A word about these cookies: ……

Sorry that was me trying to find words. It’s difficult when something is as delicious as these cookies are.

I made these for my boyfriend because he said that I never make anything for him and only him. He’s not wrong. Whenever I make cookies or cake, I usually have a couple, save a few for my family, and then I bring the rest in to work. A colleague came by my office the other day and thanked me for bringing things in.

“If I baked as often as you, I wouldn’t share it,” he said.

I share what I make partly because I don’t want to be the one eating all of it, and partly because it makes me happy to see people enjoy what I’ve made. It feels like I’m moving one step closer to my dream of opening my own bakery.

These double chocolate cookies are very, VERY rich. They have dutch-process cocoa powder, lots of sugar, butter, and semi-sweet chocolate chips. They remind me a lot of one of my favorite cookies in the world: The double chocolate chip cookie at Levain Bakery in New York.

Whenever I’m in the city, I stop by to get one. My friend Allison, being the good friend she is, went with me to get one in the pouring rain the last time I was visiting. Levain cookies are huge and dense, more like small cakes than cookies. I’ve seen people split them but I could never be so generous.

The trick to making Levain-like cookies is chilling the dough overnight in the refrigerator. I’ve talked to my chef friends about why bakeries do this and the response is varied.

Some say it’s because it gives the dough time to firm up, which creates more compact cookies later. There’s nothing worse than when a cookie flattens out in the oven.

Another one of my friends said that chilling the dough is just the bakery’s way of prepping a bunch of cookies at once. You don’t *really* need to chill the dough, but it helps when you want to make a number of uniform cookies later. Whatever the reason, I’d recommend doing it.

To make these double chocolate chip cookies, you take an ice cream scoop and get enough dough to form golfball-sized rounded lumps. They should be about three ounces, but if you don’t have a kitchen scale, you can just eyeball it.

Then you place five balls on a parchment paper-lined cookie sheet. Make sure you space them far apart because they will spread a bit in the oven.

The smell when these cookies are baking is HEAVENLY. Picture a brownie, a flourless chocolate cake, and melted chocolate, all dancing through the air in waves, and you’ll land somewhere close to these cookies. I’m tearing up a little just thinking about it.

These are some of the best cookies I’ve ever made. I know I always say that, but it’s true. They are slightly crispy around the edges, soft and chewy in the center, and somehow, despite how dense they are, they still melt in your mouth. If you eat one after it’s had a few minutes to cool, the chocolate chips are still melty. It’s one of life’s sweetest pleasures.

ANYWAY. I’d recommend making these cookies as soon as possible, if not to get a pesky boyfriend off your back then to satisfy your own sweet cravings. If I’m going to be honest, I made them for myself as much as for him.

Here’s a song to get you started. Gemini Rising has some good jams.

Double Chocolate Cookies

Ingredients

1 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup Dutch-process cocoa powder
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
10 Tbso unsalted butter, at room temperature
3/4 cup dark brown sugar
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
2 tsp pure vanilla extract
2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions

Whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, salt, baking powder, and baking soda in a large bowl.

In the bowl of a stand-mixer, mix together the room temperature butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy. Then mix in the egg and vanilla extract until fully incorporated, stopping and pushing down the batter from the sides of the bowl with a spatula as needed.

Set the mixer to low speed and add the flour mixture. Mix until just incorporated. Add the chocolate chips and mix on low speed until just incorporated.

Place saran wrap over the dough and put it in the refrigerator overnight. The dough is best after its had a chance to sit in the fridge for 24 hours.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Using an ice cream scoop, form the dough into 3-ounce round balls, a little large than golfballs.

Place the five balls on each cookie sheet. Place the sheets in the oven and bake for about 18 minutes, or until the cookies are just set but still soft in the middle.

Place the sheets of parchment paper with the cookies on cooling racks. Allow the cookies to come to room temperature. Store them in an airtight container. Enjoy!