Love chocolate? These Dark Chocolate Chip Cookies are loaded with rich dark chocolate and semi-sweet chips in every bite. They’re the ultimate chocolate treat!
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How much do you like chocolate? I admit that I eat chocolate almost every day. There, I said it. From creamy milk chocolate to deep dark chocolate, I like them all. So when the family said, “We need cookies,” I went right for the chocolate. In fact, some might say I went overboard.
Learn how to make these chewy double chocolate chip cookies from scratch when you need a cure for those chocolate cravings.
This dark chocolate chip cookie recipe is rich and buttery, with a chewy, fudgy center full of soft chocolate chips. Seriously. Classic chocolate chip cookies are already the best, but you get the ultimate chocolate cookie when you double the chocolate.
Recipe Highlights
Get the essential details of these dark chocolate cookies at a glance:
- Type of recipe: Cookie
- Cooking method: Oven baked with a 15 minute chill time
- Skill level: Easy, using stand mixer
- Flavors & textures: Rich, buttery, chewy, fudgy, chocolatey
Dark Chocolate Cookie Ingredients
- Bittersweet Dark Chocolate: Melted to create the chocolate cookie dough, adding rich flavor and a smooth texture.
- Butter: Provides moisture, richness, and helps create a soft, chewy texture.
- Granulated Sugar: Sweetens the dough and helps achieve a crispy edge.
- Egg: Binds the dough together and contributes to structure and chewiness.
- Vanilla enhances flavor and deepens the chocolate taste. For the best flavor, use the quality vanilla extract or make homemade vanilla extract.
- All-Purpose Flour: Provides structure and texture for the cookies.
- Baking Soda: Helps the dough rise and spread for a tender, chewy texture.
- Baking Powder: Adds lightness and prevents cookies from being too flat.
- Salt: Balances sweetness and enhances the chocolate flavor.
- Instant Espresso Powder: Intensifies the chocolate flavor without adding any noticeable coffee taste. A small amount of espresso powder boosts the chocolate’s depth, making it richer and more complex.
- Chocolate Chips: Adds extra chocolate throughout with pockets of melted chocolate morsels in every bite.
How To Make Dark Chocolate Cookies
Step 1. Start by melting chocolate and butter in a large mixing bowl over a bain-marie (aka, a heatproof bowl) over a pan of barely simmering water. Stir until the butter and chocolate are completely melted, about five minutes. Remove from the stove and let cool.
Step 2. Add the sugar and egg to a large mixing bowl and mix on medium speed for a minute to combine.
Step 3. Mix in the cooled chocolate and vanilla with the mixer until the chocolate is combined.
Step 4. Combine flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and espresso powder, then add this dry mixture to the chocolate and mix well to combine.
Step 5. Stir the chocolate chips into the batter. The batter will be thick.
Step 5. Chill the dough for at least 15 minutes.
Step 6. Use a 1-inch cookie scoop, or one tablespoon, to make cookie dough balls and place them on cookie sheets lined with parchment paper or a Silpat; bake for 9 – 10 minutes.
Here’s a great tip: You can freeze cookie dough. After you scoop the dough balls, put a few in the freezer so you have some for later.
Familiarize yourself with the various sizes of cookie scoops, a favorite tool for accurately portioning dough.
Move your cookies to a wire rack to cool, but seriously, you should eat a few of these cookies right out of the oven while they are warm because the best part of this recipe is eating a warm cookie from the oven.
By now, your kitchen will smell heavenly (by which I mean chocolaty).
Chocolate Chip Cookie Variations
- Want to make chocolate nut cookies? Add a cup of chopped pecans, walnuts, or macadamia nuts if you like a nutty cookie.
- Try adding chopped dried cherries for a delicious tart flavor.
- Make these chocolate cookies with white chocolate chips, or use half semi-sweet and half white chocolate.
- Make a chocolate mint cookie by replacing the vanilla extract with mint extract.
- Peanut butter chips mixed into the dark chocolate dough taste like a peanut butter cup.
- Next time you make this cookie recipe, try milk chocolate chips for a different chocolate flavor.
Cookies FAQs
Mixing the dough too much will result in gluten forming, resulting in a tough cookie.
These are the reasons for flat cookies:
1. Your oven is too hot and melting the butter too fast.
2. Adding too much sugar can cause cookies to go flat because sugar liquifies in heat, causing the cookies to spread.
3. Make sure to add the correct amount of flour to the dough.
4. The butter is too soft; make sure you use room temperature butter, one that has been left out for about a half-hour.
5. The dough got too warm, so chill the dough before baking.
You can. I suggest using a dark roast instant coffee. You will have to add more instant coffee to achieve the same flavor as espresso powder. For this recipe, add an extra 1/2 teaspoon.
And if you don’t have espresso or instant coffee? The cookies will still be chocolatey. But if you can make a trip to the store, try it. I even add espresso powder to regular chocolate chip cookies and chocolate cakes.
You have options, but it is best to use good-quality bittersweet or semi-sweet chocolate. Here are some of my favorites to use:
Baker’s – melting chocolate
Ghiradelli – melting chocolate and chocolate chips
Guittard – melting chocolate and chocolate chips
Scharffen Berger – melting chocolate and chocolate chips
Valrhona – melting chocolate
Nestle Toll House – chocolate chips
More Chocolate Recipes
You can never have too much chocolate, right?
- Tarts always look so amazing, and this Chocolate Ganache Tart is rich and decadent but so easy to make.
- Chocolate Fudge Cake – three layers of tender chocolate cake covered in a velvety chocolate frosting.
- If you like making tarts, this Chocolate Tart Crust is beyond delicious for holding your favorite cream or fruit fillings.
- Try these classic S’Mores Cookies that are gooey and so delicious.
- Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup Brownies combine that favorite combo of flavors baked into an easy bar cookie.
More Cookie Recipes
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Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
- 8 ounces bittersweet dark chocolate Chopped bar, wafers or chips
- 6 tablespoons butter
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- 1 large egg
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- ⅔ cup flour
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon instant espresso powder
- 6 ounces dark chocolate chips about 1 cup
Instructions
- Heat the oven to 350° F, and prepare your cookie sheets with either parchment paper or a silicon mat.
- Break up the 8 ounces of chocolate into smaller pieces and add the butter to a large mixing bowl set over simmering water (bain-marie). Stir often until completely melted and smooth.Note: I prefer to melt chocolate over a bain-marie so I don't have to worry about the chocolate burning in the microwave.
- Remove the bowl from the bain-marie and let cool for five minutes
- Add the sugar and egg to a large mixing bowl, and mix on medium speed for one minute.
- Add the melted chocolate and vanilla to the bowl, and mix for two minutes on medium speed to fully mix the ingredients.
- In a small bowl add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and espresso powder, mix well then add this to the chocolate butter mixture. Mix to incorporate the flour.
- Add the 6 ounces of chocolate chips and stir in with a heavy spoon.
- Using a 1-inch cookie scoop, drop the dough onto the cookie sheets. This is about one tablespoon of raw dough.
- Bake for 9 – 10 minutes or until the edges are set, and the centers are still slightly soft.
- Remove from oven and place on cooling racks.
- Store the cookies in an airtight container for several days.
Notes
- You can let the dough balls thaw on the cookie sheet and bake as directed in the recipe.
- To bake frozen cookie dough, place the frozen dough balls on the cookie sheet. Reduce the oven temperature to 325 degrees F., then add an extra 2-3 minutes to the baking time.
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Nutrition
First published: April 6, 2022. Last updated: March 17, 2025, for better readability.
I did something I hadn’t done for years since I was in the 4-H Club. I entered these cookies at the El Dorado County Fair. So now I can officially call these cookies Blue Ribbon Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies.
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About Jere’ Cassidy
From learning to cook on a farm in Indiana to culinary school in California, my passion for food is never-ending. Turning on my oven to bake something for friends and family is my happy place. I am glad to be sharing sweet and savory family-friendly recipes for your cooking and baking inspiration.
These chocolate cookies were packed with chocolate in every single bite! I baked them a little longer for crispy cookies (the hubs request…not mine!). They were a huge hit!
I was assigned to bring treats for our fam gathering, and I brought these dark chocolate cookies and I’m so glad they love them, especially my grandparents! So rich and delightful!
I am glad they were grandparent approved!
They look decadent and they are decadent and delicious.
Cannot keep them in the cookie jar longer than one day.
Soft and chewy and packed with wonderful chocolate,
Thank you