Chunky Chocolate Cookies

By Genevieve Ko

Updated March 19, 2024

Chunky Chocolate Cookies
Joseph De Leo for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Monica Pierini.
Total Time
25 minutes, plus cooling
Prep Time
20 minutes
Cook Time
5 minutes
Rating
5(353)
Comments
Read comments

Crisp at the edges and soft in the center, this chocolate cookie is lumpy with hooks of broken pretzels and melty chocolate chips. Built on a foundation of beating an egg with sugar until pale and full of tiny bubbles, it combines all the satisfying richness of a brownie with an almost airy lightness. Baking soda also helps lift the dense, dark dough in the oven. Once out, the craggy rounds deliver the irresistible pair of salty crunch and creamy sweetness in the tender, chocolaty cookie. You can switch-up the mix-ins with whatever you like: chocolate chunks, peanut butter chips, toffee bits, nuts or a combination. Just use a cup total for this amount of dough. And do consider keeping the pretzels no matter what else you throw in. Those little hits of salt turn perfectly good cookies into great ones.

Featured in: Learn to Bake in 5 Easy Recipes

  • or to save this recipe.

  • Subscriber benefit: Give recipes to anyone

    As a subscriber, you have 10 gift recipes to give each month. Anyone can view them - even nonsubscribers. Learn more.

    Subscribe

  • Share this recipe

  • Print this recipe

Advertisement

Ingredients

Yield:18 cookies
  • ¾cup/98 grams all-purpose flour
  • ½teaspoon baking soda
  • ½teaspoon fine salt
  • 1large egg
  • ¾cup/150 grams sugar
  • ½cup/114 grams unsalted butter, melted
  • ½cup/45 grams natural unsweetened cocoa powder
  • ½cup/100 grams chocolate chips
  • ½cup/24 grams coarsely broken mini pretzels
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (18 servings)

140 calories; 7 grams fat; 4 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 2 grams monounsaturated fat; 0 grams polyunsaturated fat; 19 grams carbohydrates; 1 gram dietary fiber; 12 grams sugars; 2 grams protein; 75 milligrams sodium

Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.

Powered by

Preparation

  1. Step 1

    Heat oven to 350 degrees with a rack in the center. Line a sheet pan with parchment paper.

  2. Step 2

    Whisk the flour, baking soda and salt in a small bowl.

  3. Step 3

    Whisk the egg and sugar in a large bowl until pale yellow and thick, about 1 minute. Add the butter and cocoa, and whisk until smooth.

  4. Step 4

    Switch to a flexible spatula and gently stir in the flour mixture until no streaks of flour remain. Stir in the chocolate chips and pretzels.

  5. Step 5

    Using a dinner spoon, scoop 18 equal mounds of dough onto the pan, using another spoon or your finger to push the dough off the spoon. Space the mounds a few inches apart.

  6. Step 6

    Bake until the tops of the cookies crack and just lose their shine, 8 to 10 minutes. Don’t overbake. Cool on the pan. You can eat them hot, but they’re better if they’ve cooled to at least warm. Once at room temperature, they’ll keep for up to 3 days in an airtight container.

Private Notes

Leave a Private Comment on this recipe and see it here.

Ratings

5 out of 5
353 user ratings
Your rating

or to rate this recipe.

Have you cooked this?

or to mark this recipe as cooked.

Comments

Mary B

I’ve noticed that many companies that share recipes online have a cook mode button that keeps your screen from going dark when cooking. Any chance NYT is considering adding this very helpful feature ?

Debbie

I halved the recipe and made without any additions (didn't have chocolate chips or pretzels), and they really didn't need any. I got 9 big gooey yummy deeply chocolatey cookies.

High in CO

Parchment paper is the biggest asset in baking cookies! Always seemed unnecessary but now I won’t bake without it.

Leslea L

Looks great! Are the chocolate chips semisweet, milk or bittersweet?

RoxieD

This is one of my favorite cookie recipes ever. It turns out perfect as written. Now that I've made it a few times I've also experimented thanks to the inspiration from other comments. I like to add espresso powder to chocolate to heighten the flavor. A tbsp of espresso powder swapped for a tbsp of the cocoa works great here if you have it. I also saw comments about nuts being a good addition so I swapped chopped macadamia nuts for half the pretzels. I prefer the full amount of pretzels but if you like nuts this swap works. I also added a tsp of vanilla as someone recommended and it's a great idea. One thing: The pretzels get less crunchy if the cookies sit a few days. I decided to bake only the amount I need each day, leave the rest of the dough in the fridge and keep the pretzels as an add in for just the amount I'm baking.

Jen

Double recipe: 95g pretzel, 80g brown sugar, 150g sugar

Private comments are only visible to you.

Recipe Tags

or to save this recipe.