These intense chocolate cookies have been my favorites for years. They have nuts, a shiny, crackly skin, and a dark chocolate fudgy center with chocolate chips that is gooey and incredibly rich. They can be made in different sizes and last several days. A fabulous chocolate cookie recipe I'm sure you'll love!
Originally posted in December 2012, this post has been updated with images and text. The recipe remains the same because it's amazing!
Once in a while, there comes a recipe that is everything you hoped for. Meet the chocolate whoppers - their original name - a recipe by legendary baker Maida Heatter, one of my favorite bakers, a virtual mentor of sorts, who passed away a few years ago at the age of 102.
Truth is, I expected to be a little disappointed with this recipe due to the ridiculously high expectations that grew from reading so many stellar comments about them, and the fact that at one time there was a famous restaurant in NYC during the '80s that sold them and couldn't keep up with the demand.
Well, it never happened. Quite the opposite. I ended selling an adapted version of them when I had a cafe, and they flew off the shelves, literally. So, you're in for a treat. Lucky you.
Ingredients
- Chocolate: the better the quality, the better the outcome. I love dark chocolate, like Ghirardelli Intense 72% cacao bar or Green & Black Organic 70% cacao bar. But you can use less intense ones for a sweeter cookie, like Ghirardelli Semi sweet Premium Bar.
- Chocolate chips: semi sweet chips, the ones you use for traditional cookies.
- Nuts: I use walnuts or pecans, but the original recipe calls for half of each. It is essential that you use them. Otherwise, the cookies won't hold.
- Sugar: regular, white granulated sugar is what you need.
- Flour: all purpose flour or cake flour, both work.
- Baking powder
- Salt: I always use kosher salt. A little brings out the rest of the flavors
- Eggs: fresh, large eggs.
- Vanilla: I love to use pure vanilla extract or vanilla paste. But any type you usually use for baking is fine.
- Coffee: it's optional, but it's an ingredients that brings out the chocolate flavor and deepens it. The cookies will not taste like coffee. Use either coffee extract or instant coffee powder. Don't use espresso powder as it will not dissolve.
This is chocolate, a lot, and nuts with a decent amount of sugar, little butter and almost no flour. Yet, the brownie-like batter bakes just fine and develops a shiny and crackly surface that is just gorgeous.
Easy steps
Make the recipe as instructed. It does work. Because when you've finally mixed everything together you'll be certain there is a mistake. Like I forgot to put the whole amount of flour. But no, it's fine and the cookies will be phenomenal.
This is like a an old-fashioned brownie in cookie form. The way most brownies used to be, with walnuts. You'll need two large bows, an electric mixer, and a spatula. The process is very simple.
- Beat eggs with sugar for a few minutes until thick, a pale yellow color and foamy. This part will create that shiny, crackly coat the cookies have. Images 1 and 2
- Add melted chocolate with butter and flavorings. Mixed until integrated. Image 3
- Add dry ingredients (also called the flour mixture), the flavorings, the nuts and the walnuts. Or pecans. It works with both. Images 4 and 5
- Mix with a spatula until everything is coated with the chocolate batter. The final mixture is shiny and thick but will feel runny for a cookie. This is fine. Image 6
Should you chill the dough?
Cookie dough varies when it's chilled. The ingredients have time to meld together, the dry ingredients absorb more liquid, and things like that.
- Chilled: the cookies will not expand as much and they will hold their shape more. But they will brown more on the outside by the time the center is done (fudgy but baked).
- No chilling: the cookies are baked right after the dough is mixed. The cookies expand more and the shapes will be irregular.
Both work and the flavor is amazing whether you chill the dough or not. I bake them directly, no doubt. They're still fudgy in the center but the skin is shinier and lighter in color.
Top tips
- Organization: always read the recipe first and make sure you have all the ingredients, at the right temperatures, and also the rest of the equipment and space to make it. This will make the process so much easier!
- Baking time: keep in mind that all ovens and pans are different, even if they look the same or very similar. The baking time in my recipes are as accurate as I they can be, but it might take you more or less time. You can use a thermometer that is placed inside the oven (like the OXO oven thermometer) to check that your oven is the right temperature. I recommend you keep track of how your oven works and what tiny details you might need to adjust.
- Chocolate chips: use your favorite type, the semisweet ones you use for traditional chocolate chip cookies. But know that you could use half milk chocolate chips (a good brand) for a sweeter cookie.
- Flavorings: vanilla extract is a must. And, though coffee is listed as optional, I always add it. It's amazing paired with chocolate because it amps its flavor, it makes it richer. You won't taste coffee, you'll simply love the intensity of the chocolate. A third extract that goes very well with the other two is pure almond. Just a few drops. I use all three in the Best Easy Fudgy Brownies recipe.
Storing
An airtight container are recommended. I like to use metal tins, but cookie jars work just fine.
After a few days of storing these double chocolate cookies, they harden, loose their fudgy center, and turn somewhat powdery when you bite them. Quite different from the first day, but incredibly good. A client at the cafe said he liked them even more that way.
I could go on forever about these, but I really, really think you should give them a try.
Related recipes you might like:
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Chocolate Walnut Cookies
These intense chocolate cookies have been my favorites for years. They have nuts, a shiny, crackly skin, and a dark chocolate fudgy center with chocolate chips that is gooey and incredibly rich. They can be made in different sizes and last several days. A fabulous chocolate cookie recipe I'm sure you'll love!
- Total Time: 27 minutes
- Yield: 2 dozen 1x
Ingredients
- 8 oz semi sweet chocolate, chopped
- 3 oz unsalted butter
- ¼ cup all-purpose flour
- ¼ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 eggs, at room temperature
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- ½ teaspoon instant coffee or coffee extract, optional but recommended
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 cup (6 oz) semisweet chocolate chips
- 8.5 oz walnuts or pecans, or use 1 cup of each (2 cups total after they're chopped)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350º.
- Butter two cookie sheets or line with buttered parchment paper.
- Melt chopped chocolate with butter and reserve. I use the microwave in 15 second spurts, mixing after each one. You can also use a double boiler were the water doesn't touch the bottom of the bowl, just the steam.
- Coarsely chop the walnuts or pecans.
- Beat together eggs with sugar in a large bowl for 2 minutes. The mixture will be thick and light colored.
- Add chocolate mixture and mix well.
- Add flour, salt, and baking powder and mix just until incorporated.
- Add chocolate chips and chopped walnuts. Mix until it's all coated with chocolate. The mixture will be shiny and will feel too thin for cookies.
- Drop tablespoons of this mixture onto the prepared baking sheet, leaving some space between them. Do not press down.
- Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, until shiny and crackly. The middle of the cookies will be soft.
- Let cool completely on a wire rack before removing from the baking sheets.
- Store in an airtight tin.
Notes
Baking: I use buttered cookie sheets for this recipe. But a silpat (silicone sheet) or greased parchment paper also work.
Chocolate: the better the quality, the better the outcome. I love dark chocolate, like Ghirardelli Intense 72% cacao bar or Green & Black Organic 70% cacao bar. But you can use less intense ones for a sweeter cookie, like Ghirardelli Semi sweet Premium Bar.
Nuts: I use all walnuts or pecans, but the original recipe calls for some of each. It is essential that you use them. Otherwise, the cookies won't hold. You can substitute hazelnuts.
Storing: airtight containers are recommended. I like to use tins, but cookie jars work just fine.
- Prep Time: 15
- Cook Time: 12
- Category: Cookies
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1/24
- Calories: 197
- Sugar: 14.9 g
- Sodium: 55.1 mg
- Fat: 13.9 g
- Carbohydrates: 18 g
- Protein: 2.9 g
- Cholesterol: 23.1 mg
Keywords: chocolate nut cookies
Recipe from Cookies, by Maida Heatter
Sybil says
Is it possible to use less sugar ,if so how much ?(diabetic).
Thank you.
Paula Montenegro says
Hi Sybil, for these cookies the proportions of the ingredients are important and must be respected for the cookies to have enough structure when they bake. If you decrease any of them they will not hold well. I recommend you search for sugar-free cookies directly if baking for a diabetic.