Olive oil chocolate chunk cookies

Chewy and slightly sophisticated, these cookies are sure to please those who like their desserts to have "that little bit extra." We swapped out some of the traditional butter with some fruity and delicious olive oil. We also substituted bread flour for a portion of the all-purpose flour. The result? Chewier cookies (although we attribute that more to the oil than the flour).

​The addition of chopped dark bar chocolate gave us puddles of gooey chocolate when they came out of the oven. If you don't have bread flour, feel free to use all-purpose for all the flour. Just don't skip the salt!

We used our favorite grocery store olive oil brand, California Olive Ranch, for this recipe. It has a light, fruity flavor; is widely available; and is reasonably priced, to boot! If you can, skip the budget olive oil for this one. You'll appreciate the difference.

This recipe, adapted from the Displaced Housewife blog, makes about 3 dozen cookies. They keep at room temperature for several days and can be frozen as dough balls or finished cookies for up to three months.

INGREDIENTS

• 1 -1/2 cups of brown sugar, any type, packed
• 1 stick (4 ounces) unsalted butter, softened
• 1/2 cup good quality olive oil ( we used California Olive Ranch) 
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs, room temperature
• 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
• 1- 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 -1/2 cups bread flour (or an additional amount of all-purpose flour)
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon sea salt
• 3- 1/2 cups dark chocolate, coarsely chopped or chips (reserve some for the tops)
• Sea salt flakes for the tops (optional)

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Heat your oven to 375 degrees F. Make sure you have a rack in the top third of your oven. Line baking sheets with parchment paper or a silicone mats.
2. In stand mixer fitted with SideSwipe or your paddle attachment, cream your brown sugar, butter, oil and granulated sugar on medium speed until fully incorporated. 
3. Add the eggs + vanilla and mix on medium until everything is well blended. 
4. In a medium bowl whisk together all-purpose flour, bread flour, baking powder, baking soda and sea salt.
5. Add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients and mix on low speed until the cookie dough is barely blended. You still want to see streaks of flour. Add the chocolate chunks and fold until just mixed. 
6. Gently roll into 2 tablespoon-sized balls (we used 1-1/2 Tablespoon scoops). Place on prepared baking sheet with 2 inches between the dough balls. Stud the tops of the cookie balls with some of the reserved chocolate chunks for pretties cookies. Refrigerate for 30 minutes or freeze dough balls 10 minutes before baking if you like thicker cookies. 
7. Bake the cookies in the top third of the oven for about 11 minutes. They will look slightly underdone. Fresh out of the oven, sprinkle with the sea salt flakes. Cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes, the cool completely on a wire rack.
8. Store in a sealed container up to three days at room temperature.