Dark Chocolate Chunkies

*Update: I won 3rd place for this cookie in the chocolate cookies category at the fair!

Kansas State Fair 3rd Place Winner, Chocolate Cookies division

1 stick unsalted butter, softened

½ cup light brown sugar

¼ cup sugar

1 large egg

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1 cup all purpose flour

¼ cup Hershey’s Special Dark cocoa powder

½ tsp. baking soda

 ¼ tsp. salt

1 cup milk chocolate chips

1 cup dry-roasted, salted peanuts

½ cup raisins

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Cream the butter and sugars together until blended and fluffy, about five minutes.  Add the egg and vanilla and mix well.  Sift in the flour, cocoa and baking soda and mix just until combined.  Stir in the remaining ingredients.

Mound large spoonfuls, about ¼ cup per cookie, onto an ungreased, parchment-lined, cookie sheet about 2″ apart.  Flatten with a spatula until each cookie is almost 2 inches in diameter.  Bake for 10-15 minutes or until the edges have just begun to firm.  Remove from oven and allow to cool on the cookie sheet for one minute, then transfer to a wire rack.*  Repeat with remaining dough.

Makes about 16 giant cookies.

*I always underbake cookies to ensure that they are soft and chewy after cooling.  Depending on how soft they are when I remove them from the oven, sometimes I have to leave them to cool completely on the cookie sheet so they can continue baking while they cool and set them up a little more without over-baking.  If you try to remove a cookie to a cooling rack and it’s too doughy, just leave them to cool completely on the sheet.  If you can remove it easily, do it or they will not be as soft after cooling.