Written by: Natalie Faella, MS, RDN, LDN | February 4, 2022
I don't know how you feel, but if it doesn't have chocolate in it — I don't want it for dessert! I am definitely a dark chocolate lover, which is another thing I can thank my mom for. I can't exactly remember when it was, but whenever she first introduced me to dark chocolate I know I loved it and have been hooked since.
I am more of a 70% cocoa girl, but enjoy the lower percentages and occasionally the higher ones too. Don't get me wrong — I will still eat milk chocolate (especially in the form of Reeses and M&Ms) but there is just something so satisfying about the rich taste of dark chocolate. That must be why I really love this cookie recipe. This is a great one if you are a chocolate lover or have a chocolate-lover Valentine!
Another great thing about it — it's also fairly simple and hard to mess up. Making it literally the perfect cookie recipe for me.
Side note: if you hear that diet-culture voice come up when looking at this recipe, which can easily happen when reading recipes that call for butter, sugar, chocolate (you know, things you usually bake with), try not to let it ruin the experience for you. Desserts are meant to be enjoyed. Ingredients like butter, sugar, and chocolate give them a rich, luscious taste. You don't have to make "healthy substitutes" and swap out butter for yogurt, or sugar for applesauce, and live a life full of bland desserts.
Plus, when you really break it down, like with this recipe for example — 2 cookies don't even equate to the amount of butter you'd put on one piece of toast, or the amount of sugar Mary Poppins recommends to help the medicine go down. Just saying.
Now that we've covered that, here is the recipe!
Makes: 24-28 Cookies
Ingredients:
1/2 Cup Cocoa Powder (I use Hershey's Dark Cocoa Powder)
1 Cup Sugar (White/Cane Sugar)
1/2 Cup Butter (melted)
3 Tbsp Avocado or Coconut Oil (melted)
2 tsp Vanilla Extract
1 Egg
1 1/3 Cup All Purpose Flour
1/2 tsp Baking Powder
1/2 tsp Sea Salt
1/4 Cup Chocolate Chunks
1/4 Cup Mini Chocolate Chips
Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350°F.
In a large bowl, mix cocoa powder, sugar, melted butter and oil until well combined. Then mix in vanilla extract and egg until fully incorporated. (I just used a spatula to mix everything)
In a separate bowl, mix dry ingredients together: flour, baking powder, and salt.
Combine dry and wet ingredients. It helps to add half of the dry mixture to the wet first, and then once almost combined, add the rest of the dry mixture in and mix until combined. Dough will feel more thick/tough compared to a traditional cookie dough.
Add chocolate chips and mix into dough. (Sometimes I use my hands to form the dough with the chips added).
Scoop out a heaping tablespoon of dough and use the tablespoon to form dough into a ball (see video below). Place formed cookie dough balls on greased cookie sheet or Silpat (on cookie sheet). Cookies will not spread much while baking so it's OK if they are close to each other.
Gently press cookie dough balls to slightly flatten. (To keep cookies formed, you may need to reshape after pressing, or hold circle shape with one hand while gently pressing with the other).
Bake cookies for 10-12 minutes. (The perfectionist in me bakes them for 11-minutes exactly). They will look soft, but will continue to cook/harden while cooling.
Let cookies cool on cookie sheet for 10-minutes before transferring to wire cooling rack.
Enjoy!!
Stay tuned for more recipes and my anti-diet approach to wellness by subscribing here. And check out the process of making these delicious cookies below!
Formed dough with chips. It will feel a bit dry and tough but don't worry!
Making cookie dough balls:
It's OK to place them close to each other — they won't spread much!
Pressed & formed cookies:
Impatiently waiting for them to cool....
About to enjoy!
