Dark Chocolate Chip Cookies
We all love chocolate chip cookies. They are the best-selling cookie in the United States. But, not many people know how the chocolate chip came about and who invented those first ooey-gooey, chocolate chip cookies. And it’s hard to believe that it all happened by accident. Continue the tradition by making these Dark Chocolate Chip Cookies for your family!
The chocolate chip has become a staple for American bakers. Americans eat more than 70 billion chocolate chip cookies each year, half of which are homemade. The classic chocolate chip cookie is the best-selling cookie in the United States.
Who invented the chocolate chip cookie?
The term ‘chocolate chip’ was originally used in the 1800’s to refer to a small English tea biscuit, similar to chocolate shortbread, that was cut into tiny pieces and usually served with tea. Later, chocolate chips were known as a molasses taffy coated with chocolate and were made popular and distributed nationally by candymaker William Trowbridge from his candy factory in Meadville, Pennsylvania.
In the 1930’s, the modern-day chocolate chip was invented by Ruth Wakefield, who owned and ran the Toll House Inn in Whitman, Massachusetts. Ruth made all of the meals for visitors to the Inn. One day she chopped up a chocolate bar and added the small bits to a batch of butter cookies, hoping the chocolate would melt. But the chips did not melt as intended and, quite by accident, she created the Toll House Chocolate Crunch Cookie.
People loved the bits of chocolate in their cookies and as a result, Nestle’ began selling morsels, a chocolate bar broken into 160 pieces. Ruth’s recipe became what we now know to be the classic Toll House chocolate chip cookie. Nestle’ began marketing morsels and printing the recipe on the back of the bright yellow bag in 1939.
I always have a bag or two of chocolate chips in my kitchen pantry. Sometimes I melt them and make chocolate bark, or I add them to favorite cookie recipes, or sometimes I eat them right out of the bag. Making a batch of Dark Chocolate Chip Cookies is one of my favorite ways to enjoy chocolate chips. These rich, crunchy cookies also make a wonderful gift when packaged nicely with a cheery note for a friend or family member.
Dark Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients:
- 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
- 1 cup light brown sugar, packed
- 1 cup white granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 eggs
- 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 10 ounce package of dark chocolate chunks or chips
- 1 ½ cups pecan pieces (optional)
How to make Dark Chocolate Chip Cookies?
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a large mixing bowl, cream together butter and sugars until fluffy. Add vanilla extract and eggs and beat until creamy.
- In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, baking soda and salt. Gradually add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture while mixing on low speed. Stir in the dark chocolate chunks and the pecans. Chill the dough for 30 minutes.
- Using a scoop, drop rounded tablespoonfuls onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Cookies should be 2 inches apart.
- Bake cookies for 10-12 minutes, until golden brown. Let them cool slightly on the baking sheet before moving the cookies to a wire rack to cool completely. Recipe yields 4 dozen cookies.
The pecans in this recipe are optional, but they give the cookies a great balance of sweet and nutty flavors and make the cookies irresistibly crunchy. Walnuts would also be a good choice to add to the dough before baking.
If you like a larger cookie, simply increase the size of your scoop to two tablespoons of dough, making 2 dozen cookies instead of 4 dozen.
I also like to place a few extra chocolate chips and pieces of pecan on top of each cookie, so you can actually see them in the cookie after baking. It makes for a prettier cookie.
Dark Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
- 1 cup light brown sugar, packed
- 1 cup white granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 eggs
- 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 10 ounce package of dark chocolate chunks or chips
- 1 ½ cups pecan pieces, optional
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a large mixing bowl, cream together butter and sugars until fluffy. Add vanilla extract and eggs and beat until creamy.
- In a medium bowl, stir together the flour, baking soda and salt. Gradually add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture while mixing on low speed. Stir in the dark chocolate chunks and the pecans. Chill the dough for 30 minutes.
- Using a scoop, drop rounded tablespoonfuls onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Cookies should be 2 inches apart.
- Bake cookies for 10-12 minutes, until golden brown. Let them cool slightly on the baking sheet before moving the cookies to a wire rack to cool completely. Recipe yields 4 dozen cookies.
