I know, I know. Don’t all recipes claim to be the Perfect Chocolate Chunk Cookie?! I am well aware that Chocolate Chip Cookie recipes are a dime a dozen. But! I had a very specific kind of chocolate chunk cookie in mind when I started recipe testing this recipe. And these cookies are different from any that I’ve tried. It took a whole lot of recipe testing (I lost count) but I finally got them just right. They’re EXACTLY what I had in mind. A little crispy on the edges, deliciously chewy in the center and a good balance of salty and sweet. Ugh, they’re heavenly.
Chips vs. Chunks
I don’t know about you, but I totally prefer chunks to chips. I like how the chocolate chunks aren’t evenly dispersed and aren’t uniform in size. Less perfection, more interesting. Also, don’t skimp on the addition of bittersweet chocolate, it gives these cookies incredible depth of flavor. When you go to chop up your half of an ounce – an ounce of bittersweet chocolate, make sure of a couple of things:
- Mix it in thoroughly with the semi-sweet chocolate before adding the chocolate to the dough
- Take care to chop the bittersweet chocolate as evenly and as small as possible. No larger than the size of a pea. Trust, you don’t want to take a giant bite of bittersweet chocolate
Texture
I don’t know which one was harder to achieve. The texture or the balance of flavors. I played around with different amounts of baking soda and baking powder to achieve a slightly fluffier cookie but without losing the chew of a baking-soda-only cookie. Also, these cookies tend to break basically all of the traditional cookie rules:
- You can re-use the same hot pan, just follow the directions in the recipe so they bake evenly
- You don’t have to refrigerate the dough
- You will remove them immediately from the hot pan on to a marble slab (if you have one) or a cooling rack (if you don’t)
The last magical piece to the texture of these cookies comes from the sugary coating. I know, it sounds weird but trust me. SO. GOOD. Ya don’t want to skip it. I mean, you can if you want to. But don’t. You won’t look back. Go give them a try and let me know what you think!
Perfect Chocolate Chunk Cookies
Equipment
- Stand mixer
- Baking sheet
Ingredients
- 14 tbsp salted butter softened
- ¾ cup brown sugar
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- 1 egg plus 1 yolk
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2¼ cups all-purpose flour
- 1½ tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp salt
- 4 oz semi-sweet baking chocolate roughly chopped
Coating
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
Instructions
- Pre-heat oven to 375 and line a baking sheet with parchment paper
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, or in a large bowl using a hand mixer, add in the softened butter and both sugars. Mix on medium speed until well incorporated, about 4 minutes
- Add in egg, mix until combined. Add in yolk and vanilla extract and mix for another 2-3 minutes until fluffy
- Add in flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Mix until mostly combined.
- On a cutting board, roughly chop your chocolate. Pour into dough and mix until combined.
- Using a cookie or ice cream scoop or a tablespoon, spoon out 1.5-2 tablespoons of dough. Roll in your hands to form a ball, roll generously in sugar until well-coated and place on lined-cookie sheet 2″ apart. I typically bake off 6 at a time.
- Bake for exactly 7 minutes at 375, remove pan from oven, bang twice (yes, seriously) on top of your stove and then using a spatula, immediately remove cookies one at a time from baking sheet and place on to a cooling rack or marble slab. They will be floppy so I find using a quick slide motion to slide your spatula under the cookie is your best bet. I use a metal spatula for this as it gets really close to the pan. You could always just pull off your whole sheet of parchment paper and set it on a cooling rack as well.
- You could rotate baking pans or if you only want to use one this is what I do: roll the 6 balls and place on your countertop. When you have all 6 rolled out and coated in sugar, working as quickly as you can, place 2 at a time on your baking sheet and pop in the oven.
- Yields 26 cookies using ~ 1½ tablespoons of dough per ball
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