These chocolate cookies are deeply chocolatey and fudgy. Crisp around the edges (or all the way through if you bake them long enough) they will please the chocolate lovers in your life. The version I'm sharing has lots of mix-ins: white chocolate chips, dried tart cherries, and toasted pecans. Make them the way I did, or do your own thing. You can even bake them without mixins, but note you will end up with fewer cookies than stated in the recipe.
84gramscocoa powder (not Dutch process)3 oz or about 1 cup
1teaspoonbaking powder
¾teaspoonbaking soda
280gramsunsalted butter, at cool room temperature10 oz or 2 1/2 sticks
308gramsdark brown sugar11 oz or 1 1/3 cup packed
2teaspoonsinstant coffee or espresso powder
2teaspoonsvanilla extract
1teaspoonkosher saltI use Morton's
2large eggsat cool room temperature
112gramspecans, toasted and chopped4 oz or about 1 cup, optional
168gramswhite chocolate baking chips6 oz about a 1 cup, optional
140gramstart dried cherries5 oz or about 1 cup, optional
Instructions
Line 2 half-sheet pans with parchment. You'll use each one twice. Set your oven racks in the top and bottom thirds of the oven and heat to 350F.
Whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and cocoa powder in a medium bowl. Set aside.
In the bowl of your stand mixer or in a large bowl using a hand mixer, cream butter, brown sugar, instant coffee, vanilla, and salt together until nice and creamy.
Thoroughly beat in each egg, one at a time, making sure the first is completely incorporated before adding the next. Scrape the bowl as necessary.
Add in the dry ingredients and mix on low speed until mostly mixed. There will still be some loose flour in the bowl, but the dough will be coming together. Scrape the bowl as necessary.
Dump in your mix-ins--pecans, white chips, and cherries--and mix until evenly distributed and there is no more loose flour. Dough will be sticky
Using a 2 Tablespoon cookie scoop, portion out into 12 cookies per pan. Flatten each cookie slightly with a spatula. Sprinkle on a few flakes of finishing salt if you'd like. Refrigerate the remaining dough.
Bake for 14-17 minutes, depending on how crispy you'd like the edges, rotating pans 180 degrees and switching racks after about 8 minutes.
Allow cookies to cool on the pans for 2 minutes before removing to cooling racks to cool completely.
Repeat steps 7-9 with remaining dough.
Notes
Yield
If you decide not to use mix-ins, you will end up with closer to 3 dozen cookies.
Variations
Here are some ideas for variations to get your started:
Minty Chocolate Cookies: Add 3-4 drops of peppermint oil to the dough. Use crushed candy canes and peppermint bark as the mix-ins
Cherry Chocolate Cookies: Substitute chopped red and green glace cherries for the mix-ins called for in the recipe
Chocolate Cashew Cookies: Add the zest of one orange to the dough and substitute chopped toasted cashews for the mix-ins called for in the recipe
Triple Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies: Swap out a mixture of dark, milk, and white chocolate chips for the mix-ins called for
Storage
To store, keep tightly covered at room temperature for up to five days.For longer storage, keep in zip-top freezer bags. Be sure to press out as much air as possible before sealing. The cookies will keep well for up to 3 months.