Dark Chocolate Olive Oil Cookies
The first time I had these salted dark chocolate olive oil cookies was at Levee Baking Co. here in New Orleans. Christina is a friend and has always inspired me. Her bakery has some of the absolute best breads and pastries here in the Big Easy. Funny enough, I actually didn’t get into making my own sourdough until she came over one day and brought me some of her starter. It was then that my life changed forever because she taught me a basic sourdough bread recipe. Since then, I have been making sourdough 2-3 times a month and I absolutely love it. But that’s not why we are here today. We’re here to talk about a cookie. A salted dark chocolate olive oil cookie to be exact. Drooling yet?
WHY YOU’LL LOVE THESE COOKIES
Going back to when I first had this cookie, upon my first bite my eyes rolled into the back of my head and I squealed. My mouth was overwhelmed with a crispy, chewy texture that was rich and oh so chocolatey. Large chunks of flaky salt melted onto my tongue, intensifying the flavor. It was decided at the moment to be my favorite cookie ever. And it still is.
KEY INGREDIENTS
Luckily, Christina agreed to let me share her recipe on the blog for all of you! I did make just a few tweaks because you know I can be fussy if I don’t have my way, but the recipe is very similar to the one she currently serves at the bakery. I added some coffee because Ina Garten taught me that trick when I was a teenager (it brings out the flavor of the chocolate in a big way.) Also added just a dash of almond extract because I just can’t help myself. You don’t really taste it but it’s definitely there.
A FEW MORE TIPS
What else… oh yeah, I like to make mine on the bigger, thinner, crispier, and chewier side. So I like to divide the dough into 12 big cookies and bake for 16 minutes. Of course, you could go smaller but I think these work really well when they are big and impressive. I also decided to omit the chocolate chips but I have made that an option in the notes. This just depends on how much you like chocolate! Lastly, don’t skimp on the flaky salt. It’s what makes the cookies.
Big thanks to Christina from Levee Baking Co. for letting me share this chocolate olive oil cookie recipe. Definitely give her a follow on Instagram, her feed is gorgeous.
WANT TO TRY OTHER SEASONAL TREATS?
ENJOY THESE SALTED DARK CHOCOLATE OLIVE OIL COOKIES!
If you do make the recipe, let me know, and please leave a comment below. It greatly helps the health of my site and makes me oh so happy to read. If you post this on social media please tag me, I love to see what you all are up to! Thank you for being here and happy baking, y’all.
-Timothy
Dark Chocolate Olive Oil Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon ground flaxseed, regular or golden
- ¼ cup full-fat oat milk
- 2 tablespoons black coffee, left-over or cold-brewed
- 2 cups all-purpose flour, 280 g
- ¾ cup cocoa powder, dutch-processed
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- ¾ cup olive oil
- 2 cups sugar, vanilla infused if you have it!
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- ⅛ teaspoon almond extract
- Flaky salt, for topping cookies
Instructions
- In a large mixing bowl, combine flaxseed meal, oat milk, and coffee. Mix well and set aside.
- In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt. (When measuring the flour, fluff it up with a fork and then scoop it into a measuring cup using a spoon. It needs to be 280 g and no more than that or the dough will be too crumbly!) Set aside.
- Now that the flax mixture is ready, in the same bowl, add in the olive oil, sugar, vanilla extract, and almond extract. Mix well. Slowly add the dry ingredients, a few scoops at a time. Do not overmix.
- Once the mixture is combined, mound into a ball and shape into a rounded rectangle. The dough should be cohesive and shiny. You should easily be able to form it into a ball at this point. Wrap tightly with plastic wrap and chill in the fridge for at least 2 hours (or up to 3-4 days).
- When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees F and line one large baking sheet with parchment paper. Remove dough and cut into 12 even squares. Using your hands, round individual squares into thick circular discs.
- Place the discs on the baking sheet and gently press down with your fingers. (Refer to the image above to see how!) These cookies will spread and need a good amount of space so only bake off 6 at a time, in batches. Once flattened, generously sprinkle some flaky salt on top.
- Bake in the center of the oven for 16 minutes for a crispy, chewy texture. If you want them a little more gooey, try 14 or 15 minutes. You can also opt to not flatten them as much as I do for an even more gooey interior.
- Let the cookies sit on the pan for about 2 minutes. Then, using a very thin spatula, carefully transfer the cookies to a cooling wrack. Let cool for a few minutes and enjoy!
This cookie is delicious and I love the method. So simple and straight forward! We make it every year with crushed peppermint for the perfect holiday gifts. Thank you for sharing the recipe!
Yummm, I have made them with crushed peppermint, too. Such a treat! Thank you for being here and letting me know. Happy holidays!
Yum, Yum, and YUM! Make these!
So lovely to read this! Thank you, Sarah!
We make these cookies often and love them! Has anyone ever tried to freeze them after they are baked? We have an event coming up that we need to bake in advance for and would love to bring these cookies!
Hi! I am hoping someone has tried this. I have not but I do think they would freeze well, I just can’t say for certain. I’m sorry!!
Yes ! They freeze well!
Hi – I just made the dough so I can’t comment on the results, but everything was straightforward and came together as written. I am just wondering if the reason some people are having problems with crumbly dough is too much flour? Unfortunately when a recipe is written in volume and not weight, it can be all over the board with how much flour to use. I did not want dry cookies, so I went with 125 grams per cup (Gold Medal unbleached), and 60 grams of cocoa. Excited to bake these off as I have many friends who are vegan and am always looking for recipes that make everyone swoon! Thanks for sharing. If I get back to NOLA, I will be sure to try this lovely bakery.
Susan, that is a GREAT idea. In my new book and for all of my sourdough recipes, I use grams so I am not sure why I hadn’t thought of that for this one. I am on it! Hope they bake up beautifully for you.
I’m no stranger to baking or even vegan baking, but I must have done something wrong. The cookie dough was super crumbly and almost impossible to form into a ball. I let it sit in the fridge for about 5 hours and it completely fell apart being taken out of the plastic.
Baking supplies are super expensive right now so I was determined to not let it go to waste! I tried to form them into balls and even when they sort of separated, I kind of smashed them together mid-bake to make a sort of cookie shape 😅
Flavours were good and the cookies were a little cronchier than I like, but I’ll try again!
Hi Mya! Oh no, it sounds like something went wrong, I’m sorry! The dough is a little crumbly but it should definitely come together when pressed together. I have had a handful of others say this has happened to them (the dough being crumbly) and every time they have, I have retested the recipe with great results. My only guess is that if you are not using dutch-process cocoa powder and the measurements aren’t exact, the dough could be too dry? Again, I am sorry. I hate it when a recipe doesn’t work.
Hello,
I’m new to your site and generally impressed with all the recipes so far (I grew up in LA, AL, and GA so have high expectations for Red Beans & Rice, and yours delivered.) These look absolutely decadent….do you have any tips for subbing flours or adapting this to be gluten-free? In addition to various allergies (dairy, egg, coconut, etc.) I also have Celiac.
Thanks,
SH
Hi there! I have actually heard that GF flour works with these! I think King Arthur’s makes a great GF one-to-one swap. Of course, the texture won’t be quite the same but still good! Also, you can use sweet sorghum flour for making the roux with my gumbo and it works nicely. Thank you for the kind words and for being here. Happy cooking!
Was going to do 6 per sheet but my convection oven is tiny so I did 4. I subbed in half almond flour and half AP with just a smidge less AP because I used Cacao instead of Dutch Processed Cocoa and this swap can make dough thicker for some reason. I also subbed in coconut sugar for cane sugar and cut it down to a cup and a quarter. I didn’t have any almond extract. I didn’t skimp on the flaky salt! I ran these for the full 16 minutes. They look lovely out of the oven. They are a gift so I haven’t tasted one yet but the dough was ridiculously good!
I hope that they came out delicious!