Crumbl Semi Sweet Chocolate Chunk Cookies
Crumbl’s Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chunk Cookie is one of my favorites! It’s less-sweet than the milk chocolate chip cookie and it has a sprinkling of sea salt which is delicious with the chocolate. This copycat recipe uses browned butter for flavor (see notes if you want to skip it), sea salt for sprinkling, and lots and lots of chocolate chunks.
Servings: 6 large cookies
Calories: 705kcal
Ingredients
- 8 tablespoons unsalted butter 4 ounces
- 1 tablespoon water
- 1/2 cup brown sugar 3.5 ounces
- 1/3 cup sugar 2.3 ounces
- 1 egg
- 3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour 7.5 ounces
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chunks (about 10 ounces)
- Flaky sea salt for sprinkling I use Maldon Sea Salt Flakes
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325°F. Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Cut the stick of butter in half. Brown half the butter in a small saucepan: Melt butter in a small saucepan, then turn up the heat to medium and stir frequently while the butter bubbles and pops. This bubbling will slow down as the milk solids begin to toast. Watch for tiny bits of brown forming in the pan. When you see this, remove the pan from the heat, stir about 15-20 seconds longer and pour into a heat-proof bowl. Scrape all the brown bits into there as well. Pour in a tablespoon of water and stir—watch out because it will bubble! Allow to cool for ten minutes.
- Soften the other half in the microwave using 5-10 intervals until it’s softened enough to squish with a fork, but not melted.
- Cream together the softened butter and the sugars with a fork. Add in the cooled browned butter from step 1. Cream together until smooth.
- Add egg and vanilla extract to the butter mixture and stir until smooth.
- Add all dry ingredients (flour, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda, and salt) to the butter and sugar mixture. Stir gently with a large spoon (or fold with a large spatula) until just combined (don't overmix).
- Add the chocolate chunks, reserving roughly a 1/3 cup. Chill dough for 30 minutes.
- Divide dough into 6 equal balls. Each ball will be about 4.3 ounces each, or a generous 1/3 cup. Roll dough into balls, flatten to 1” high disks and place 4” apart on cookie sheets. Press in 8-10 more chocolate chunks to the top.
- Bake for about 16-20 minutes or until cookies have spread, puffed, and turned golden on the edges. They should be gooey in the centers, but not raw. You can test the centers with a food thermometer if desired. Aim for 175-180°F in the center.
- After removing the cookies from the oven, sprinkle immediately with a sprinkle of flaky sea salt.
Notes
Skip the browned butter: If you don’t feel like trying the browned butter, no worries. Follow these instructions instead: Omit the 1 tablespoon of water. Melt 4 tablespoons of butter in the microwave or on the stove and set aside to cool for 10 minutes. Continue with recipe using the plain melted butter in place of the browned butter.
Too much chocolate? These cookies (just like Crumbl’s!) are filled with a LOT of chocolate. If you don’t want so much, I suggest only adding 1 cup of chunks to the dough and then dotting the tops with an additional 8-10 chunks as noted in the recipe.
No Time to Chill? The dough can be baked immediately, but the cookies will spread quite a bit. For best results, chill the dough, but if you don’t mind the spreading, you can bake right away too.
To Make Ahead: If you want to make the dough in advance, you absolutely can. Prepare the dough and store in the fridge up to two days before baking. Allow to sit at room temperature for about 30-45 minutes to soften slightly before baking.
To store: Store the cookies in an airtight container at room temperature up to 5 days. They are best the first couple of days!
To freeze: wrapped completely cooled cookies in plastic wrap and pack into freezer-safe containers. To keep the chocolate chunks perfectly shaped, you can flash freeze the cookies on a baking sheet and then wrap them once frozen solid. Store packaged cookies in the freezer for 1-2 months.
Nutrition
Calories: 705kcal | Carbohydrates: 84g | Protein: 8g | Fat: 38g | Saturated Fat: 22g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 11g | Trans Fat: 1g | Cholesterol: 71mg | Sodium: 299mg | Potassium: 395mg | Fiber: 5g | Sugar: 50g | Vitamin A: 535IU | Calcium: 84mg | Iron: 5mg