The Best Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies

I know, I know – I’m always suspicious when a recipe calls itself “the best” too – it’s hard to be the best! And what does that even mean?? For me, the best means the best tasting of course, but also a recipe that is simple and accessible. Because I know you can make something amazing when there’s hours and effort involved, but it’s hard to say the same for a 30 minute recipe. So that’s what these cookies are to me – the ultimate chocolate chocolate chip cookie recipe, in the simplest format and the lowest amount of time.

These double chocolate cookies, in their simplicity, are just good.

So what makes these chocolate-chocolate chip cookies the best? Well first, we have a brown butter base – which is to die for. Next – we are using two whole bars of really high quality dark chocolate. Third, they have a crinkly top that will remind you of your favorite brownies (not to mention the fudgey center). And of course, I use a baking technique where we do a short amount of time at a high temperature, ensuring your cookies will be crisp on the edges and gooey in the center. Every. Dam*. Time.

Read on for more on how to make these the best chocolate chocolate chip cookies you’ve ever had.

Let’s talk about chocolate chocolate chip cookies

I had to poll people when I asked, “do you call these double-chocolate chip cookies or chocolate chocolate chip cookies?” And that’s when I learned the real distinction of this recipe. A double-chocolate chip cookie is where there is just double the amount of chocolate chips, where a chocolate chocolate chip cookie recipe requires a true, and delicious, chocolatey dough.

But sometimes I feel like these recipes forget the dough aspect, and just throw some cocoa powder in the dry ingredients and call it a day. But not on this blog, dear readers. Here, we take the chocolate aspect very seriously.

This chocolate chocolate chip cookie uses a whole bar of dark chocolate in the dough. We choose to melt it with the brown butter, to make sure it is evenly distributed and easy to mix. And that is exactly what makes these the best chocolate chocolate chip cookies on the internet.

Kitchen tools I recommend to make the best chocolate chocolate chip cookies

As mush as I say you can make cookies with whatever tools you have in your kitchen (and trust me, you can!) there are a few things I recommend to make your life easier – especially with these chocolate chocolate chip cookies.

• A stand mixer or an electric mixer – this is important for any kind of cookie recipe. This is because a mixer helps you whip together butter and sugar, essentially “aerating” the butter and giving you a lighter, more tender cookie. If you are looking to get serious about baking, I highly recommend investing in an electric mixer! You can find my stand mixer and hand mixer recommendations linked here!
• Parchment paper – If you watch my TikToks (which you should, they are so fun!) you know I am a huge fan of parchment paper. It keeps your pans clean, it is the perfect way to create a non-stick surface, plus it is the best for cookie baking. A lot of times when you don’t have a nonstick pan, you need to spray or grease a cookie sheet to make sure nothing sticks, but even that greasing can mess with the cookies. To play it safe, I recommend stocking up on some parchment paper in the kitchen. You can even get it pre-cut to match the size of your baking sheet. Too easy!
• Cooling rack – A cooling rack is an essential piece of baking equipment if you ask me, and not just for this recipe! The reason is, when you take a hot pan out of the oven, the cookies on the pan continue to cook even when they are out of the oven’s heat. This is because of the residual heat from the pan. So when you move them to a cooling rack, you minimize this aspect of the baking process and have more control over how the cookie bakes. You can find my favorite cooling rack here.
• Kitchen scale – Ok, ok, I’m not going to rant about this any longer, but you know I love grams! For the best results in any cookie recipe, you gotta switch to measuring ingredients by weight (or at least try to!) I’ve listed out cups and grams in the recipe, but here’s a great (and affordable) kitchen scale if you think you are ready to invest.

Ingredients for this chocolate chocolate chip cookie recipe

Ok, so now that we have the tools covered, here is everything you need for this recipe. Like I stated in the opening of the blog post, the point of this recipe is to give you the best flavor with the lowest effort, and that includes simple ingredients. Here is everything you need:

• 16 tbsp unsalted butter, 226 grams
• 1/2 cup loosely packed dark brown sugar, 80 grams
• 1 cup white sugar, 220 grams
• 1 large egg
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 tbsp espresso or strongly brewed coffee
• 2 cups & 2 tbsp flour, 300 grams
• 7 tbsp dutch processed cocoa, 42 grams
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp Diamond Crystal kosher salt, 1/2 tsp if using Morton’s
• 2 bars of 70% dark chocolate, 113 grams each

Now let’s get started on making the chocolate dough

The chocolate dough is so important to this chocolate chocolate chip cookie recipe. It’s what gives it a deep fudgey flavor that you’d still have even without any chocolate chunks added. So first we start by browning butter and then adding it into the chocolate to melt.

What is the benefit of using brown butter?

Brown butter is an amazing ingredient, especially in baked goods like this banana bread. It adds a rich, deep, caramelized flavor that you can’t get with normal butter, and that’s because we are essentially “toasting” the milk solids in brown butter as we cook it.

What happens when we brown butter, is that the butter separates into water and milk solids. Butter is actually about 22% water and 78% milk solids (baking math, fun!) and the milk solids are what create the dark, rich tones of brown butter.

Now for the wet ingredients

I recommend creaming together the softened butter with the sugars first, before adding the egg and the browned butter chocolate mixture. This will give you a smooth base to start the aeration process of the wet ingredients, making them light and fluffy.

You’ll want to beat together all of the wet ingredients until they look fluffy like in the below photo.

The quick trick for the dry ingredients for the best chocolate chocolate chip cookie recipe

Now for the dry ingredients – we are using dutch processed cocoa powder to add even more richness to the dough. This is what makes these cookies rich in chocolate flavor, on multiple levels.

A trick here is to sift your dry ingredients if you see any lumps and clumps. Dutch process cocoa powder has a tendency to clump up, and you don’t want to find any pockets of dry cocoa powder when you mix your dough, so sifting is the best way to mitigate that.

The best way to bake these chocolate chocolate chip cookies

I recommend a 400°F oven for this recipe because a hot oven does two things:

• It ensures that your cookies will be crisp on the edges but still gooey on the center, and
• It helps create a crinkly cookie top, which is my signature look and what I think is the prettiest way to make a cookie.

This is because the high temperature of the oven hits the outside of the cookie first, but doesn’t fully cook the inside before the cookie is done. This allows the residual heat from the cookie baking process to continue to cook the cookie out of the oven, giving it the perfect texture, even after they’ve been stored for a few days.

Looking for similar cookie recipes?

Here are others that people go NUTS for!

And that’s everything for the best chocolate chocolate chip cookie recipe!

If you make it, please tag me on Pinterest or Instagram so I can see! It’s my favorite thing to scroll through stories and see what you all are making.

And of course feel free to leave any questions, comments or reviews! This is the best place to reach me, and I’d love to hear from you <3