Chocolate Marble Cookies

 By and large, cookie doughs tend to be all one flavor – usually chocolate or vanilla. It’s easy to throw some chocolate chips into cookie dough if you want to add a bit of chocolate to your baking, but since marble cakes represent one of the best ways to feature chocolate and vanilla in the same cake, why not marble two different cookie doughs to get the same effect in one cookie?

This cookie recipe was originally from Tish Boyle’s The Good Cookie (a fantastic source for cookie inspiration) and it is noteworthy for two reasons. The first is that the cookies taste amazing. They are tender, chewy, buttery and vey chocolaty. As much as I enjoyed the swirl, I made an effort to get separate bites of chocolate and vanilla, to better appreciate the difference between the two flavors – not that there is anything wrong with just munching straight through, mind you.

The second reason is that the cookies are very easy to make. Unlike many marble cookie recipes, which frequently call for two separate doughs to be created, this one starts with one basic dough . The dough is split in two and cocoa powder is added to about half to create the chocolate portion of the cookie. There is enough butter in the dough that the extra mixing needed to incorporate the cocoa powder prevents the finished cookie from being tough.

I used some good-quality semisweet chocolate chips to finish these off, but you could use coarsely chopped chocolate chunks instead, which would give the cookies a slightly different look as the smaller bits distributed themselves throughout the white dough. Or, opt for a mixture of dark and white chocolate chips to really highlight the two-tone look of these cookies.

Chocolate Marble Cookies
2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 cup butter, soft
3/4 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup white sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 large eggs
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1/2 tsp instant coffee powder (optional)
12-oz chocolate chips (2 generous cups)

Preheat oven to 375F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda and salt.
In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar. Beat in vanilla, then add in the eggs one at a time. Working at low speed, gradually beat in the flour mixture. Remove 1 3/4 cup of the dough into the now empty medium bowl.
Add cocoa powder (and coffee powder, if using) to the remaining dough in the large mixing bowl and beat to combine. Divide chocolate chips in two and stir half in to each of the two mixing bowls.
Take about 1 tbsp of dough from each bowl and press together. Place on prepared baking sheet, leaving 2-3 inches between each cookie (they will spread).
Bake for 8-10 min, until the white dough is just gold around the edges.
Cool completely on a wire rack.

Makes 3-4 dozen.