Ina Garten’s Chocolate Chunk Cookies is an excellent, make-again cookie recipe with chocolate chunks and walnuts.
This recipe comes from Ina Garten’s Barefoot Contessa Parties cookbook. That cookbook is so old (2001), but it’s still one that I reach for once in a while when I’m entertaining. Ina’s Gorgonzola Sauce for roast beef tenderloin is pretty much the most amazing thing you’ll ever eat! It’s a bonus that this cookie recipe happens to be in the book. Ina Garten’s Chocolate Chunk Cookies are delicious!
Ina Garten’s Chocolate Chunk Cookies:
There isn’t actually anything magical in this cookie recipe that makes it stand out more than others. It’s just a good one. There’s a little more brown sugar than white, lots of vanilla extract and Ina asks you to use extra-large eggs (which I don’t always do).
The chunks of choice are semi-sweet chocolate chunks. You can certainly use any variety of chocolate. And chocolate chips work just fine. Adding chopped walnuts is optional. Chopped pecans would be good too!
Essentials needed for baking cookies:
- You need a cookie scoop! I like to keep this cookie scoop set on hand because you’re covered for all cookie sizes.
- I bake all of my cookies on sheet pans. They’ll last you forever, and you can cook other things on sheet pans like Sheet Pan Roasted Veggies and Sausage.
- Of course, you must also have a set of cooling racks that you can use for both cookies and cakes.
The lovely thing about cookies is that you can make them into whatever size you want. If you want smaller cookies, use a smaller scoop. If you want to make monstrous-sized cookies, that’s okay! In the original recipe for Ina Garten’s Chocolate Chunk Cookies, she asks you to use a small ice cream scoop for these cookies, but any scoop will do. The bake time will vary based on your size decision.
These cookies happen to be extra delicious when served warm and dipped in milk!
They are a soft and chewy cookie, rather than being hard and crisp (unless you bake them too long!) The walnuts provide some texture and crunch, if you use them.
How to freeze cookies:
Allow cookies to cool completely. For best results, freeze the cookies in a single layer. Then move them to a large freezer zip baggie and squeeze as much air as you can out of the baggie. Alternately, you can freeze them in a sealed, freezer-safe container. Cookies can be frozen up to six months.
Ina Garten is a pretty good authority for trusted recipes. Her chocolate chunk cookie recipe is repeated often at my house, and I love her chicken chili and Italian Wedding Soup too!
Ina Garten’s Chocolate Chunk Cookies
These are soft and chewy chocolate chunk cookies!
Recipe Details
Prep Time: 15 minutes mins
Cook Time: 15 minutes mins
Chill Time:: 1 hour hr
Total Time: 1 hour hr 30 minutes mins
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: American
Keyword: chocolate chunk cookies, ina garten
Servings: 40 cookies
Calories: 161kcal
Author: RecipeGirl.com (shared from the Barefoot Contessa Parties! cookbook)
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper, or use silpat mats.
In a large bowl, use an electric mixer to cream the butter and two sugars together until light and fluffy. Add the vanilla, then the eggs, one at at time, and mix well.
Sift together the flour, baking soda, and salt and add to the bowl mixing on low speed, just until combined. Stir in the chocolate chunks (and walnuts, if using).
Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate until the dough is firm (1 to 2 hours or more).
Scoop out the dough by the heaping tablespoonful onto the prepared baking sheets, using a 1¾-inch-diameter ice cream scoop or a rounded tablespoon. Dampen your hands and flatten the dough slightly. Bake for 10 to 13 minutes (the cookies will seem underdone in the middle and lightly browned on the edges). Remove from the oven and let cool slightly on the pan, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
Nutrition
Serving: 1cookie, Calories: 161kcal, Carbohydrates: 16g, Protein: 2g, Fat: 10g, Saturated Fat: 5g, Trans Fat: 1g, Cholesterol: 23mg, Sodium: 92mg, Potassium: 70mg, Fiber: 1g, Sugar: 10g, Vitamin A: 167IU, Vitamin C: 1mg, Calcium: 16mg, Iron: 1mg
FAQs
The faster melt creates flatter, gooier cookies with less crunch than regular chocolate chip cookies. The fat from the chocolate chunks mixes with the dough keeping it more soft. Plus, by having different-sized chocolate chunks, you'll get a different experience in each bite, so your cookies will be more dynamic.
How to make chewy vs crunchy cookies? ›
Cookie chemistry: We're taking a 180° turn from our crunchy cookies, substituting higher-moisture brown sugar and butter for their lower-moisture counterparts: granulated sugar and vegetable shortening. That, plus a shortened baking time, yields a cookie that's soft and chewy all the way through.
How to make store bought chocolate chip cookies taste homemade? ›
How To Make Boxed Cookies Better
- Use butter instead of margarine or oil.
- Add powdered milk. Sprinkling about 2 to 3 tablespoons of powdered milk per cup of cookie mix may seem kind of unconventional, but it is the best hack! ...
- Add brown sugar. ...
- Add vanilla extract. ...
- Brown the butter. ...
- Include an extra egg yolk.
Similar to the case for chocolate chips, use chocolate chunks if you want your cookies to look homemade. They will have distinct, whole pieces of rectangular-shaped chocolate throughout. Because the chunks won't melt during the baking process, using them will result in puffier, thicker cookies.
What is the secret to making cookies soft and chewy? ›
Cornstarch helps product soft and thick cookies. Using more brown sugar than white sugar results in a moister, softer cookie. An extra egg yolk increases chewiness. Rolling the cookie dough balls to be tall and lumpy instead of wide and smooth gives the cookies a bakery-style textured thickness.
Does white or brown sugar make cookies chewy? ›
Brown sugar is also hygroscopic (more so than granulated sugar) and will therefore also attract and absorb the liquid in the dough. The difference is in the molasses that makes brown sugar brown: It adds moisture and slight acidity, resulting in a moist and chewy texture.
Should I use baking soda or baking powder in cookies? ›
Baking soda is typically used for chewy cookies, while baking powder is generally used for light and airy cookies. Since baking powder is comprised of a number of ingredients (baking soda, cream of tartar, cornstarch, etc.), using it instead of pure baking soda will affect the taste of your cookies.
How do bakeries get perfectly round cookies? ›
As you cut your dough log into individual cookies, give it a quarter-turn every three or four slices to ensure that the knife doesn't flatten one side repeatedly against the cutting board. And voilà, perfectly round Maple Pecan Shortbread, World Peace Cookies, and Pistachio-Crusted Icebox Cookies.
How do you make cookies thick and not flat? ›
Briefly Freeze Your Cookie Dough Balls
Take your sheet of cookie dough balls and pop it in the freezer while your oven preheats, for about 20 minutes. This will help prevent excess cookie spreading, so you get nice fat thick cookies.
Why do my homemade chocolate chip cookies get hard? ›
Cookies aren't cake, they have a lot more sugar. All that sugar liquifies as they bake. If you bake out all the moisture until they feel like a done cake, you are left with rock hard cookies when the sugar cools down and re-solidifies.
Popping your dough in the fridge allows the fats to cool. As a result, the cookies will expand more slowly, holding onto their texture. If you skip the chilling step, you're more likely to wind up with flat, sad disks instead of lovely, chewy cookies. Cookies made from chilled dough are also much more flavorful.
What can you add to store-bought cookie dough to make it better? ›
Add brown sugar
Adding it to the pre-made dough will give it more sweetness, a chewier texture, moisture and that homemade flavor you're craving. You can also melt butter with brown sugar and incorporate it into the dough for extra tender, chewier cookies.
What kind of chocolate chunks for cookies? ›
Dark chocolate, which contains from 50% to 90% cocoa solids, is often referred to as the best chocolate for cookies. The best type of dark chocolate for chocolate chip cookies will be the one that has at least 60% of cocoa solids.
Why do chocolate chunks not melt in brownies? ›
Chocolate chips are made from small pieces of chocolate that are specifically designed to hold their shape during baking rather than melting completely, like regular chocolate bars.
What kind of chocolate chips are in Mcdonald's cookies? ›
Ingredients: Semi-sweet Chocolate Chips (sugar, Unsweetened Chocolate, Cocoa Butter, Milkfat, Soy Lecithin, Natural Flavor), Enriched Flour (bleached Wheat Flour, Malted Barley Flour, Niacin, Reduced Iron, Thiamine Mononitrate, Riboflavin, Folic Acid), Margarine (palm Oil, Water, Soybean Oil, Salt, Whey, Natural Flavor ...
What are chocolate chunks called? ›
Chocolate chips or chocolate morsels are small chunks of sweetened chocolate, used as an ingredient in a number of desserts (notably chocolate chip cookies and muffins), in trail mix and less commonly in some breakfast foods such as pancakes.
