These, friends, are the Best Ever Chocolate Chunk Cookies, and they’ve taken a lifetime to get just right. My Kitchen Little would just not be complete with this recipe.

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My favorite chopped chocolate cookies ever. Forever and ever, amen. There are a few specific, easily identifiable things about these chocolate chunk cookies that skyrocket them from ordinary chocolate chip cookie status into something truly worthy of such an illustrious title as, “BEST EVER.”

I don’t use those words lightly – truly I don’t. I try to save them for the recipes that are sort of in a league of their own – they’re the best I’ve ever had of their kind, and therefore definitely deserve to be lauded and celebrated as such, you know? This is kind of a big deal. THESE ARE kind of a big deal.

salted Chocolate Chunk Cookies — Best Toffee Coffee Chocolate Chunk Cookies

How to Make the Best Chocolate Chunk Cookies

I delivered a big box of these salty chocolate chunk cookies to my daughter’s school last spring, as a contribution to the school’s celebration of Teacher Appreciation Day, and as soon as the final bell rang, I received a slew of emails (okay, three) from teachers and parents alike, all inquiring as to how these impossibly delicious cookies came to be and if, by chance, I would share the recipe. Would I share the recipe.

Oh sweet people, sweet unassuming people who have no idea that sharing recipes is, quite literally, what I do for a living. Imagine that. Oh, happy day! I was thrilled to dish up the dirt on these exceptionally delicious cookies.

The dough itself is an amalgamation of, I dunno, maybe five different cookie doughs that I’ve made over the years, and it contains my secret cookie weapon that really helps deepen the flavor of each and every cookie (read on to see what that is).

Chocolate Chunk Cookie Anatomy 101

Okay, Exhibit A (pictured below). Please note the almost too large chunks of freshly chopped chocolate that take up residence in these cookies. They totally obliterate the measly chocolate chip as the chocolate of choice, and really taking our cookies to the next level.

You see, in my humble opinion, freshly chopped chocolate chunks are better than chocolate chips in cookies (way, way better) because they kickstart your experience with a stunning, come-hither, BANG! before you’ve even plucked your cookie from the pile. They puddles of glossy, deeply brown chocolate are so delicious looking, it’s hard not to be in love at first sight.

The trick is using chocolate bars – not the pre-cut chocolate chunks – and chopping them up haphazardly into pieces of various shapes and sizes (as you can see from my photos – they’re all over the place). This really makes for a beautiful cookie and also contributes to this particular cookie being up there among the very best.

Plus, they’re chocolatier. And chocolatier is good.

What is the best chocolate to use for chocolate chunk cookies?

This is sort of a matter of preference, but semi-sweet is pretty perfect. It’s not too sweet, not overly bitter. I like to choose chocolate that is not the cheapest in the store, but also affordable enough to be reasonable. Here’s the kind I like.

Why You Should be Using Molasses in Your Cookies

Now, we all know that molasses takes center stage in our Christmassy ginger and molasses and spice cookies – that’s a tale as old as time, really. But I like to sneak an unsuspecting tablespoon or two of dark, syrupy, caramel-esque molasses into most cookie doughs that I make, and they’re always so much better for it.

It’s never enough to really tell it’s there, that little bit of molasses in your cookies. But its enough to enrich the dough and deepen its flavor. I used to make browned butter chocolate chip cookies, but find that adding a touch of molasses into the dough serves the same purpose. It deepens the flavor and makes them even more delicious. \

No need to take the time to brown any butter, honestly. When your cookie dough manages to almost outshine the chocolate itself, you know you’re really onto something.

What you’ll need to make these Chopped Chocolate Cookies

2 cups all-purpose flour
half tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp Kosher salt
half lb. butter at room temperature (2 sticks)
1-1/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
1 large egg
3 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp molasses
1 Tbsp water
Two, 4-oz semi-sweet chocolate bars, chopped
Flaky sea salt, for sprinkling (such as Maldon)

How to make these Chocolate Chunk Cookies

This recipe is straightforward and very standard, so far as chocolate chunk cookies go. Creaming butter, mixing dry ingredients, and weaving them together with a few extra tricks and tweaks to make things special.

DIRECTIONS

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F and place the oven rack in the middle position. Cover two large baking sheets with aluminum foil, shiny side facing up.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda and salt. In the bowl of a stand mixer (or in a large bowl with a hand-held electric mixer), cream together the butter and sugars until very smooth, about 3 minutes. Add the egg, vanilla, molasses, and water and then mix until well-combined. Add the flour mix to the wet mix and beat to combine. Stir in the chopped chocolate, mixing just until evenly combined.
Scoop golf-ball sized (heaping tablespoons) balls of dough onto the prepared baking sheets. I usually only do 6 cookies per sheet.
Bake the cookies, in batches, for 7 minutes. Then, open the oven door and lift one corner of the pan(s) in the air and then let it drop down onto the baking rack again – creating a BANG (see NOTE). This drop will deflate the cookies and help to create those gorgeous ripples. Do this every minute until the cookies have baked for a total of 11 – 12 minutes. You’ll drop them about 3 – 4 times total.
Remove the cookies from the oven when they’re just golden, and sprinkle them right away with a little flaky sea salt. Allow them to cool and firm up before transferring them elsewhere, about 6 to 8 minutes. Continue baking and freezing your pans until you’ve made your way through all of the dough.

Bacon Fat Chocolate Chip Cookies — The addition of some chopped toffee bits to chocolate chunk cookie dough is always a good idea.

A Word on Pan-Banging Cookies

I would never publish this recipe without giving credit where it’s due, and part of the aesthetic appeal of these babies comes from those wavy, rippled edges. These edges are like a crispy, crunchy, protective barrier to the gooey, soft, warm cookie dough in the middle and are a result of the brilliant pan-banging method devised by Sarah Kieffer, of The Vanilla Bean Blog and The Vanilla Bean Baking Book.

I almost can’t make cookies without using this method anymore, I just love it so much, and I find that it works for so many different types. This “pan banging” is really no more than opening the oven a handful of times during the baking process and lifting a corner of the sheet pan up about a foot and then letting it smack back down on the oven rack, thereby flattening out the cookies and creating a rippled layer.

Repeatedly doing this, once every minute for about the last 5 minutes of baking time, creates that cascading rippled effect. Brilliant, no? Incidentally, the cookies need to be rather large for the full effect to be reached, so make sure you space them out accordingly on your sheet pan to allow them to spread properly.

When and Why to Use Aluminum Foil When Baking Cookies

To achieve the fetching pan-banging effect – those flattened, perfectly browned and crisped edges and ridges – you need to utilize the aluminum foil as directed in the recipe. Don’t be tempted to skip it or the results just won’t be quite what we’re looking for.

While I would never suggest that you use aluminum foil in all of your cookie baking endeavors, there is a time and a place for it and today’s recipe is a prime example. Aluminum foil (given that it contains aluminum) is a great conductor of heat, and therefore can sometimes contribute to the burning or over-browning of cookies. But in this recipe, it all works because we’re going to freeze the cookies for a bit before baking them and we’re also going to make them rather large, which also helps combat any sort of burnt outcome.

What’s more, using the dull side of the foil, as opposed to the fully-shiny side, will help ensure the cookies spread and flatten out the way we want them too. The super shiny side might over-do that effect, so dull side it is. Baking is SUCH an interesting science sometimes, and man is it cool when it all just works.

And with that, I give you my very favorite, most frequently made, most requested recipe for the Best Ever Salty Chocolate Chunk Cookies.