These dark chocolate chunk cookies are made from a bar of dark chocolate and simple ingredients. Not too sweet and easy to make, these cookies can be on their way to your mouth in just about an hour (short chill time included)!
Ingredients for Dark Chocolate Chunk Cookies
The most important ingredient in these cookies is the dark chocolate. The higher quality your chocolate, the better the end result will be. I use Trader Joe’s Pound Plus, as it’s priced like a budget chocolate but tastes and performs like a high-quality chocolate. (Not a sponsored post, just a diehard Trader Joe’s fan.)
These ingredients are simple and probably already in your pantry and fridge!
- Dark chocolate, preferably from a high-quality chocolate bar
- Salted butter
- Brown sugar
- Granulated sugar
- Vanilla extract
- Eggs
- All purpose flour
- Salt
- Baking soda
- Baking powder
- Flaky sea salt, like Maldon’s
Quick Tips for Prepping Dark Chocolate Chunk Cookies
Because of the dark chocolate in these cookies (instead of the traditional milk or semisweet chocolate), these chocolate chunk cookies aren’t too sweet. That makes this a great recipe for anyone who wants a chocolate chip cookie that isn’t very sweet.
How to Chop a Bar of Chocolate
Chopping dark chocolate can be a little tricky if you’ve never done it before. I like using a sharp chef’s knife like this one from Wusthof. Break up your chocolate into the individual squares, then use the knife to chop the chocolate in 1/4″ rows in one direction. Rotate the cutting board 90°, then chop in 1/4″ rows again.
The final chunks won’t be exact, but that’s part of the beauty of chopping your own chocolate! If any are too large, chop them in half until you are happy with the size.
How to Cream Together Butter and Sugar (Like a Pro)
I like to cream the butter and sugar together for no less than three minutes until the mixture is light and fluffy. Then, beat in your egg and vanilla until the mixture is light and fluffy once more, for at least another minute. This incorporates plenty of air into the dough, which gives the cookies small air pockets in the final product and prevents them from feeling too dense.
Many recipes call for room temperature eggs, but I actually prefer to use slightly cold eggs for cookies, especially if it’s warm outside. After creaming, the butter can get a little warm. Adding a slightly cold egg to the mixture cools down the butter slightly and sets you up for cookie success.
For perfectly even cookies, pack a cookie scoop full of dough and press out any air in the scoop. Then, peel off any excess dough so that you’re left with a flat top (or bottom, I guess). This will ensure all cookies are identical in size.
Depending on the size of your scoop, this recipe can make anywhere from 30 to 7 cookies with varying bake times. I use a medium cookie scoop, and this recipe makes about 14 cookies. I like the medium cookie scoop from this set.
Can I Substitute Dark Chocolate Chips in this Recipe?
Yes, you can substitute chocolate chips if you don’t have a dark chocolate bar on hand. I prefer to use a chopped up bar of chocolate because I love the inconsistency and surprise in every bite (will this bite have a huge chunk of chocolate?). If that’s not your thing, feel free to use dark chocolate chips instead.
Do I Need to Top the Cookies with Flaky Salt?
Ultimately, no, but you are truly missing out if you’ve never sprinkled flaky sea salt on a freshly baked cookie! The sea salt brings out the complexities in the dark chocolate and balances out some of the sweetness. Basically, it makes it easier to eat two or three at a time. 😉
Dish Cleanup: Not Too Bad
I rate my recipe cleanups on a scale of 1 to 5. 1 is only a handful of dishes, and 5 is everything including the kitchen sink.
This dark chocolate chunk cookies recipe has a cleanup rating of a 2. Chopping up the chocolate yourself adds a couple more dishes with the knife and cutting board, but it’s worth the extra effort by far. If you make this at home and don’t measure your ingredients into prep bowls for photos like I did, you’ll have even fewer dishes to do by the end!
I don’t include the baking sheets in the dishes because they are lined with parchment paper and typically don’t get soiled. Anything on my parchment rarely bleeds through to the baking sheet. If it does, I wash it off, but the pans came out clean for these cookies!
Dark Chocolate Chunk Cookies Recipe
Dark Chocolate Chunk Cookies
The hunt for perfection stops here: These dark chocolate chip cookies aren't too sweet, have a light crunch on the edges, and stay a little gooey in the center.
Ingredients
- 6 oz good quality dark chocolate, like Trader Joe's Pound Plus (170g)
- ½ cup butter, at room temperature (1 stick, 113g)
- ½ cup brown sugar, packed (95g)
- ½ cup granulated sugar (100g)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 egg
- 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour (195g)
- ½ teaspoon salt (6g)
- ½ teaspoon baking soda (3g)
- ½ teaspoon baking powder (2g)
Instructions
- Chop the chocolate bar into rough chunks, with the largest about the size of a large blueberry.
- Combine the flour, salt, baking soda, and baking powder in a medium bowl and mix together. (To cut down on dishes, I use the spatula I plan to scrape the sides of the bowl down with later.) Set the bowl aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer (or large bowl, if using a hand mixer), cream together the butter and both sugars for 3 minutes until the mixture is light and fluffy.
- Add in the egg and vanilla extract and beat for another 2 minutes until the mixture is even fluffier. Scrape down the sides of the bowl if needed.
- Add in the flour mixture and beat together until mostly incorporated, about 1 minute maximum. Don't overmix, as that can overdevelop the gluten and cause a tough cookie.
- Add in the chocolate chunks and stir together with a spatula until the chunks are evenly dispersed throughout the dough. Cover the dough and place in the fridge for at least half an hour and up to 72 hours. Chilling the dough will reharden the butter so that the cookies don't spread quite as much in the oven, leaving you with a perfectly shaped cookie every time. And, as a bonus, it better hydrates the flour and marinates, resulting in a much more flavorful cookie!
- Once you're ready to bake the dough, preheat the oven to 375°F/190°C. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.
- When the dough has chilled, use a medium-sized cookie scoop to scoop the cookies onto the parchment 3 inches apart (six cookies on a half-sheet pan).*
- Bake the cookies one pan at a time for 9-11 minutes, or until the edges are a light golden brown.
- Optional: Right after the cookies have come out of the oven, I like to pick up the parchment paper at the opposite corners a few inches and then let it drop a couple times. This flattens the cookies out and gives them that beautiful craggy top. Then top with a sprinkle of flaky sea salt to finish.
- Let them cool directly on the pan for at least half an hour before moving them.
Notes
*If you don't have a cookie scoop, you can roll the dough into balls from 2 Tablespoons' worth of dough.
Store in an air-tight container at room temperature for up to 7 days or freeze for up to 6 months.
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Nutrition Information:
Yield:
15Serving Size:
1 cookieAmount Per Serving: Calories: 231Total Fat: 10gSaturated Fat: 6gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 3gCholesterol: 30mgSodium: 187mgCarbohydrates: 32gFiber: 1gSugar: 18gProtein: 3g
The nutrition facts are estimated and may vary based on specific ingredients used.
Thanks for trying out my dark chocolate chunk cookie recipe! I’d love to see how it turns out: Take a photo and tag me on Instagram @floralapronblog to share with me, or use the hashtag #floralapronbakes.
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Other Recipes You May Enjoy
This is my first cookie recipe on the blog, but I have plenty of other recipes you’ll love.
My no-bake protein granola bars don’t require turning on the oven and are great for breakfasts, snacks, or even a well-balanced dessert!
In the mood for something with warm spices? My caramel chai muffin recipe is a fall-favorite and an easy bake for beginners.
Looking for a more complex cookie recipe? Check out all of my macaron recipes! You’re sure to find something that hits the spot.
And just a bonus cookie dough shot for ya as a thanks for getting this far:
If I only.half the recipe, do I use the whole egg or only the yolk? Last time my cookies didn’t spread, what clubs the problem?
Hi Felicia,
Using the whole egg but only half of the other ingredients would cause the ratios to be off. To halve the recipe with best results, I would add half of the weight of a whisked egg in grams to the batter. Alternatively, you may try using just a yolk, but I haven’t tried that with this specific recipe.
If your cookies didn’t spread, you may be using too much flour. At room temperature, before chilling, the dough shouldn’t feel very firm and will easily give way when pressed with your finger. If it resists or feels pretty thick, that’s a good sign there was probably too much flour. It’s really easy to accidentally pack flour into the measuring cup, so I recommend fluffing the flour with a spoon, then scooping it into your measuring cup and leveling off the top. Or, for even more reliable results, use a kitchen scale!
Hope those tips are helpful for you! Happy baking 🙂