Perfectly Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies

These chocolate chocolate chip cookies get a double dose of chocolate: cocoa powder built into the dough and a full bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips folded in at the end. The result is a deeply chocolatey cookie that bakes up soft in the middle with just-crisp edges, no muddled flavor the way you sometimes get from chips alone.

Cream the butter and both sugars properly until pale and fluffy; that step traps air that gives the cookies their slight rise and tender bite. Add the eggs one at a time and beat well between each so the mixture stays emulsified instead of curdling.

Pull the cookies from the oven when the edges are set but the centers still look soft, around 8 to 10 minutes. They finish setting on the hot pan as they cool, which gives that signature chewy middle.

Chef Tips

• Use Dutch-process cocoa for a deeper, less acidic chocolate flavor; natural cocoa works but tastes sharper.
• Soften the butter at room temperature, don’t melt it. Melted butter gives flat, greasy cookies that spread too much.
• Underbake slightly. The cookies look pale and underdone at 8 minutes but firm up as they cool to that fudgy texture.
• Cool the pan between batches; warm trays cause the dough to spread before it sets.

Variations

• Swap white chocolate chips for half the semi-sweet for a two-tone cookie.
• Stir a teaspoon of espresso powder into the dry ingredients to amplify the chocolate without adding coffee flavor.
• Toast the chopped nuts before folding in for deeper, richer flavor.