Dark Chocolate Easter Cookies
I don’t know how things work at your house, but at our house, Easter means candy and lots of it. Not only is there candy in all the Easter baskets, but, every year, the kids fill a huge bowl to overflowing with the fruits of their Easter Egg Hunt – also, all candy. Some of the candy is of the fruity persuasion, an assortment of jelly beans, Skittles, maybe some Swedish Fish or Twizzlers. But the preponderance falls into the sphere of chocolate. We’ve got chocolate bunnies, chocolate eggs, chocolate filled with peanut butter, caramel, nougats and creams, not to mention the array of candy coated chocolates. Not that you will hear me complain, because all that chocolate candy gives me the perfect excuse to make these Dark Chocolate Easter cookies.
Credit for the original version of this recipe goes to Stella Parks, you can find her Dark Chocolate Easter Cookies Recipe over on Serious Eats. Based on the comments, it would appear she first posted the recipe in 2017, but she updated it in 2020 and it came to my attention not long after that. While I did make a few tweaks to the recipe, I adapted this one with a very light hand as the original is undeniably delicious.
What I love about this recipe is the extremely high proportion of dark cocoa powder to flour, basically a 1:1 ratio (by weight). The bitter notes of the cocoa help prevent the commercial candy (most of which has a milk chocolate base) from becoming overly cloying. I added a bit of espresso powder and opted for a caramel sugar (rather than white, or quick-toasted) to really bring home that bitter-sweet vibe.
Aside from the flavor, that substantial quantity of cocoa powder also has an effect on the texture of the cookie. Less flour means less gluten, and a more tender, crumbly, fragile cookie. Paired with the intense chocolate flavor and slightly crisp edge, this delivers a serious brownie feel. Stella recommends using Cacao Barry Extra Brute cocoa powder and I second that recommendation. It is a very dark, very robust cocoa powder with an almost reddish hue and is generally my go-to for Dutch-process cocoa powder.
I generally like a cookie where there is just enough dough to hold together the mix-ins, so I bumped up the total amount of candy added to the recipe. If you like more cookie than mix-in, you can always drop that back down again. To avoid negatively impacting the bitter-sweet balance, I made sure several of the included candies in my mix-ins featured a dark chocolate base rather than milk or white chocolate, such as Dove dark chocolate caramel and dark chocolate mini Cadbury eggs. I also specifically and separately called for candy with a colorful candy shell such as M&Ms, Robin’s Eggs and Reese’s Pieces eggs. I really like the bright, cheerful spring colors of those candies peeking out from crags in the sinfully dark cookie.
One last note before I send you off to make a batch of these for yourselves. Stella recommends keeping the dough rough, chunky and cookie-like in shape. I like a more consistent appearance and found I got that best by using a firmly packed cookie scoop and then flattening the mounds to a 1/2 inch thick puck. If your candy selection includes a lot of caramel fillings, you might find that the cookies will “spread” only in the direction of the melting, flowing caramel. When that happens, I use a round metal cookie cutter that is just a little larger than the cookie to kind of “nudge” the escaped caramel, and any dough it is carrying with it, back into a nice round cookie shape.
Dark Chocolate Easter Cookies
Equipment
- baking sheets
- mixing bowls (medium and large)
- As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.kitchen scale (or measuring cups)
- measuring spoons
- electric mixer
- cookie scoop (#30)
Ingredients
- 180 g all-purpose flour
- 180 g Dutch-process cocoa such as Cacao Barry Extra Brute
- 300 g assorted chocolate Easter candy such as chocolate bunnies, peanut butter eggs, Snickers eggs, Twix eggs, etc.
- 150 g colorful candy shell Easter candy such as M&Ms, mini Cadbury eggs, Reese’s Pieces eggs, mini Robin’s eggs, etc.
- 224 g unsalted butter cool room temperature
- 200 g caramel sugar
- 220 g brown sugar
- 15 ml vanilla extract
- 8 g sea salt
- 6 g baking powder
- ½ tsp baking soda
- ¾ tsp espresso powder
- 1 large egg
- 1 large egg yolk
Instructions
- Adjust the oven rack to the lower-middle position and preheat the oven to 350°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
- Whisk the flour and cocoa powder together in a medium bowl. Chop the chocolate Easter candy into roughly 1/4-inch pieces. Set aside.180 g all-purpose flour, 180 g Dutch-process cocoa such as Cacao Barry Extra Brute, 300 g assorted chocolate Easter candy
- In a large stand mixer bowl, combine the butter, caramel sugar, brown sugar, vanilla, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and espresso powder. Using a paddle attachment, beat until soft, light and fluffy.224 g unsalted butter, 200 g caramel sugar, 220 g brown sugar, 15 ml vanilla extract, 8 g sea salt, 6 g baking powder, ½ tsp baking soda, ¾ tsp espresso powder
- With the mixer running, add the egg and egg yolk. Continue beating until smooth. Scrape the bowl and beater with a flexible spatula.1 large egg, 1 large egg yolk
- Add in the flour/cocoa mixture and mix on low just until it is incorporated. Fold in both the chopped and colorful Easter candy.150 g colorful candy shell Easter candy, 300 g assorted chocolate Easter candy
- Use a #30 cookie scoop to portion the dough onto the prepared baking sheets leaving about 2 inches between the cookies. Flatten each ball of cookie dough into a puck about ½ inch thick. Place in the preheated oven and bake until puffed and firm around the edges, but still soft in the middle, about 10-12 minutes. Cool to room temperature on the baking sheets. Store in an airtight container at room temperature.
Nutrition
More recipes you might enjoy:
About The Author
