After making a batch of big, soft, ginger cookies and admiring the lovely cracks and crevices, I decided to try converting my molasses flavor ginger cookie recipe to chocolate chip. It took a little experimenting, but I finally got what I was looking for – dense, chewy cookies with a deep brown color and lots of cracks and crevices. These are very good jumbo chocolate chip cookies (although I cheated and used chunks). Chips or chunks will do.
Secret Ingredients
The key to the great texture is using an egg yolk instead of a full egg, adding 2 tablespoons of molasses and using a generous amount of baking soda, which makes the cookies rise quickly and crack. I also used a lot more vanilla than usual, and the cookies tasted great! Definitely not too vanilla-y, which was a concern. Maybe the vanilla and molasses kind of balance each other out? I don’t know, but it worked.
Molasses Flavor
Jumbo Chocolate Chip Cookies have more of a molasses flavor than average chocolate chip cookies, but not so much that they’ll remind you of spice cookies. Also, I used Brer Rabbit Full strength molasses. If I’d used mild molasses, I would have ended up with less molasses flavor. But I liked these and wouldn’t change them! They’re big, flashy and perfect for bake sales. They also do NOT require any electric mixers, which is a big plus in my book.
Jumbo Chocolate Chip Update
Here’s a photo of the recipe tested again on 5/25. No changes made. The brand of Molasses was Publix, flour was King Arthur All-Purpose (2 1/3 cups 10.5 oz) and I tested with chocolate chips and chocolate chunks. The cookies looked like this right out of the oven and cracked a little more after they cooled.
Jumbo Molasses Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
- 6 oz unsalted butter (170 grams)
- 1 large egg
- 1 large egg yolk
- 1/3 cup light brown sugar (65 grams)
- 1 cup granulated sugar (200 grams)
- 2 tablespoon molasses I used Brer Rabbit Full Flavor
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 2 1/3 cups unbleached all-purpose flour (10.5 oz/295 grams)
- 1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 cups large bittersweet or dark chocolate chips or 2 large bars 60% cacao chocolate cut into chunks. Note: Chunks of chocolate may cause more spreading, so I recommend chips for the first batch.
Instructions
- Melt the butter in a microwave-safe bowl. Let it cool for 10 minutes.
- In a large bowl, mix together the egg, yolk, both sugars, molasses and vanilla. Add the cooled butter.
- In a separate bowl, mix together flour, baking soda and salt.
- Stir flour mixture into sugar mixture until thoroughly combined. Stir in chocolate chips.
- Scoop dough (about 1/4 cup — but it’s not precise) and shape into 16 equal sized mounds. If you have a scale, each dough mound should weigh about 2 1/2 oz. Place shaped mounds on a plate or tray, cover and chill thoroughly for at least 3 hours (overnight is best).
- Arrange dough mounds about 3 inches apart on a baking sheet that has been lined with parchment paper. Bake at 350 degrees F. for 13 to 15 minutes or until cookies appear set, nicely browned and cracked. If cookies spread a little, push the edges inward using the tip of a spatula so that they’re a little more rounded. Let cool on the baking sheet for about 10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack and let cool completely. I like to put mine in the refrigerator to set the chocolate.
Anna
I’m honored you tried my recipe :).
Stephanie B
Goodness, Anna! Thanks for trying it out, with so many of my goofy changes made… I feel pretty honored! B-) Hope it becomes an “experiment” for other readers on this blog also. (My cousin who was a home economist\ public school teacher always said, “I don’t have ‘failures’ in the kitchen, only ‘experiments.'”) I like that philosophy…
Anna
Hi Stephanie,
I’m glad you saw my comment with the measurements. I made your accidental low fat cookies yesterday using the measurements I put up. I used 200 grams of flour and no oats. The cookies were very good! They reminded me of something Cooking Light would feature. I could tell they were low fat because they were denser and chewier and a little sweeter, but still good. They were definitely pretty!
Stephanie B
Yes, that’s essentially what I ended up with, doing a weigh-then-measure process today, for ⅔ batch.
* 175 g. of 100% whole wheat flour measured 1½ c. (lightly spooned into the cup, leveled with knife edge)
* 20 g. of rolled oats flour measured ¼ cup rolled oats
When I made the double chocolate version, I decreased flour to only 155 g. and added 20 g. natural cocoa; all else remained the same. Those may have been very slightly firmer in density, but still chewy.
I’m guessing that despite my measuring error in amount of fat used, I still got the chewy/ bendy quality due to the ratio of sugar to other ingredients, and the addition of molasses. Regardless of the science…. it will be top on our list of “special” recipes! I’m surely not finished playing with the recipe, though.
😉
Anna
Steph, thanks for the update. I’ll have to try your new low fat version. If I am correct, these would be the measurements. Putting the volume measures in reminds me how imprecise volume is compared to grams. Let me know if this looks about right.
Stephanie’s Reduced Fat Chocolate Chip Cookies (?)
4 tablespoons butter (56 grams)
1 large egg
40 grams brown sugar (about 1/4 cup plus a tablespoon)
140 grams granulated (around 2/3 cup)
1 1/2 tablespoons molasses (30 grams)
2 teaspoons vanilla
200 grams flour (somewhere around 1 1/2 cups)
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 scant teaspoon salt
1 1/3 cups or measure with your heart of chocolate chips
Steph B
Anna –
Following up on 2/21/21 post, but I rather need a “sheepish expression” icon, here… Recently I repeated the recipe according to my ⅔ batch changes–delightful again! Then I remade them, with a few adjustments to get a double chocolate version. We were just as happy–same dense, chewy, not-too-sweet, slightly bendy, non-greasy marvels. Here’s the point, though: I realized when looking back at your original version that I had “translated” the “6 OUNCES butter” to tablespoons when I made my smaller batch. Needles to say, my version of the recipe is quite short on butter (should have used whole stick, not 4 T.). That said, still THE best cookie we’ve made in our little kitchen!
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I have another unbaked test batch waiting in the freezer, having subbed a small bit of peanut butter powder and slightly higher ratio of oats in the dry ingredients. My expectations are high!
Anna
Thank you, Steph! I’ll try the cookies with your changes :).
Steph B
Hi, Anna –
Must agree with Skip Bach, hands down the best CCC ever made in this household! They had EVERYthing I love about a CCC: dense, thick, slightly “bendy”/chewy texture, not the slightest greasy or oily feeling, loaded with chocolate, a slightly more complicated flavor due to the whole wheat and the hint of molasses, and they kept well over the 4 days we rationed them out to ourselves. I have NEVER taken the effort to measure ingredients for a cookie, but I did it this time, because I believe in your experience as a recipe tester/developer. I only made 2/3 batch, which should have resulted in ~11 cookies, but my husband said, “Oh, no–I can’t eat 11; you should make them into only 8…”, so I did, .
Note, the following changes were made:
Used 100% whole wheat flour, and substituted about 20g quick oats in the total weight
Used only 1 whole egg (due to making only 2/3 batch)
Substituted ~1/3 c. of pecans for some of the chocolate chips
Let the dough rest about 3 days, baked them direct from frig, and pressed the cookies down when they came out of the oven. Immediately also “refrigerated” them outside in the snowy conditions to set the chocolate more quickly.
Absolutely THE best! In light of our usual very “health-oriented” diet, these were downright decadent to us, and they’ll be repeated for a special treat.
Your blog is a regular read for me, greatly appreciating your dedication to the science as well as the JOY of baking. And…..I think cookies rule!!!
Anna
Tested the recipe again and had no problems.
Anna
Hi Jay,
I sent you an email to try to troubleshoot why your cookies were too thin. I did not use shortening for this recipe and the weight of the flour was 4.5 oz per cup not 5 oz, so total weigh was 10.5. Most of the reviews here are good, but some people mentioned their cookies were thin. This is similar to the Bon Appetit Chocolate Chip Cookie which works for some people and not for others. I’ll make these again and see if I can replicate the problem, but my cookies are never greasy and they do crinkle. THANK YOU for sharing your experience so that I can figure out why the recipe isn’t working properly for everyone.
Jay
I previously left a rating…but as an edit, just wanted to say that the 6 ounces of melted butter makes these a greasy cookie. I was wondering if perhaps you are using 1/2 shortening and 1/2 butter? Or maybe a little less butter?
Christina Ornelas
The mollases gives these a great flavor! I added some almond slivers to my batch. This is the second time making these.
Jade
Yep! They were amazing! Now, I need to make them with molasses…
A crew of 4 ate all 17 in under 2 hours.
Anna
Thanks for testing it with maple syrup. I’m definitely going to give that a try!
Jade
They were perfect! The recipe yielded 17 big cookies and they are almost gone already. They couldn’t even wait for them to cool. They baked for 14 minutes and came out thick and chewy with just the right amount of spread. They look just like the picture aside from the chips and the added walnuts. Thanks for the recipe, this is going to be my new go-to!
Anna
Jade, I’m looking forward to hearing how they turn out. This recipe is funny in that the cookies come out flat for some and puffy for others. It will be interesting to see how maple syrup works. If you end up not loving these for some reason, I recommend the Big Flat Chocolate Chunk. I’ve been making them a lot lately and really love them. But these are good too — or should be.
https://www.cookiemadness.net/2017/10/big-flat-chocolate-chunk-cookies/
Jade
I mixed the dough for these earlier and the mounds are chilling now. I didn’t have molasses, so I substituted an equal amount of maple syrup. I have no idea how that’ll affect the taste/consistency. I also replaced 1/2 c of chocolate with chopped walnuts. Aside from that, I followed all the other directions, using chocolate chips instead of chunks. I’ll be baking them for my crew at the fire station later and I’ll be back to let you know how they turn out! I will say, the dough looks perfect and was very easy to handle and scoop!
Anna
Glad you liked the flavor, but sorry to hear the cookies spread. I haven’t had that problem with this particular recipe, but when it comes to cookies you never know. What brand of flour did you use? Shortening could help, but for this recipe you really shouldn’t need any. Did you use “generous” tablespoons of molasses? Maybe it was the brand and amount of molasses. Some brands might be heavier and sweeter which would cause spread (more sugar = more spread). I’m just brainstorming because these shouldn’t spread too much. What’s funny is that someone else mentioned hers didn’t spread at all. It’s always interesting to see how recipe vary from one kitchen to another, but it would be fun to nail down exactly why the cookies didn’t turn out the same.
Renae
These taste really good! It definitely brings me MUCH closer to the taste of the cookies I love at our local bakery. I think the molasses is to thank for that. It adds a rich, but not obvious, flavor. However, I refrigerated over night and mine still spread pretty bad. Next time I’ll maybe try with just room temp butter or with some shortening? 5 star flavor though, the best flavor of any of the many recipes I’ve tried so far 😉
Sadie
Hi Anna,
I’ve tested so many chocolate chip cookie recipes that I really didn’t want to try another one, but I needed a cookie recipe the other day that was quick and easy and your molasses ccc’s were exactly what I was looking for. I’ll have to try with ones with roasted flour….I’m intrigued by the roasted flour! Thanks for pointing the recipe out. I love trying something new!
Anna
Hi Sadie,
Thanks so much for trying them! I appreciate the fact you took the time to post a review. If you get a chance, try the Chocolate Chip Cookies with Roasted Flour! Also, I still use your peanut butter cookie recipe :). Glad to hear from you.
Sadie
A further comment to my review. I was in a rush when I made these and did not have time to chill the dough mounds for 3 hours or longer. I put them in the freezer until they were solid, approximately 1 hour, and then baked them. The long chilling time shouldn’t be a deterrent from making these delicious cookies! The next time I make them I’ll sprinkle some coarse sea salt on the tops.
Sadie
Excellent! I’ve tested over 200 chocolate chip cookie recipes and this is definitely one of the best so far. The molasses add a bit of interest to the taste and a moist chew to the texture. I used coarsely chopped 70% chocolate and did not have a problem with spreading. My cookies were only marginally thinner than the ones pictured with the recipe. I subbed bread flour for 1 cup of the all-purpose, used dark brown sugar instead of light, and added 1 tablespoon of molasses, but doubt that these minor changes drastically affected the end result. A single recipe yielded 12 big cookies.
Skip Bach
Five Stars. Hands down the best chocolate chip cookies we have ever made! Our family and friends love these cookies. Thanks Anna for sharing your recipe!
Anna
Hooray! Glad you liked them, Christine. This is one of my personal favorites because I like the hint of molasses.
Christine
Five stars
Anna
Hi Liz,
Thanks for the review! I’m so happy you and your family liked them. Sorry yours didn’t spread as much as mine. It could have been the flour. I find that unbleached flour spreads more. Also, if you didn’t weigh your flour your cups could have been a little heavier. But I’m glad the cookies were good despite the lack of spread.
Liz
These are the best chocolate chip cookies I’ve ever made! And I’ve been through my fair share of cookie recipes! Mine did not spread so much, however, they still came out chewy and cracked. My family loves them and I’m definitely using this recipe as my go-to. I will never underestimate molasses again. 🙂
KC
These are fabulous cookies! I have made them twice now and they turn out beautifully cracked and delicious. I make them with regular semi-sweet chocolate chips and a little smaller so they make more cookies, but otherwise follow the recipe exactly and they are sooo good! This is my go to chocolate chip recipe from this point forward. Thanks for sharing the recipe!
Anna
Thanks for the feedback, Renee! I like this recipe a lot, too. I just made a batch of chocolate chip cookies using another recipe, but I wish I’d used this one.
Renee
Just made these and they were fantastic! I used chocolate chips and they came out perfect!!
Kara D
These look great – I love molasses!
Anna
No, I’m glad you were honest. But they should have been thick, so I’m not sure what happened. Even when I use chocolate chunks, I still get thick cookies. Weird, because I’ve made them about 4 times now. I didn’t put the weight of the brown sugar in the measurement because I didn’t think it would matter, but maybe you packed it in the cup a little more than I did? Or if you used dark brown sugar, that could have caused a little more spread.
Katherine
Oh sorry. I didn’t mean to mess up the star rating. Mine were pretty thin, so it must have been the chocolate. Next time I will try that tip of smushing them inward. I only ate one, because I gave the rest away (shoot!). So I will make them again and let you know if they turn out thicker. Thanks!
Anna
Thanks for the review? Did you leave a star off because they spread? Mine spread a tiny bit when I used chocolate chunks instead of chips, but when that happened I just pushed the edges inward with a spatula to make the cookies rounder. I’m going to go ahead and add that tip to the directions. Using chopped chocolate instead of chips does cause a bit more spread, but the cookies should still be thick.
Right now these are my favorite chocolate chip cookies. I like them better than the CI version because of the molasses. I am really sorry you had to leave off a star, but glad you liked them.
Katherine
I made these yesterday. They were very good, kind of reminded me of CI’s perfect CCC. I used chocolate chunks from a Trader Joe’s dark chocolate bar. I was only able to let them chill for 6 hours but next time I would probably freeze before baking because the did spread quite a bit. Mine were chewy and packed with tons of chocolate.
Sue
Hi Anna
I saw this post yesterday while sitting by my Moms hospital bed. I was kind of wishing for one and a cup of tea. I’ve never put molasses in a CCC. It’s a good idea to get that style of cookie especially with your leavening and vanilla tweaks.
Mela
I like that the cookies are big and chewy! It’s been a while since I baked some chocolate chip cookies, time to make some. Thanks, Anna.
Carol
Yum! I always want to eat chocolate chip cookies! I use dark brown sugar in my cookies because we like that molasses flavor.
C L
I definitely must make these, and the ginger cookies sound delicious too! 🙂
Katrina
Fun experiment. Might have to try those, see what the fam thinks.
Tina V.
oooh!! Yum, these look delicious!! Love the secret molasses and I’m a huge vanilla fan – will have to print and try!! Thank you!!
T. Martin
The picture made me want to reach through the screen and take one off the plates…and this is from someone who chocolate chip cookie is not in the top 5 of favorite treats.
CindyD
These look really good! I’m interested in the soft ginger cookies, too!