I often hear people saying that they want to reduce the sugar in a recipe, or they don’t want something to be “too sweet.” I’ve had cookies that are made with too much sugar and they taste grainy and unpleasant, but I don’t generally want to reduce the sugar in any other recipes. Sugar is a huge contributor to the texture of baked goods, helping to make things light and moist in some cases and densely fudgy in others. I try to aim for the “right” amount of sugar in a dessert, to give it a good flavor and texture without leaving you feeling like you need to eat a Saltine to cut the sweetness.
That said, if you simply don’t like your cookies, brownies or other chocolate goodies to be too sweet, these are probably going to be the cookies for you. They aren’t reduced sugar cookies, they just get a lot of their chocolate flavor from cocoa powder – and since cocoa powder has is naturally unsweetened and has a slightly bitter taste (when tasted plain, anyway), it definitely cuts the sweetness of the sugar in the cookies and leaves a great dark chocolate flavor. Since the sugar isn’t actually reduced, the cookies have a good chewy texture, too.
I used dark chocolate chips in my cookies just to keep the dark chocolate flavors going, but you can use any other type of chocolate chip you like. White chocolate chips would actually go quite well in these because their vanilla flavor would stand out against the darker cookie.
For the record, I think these cookies are “just right” in terms of sweetness, flavor and chocolatiness. They’re a bit on the grown up side, but are still amazing with a big glass of milk.
Dark Double Chocolate Cookies
1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp instant espresso powder (optional)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/4 cup semisweet or dark chocolate chips
Preheat oven to 350F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
In a medium bowl, sift together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt.
In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugar. Beat in egg, followed by vanilla extract. Gradually, with the mixer on low speed, blend in the flour mixture, stopping when no streaks of dry ingredients remain. Stir in chocolate chips.
Place rounded tablespoons of dough (about 1-inch balls) onto prepared baking sheet.
Bake for 10-12 minutes, until cookies begin to crack on the top.
Cool for 2 minutes on the baking sheet, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
Makes 2 1/2 dozen
Linda
June 6, 2008Great timing–I needed a good recipe for a chocolate-chocolate chip cookie in 2 weeks. Thanks for being psychic!
BMK
June 6, 2008Thanks for such a great recipe. These were delicious! A huge hit in my house. My husband said they were the best cookies I have made in a long time.
Susan
June 7, 2008I’ve been looking for a fudgy, chewy double chocolate cookie similar to that mall chain’s, Great American Cookie. This looks like it could be it, but of course, much better! 🙂
Kim
June 8, 2008These sound similar to a version of Double Chocolate Mint cookies I like to make pretty frequently. Check out the recipe [url]HERE[/url]!
Lisa in Poland
June 8, 2008I made these with white chocolate chunks and they are delicious–even though I had no butter and had to substitute margarine (I NEVER bake with margarine) and we don’t do coffee so I used some of the fake stuff (don’t know what it’s called in the States, the kind made from grain). Super yummy, especially if slightly underbaked. Mmmmm. Thanks for a great recipe!!
Alicia
June 10, 2008Can I do this without the chips?
Nicole
June 10, 2008Alicia – Yes you can, though you’ll be losing the “double” chocolate part of the recipe! You will also get fewer cookies from the batch and they may spread more.
Alicia
June 10, 2008Nicole-I was thinking of adding in cocoa nibs or chocolate covered espresso chunks.
Nicole
June 10, 2008Yum! Both those options sound great! Excellent subs for the chocolate chips.
Maggie
July 2, 2008I just made these to please my husband, who loves double chocolate cookies. And here I am gobbling them up! They are delicious, so moist and chewy, which I often find missing from this type of cookie. Bravo!
Dark Chocolate
July 3, 2008Healthy Chocolate is often given to others as a gift for some holidays. It is also proven to improve your mood due to releasing chemicals in your brain know as mood enhancers.
Linda
August 8, 2008Nicole,
Have you tried dutch cocoa with this recipe? Does it work or is it better to stick with natural cocoa?
Amanda
October 8, 2008I just made these last night only I use Hershey’s Special Dark cocoa and did half semi sweet chips and half orangey Craisins and wow. Yum! I had trouble sharing them with the office. These might be my new favorites, though it would a battle royale with the cheesecake cookies.
Danielle
December 20, 2008Thank you for being such an excellent recipe and recommendation resource (say that three times fast!)! I’m going to use this as a base for some Christmas cookies I’ve had in mind, topping them with Candy Cane Kisses a la peanut butter blossoms. I can’t wait!
Meg
February 16, 2009I just made these and they are perfect. I did 1/2 c. brown sugar and 1/2 c. white sugar; followed the rest of the recipe exactly. Thanks for the recipe!
ulterior epicure
March 12, 2009Meg (directly above): did that ratio of brown sugar yield a softer, chewier cookie?
Tammy
March 18, 2009I used Ghirardelli Chocolate Mocha powder, and boy was the result rich! I bake cookies a lot, but never have they gotten such raves! Thanks so much.
Jenny
August 19, 2009Great recipe! I should have read the comments beforehand and put more chips in, my cookies turned out flatter than the pictures. I’ll remember that tip about the chips helping the cookies not spread as much!
Nicole
October 11, 2009Greatest cookies I have made in a long time!!
thelazychef
May 30, 2010I managed to get a beautiful pack of Valhona cocoa powder and a pack of 55% dark choc nibs and decided to make this recipe as I’m not a fan of overly sweet stuff and your description sounded exciting – not too sweet but yet, nice chocolatey-ness. The smells while baking was terrific! The whole house smelled like chocolate!
Unfortunately, I still found cookies cloyingly sweet. 🙁 Maybe it’s our local tastebuds (I’m from Singapore!) and our preference for blander foods?
But nonetheless, the recipe is a keeper (though I’ll probably cut sugar till 2/3 cup or lesser!!)!
Tommy Toons
June 15, 2010I make this recipe using Black cocoa. For the chips I use a bag each of Ghiradelli 60% Dark chips and Reeses Peanut butter chips and just make a double batch. WOW!! The black coca make them EXTRA rich. I give out this recipe almost as much as I do the cookies. I hightly reccomend having a glass of cold milk close by.