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Fudgy, melt-in-your-mouth chocolate cookies without chocolate chips are decadent, easy to make, and flavored with unsweetened cocoa powder for all the chocolate flavor you need.
Everyone loves a freshly baked chocolate cookie. A chocolate chip cookie is an excellent afternoon pick-me-up, but why not skip the chocolate chips and make a pure and classic chocolate cookie that’s just as flavorful without any chips at all?
This is a quick and easy cookie recipe that’s decadent and moist without any mix-ins.
These come out like a cross between a brownie and a cookie, and they’re the best way to savor the pure chocolate flavor as it’s meant to be enjoyed.
Ingredients for Chocolate Cookies
The ingredients for this recipe are typical pantry staple items that you may already have on hand.
To make these cookies, you’ll need:
- All-purpose flour, which forms the bulk of the cookie dough. For gluten-free chocolate cookies, you can substitute regular all-purpose flour with gluten-free measure-for-measure all-purpose with no change to the rest of the ingredients or recipe.
- Unsweetened cocoa powder. This is where it’s best to choose high-quality chocolate. The flavor makes a big difference in these cookies, which don’t have chocolate chips to rely on for extra chocolate flavor. See below for the best kind of cocoa powder to use in this recipe.
- Baking soda, the necessary ingredient to leaven your cookies as they bake in the oven. Baking soda reacts with the acid in cocoa powder.
- Salt, which brings out the sweetness in these cookies. Salt is an important addition to most recipes, both savory and sweet.
- Unsalted butter. Your butter should be at room temperature for best results. If you don’t have unsalted butter, omit the added salt in the dough.
- White granulated sugar, which you’ll cream into the butter to form a light and airy mixture that will leaven your cookies as well as sweeten them.
- Eggs, which bind the dough together, leaven it with steam and provide protein for structural support inside your baked cookies.
- Vanilla extract, a necessary flavor balance to the bold chocolaty flavor in these cookies.
What Kind Of Cocoa Powder Is Best?
For this recipe, be sure to use natural cocoa powder. The other type of cocoa powder you may notice on store shelves is called Dutch-processed cocoa.
Dutch-processed cocoa powder has been treated with a chemical solution that neutralizes the acidity of the chocolate. It’s darker, with a more mild flavor than the natural stuff.
However, because you use baking soda to leaven the chocolate cookies, it’s important to choose natural cocoa powder, which retains its natural acidity.
Baking soda reacts with an acid to release bubbles of carbon dioxide, which expand in the heat of the oven and cause your cookie dough to lighten and leaven, resulting in fluffy cookies.
Dutch-processed cocoa will not activate the baking soda. It may result in dense, flat cookies that fail to rise.
Mix-Ins for Chocolate Cookies
If you want to add a bit of texture and maybe another flavor to your cookies without adding chocolate chips, there are dozens of options to choose from to bulk up your cookie dough and make it your own.
Some delicious ingredient mix-ins to fold into your cookie dough include:
- Chopped nuts, especially pecans, walnuts or coconut
- White chocolate, toffee or mint chips
- Dried fruit, such as cranberries, cherries, raisins or chopped apricots
- Whole oats, which add a bit more heft and texture to your cookies
- A teaspoon of ground cinnamon, to add another layer of warming spice
If you’re mixing in chunks and pieces, such as nuts or dried fruit, fold about 1 cup of mix-ins into the cookie dough after you’ve mixed in the dry ingredients fully.
Be careful not to overwork the dough, and stop mixing as soon as the ingredients are sufficiently incorporated.
There shouldn’t be any need to change the baking temperature or time if you add ingredients to the cookie dough.
Storing Chocolate Cookies
Of course, these cookies are best enjoyed straight away after baking. And chances are that it will be hard to stay away from the freshly baked treats!
If you do have leftover cookies, however, you can store them in an airtight container on the counter for 3-5 days.
The cookies will start to stale, however, especially in warm, humid weather, so if you plan to keep them for longer, store them in the freezer. They’ll last frozen for up to 3 months.
How To Make Chocolate Cookies Without Chocolate Chips
Check out these step-by-step instructions below for the best chocolate chip cookies!
Step 1: Gather your ingredients and preheat the oven to 350°F.
Step 2: In a mixing bowl, combine the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt.
Step 3: In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
Step 4: Add the eggs and vanilla, mixing well between each addition.
Step 5: Gradually add the dry ingredients into the creamed mixture, slowly at first, and then adding more until everything is incorporated.
Step 6: Roll the dough into 1-inch balls and arrange on two baking sheets. Bake for 10-12 minutes, until set.
Step 7: Cool on wire racks.
Chocolate Cookies Without Chocolate Chips
Yield: 20 cookies
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 12 minutes
Total Time: 22 minutes
These chewy chocolate cookies don't need chocolate chips. They are delicious as-is!
Ingredients
- 1½ cups all-purpose flour
- ¾ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 2 cups white sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 350°F.
In a mixing bowl, combine the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt.
In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
Add the eggs and vanilla, mixing well between each addition.
Gradually add the dry ingredients into the creamed mixture, slowly at first, and then adding more until everything is incorporated.
Roll the dough into 1-inch balls and arrange on two baking sheets. Bake for 10-12 minutes, until set.
Cool on wire racks.
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 20Serving Size: 1 cookie
Amount Per Serving:Calories: 214Total Fat: 10gSaturated Fat: 6gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 3gCholesterol: 43mgSodium: 125mgCarbohydrates: 29gFiber: 1gSugar: 20gProtein: 2g
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