are specific reasons a recipe uses a mix that strays from the norm. Tessa used natural cocoa + baking powder here for the specific flavor natural cocoa powder gives (and for ease of access, as natural cocoa is more common in grocery stores). She paired this with baking powder because baking soda promotes more spread in cookies – so here, baking powder will assist in maintaining a thicker cookie. You can learn more about cocoa powders here. I hope this helped! Happy baking 🙂
Hi Kierstan,
Thanks for your response. If I do want to use the baking soda for spread, do I use 1 teaspoon or 2 teaspoons?
Hi Laura! That will require some experimenting as baking powder and baking soda are not interchangeable. Learn more about the differences between the two here! I’d recommend starting somewhere around 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon and go from there. Happy baking!
Delicious cookies! And quick and easy to make, perfect for chocolate cravings. The dough is sticky but the cookies don’t spread as much as you would expect. They bake thick as if you had chilled the dough 🙂 i made half with white chocolate chips and half with semi sweet and loved them!
Sounds amazing, Lily!
Can these be made in advance (aka chilling in fridge like your other cookies that “marinate”)? Thank you!
How long it takes before batter goes to oven after fridge it about 2 hours.
If put only half of total sugar, will it impact the result?
Thank you, Tessa.
Hi Tessa,
This cookie is excellent. If i doubled the flour would I need to increase any other parts of the recipe? I want to increase the amount of dough.
Thanks in advance.
Hi Laura,
Not sure if Tess will reply to your post in time but you definitely will need to double the rest of the ingredients too. Just doubling the flour will dry out your cookie dough and without the extra moisture needed such as the sugar, eggs etc., your cookie dough might become dry and crumbly. So definitely double the other ingredients too 🙂 hope that works out for you.
I made these cookies with sea salt caramel chips instead of chocolate chips, and they were amazing! They are soft, chewy goodness! I made them a second time (again with the caramel chips), and once they were cooled, made ice cream sandwiches out of them. They froze well, and the cookie was wonderfully chewy once it sat out for a minute. Longest minute ever!! I left out the expresso because I didn’t have it and will try with chocolate chips next. A new favorite!!!!
Can I use baking soda instead of baking powder for this recipe? I made it and it was delicious but it didn’t spread that much. Thank you. By the way I also used milk chocolate and dark chocolate for this recipe.
why baking powder and not baking soda? and if this dough isn’t refrigerated wont it spread out to much? and it isnt specified in the method when to add the expresso
I made these and they were really amazing! They were so soft and chewy with lots of ooey gooey chocolate! These will be my go to for chocolate cookies!
Could you add or substitute mini eggs in replacement of the chocolate chips, or would the shell of the mini eggs prevent from having that pull apart gooey cookie?
Hi Tessa, I made these cookies and they were awesome for the first try however, they didn’t flatten out much as I thought they would. Is there any way to change that and also reduce the amount of sugar? Thanks.
Hello Tessa,
You’re preaching to use weight instead of volume, but this recipe uses some weight and some volume. I’m used to weight in metric system, and I have no idea how much is 4 ounces…
Can you please have both volume and weight, and both american weight and metric system ?
Thank you very much in advance, these cookies look so like they belong in my stomach but I don’t want the headache of converting
Hi can you give all the measurements in weight if possible, I don’t use cups at all but would love to try this recipe!
Omg!! I made those cookie. It so delicious and easy to make. <3<3 just have one question can I put coffee instead of espresso? Or if I don't put espresso would it be they same taste? I have a thyroid and I m not allowed to have espresso etc.etc. by the way i love your baking 🙂
These are amazing <3 I make them all the time and it convinces even the most anti-sweet tooth person in the room that they amazing!
Mine turned out similar to Megan’s. The cookies didn’t spread out and just stayed as little balls. For the second batch, I flattened the balls. How did you get your cookies to spread out as shown in the photo?
Are you measuring your flour by volume or weight, Kim?
I just took a pan of these out of the oven. As I was making them I thought it was odd that they called for baking powder instead of baking soda. Now I’m wondering if it was supposed to be baking soda after all. They taste amazing, but they barely spread at all. They definitely look different than the ones in your photos.
In the method you said cookies should be baked for about 10 minutes but up at the top, it says 25 minutes. A bit confusing! They look lovely by the way?
Living in Maine, we find this is the season for getting snowed in. After moving up here during last years brutal winter, I learned quickly to keep the pantry stocked with ingredients for crock pot cooking and baking supplies.
Today was no exception to being confined to our home. I had all of the ingredients on hand and was able to whip up a batch of these (I added peanut butter chips) quickly. They were a great surprise for my fella after he had been snow blowing the drive all morning. They were an absolute hit! Thank you for sharing your wonderfully crafted recipe; you’ve never let us down!
Elizabeth
Okay, thanks! 🙂 Also, very interesting about how egg whites affect the consistency.
How small should the chocolate be chopped? Into chunks, or more fine?
Chunks! That way each bite has some gooey chocolate goodness 🙂 At least that’s what I prefer, feel free to chop anyway you like.
Why 1 egg + 1 yolk instead of just 1 egg or 2 eggs? New to baking and just wondering.
Great question! I actually answer it in detail here: https://handletheheat.com/2013/08/the-ultimate-guide-to-chocolate-chip-cookies-part-2.html
But basically using a yolk instead of another whole egg makes the cookies softer and chewier.
Love your blog! These chocolate cookies look amazing — will they retain that inner ooey-gooey chocolatey-ness even after they cool? Thanks!
Thank you! They are definitely the most ooey and gooey the day they are made. They’re still wonderful days after, but you can always pop them in the microwave for 10-15 seconds to amp up the gooey factor 🙂
We may be going out of town today- but I’m going to make these before we leave, because the moment I saw them, it was LOVE! Just waiting for my butter to come to room temp. Yet another fantastic recipe from you, I’m sure.
That’s awesome!! Enjoy the cookies and your trip 🙂
I could become obsessed with this kind of cookie!
“Like little brown circles of heaven, if there was ever such a thing” Made me lol! These look insanely chocolatey…which I am alll over. I also can never get sick of cookies or chocolate! Pinned