Tender, Chewy, & Craggy Chocolate Chip Cookies With Powdered Sugar

About These Chocolate Chip Cookies With Powdered Sugar

I am always looking for new and exciting twists to chocolate chip cookie recipes, so behold: these chocolate chip cookies with powdered sugar! This recipe comes from famed pastry chef Melissa Weller and her latest cookbook, A Good Bake: The Art and Science of Making Perfect Pastries, Cookies, Pies, and Breads at Home.

According to Melissa, the powdered sugar in the recipe gives the cookies their distinct, bumpy texture and makes the cookies extra tender and chewy. Why? Powdered sugar (also known as confectioners’ sugar) contains cornstarch. The cornstarch absorbs moisture from the rest of the ingredients, making an extra tender and chewy cookie. Cool, right? The cookies also have a mix of both dark and milk chocolate, giving the cookies a homey, nostalgic flavor.

Ingredients and Substitutions

Now that I’ve convinced you to make chocolate chip cookies with powdered sugar, here’s everything you need for the recipe:

Shopping List

Be sure to scroll down to the recipe card for the exact ingredient amounts and quantities:

• all-purpose flour
• baking powder
• baking soda
• kosher salt
• large eggs
• pure vanilla extract
• unsalted butter
• dark brown sugar
• granulated sugar
• confectioners’ sugar
• dark chocolate (between 60% to 70% cacao), from whole fèves or a high-quality chocolate bar
• milk chocolate (between 30% to 40% cacao), from whole fèves or a high-quality chocolate bar
• flaky salt

And let’s talk about some of the recipe’s main ingredients and potential substitutions:

Dark Chocolate versus Bittersweet and Semisweet Chocolate

In the United States, there’s no official benchmark for the “bittersweet” and “semisweet” chocolate designations. It’s up to manufacturers to determine how much cocoa to use, and percentages will vary greatly from brand to brand. Technically, both bittersweet and semisweet chocolate are considered dark chocolate… but you never know. Because of this, I advise you to ignore these bars and stick with a dark chocolate that lists its cocoa percentage.

Wait, what are chocolate fèves? Are they the same thing as chocolate baking discs and wafers?

Chocolate fèves are a fancy pastry school term for a flat, bean-shaped disc of chocolate. When baked in a cookie recipe, the fèves don’t hold their shape (similar to how chocolate chips typically do) and instead melt into puddles. These puddles give your cookies thin layers of chocolate throughout every bite. The most prominent maker of chocolate fèves is one of my favorite chocolate makers, Valrhona Chocolate. 

Unfortunately, as much as I love Valrhona chocolate, their chocolate fèves can be hard to find at your average grocery store. I typically buy Valrhona products online at Amazon, King Arthur Baking Company, or Valrhona’s online store. But if you don’t want to buy online, rest assured that other chocolate makers make similar products. Notably, Guittard Chocolate Company makes chocolate wafers. These wafers are similar to fèves, but more circular in shape. I’ve seen Guittard chocolate wafers at select Safeway, Target, and Whole Foods stores.

Do I really need to use fèves?

If there’s one thing I want you to take away from my blog, it’s this: don’t skimp on chocolate! Most grocery store brands—even the ones that offer products specifically made for baking—contain all sorts of additives like paraffin wax and palm oil. These ingredients compromise the flavor and texture of your results. I’ve stopped using chocolate chips in 90 percent of my recipes, and my baked goods have tasted so much better as a result. 

What chocolate did you use to make these chocolate chip cookies with powdered sugar?

For the dark chocolate component in these cookies, I used Valrhona Caraïbe fèves, which 66% cacao. In general, for this recipe, I recommend using a dark chocolate that is between 62% and 73% cacao (though I simplified that to 60% and 70% in the ingredients list).

For the milk chocolate component in these cookies, I used Guittard Milk Chocolate Wafers, which 38% cacao. In general, for this recipe, I recommend using a dark chocolate that is between 30% and 40% cacao.

What other chocolate do I recommend besides fèves? Check out all my recommendations in this post for The Best Chocolate For Chocolate Chip Cookies.

How To Make The Recipe

Here are the basic steps to make chocolate chip cookies with powdered sugar:

First, make the cookie dough.

1. First, prep your ingredients. (Prep Time: 5 to 10 minutes)
   Prep for this chocolate chip cookie recipe is easy! All you need to do is measure out the ingredients beforehand, and make sure the butter and eggs are at the right temperature. That’s it! If you’re using whole fèves like I recommended, there’s no need to chop them up beforehand. As a result, your prep time will only be about 5 minutes. However, if you’re chopping up chocolate for the recipe, your prep time will be 10 minutes.
   
   
2. Then, make the chocolate chip cookie dough. (Work Time: 5 minutes)
   The dough comes together really quickly! First, mix the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and kosher salt in a medium bowl. Then, whisk the large egg, egg yolk, and vanilla in a liquid measuring cup. Next, cream the butter and sugars until light and fluffy, then add the egg and vanilla in three parts. Finally, add the dry ingredients and chocolate. That’s it!
   
   
3. Next, assemble the cookies for chilling. (Work Time: 5 minutes)
   The fastest and easiest way to make picture-perfect cookies is to invest in a cookie dough scoop. These handy tools scoop the dough into dough balls that bake into perfect cookie circles every time. In general, I use a 3-Tablespoon or 4-Tablespoon cookie dough scoop to make my cookie recipes. Doing so makes perfect 3- to 3.5-inch wide cookies.

Then, chill the chocolate chip cookie dough.

1. Chill the dough. (Chill Time: Overnight)
   Melissa instructs you to chill the cookie dough overnight. Why? There’s research that states that “resting” your cookie dough by chilling or freezing will lead to more delicious cookies. Why? The extra time in the freezer/refrigerator allows the flour and sugar to absorb more flavors from the other ingredients in the dough. The resulting cookies have subtle butterscotch, caramel, and toffee flavors in them. So for little to no extra effort on your part, you end up with better cookies. Pretty amazing, right?

Finally, bake the cookies.

1. Assemble the cookies for baking. (Work Time: <5 minutes)
   After the cookies have chilled overnight, it’s time to bake them! I like to thaw the chilled cookie dough slightly by leaving them out on the counter as you preheat the oven. Thawing them slightly helps with the next step—before baking, Melissa instructs you to flatten each cookie dough ball with the palm of your hand. This works best if the cookie dough isn’t rock solid.
   
   
2. Bake the cookies. (Bake Time: 16 minutes)
   The chocolate chip cookies need 16 to 18 minutes in the oven. When done, the edges should be set. However, the centers will still look a little soft. That’s normal! In fact, that’s the secret to a perfect cookie with a chewy center.

Recipe Troubleshooting and FAQ

I’m way too impatient to wait for my cookies. Do I really have to chill them overnight?

No, in a pinch, you don’t have to chill them overnight. Although Melissa recommends chilling them for at least 2 hours before baking, I baked one right away because I wanted a cookie. It turned out fine, but the ones that were chilled overnight were definitely better!

If you decide to bake the dough without chilling it first, I recommend baking for a shorter amount of time (start checking for doneness at 12 minutes). I also don’t recommend flattening them like I instruct you to do so in the recipe; the dough will stick to your palms!

Help! I made these chocolate chip cookies with powdered sugar but they don’t look like your cookies. My chocolate stayed mostly in tact. They didn’t melt and pool throughout the cookie like yours did. What did I do wrong?

First things first: did you use chocolate chips? If you did, they’re the likely culprit.

I mentioned earlier that chocolate chips are made with stabilizers like more cocoa solids and paraffin wax to ensure that they keep their shape when baked. They won’t melt and pool into puddles like chopped chocolate bars. That’s why I always recommend using chopped chocolate if you’re looking for a picture-perfect, Instagram-ready cookie!

However, if you did use chopped chocolate, it’s likely that you chopped your chocolate up too finely. You want to keep the pieces fairly big—think: ½ inch to 1 inch pieces. Bigger pieces will get more melty and molten!

Can you freeze chocolate chip cookies with powdered sugar?

You can freeze chocolate chip cookies with powdered sugar in the following ways:

1. Freeze the UNBAKED chocolate chip cookie dough.
   Follow the recipe instructions to make the cookie dough and scoop them out into cookie dough balls. Place the cookie dough balls in a small sheet pan. Cover the pan with plastic wrap and freeze for at least 1 hour, or until the cookie dough balls are frozen solid. Transfer the cookie dough balls to a zip-top bag and freeze for up to 1 year.
   
   To bake the frozen cookie dough balls, follow the recipe instructions to preheat the oven. Bake for 18 to 20 minutes, or until the edges have set but the centers are still gooey.
   
   
2. Freeze the BAKED chocolate chip cookies.
   Individually wrap any leftover chocolate chip cookies in two layers of plastic wrap, then a layer of aluminum foil. The aluminum foil will prevent the cookies from absorbing any other flavors or odors in the freezer. When ready to serve, transfer to the refrigerator to chill overnight. Rewarm in the microwave or in the oven at 350°F for 5 minutes before serving.