Triple Chocolate Chunk Cookies

Triple the chocolate, triple the delight— these chocolate chip cookies are sinfully delightful!

There is nothing more satisfying than the taste of freshly baked homemade cookies. These simple triple chocolate chunk cookies are soft in the middle and crunchy outside. This recipe is dedicated to those fellow chocoholics out there that love choc chip cookies but never felt there were enough choc chips in one cookie. The beauty of making your own cookies at home is that you can add as much chocolate to your heart's desire. This recipe takes the flavour of chocolate to the next level by using two different types of sweet chocolate as well as a hit of bitter, rich Dutch cacao powder to intensify the cookie itself. I prefer to roughly chop a chocolate block into large chunks rather than using choc chips, again, the bigger the chocolate hit, the better in my eyes!

To make the perfect cookie, there are a few helpful hints that will make your journey a smooth one.

Using a good quality baking tray really does make a difference. There was once a time when my kitchen was full of very old, weathered-looking baking trays. I’m not even sure where I got them from! The point came where they became rusted in appearance and warped – this resulted in a pantry with rust stains and unevenly cooked treats. I have now replaced them all with the Anolon medium baking tray. It’s an absolute game changer to my cooking and baking. Due to the tray being made from heavy-duty carbon steel, it is warp resistant. The tray boasts a lighter colour interior which results in even heat distribution ensuring your cookies will be cooked quickly and to even perfection from top to bottom.

Salt and chocolate are best friends. Salt acts as a flavour enhancer for chocolate by helping its molecules release their sweetness whilst, at the same time, toning down the bitterness. Don’t be shy to use a nice chunky rock salt. You won’t regret it.

Always cream the butter and the sugar to begin. Creaming the fats with the sugar is the building block step necessary to aerate it for a light-textured cookie. To do this step correctly, leave the butter out on the bench to soften naturally, don’t microwave it and risk it melting. When optimally creamed, the mixture will appear fluffy and will have doubled in size. If over-creamed or under-creamed, the mixture will appear grainy or separated, resulting in a dense cookie.

Never overmix the cookie dough; this does two things. Firstly, it can over aerate the dough leading it to rise and fall when baking. Secondly, it can overdevelop the gluten. Both occurrences can leave you with a dense, flat and unpleasantly textured cookie.

Cookies only need to be cooked for a short amount of time. When the cooking time is up, you may second guess the texture of your cookies. They will be soft to touch and have slightly risen. This is the exact texture you want in this recipe. Your finished cookies are guaranteed to harden once they are cooled, they will be soft enough to easily bite into. Be sure to sneak one before they are totally cooled to make the most of the oozy, melted, warm chocolate.

Triple Chocolate Chunk Cookies Recipe

Ingredients

200gm softened unsalted butter
320gm soft brown sugar
400gm plain flour
110gm Dutch cocoa
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
½ tbsp vanilla bean paste
120ml full cream milk
180gm block milk baking chocolate
180gm white baking chocolate

Method

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees.
Line your medium baking tray with parchment paper.
Roughly chop the chocolate into 1-2cm chunks.
In a stand mixer with the brand's suggested attachment for cookies, cream the butter and sugar on medium speed for 2-3 minutes or until soft and fluffy.
Sift in the Dutch cacao powder.
Turn the mixer back onto a low speed and add the baking powder, salt and vanilla bean paste.
Whilst the mixer is still running, gradually add 1/3 of the milk and then 1/3 of the flour at a time, alternating between the two until there is none left – do not over mix.
Immediately when the dough is fully combined, add in all the chocolate chunks and stop the mixer.
Roughly roll the dough into desired size balls, leaving approximately a 4-5cm gap between them, the cookies won’t change in size too drastically.
Gently press the surfaces down with a fork, all to an even level.
Bake for eight minutes.
Remove cookies from the oven and leave on the baking tray for a few minutes to strengthen.
Once you can safely pick up the cookies without them breaking, place them on a wire cooling rack to harden further.