Closeup of chocolate chocolate chip cookies on a plate with crinkled parchment as a background and more cookies in the foreground

Why I love these dairy free cookies

Baking has become a big part of my life since we went dairy free. Even though I baked a decent amount before that, I wasn’t a confident baker and I didn’t understand much about the chemistry behind baking.

You can read more about my baking soda epiphany in this gingersnap recipe and soft sugar cookies post. It has brought back a whole world of treats that had become off limits to our family, and it saves us a ton of money since allergy safe treats can be on the expensive side.

The first baked good I really perfect was my dairy free chocolate chip cookies (I also make them into sprinkle cookies). It took my several tries, and I even published a chocolate chip cookie bars recipe too.

a sheet pan, lined with parchment paper, filled with chocolate chocolate chip cookies on a gray background

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Why I love these chocolate chocolate chip cookies

Since I’ve been exploring cookies more over the past year, I wanted to try making chocolate chocolate chip cookies. When I was a kid, my mom made chocolate cookies with white chocolate chips in them, and while I love them, finding dairy free white chocolate can difficult/expensive. So, I decided to make these extra indulgent, double chocolate chip cookies instead.

Dairy Free Product Guide

Don’t waste your money trying a bunch of products. I’ve already tried them all, and I’m sharing my tried-and-true favorites.

If you have white chocolate chips that are dairy free, feel free to substitute them and you’ll get a great cookie. Although I haven’t tried them, these white chocolate chips are widely known in the dairy free world, and they are what I would choose if I wanted to buy some.

chocolate chocolate chip cookies on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper

Here’s what you’ll need to make double chocolate chip cookies:

a sheet pan, lined with parchment paper, filled with chocolate chocolate chip cookies on a gray background, optimized for Pinterest with text overlay

How to make chocolate chocolate chip cookies

Mise en place.

Be sure to measure all of your ingredients before beginning. This will help ensure you don’t miss an ingredient or a step, and it makes the whole process go smoother. While you’re measuring your ingredients, you can preheat your oven to 350˚F. I also like to get my baking sheets lined with parchment so they’re all ready to go when it’s time to scoop the dough.

Mix flour and leavener.

In a medium mixing bowl, whisk the flour with the baking soda and salt. This helps distribute the baking soda evenly through the flour.

Cream shortening and sugar.

In a large bowl with an electric mixer (either a stand or hand mixer will work), beat the sugar and shortening together until it’s light and fluffy. This usually takes about 2 minutes with a stand mixer.

Add wet ingredients and the cocoa powder.

Mix the eggs and vanilla extract into the creamed shortening. Beat them together until they’re evenly combined. Next, add the cocoa powder, beat on a lower speed to prevent any cocoa powder for flying out of the bowl. Beat until combined.

If you want to make these cookies vegan, replace the eggs with 2 tablespoons ground flax seed + 6 tablespoons water.

10 double chocolate chip cookies on a sheet of parchment paper, some cut partly out of the frame

Add flour mixture.

In about 1/2 cup increments, add the flour mixture to the bowl and beat until combined. Continue using a lower speed to prevent any mess and to help ensure you aren’t over beating your eggs.

Stir in chocolate chips.

Once everything is mixed, add the chocolate chips. Make sure you’re using dairy free chocolate chips (read this post if you want to learn more about dairy free substitutes).

Bake your cookies.

Use a medium cookie scoop to place 2-tablespoon sized balls of dough onto your parchment paper. They should be evenly spaced with a few inches in between. I usually put 1 dozen per half-sheet (standard cookie sheet). Bake for 10 – 11 minutes at 350˚F.

If you want your cookies to be chewy, make use to take them out after this time. The tops will look, but not feel set, and that’s okay. As they rest on the cookie sheet for about 5 minutes, they will continue to cook a little bit and turn out perfectly.

a hand reaching for chocolate chocolate chip cookies on a plate surrounded by more cookies and short glass of almond milk

FAQs and Tips for making chocolate chocolate chip cookies

Can I make these gluten free?

Theoretically, you should be able to substitute a gluten free all-purpose flour for these double chocolate chip cookies, but I haven’t tested and I haven’t had the best of luck substituting gluten free flours in my baking recipes. I recommend trying this recipe instead.

Can I make these vegan?

Although I haven’t tested these, they should turn out fine if you substitute 2 tablespoons ground flax seed + 6 tablespoons water for the eggs. You could also use a vegan egg replacer product.

What kind of cocoa powder should I use?

I used regular cocoa powder for this recipe, not Dutch-processed cocoa powder. Dutch-processed cocoa powder is not-acidic, like regular cocoa powder so it will cause different reactions in each recipe. Since this recipe uses baking soda and also has brown sugar (also acidic) it should work with Dutch-processed, but I haven’t tested it. Read more about cocoa powder here.

Why didn’t my cookies turn out?

There could be so many reasons for this. Re-read the recipe, and if you followed it correctly, check your oven temperature and your baking soda expiration. Altitude can also be an issue with baking, so if you live in a high altitude area, you may have additional troubleshooting to do.

Even more chocolate recipes: