Dark Chocolate Vanilla Cookies (Printable)

Chewy dark chocolate cookies with vanilla and white chocolate chips, offering rich, deep flavor and soft texture.

# What You Need:

→ Dry Ingredients

01 - 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
02 - 1/2 cup Dutch-process cocoa powder
03 - 1 teaspoon baking soda
04 - 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt

→ Wet Ingredients

05 - 3/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
06 - 1 cup dark brown sugar, packed
07 - 1/2 cup granulated sugar
08 - 2 large eggs, room temperature
09 - 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
10 - 1/2 teaspoon almond extract

→ Mix-Ins

11 - 1 1/4 cups dark chocolate chunks, 70% cocoa
12 - 1/2 cup whole milk
13 - 1/2 cup white chocolate chips

# How-To Steps:

01 - Preheat oven to 350°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
02 - In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
03 - In a large mixing bowl, beat softened butter with brown sugar and granulated sugar until creamy and light, approximately 2 to 3 minutes.
04 - Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Mix in vanilla extract and almond extract.
05 - With mixer on low speed, alternate adding dry ingredients and milk in two additions, beginning and ending with the dry mixture. Mix until just combined without overmixing.
06 - Gently fold in dark chocolate chunks and white chocolate chips using a spatula.
07 - Scoop dough using approximately 2 tablespoons per cookie onto prepared baking sheets, spacing 2 inches apart.
08 - Bake for 11 to 13 minutes until edges are set but centers appear slightly soft and puffy.
09 - Remove from oven and let cookies cool on the sheets for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

# Expert Advice:

01 -
  • They're chewy in the middle with crispy edges, which is honestly the whole point of making cookies at home instead of buying them.
  • The vanilla and almond extracts add this subtle sophistication that makes people ask what makes them taste so good.
  • They come together in under 35 minutes from start to cooling, perfect for when you need something impressive without the all-day commitment.
02 -
  • If your dough looks too thick or too thin, the milk is your adjustment tool, not the flour, because adding more flour changes everything about the cookie's texture.
  • Don't pull these cookies out when they look perfectly baked or they'll be crunchy, pull them out when the centers still look slightly underdone because that's when you get chewiness.
  • If you use chocolate chips instead of chunks, they'll melt more and create a different texture, which isn't bad, just different from what I'm describing.
03 -
  • Room temperature ingredients aren't just a suggestion, they're the difference between silky dough and separated-looking batter that requires extra mixing.
  • Buy 70% dark chocolate specifically because anything darker gets almost bitter in these cookies and anything lighter defeats the purpose of using dark chocolate at all.
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