Dark Chocolate Chunk Cookies

Dark Chocolate Chunk Cookies are slightly crispy on the outside, with a moist and dense chocolaty centre. Stuffed with dark chocolate chunks and topped with a few too, these are substantial cookies, meaning that they are thick and filling. Great for dunking in a glass of cold milk too!

Let me start this post by saying that I do not care that much for dark chocolate on its own. In fact, whenever there’s dark chocolate present in our home, either John.e or McKenna will see that it doesn’t go to waste. They both love it! I can manage to eat it if it is baked into a cookie, like these Dark Chocolate Chunk Cookies, for instance. The cookie lessens the intensity of the dark chocolate, so it works very well for me!

These cookies are very different from most of the cookies I’ve shared with you at Lord Byron’s Kitchen. Most cookies are soft and moist, but these are not. The inside is very chocolaty, because of the addition of the cocoa and the dark chocolate chunks. And, even though the cookie melts in your mouth, it is not super moist and certainly not soft.

The outside of these cookies is firm. So, when you bite into one, the cookie will make a snapping sound when the crispy exterior is broken. But, as you chew, the dark chocolate melts in your mouth and that crispy bite of cookie turns into a chocolaty, melty mess and it’s absolutely delicious! Okay, let’s get into it!

DARK CHOCOLATE CHUNKS

If you have been reading my posts for any length of time, you might recall me stating on more than one occasion that I love a stocked pantry. You might also recall that John.e forgets what we already have at home when he does the grocery shopping. Just like he did with the eggs! Remember when I shared the story of having more eggs in our fridge than we could eat? The same thing happened with dark chocolate baking chunks.

For the past four years, I have shared a 24 Cookies of Christmas countdown here at Lord Byron’s Kitchen. When getting ready to develop that many recipes, I do a huge shopping trip, which means 20 pounds of flour, 20 pounds of sugar, lots of extra baking powder and baking soda, and at Christmastime, especially, lots of confectioner’s sugar. Well, chocolate is also purchased in bulk. I picked up four packets of the dark chocolate chunks with the intention of dipping my truffles into them, but I didn’t like the taste. John.e purchased four more packets, because they were on sale!

Fast forward to April, and there were still six packets of those dark chocolate chunks sitting in my pantry. They weren’t anywhere near their expiry date, but I was still trying to think of ways to use them. When I was asked to contribute baked goods to a local bake sale, I knew I could use up those chocolate chunks in a deep, rich, chocolatey cookie and get rid of them once and for all! That is exactly how Dark Chocolate Chunk Cookies were born!

ALL FOR A GOOD CAUSE!

A few weeks ago, one of the organizers of our local Delta Maple Syrup Festival, reached out to me to ask if I’d bake up a batch of cookies to help with fundraising at the book sale. (Hi Liz P.!) Of course, I agreed right away, because I’ve never been one to shy away from a good cause. I thought if I was going to bake cookies, I might as well come up with a new recipe and photograph the end result for the blog. Because the event was being held on Easter weekend, I thought something with lemon would be a good idea, because lemon reminds me of spring, and so does yellow! I made these Lemon Glazed Oatmeal White Chocolate Cookies, but I thought I should make something for chocolate lovers too!

Liz and I chatted back and forth via text, and either I was excited to help out, or I completely misread the conversation. She had asked if I would make a batch of cookies consisting of 36 or 48 and package them into lots of six. Somehow, I left that conversation thinking she had requested 36-48 lots. I wasn’t about to bake over 200 of the same type of cookie, so I came up with three different types, Dark Chocolate Chunk Cookies being one of them.

On baking day, after a few batches were already baked and cooling, I realized somewhere along the way that so many cookies were a tall order! I revisited the text conversation again, and much to my surprise, one batch of cookies was all Liz was asking for! When all was said and done, I had already baked two batches of each flavour, so I donated them all! I’ll be sharing the other two types of cookies with you at a later time as well.

DELTA MAPLE SYRUP FESTIVAL

I included this section just in case you’re interested. And, if you’re local, you might want to check out the event next year! Established in 1967, the Delta Maple Syrup Festival was the first maple celebration to be established in the area. In planning for Canada’s Centennial, a small group of dedicated volunteers met regularly in the Council Chambers at the Old Town Hall.

Originally, the festival was a three-day event held in March which included feeding pancakes and syrup to busloads of students on school trips. In order to keep up with the crowds, meals were served on both floors of the Old Town Hall. Visitors were able to tour local sugar bushes along with watching maple syrup being bottled and maple candy being made as well.

Over the years, the festival continued through the efforts of many local residents and service clubs before becoming a project for the Directors of the Delta Agricultural Society. And now, the tradition continues 55 years later!

INGREDIENTS NEEDED TO PREPARE THIS RECIPE

The following is a list of the ingredients needed to prepare these Dark Chocolate Chunk Cookies. For exact amounts and measurements, refer to the printable recipe card located near the bottom of this post.

• Butter – Make sure your butter is at room temperature! To be perfectly honest, I have made these with both salted and unsalted butter and there’s no difference in taste or appearance once all is said and done. Use what you have on hand.
• Brown Sugar – First of all, it has way more flavour than regular white sugar! And, in this recipe, brown sugar helps to keep the cookie moist and soft.
• Eggs – Whenever you set out to bake, make sure your eggs are at room temperature too – just like your butter!
• Vanilla Extract – Probably the most common extract and the most common flavouring used in cakes and cookies. 
• Flour – No need for anything special. Just use regular all-purpose flour. I have not tried this recipe with any other type of flour.
• Cocoa Powder – Cocoa powder is an unsweetened chocolate product which adds deep chocolate flavour to desserts and beverages.  Use a good quality cocoa powder, not the kind we used to stir into milk as kids!
• Baking Soda – Commonly known as sodium bicarbonate, or just bicarb, it is a baking ingredient that helps with leavening or rising. 
• Salt – This is a common ingredient in baking and cooking.  In baking, it helps to enhance and balance the sweetness. 
• Dark Chocolate Chunks – I use chocolate a lot in my recipes, and I change up the type depending on how I feel.  If you really don’t care for dark chocolate, you can switch out the dark chocolate chunks with milk, semi-sweet, or white chocolate too.
• Sanding Sugar – This is completely optional, but I love the look of it on the cookie!

SPEAKING OF COCOA POWDER

Cocoa powder is an unsweetened chocolate product which adds deep chocolate flavour to desserts and beverages.  Use a good quality cocoa powder, not the kind we used to stir into milk as kids! I have two types of cocoa that I use when baking. In cookies like these Dark Chocolate Chunk Cookies, just a regular, inexpensive cocoa powder will do just fine. Even though I don’t care for Hershey’s chocolate, I do like to use Hershey’s cocoa powder for cookies.

If, however, I’m making a cake or a cookie recipe with very few ingredients, I want to use better quality cocoa powder. For me, Fry’s Premium Quality Cocoa has all that I’m looking for. It has a stronger chocolatey scent than other cocoa powders. When it comes to flavour, Fry’s wins out again. The only thing that Fry’s doesn’t offer is a deeper, chocolatey colour like you see in the photos. I find that Hershey’s does a better job in terms of colour.

SANDING VS GRANULATED SUGAR

I use coarse sanding sugar quite often in my recipes, and I hope it hasn’t been too difficult for you to find. Sanding sugar is sometimes referred to as baking sugar, and there are some substitutes. You can use other sugars – which are basically the same, but named something differently – there’s pearl sugar and coarse sugar. You cannot, however, use granulated sugar. Let me explain why.

Whereas an individual granule of sanding sugar is large and hard, a single granule of granulated sugar is quite small. Sanding sugar will hold up to the heat in your oven without melting; granulated sugar will not.

You can find sanding sugar online, but it’s expensive in comparison to what you can find at a baking supply store. I buy most of my sanding sugar at Bulk Barn. They have just about every colour you will need!

HOW TO MAKE DARK CHOCOLATE CHUNK COOKIES

Begin by preheating your oven to 350 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with a silicone baking mat or parchment paper and set it aside. Next, in a mixing bowl, beat together the butter and the sugar until well combined. Then, add in the eggs and vanilla extract. Beat those into the butter and sugar mixture.

Sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt. Add these to the wet ingredients and mix until well incorporated. Next, stir in one cup of dark chocolate chunks. Portion out one heaping tablespoon of the cookie dough. Roll into a ball and place onto the prepared baking sheet. With the palm of your hand, flatten the ball to just under half of an inch thick. Top each cookie with a few of the remaining dark chocolate chunks. Sprinkle with sanding sugar, if using.

Repeat until you have used up all of the cookie dough, leaving two inches of space between each cookie. Bake for 12 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring them to a wire cooling rack to finish cooling.

STORING, PACKAGING, AND FREEZING

These cookies will stay fresh for about 3-5 days in a covered container and in a cool place. But, if you plan to freeze these cookies, use a food-safe container that can be frozen. You’ll want to ensure a very tight-fitting lid too. (I use these quite often when freezing baked goods.) I like to place a sheet of plastic wrap over the top of the container before pushing the lid on. This helps to create a better seal. The goal is to keep all of that cookie freshness locked in!

You can freeze these cookies for up to three months. They will come out of the freezer looking just like they did when you put them in there. Once you thaw them, they will taste just as fresh, and be just as soft, as the day you first baked them.

If you’re planning to share these cookies with your friends and neighbours, they make a lovely gift! Once they are completely cooled or thawed (if previously frozen), pile them into a food-safe container or a cellophane bag. Tie with a ribbon and you’re done!