Brown sugar dark chocolate chunk cookies - Light brown sugar and dark chocolate chunks make this a really great recipe for some of the best cookies you'll ever try!
For anyone who adores dark chocolate, like I do, these chocolate chunk cookies are like medicine for what ails you, like actual sustenance for the soul. The best thing about this cookie is the textural contrast of the chewy texture of cookie dough and the gooey melted pockets of dark chocolate chunks. It creates a sublime bite!
Another great dark chocolate recipe is our zucchini brownies! Not only great for a chocolate fix, but the garden fresh zucchini makes them super moist.
One of the key ingredients of this cookie recipe is the dark chocolate chunks. Look for a bar that is truly a dark chocolate for the best results, meaning that it's not labeled as milk chocolate, and also has a cacao content of at least 50%. This is not a chocolate chip cookie recipe designed for the taste buds of children, (though there is nothing wrong with that either!), this is a more sophisticated kind of flavor profile.
Break that dark chocolate into large, rustic, and irregular shapes. Your mouth will never get bored, since it can’t be sure when that chocolate hit is coming!
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Ingredients
- Butter- Unsalted butter is best so we can control the salt in the recipe. Room temperature butter will work best.
- Eggs-Buy free range and vegetarian feed if at all possible. We really feel that the resulting richness is quite noticeable.
- Brown sugar- Light brown sugar is our choice for this recipe.
- Vanilla paste/extract- Vanilla paste is one of my favorite products! If you have vanilla extract it will work, using a pure vanilla product will make all of the difference in the flavor.
- Flour- All purpose.
- Baking Soda- Using fresh baking soda always results in a better finished product.
- Salt- We use kosher salt for baking, a little salt goes a long way in enhancing the overall flavor of the cookie.
- Dark Chocolate Chunks- Have fun! Buy your favorite high-quality chocolate and break it up, the irregular shapes add to the texture of the cookies.
Instructions
Creaming Butter, Eggs, and Sugar
Combining the sugar and butter. Make sure that it all comes together, scraping down the sides as needed. Just mix until combined, as shown here.
Adding The eggs, one at a time, allowing each to mix in, before adding another.
Combining Dry and Wet Ingredients
Combine all of the dry ingredients in a separate bowl.
Add dry ingredients in increments of thirds, therefore allowing each measurement to combine fully before adding the next.
Finishing the Dough
Folding in the chocolate chunks. This is the part that Grandma would let you lick the spoon, (yummy!).
Turn it out onto parchment paper to shape.
Shaping, Portioning, and Baking the Cookies
Shaping it into the "log". This is when it must be chilled in the fridge in order to avoid making the proverbial "tough cookie".
After a well-deserved chill time, the finished dough is shown here in appropriately sized chunks, cut and ready to bake to gooey perfection.
Place six cookie pucks on a prepared baking sheet pan lined with parchment paper lightly sprayed with pan release spray 3 inches apart. Bake for 12 minutes in a 350-degree F oven. (see recipe for further instructions)
Remove from the oven and let the whole pan cool on a wire cooling rack, and enjoy!
Helpful Hint
Making sure to allow the cookie dough to rest is an important step that you shouldn't skip. Chilling the dough in the refrigerator for at least two hours, or ideally overnight, will result in a cookie with better texture and shape.
Variations
You can make a number of different flavors of cookies using this method by substituting the dark chocolate for other ingredients, including:
- Dried fruit- Dark Cherries would be delicious!
- Milk chocolate- Use your favorite milk chocolate if dark chocolate isn't for you.
- White chocolate- White chocolate can be combined with dark or milk chocolate to create a unique double chocolate cookie.
- Nuts- We love nuts in our cookies! Walnuts, almonds, and pistachios are a few of our favorites!
Storage
You can store the unbaked cookie dough in the refrigerator tightly wrapped for up to a week, and frozen for up to a month. The baked cookies will stay fresh wrapped for at least 3 days.
Chef Tip
Using a high-quality dark chocolate, really does add to the specialness of these simple cookies! In addition, selecting a chocolate that's your favorite, allows you to create a signature recipe, perfect for your taste!
More Inspiration
Bake Shop
- Mincemeat Pies
- Apple Zucchini Bread Recipe with Walnuts
- Cherry Mascarpone Cheese Crostata Tart Recipe
- Authentic Key West Florida Key Lime Pie Recipe
Recipe
Brown Sugar Dark Chocolate Chunk Cookies
Equipment
- 1 Electric mixer with Paddle attachment Stand or hand type
- 1 Measuring cup set
- 1 Measuring Spoon Set
- 1 Large Bowl 2 quart capacity or larger
- 1 Rubber Spatula
- 1 Cookie sheet pan
- 1 Wire rack for cooling
- 4 Parchment paper pan liner sheets 12/16"
- 1 Kitchen knife utility, chef, or even a metal dough cutter will work
- 1 Cutting Board
- 1 offset spatula/turner
Ingredients
Wet
- 2 Eggs
- 8 oz. Room temperature butter unsalted
- 1 tspn Vanilla paste or extract
- 1½ cup Brown sugar Dry measure, packed
Dry
- 2¼ cup All purpose flour Dry measure, leveled
- 2 tspn Baking soda Dry measure, leveled
- ¾ tspn Kosher Salt
- 10-12 oz. Dark chocolate chunks at least 72% cacao
Other
- 1 can Pan release spray as needed
Instructions
Wet
- In the bowl of the mixer, add the butter and sugar, combine on medium speed until creamy, light and fluffy.
- Crack eggs into a small bowl or ramekin to ensure there are no shells visually.
- While the mixer is still running, add the eggs one at a time, ensuring that each is fully incorporated before adding the next, turning mixer off and scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary to facilitate this.
- Add vanilla extract or paste, mix until incorporated.
- Turn off mixer.
Dry
- In separate bowl, combine kosher salt, all-purpose flour and baking soda.
Mix
- Add one third of the flour mixture to the butter mixture already in mixer
- Turn mixer on, at medium speed
- Combine well.
- Repeat the last three steps until all ingredients are incorporated well, continuing to stop and scrape down the sides of the bowl with rubber spatula as necessary.
- Break chocolate up into roughly ¼ inch chunks using your hands.
- Fold chocolate chunks evenly into the dough, using rubber spatula.
Resting and Storage
- Lay out 2 overlapping pieces of parchment paper on counter
- Place dough in center of paper.
- Using your hands, create a log, 3 to 4 inches in diameter.
- Roll the log into the parchment paper.
- Place in refrigerator at least two hours, or up to two days.
Baking
- Pre-heat oven to 350℉
- Line baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Spray surface of paper with non stick pan spray.
- Remove log of dough from refrigerator, remove paper from the log, and cut into 1 inch rounds.
- Cut each round into 4 pieces.
- Place pieces onto prepared baking sheet, spacing 3" apart, and 3" from edges.
- Place sheet into oven, bake for 8 minutes.
- Turn pan 180° around in oven so that cookies bake evenly.
- Continue to cook for 4 minutes or until golden brown.
- Remove from the oven.
- Allow cookies to cool on the pan for 3 minutes.
- using offset spatula, carefully remove cookies from cookie sheet and place onto cooling rack.
- Cool until room temperature.
Jason says
chocolate lovers classic