Ingredients
Method
- Prep time is 20 minutes, chill time is 30 minutes, cook time is 10 minutes per batch, and this recipe makes about 24 cookies. Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper and set your oven to 350 degrees F once the dough has chilled.
- Place 3/4 cup of the semi-sweet chocolate chips and the butter in a microwave-safe bowl. Heat in 20-second bursts, stirring well each time, until smooth and glossy. Don't blast it all at once. Chocolate can scorch fast, and scorched chocolate smells sharp instead of cozy.
- Let the melted chocolate mixture cool for 5 minutes. It should still be loose, but not hot enough to cook the eggs. For a quick refresher on safe egg handling, I like the plain guidance from the FDA's egg safety page.
- In a large mixing bowl, beat the brown sugar, granulated sugar, eggs, and vanilla for 2 minutes on medium speed. The mixture should look lighter and a little thick, almost like a thin caramel sauce. This step helps give the cookies those pretty crackly tops.
- Pour in the cooled melted chocolate and beat just until combined. Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl with a spatula because chocolate likes to hide down there.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt. Cocoa can clump, so break up any little pockets with the whisk. You can read more about cocoa styles from Wikipedia's Dutch process cocoa overview, but for this recipe plain unsweetened cocoa works just fine.
- Add the dry ingredients to the chocolate mixture and mix on low speed until no dry streaks remain. The dough will be soft and shiny, closer to brownie batter than sugar cookie dough. Fold in the remaining 1/4 cup semi-sweet chips and the mini chocolate chips.
- Cover the bowl and chill the dough for 30 minutes. This is the step people skip, and then the cookies spread into thin chocolate pancakes. If your kitchen is warm, chill for 45 minutes.
- Scoop the dough into 1 1/2 tablespoon portions and set them 2 inches apart on the prepared baking sheets. If the dough sticks to the scoop, wipe it with a lightly damp paper towel between scoops.
- Bake one sheet at a time for 9 to 11 minutes. The edges should look set, the tops should be cracked, and the centers should still look a touch soft. Pull them before they look fully done. They finish setting on the hot pan.
- Sprinkle with a little flaky salt while warm, if using. Let the cookies rest on the baking sheet for 8 minutes, then move them to a cooling rack. For general baking measurement help, the King Arthur Baking ingredient weight chart is handy when you want more exact results.
Notes
Measure the flour by spooning it into the cup and leveling it off. Use room temperature eggs, chill the dough, and do not overbake; the centers should look slightly underdone when removed from the oven. Use parchment paper instead of greasing the pan. Store cooled cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 4 days, or freeze baked cookies for up to 2 months. The dough can also be frozen in scooped portions and baked from frozen at 350 degrees F, adding 1 to 2 minutes to the bake time. For a peanut butter variation, press 1/2 teaspoon of peanut butter into each dough ball before baking. Keep additional mix-ins to about 3/4 cup total.