Fudgy and slightly crunchy Double Chocolate Chip Cookies which uses both real chocolate and cocoa, plus chocolate chips for a totally chocolate affair!
Double Chocolate Chip Cookies
If you are looking for THE best ever cookie recipe, look no further. Be prepared to swoon once you try these Double Chocolate Chip Cookies.
Any recipe which calls for a heart-stopping amount of chocolate (like 500 g) is certain to provide relief from whatever it is that is causing you to seek solace in something sweet. This particular chocolate chip cookie recipe comes from Nigella Lawson’s Nigella Express, which comes via Elinor Klivans.
Chocolate Chips
Having travelled a fair bit to the US in the past few years, I can never resist coming back with a few kilos of chocolate chips each time, especially flavours not easily found outside of the US, such as peppermint, caramel, butterscotch and – my favourite – Reese’s peanut butter chips.
Actually, up until only very recently, chocolate chips didn’t even exist in Switzerland! Despite being the land of chocolate, the world-reknowned chocolate factories here do not produce chocolate chips for baking, a rather curious fact which I have brought up on several occasions when chatting to my Swiss neighbour.
By some foodie miracle, I found myself living in the same building as someone who has the enviable job of working on the production floor at Lindt, and whose warm and generous spirit keeps me in a constant supply of “dodgy” chocolates and excess truffles. To say that I am lucky to be his neighbour is a great understatement. Anyway, I digress …
The Swiss baking repertoire does not traditionally include muffins and chocolate-filled biscuits and, hence, there is no local need for chocolate chips except to produce those baked goods which the expats are so fond of.
But recently, some supermarkets started to stock a limited range of chocolate chips (made in Germany) and Schokoladewürfeli – a distinctively Swiss name for little cubes of chocolate.
After cleaning out the kitchen recently, I was rather alarmed at my stash of chocolate in the pantry. I had been accumulating bags of chocolate chips like some people would (more sensibly) stock up on tinned tomatoes in the event of a war.
In fact, my neighbour would have been insulted by my vast collection of American chocolate. And with the expiry date approaching on many of the bags, I recently had the arduous task of incorporating chocolate chips into my baking wherever I could.
How to Make Double Chocolate Chip Cookies
Usually, I make these Double Chocolate Chip Cookies with Nestlé semi-sweet chocolate chips in the “normal size”. This time, I only had the “mini” version in the same flavour, but they still worked wonderfully in this recipe.
If you stick to good-quality cocoa and 70% chocolate (or semi-sweet chocolate), you should find that these cookies ooze deep, dark chocolatiness as opposed to being sickly sweet. To that end, I think this recipe works best with dark chocolate.
In fact, I have used this recipe so often and fiddled with the chocolate content so much that I can confirm that milk chocolate would not give the same results; they will still be good, but then you do really need a glass of milk alongside to wash down the sweetness.
Nigella recommends making a full batch and forming all of the cookies, but then only baking half of the batch and freezing the rest to bake at a later time. This is a brilliant idea, although if you bake the full batch, they keep rather well in an airtight tin and you will have no trouble finishing them anyway.
I baked a full batch and gave some to my neighbour who had no trouble identifying the foreign chocolate 😉
PrintDouble Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Prep Time: 15 mins
- Cook Time: 20 mins
- Total Time: 35 minutes
- Yield: Makes about 18 cookies
- Category: Cookies
- Cuisine: American
Fudgy and slightly crunchy Double Chocolate Chip Cookies which uses both real chocolate and cocoa, plus chocolate chips for a totally chocolate affair! Recipe adapted from Nigella Express by Nigella Lawson
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RateIngredients
- 4 oz (125 g) dark chocolate, 70% cocoa
- 1 cup (150 g) plain flour
- 1/4 cup (30 g) cocoa, sifted
- 1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 stick (125 g) unsalted butter, softened
- 1/2 cup (75 g) light brown sugar
- 1/4 cup 50 g caster sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 egg, cold from the fridge
- 2 cups (350 g) dark chocolate chips, 70% cocoa
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 325°F (170°C).
- Line a baking tray with greaseproof paper.
- Melt the 4oz (125 g) dark chocolate either in the microwave or in a bain-marie (a heatproof dish over a pan of simmering water). Set the chocolate aside to cool slightly.
- Measure the plain flour, cocoa, bicarbonate of soda and salt into a bowl.
- Cream the butter with the light brown sugar and caster sugar, either with a wooden spoon or with a stand mixer.
- Add the melted chocolate and mix together, followed by the vanilla extract and egg.
- Add the dry ingredients and mix until everything is well incorporated.
- Finally, stir in the dark chocolate chips.
- Use either your hands or an ice-cream scoop to form rounds of dough a bit bigger than the size of a golf ball. I use an ice-cream scoop with produces about 18 cookies from this recipe.
- Place the rounds of dough on the lined baking tray but do not flatten them.
- Bake the cookies for about 15-18 minutes, making sure that you do not overbake them because they will taste bitter.
- Leave the cookies to cool slightly on the baking tray for about 5 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to cool.
Kitchen Notes
OVEN TEMPERATURES
All recipes on this website state temperatures for a regular oven (i.e. a conventional oven without fan). If you have a convection oven with a fan, please consult the manufacturer’s handbook on how to adjust the temperature and baking time accordingly.
CONVERSIONS
To convert from cups to grams, and vice-versa, please see this handy Conversion Chart for Basic Ingredients.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 18
- Calories: 235 per cookie
- Sugar: 12.1g
- Sodium: 110.1mg
- Fat: 15g
- Carbohydrates: 22.9g
- Fiber: 3g
- Protein: 31.g
- Cholesterol: 24.5mg
I wouldn’t refuse *any* chocolate chip cookie, but these dark beauties look particularly worth my attention. I must find an excuse to make them soon…
Liz, no excuse necessary 😉
These really are the ultimate chocolate cookies ! And they are MAMMOTH sized too haha! Beautiful pictures ..its a given with you! How lucky to be living with someone who has an endless supply of chocolate for you! But then again its only fair as he has you for his neighbour too!
Maybe they look big in the photo but I think these cookies are normal-sized? I use a smaller ice-cream scoop than Nigella so I get 18 cookies out of the recipe whereas she makes 12. We’re good friends with our neighbours here so hopefully he’ll forgive me for being a fan of American chocolate 😉
Gorgeous cookies. Nigella’s recipe is always so good.
Thanks Anita! Have you tried this recipe also? I know you’re also a fan of Nigella 🙂
What a brilliant post Creme! And lucky you to have a direct conduit to free Lindt choccie, misfit or not! These are the deepest darkest of choc chic muffins with an oozy belly that can certainly cure any ills of the human condition as Nigella herself claims ;). I do find it unbelievable that you live in the land of chocolate yet the ranges are so limited, such a shame x
It is rather odd that the range here is limited compared to what is available in other countries, but the tastes here are also different which I completely understand. That’s what makes Switzerland such an interesting country to live in 🙂
Wow – what a stunning photo Thanh and I agree, I think these are without doubt the best chocolate cookies around! I use (ssshhh – don’t tell your neighbour) Belgian chocolate chips and they are so good!
I made these for my oldest son’s male teacher at the end of the last school year and he has not stopped singing their praises!
Claudine xx
Thanks Claudine!! Ooh what brand are these Belgian chocolate chips?? As you might have noticed, I love ALL chocolate! 🙂 I think these cookies would also be perfect as gifts – you could certainly use them to your advantage if need be 😉
Sorry Thanh – I’ve only just seen your question!! They are by Bouchard and I get them in whopping 750 tubs from Costco… Seriously good they are too! 😉
Such a beautiful photo! I love this recipe.
And lucky you having a ‘chocolate’ neighbour!!!! 😀
Hi Anna! Indeed, very lucky 😀 I didn’t mention this above but, for our wedding, he gave us a HUGE box of Lindt chocolates with a bar of chocolate in the centre which was customised with our names on it!!! Seeing our names on a Lindt chocolate bar was truly something!
Wonderful post Thanh, gorgeous photos, stunningly rich and dark. I feel myself reaching for an ice cold glass of milk and that’s just looking at your cookies!!
These really are the ultimate cookie recipe! Your pictures certainly show them in all their beauty. I want to go into the kitchen and make them right now!
I had to laugh when you mentioned stocking up on chocolate. I’m sitting here looking at 50 lbs of the stuff. Needless to say I can put it to good use by trying out this recipe. It looks great.
Phew! It’s not just me 😉 I hope you will get a chance to try these cookies – they are addictive!
Oooh, this looks SO good!!! This is absolutely fantastic. I definitely want to try this! Thank you for sharing this great recipe!
★★★★★