Small Batch Olive Oil Chocolate Chip Cookies

These Olive Oil Chocolate Chip Cookies are dairy free and small batch. They come together quickly in one bowl, and are filled with puddles of chocolate. These cookies don't require a stand mixer, are super adaptable, and you can add in any mix-ins that you like. They are crispy around the edges and chewy in the middle, and will quickly become your new favourite cookie!

Hi hi! Just popping in to share this Olive Oil Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe with you! I have been wanting to develop a dairy free chocolate chip cookie for a really long time. I finally got around to it, and I am so excited to share it with you, as I think it's going to be a game changer. I LOVE my go-to chocolate chip cookie recipe, but I just can't pass up a version that is small batch and requires no chill time. I love these dairy free chocolate chip cookies and I think that you will too. If you are looking for more lower yield recipes, my small batch chocolate chip cookies are amazing!

A wee note - I was testing these and made them a whole bunch of times, so I had lots in my house when I was shooting. So the actual recipe makes 8 large cookies, I just utilised some of the extras for the photos. There's notes in the FAQ for making these a wee bit smaller!

• 

• 

Why these are the best Small Batch olive oil chocolate chip cookies

• Small batch - this is a small batch chocolate chip cookie recipe, so only makes 8 cookies. They are perfect to make for a small group or to just have on hand when you don't want a full 24 batch of cookies.
• Dairy free - these Small Batch olive oil chocolate chip cookies are dairy free! I used milk chocolate in them when I was making them, but the actual base of them is dairy free, so if you need to keep them strictly dairy free, use a dark chocolate. They are dairy free but you do NOT miss the butter in them, trust me!
• One bowl - you only need one bowl for these, which makes cleanup so easy!
• NO mixer required - unlike a lot of my cookie recipes, these don't require a stand mixer. I do use an electric hand mixer which I think helps, but you could whisk super well with a bowl and a whisk and you'd be just fine, which makes these easy to ma

Dairy free Chocolate Chip cookies thanks to Olive Oil

These are dairy free chocolate chip cookies, thanks to our good friend Extra Virgin Olive Oil! The olive oil gives the cookies a really nice subtle flavour, and compliments the toasty sugar and dark chocolate perfectly. Instead of creaming together butter and sugar like you would with a butter based cookie, the oil, sugars, and egg are whipped together until slightly fluffy which helps with the cookie's texture. The mixture will look a bit oily as you're scooping, and will feel a little sticky, but it's meant to be like that. The finished cookies are slightly shiny on top, have crispy edges, and are perfectly chew in the middle.

• 

• 

What makes these Olive Oil Chocolate Chip Cookies super flavourful

• Three types of sugar - I used muscovado, white sugar, AND turbindao (raw sugar if you're in NZ, sugar in the raw if you're in the States - the brown crystals that go in coffee). The muscovado provides thickness in the cookie, and toastyness from the molasses. Granulated sugar gives spread and helps with the crispy edges, and the wee bit of turbinado sugar provides a really lovely crunch.
• Espresso powder - Coffee helps bring out the chocolate flavour, so I snuck a teaspoon of espresso powder in here along with the dry ingredients. It's subtle but makes a difference! See FAQs for alternatives.
• Salt - I use both Kosher salt in the dough, and finish with flaky sea salt. Salt in baking helps to cut through the sweetness and compliments chocolate really well. Leave the flaky sea salt off if you like but don't skip it in the dough.
• Chocolate - I used chopped milk and dark chocolate for this. Keep it all dark if you're staying dairy free, or mix it up if you like!

Why baking temperature is important in cookies

When I am testing cookies, I always bake a few from each batch at different temperatures to see how they behave. Baking at a hotter temperature will set up the cookie a bit more and give you a slightly thicker finished cookie. A lower temperature will mean that it spreads just a little more and is a bit more chewy. I love playing around with the temperature while i'm testing and see the results!

For this specific cookie, I tested at both 325°f and 350°f, and found that I preferred the texture of the 325°f cookie.

With that being said, this really highlights how much of an impact the temperature can have on your baking, so make sure that you invest in an oven thermometer to check if your oven is at temperature. Sometimes the thermostat will be off and so the temperature will be incorrect, which can really affect baking times and textures for your baking. It's important to go by visual cues as much as baking time when you're baking things!

• 

• 

Tips for getting nice even Chocolate chip cookies

There are a few wee tricks to getting nice round even cookies!

• Get a cookie scoop - This helps to make your cookie dough balls all the same size! I have a couple of different sizes and they are so helpful.
• Weigh your dough balls - If you don't have a scoop, you can use your scale! Pop some plastic wrap on it so the dough doesn't stick and weigh out portions of dough. Mine were 75g for these cookies.
• Scoot your cookies - Once the cookies come hot out of the oven, use a cookie cutter slightly larger than the cookie itself to scoot them back into a round shape.

How to get puddles on the top of chocolate chip cookies

I use this tip every time I make chocolate chip cookies for big, melty puddles on the top of my cookies. I always chop up a little extra chocolate when I am making cookies, and keep it to the side. Then once I have portioned out the dough, I roll the dough into a ball, and flatten it slightly, and then press some of the additional chocolate onto the top of the piece of dough. I then squish it back into a ball shape, so you have some chocolate on the top of the ball and kind of enclosed within it too. This means that when the cookies bake into round cookies, you'll have nice chocolate puddles on the top.

I like pressing a mixture of chocolate shards and chunks onto the top of the cookies. If you have any bare spots when they come out of the oven, you can pop some extra chocolate chunks onto the tops of the cookies when they are super hot, and they will melt down!

Chopped Chocolate vs Chocolate Chips for cookies

Even though I call these chocolate chip cookies, I almost always use a bar of chopped chocolate when I make cookies. I usually have a couple of different sorts on hand, and so I will often just throw a bunch into a bowl on my scale until I have the correct weight of chocolate, then chop it all up and throw it into the cookies. Here's why I prefer chopping my own chocolate for cookies

• Chocolate Shards - When you chop your own chocolate, you get a wide variation of sized pieces of chocolate. You get some big and small chunks, but you also get a whole lot of shards and chocolate dust on your board. The chocolate shards distribute through the cookie, which gives it so much flavour!
• Super Melty Chocolate Puddles - Chocolate chips often have stabilisers in them which keep them from melting in your baking. This is great for if you need them to hold their shape in something like muffins or a cake. However I love how chopped chocolate gives you pockets of melted chocolate throughout the cookie.

Frequently Asked Questions for Small Batch Chocolate Chip Cookies

What can I use if I don't have Muscovado sugar?
Either light or dark brown sugar works fine! Muscovado sugar just has a slightly higher molasses content so it's a bit toastier tasting. No worries whatsoever if you can't find it. Light or dark will work perfectly.

What can I use instead of espresso powder?
If you can't find espresso powder (I usually get it in bulk online), you can use the finely ground instant coffee. You can also leave it out if you like!

Do I have to use the turbinado sugar in the recipe?
No you don't - it is just in there to give a little bit of crunch. Add 20g brown sugar instead if you don't have access to it.

How do you get your cookies perfectly round?
As soon as they come out of the oven, I take a cookie cutter a little larger than the cookie, and place it over the top of the cookie and move it in a circular motion. This 'scoots' the cookie back into a perfectly round shape. It's an optional step, but I love how it makes them look!

Can these be made smaller?
Yep! This Small Batch Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe makes 8 large cookies, but if you would like them a little smaller, you can do 2 tablespoon scoops instead of 3 Tbsp. My 3 tablespoon cookie was 75g of dough, so go for 50g if you are weighing a 2 tablespoon cookie. You will probably be able to fit 8 per tray, and drop the baking time to about 12-13 minutes instead of the 16-17 needed for the larger cookies.

A few wee tips for Olive Oil Chocolate Chip Cookies

• These Small Batch Chocolate Chip Cookies will be a bit on the oily side and the dough is sticky. Don't worry - it's meant to be like that.
• If you wanted to add something like spelt flour, that would be so good here! I would replace about 50g of the AP flour with spelt if you wanted.
• When you are rolling if you find your hands are getting messy, you can wet them with a little bit of water to help the dough not stick as much.

Print