With a fruity, earthy flavor, these olive oil chocolate chunk cookies are out of this world! The olive oil gives this chocolate chip cookie an incredible flavor and moist, chewy texture.
Know how every person has a “thing” they swear will fix anything that ails you? For my mother, that was olive oil. As kids, she’d give us olive oil for our skin, hair, sore throats, stomach ailments, and of course – use it copiously in cooking. Good olive oil was the answer to everything and a sure-fire way to make any dish taste better. I’ve always used olive oil in cooking savory dishes, of course, but in the past few years, I have gotten really into using it in desserts! These olive oil chocolate chunk cookies are the reigning favorite olive oil dessert recipe in the house – for the whole family!
Olive oil chocolate chip cookies have no butter!
Surprise! Kind of. I’m pretty sure you realized that if we use one fat, we’ll have to get rid of another one, right? Some recipes call for a blend, but I’m all for straight substitution. We prefer this because I’ll use a nice flavorful olive oil, and we don’t want anything interfering with the flavor profile! We used to live near a lovely olive oil tasting room in California, and once you’ve sampled really good olive oil, it’s something you want to feature in your dishes at every opportunity.
Given that, it’s super easy to make these dairy-free chocolate chip cookies if you just use a dairy free chocolate. Either use dairy free chocolate chips or chop up a dairy free chocolate bar to get chunks.
Why are we using chunks instead of chips?
You can use chips, I do sometimes. But I’m using chunks now because I bought a lot and that’s what I have. Also because chocolate chunks are AMAZING for making chocolate chip cookies. They take a little longer to set up, so when you finally get to take a bite of a barely-warm chocolate chip cookie fresh from the oven, there’s still melt-y chocolate. I don’t care how old one gets, there’s something magical about biting into a warm chocolate chip cookie when the chips haven’t quite set up yet.
A few notes about olive oil…
The type of olive oil you choose determines the final flavor of these cookies. If you aren’t sure how you feel about olive oil cookies, use an extra-virgin olive oil. You’ll get a very mild olive oil flavor in the cookies, so it’s great if you’re new to olive oil desserts. Chances are, this is also the olive oil you have in your pantry for making salad dressings.
For a bolder olive oil flavor, use virgin olive oil. This is the olive oil you buy to cook and bake dishes where you want an olive-oil forward flavor, like olive oil cake. Again, you probably have this in your pantry, especially if you’re like me and buy the big bottles at the warehouse store!
If you want to get really gourmet with these olive oil cookies, use a single varietal olive oil and pair it with an appropriate single varietal chocolate. If you have a local olive oil store, they can definitely help you find the best option! I’ve done this a few times and it’s AMAZING, but since specialty olive oils are a little pricier, it’s a special occasion chocolate chunk cookie.
A few final baking notes…
A totally optional step I mention in the recipe is adding a bit of coarse sea salt to the cookies before baking. Adding a little salt to sweet dishes helps balance the sweetness and accentuate certain flavors. In this case, the little added salt helped the chocolate pop just a bit more in the cookie and balanced the fruitiness of the oil. Did these cookies still taste amazing without the salt? Yes. So adding salt or not is totally up to you.
Finally, you’ll find that the flavor in the olive oil chocolate chunk cookies develops over time! So if you mix the cookies, bake straight away, and then eat one immediately, you might think they don’t have a lot of olive oil flavor. Wait a few hours, even better overnight, and try again. You’ll see the olive oil becomes more pronounced after some time for the flavors to blend.
If you can wait a few hours or a day to bake your cookie dough after shaping, you won’t have to worry about this. Just refrigerate the shaped cookies, covered with plastic wrap, on a baking sheet. You can also freeze olive oil cookie dough for up to 3 months. Shape the cookies, freeze solid, and store in an airtight container until you’re ready to bake.
If you age your cookie dough a bit, you’ll allow the flavor to develop before baking so you don’t have to wait after! Because no one wants to wait to eat a cookie.
I hope you love this recipe for olive oil chocolate chunk cookies, darlings!
Salted Olive Oil Chocolate Chunk Cookies
With a fruity, earthy flavor, these olive oil chocolate chunk cookies are out of this world! The olive oil gives this chocolate chip cookie an incredible flavor and moist, chewy texture.
Ingredients
- 2 cups + 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 3/4 cup lightly packed brown sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 cup chocolate chunks, or chocolate chips
- optional - coarse sea salt for topping
Instructions
- If you are baking immediately after mixing, preheat the oven to 375 F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Set aside.
- In a small bowl, sift together the flour, salt, and baking soda. Set aside.
- In the bowl of your stand mixer (or use a hand mixer and a large mixing bowl), beat the olive oil and sugars on medium speed for 1-2 minutes. Add the eggs, one at a time, stirring after each addition. Stir in the vanilla extract.
- Add the flour mixture to the sugar mixture in 2 batches. Fold in the chocolate chunks with the last batch of flour.
- Use a medium cookie scoop to scoop the dough into even mounds on the baking sheet. If desired, lightly cover the cookie dough with plastic wrap and refrigerate 1-2 hours, up to overnight.
- When you are ready to bake, space the cookies out by 2 inches on the baking sheet. Top the cookies with a light sprinkle of coarse sea salt, if desired. Bake the cookies for 11-13 minutes. Remove from the oven as soon as you see light browning along the edges. Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheets at least 10 minutes before transferring.
- Baked cookies will last one week at room temperature in an airtight container.
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