Dark Chocolate Easter Cookies Recipe

1. Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and preheat oven to 350°F (180°C). Sift flour and cocoa powder together in a medium bowl. Chop candy into roughly 1/4-inch pieces.

2. Combine butter, white sugar, brown sugar, salt, baking soda, baking powder, and vanilla in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Mix on low to moisten, then increase to medium and beat until soft and light, about 5 minutes. With mixer running, add egg and continue beating until smooth. Scrape bowl and beater with a flexible spatula, then resume mixing on low. Sprinkle in flour/cocoa; once it is incorporated, add chopped candy and continue mixing until well combined.

3. Divide dough into roughly 32 portions of 1 1/2 ounces each. (If you like, some dough can be frozen for up to 3 months in heavy-duty zip-top bags, then brought to room temperature for baking.) Arrange portioned dough on a parchment-lined aluminum half-sheet pan, shaping each piece into a craggy, cookie-shaped blob. If you like, top cookies with a few extra candy pieces. Bake until puffed and firm around the edges, though steamy and soft in the middle, about 15 minutes. Cool to room temperature directly on sheet pan; cookies will be extraordinarily fragile while warm. Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days.

Special equipment

Stand mixer with paddle attachment, half-sheet pan

Notes

This recipe works best with a mix of chocolate-friendly Easter candy, such as Reese's Peanut Butter Eggs, Butterfinger "NestEggs," Cadbury Mini Eggs, Snickers Eggs, Whoppers Robin Eggs, and any sort of M&Ms or chocolate bunnies. However you mix and match the candy, balancing its collective sweetness hinges on the bitterness and intensity of a good-quality Dutch cocoa, such as Cacao Barry Extra Brute.

This Recipe Appears In

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