These decadent and rich dark chocolate cookies are the perfect treat for Valentine’s Day Weekend! My husband and I used to obsess in college over a local bakery that made them, so we just had to figure out our own recipe since we can’t get them as easily anymore. Dark chocolate pairs so well with deep red wine such as Merlot, which is what we used in this recipe. Be sure to grab you a glass and your Valentine sweetie to make these delicious cookies for the holiday. The recipe below is super easy to make and is totally worth it!
What you’ll need / Ingredients:
- 1 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
- 3/4 cup special dark cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1 cup dark brown sugar
- 1/2 cup or 1 stick unsalted butter (*salted butter is also okay but be sure to leave out the above sea salt)
- I whole large egg
- 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 cup Merlot
- 1 1/2 cups dark chocolate chips (*I recommend 60% dark chocolate)
Instructions:
- Preheat the oven for 375°F.
- In a medium bowl, hand mix all of your dry ingredients: flour, cocoa powder, fine sea salt, and baking soda. Once combined, set it aside.
- Next, we will be beating together your wet ingredients and sugar. Here I used my KitchenAid stand mixer with the beater attachment but you can also use a hand mixer or manually whisk it together. I like to start by beating the butter in the mixer until decently smooth, then add in the granulated and dark brown sugars. Mix this on medium speed for 2-3 minutes or until fully combined and light and fluffy.
- Add in one egg and the vanilla extract and beat for about 60 seconds or until combined.
- Add in the Merlot and mix for another 30-60 seconds. At this point it will look a little weird and may not fully combine, but no fear! Just continue on to the next step!
- Next, slowly start adding and beating in the dry ingredients you set aside earlier. You’ll want to do this in stages so you don’t throw cocoa powder mixture all over your kitchen.
- Once thoroughly mixed, fold in your chocolate chips.
- Once everything is mixed and ready, line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Using a spoon, drop about 1 1/2 inch diameter batter balls onto your pan, making sure to space them out so they don’t run together. I also like to chill my dough for a bit before doing this step to make the batter less sticky, but that’s just my preference. You should be able to get 16-20 cookies out of one batch depending on the size you scoop them.
- Bake the cookies for 8-10 minutes (9 minutes is the sweet spot for my specific oven.)
- Let them cool for a bit and enjoy!
I really hope you all love this recipe as much as my husband and I do! Feel free to play around with the proportions of sugar, cocoa powder, etc. to adjust the sweetness and chocolate-y-ness of them. And most of all, we hope you all have a happy Valentine’s Weekend!
