Bourbon Dark Chocolate Crack Cookies Recipe
Want to learn more about Whisky? Here’s our Whisky Guide. These chocolate crack cookies are bad-ass cookies. Ones that are nearly impossible to mindlessly eat.
Chocolate Crack Cookies
After the first bite, they stop you and make you take a look at what it was you just sunk your teeth into. These are one of those. A deliciously, rich chocolate and bourbon rifted cookie. Chocolate crack cookies with a little swagger. This little bad boy is originally inspired by a cookie from David Lebovitz’s amazing Ready for Dessert. As with most recipes that our hearts are fond of, we’ll tinker and tweak to suit our moods or particular cravings. Those who know us will attest to our love of bourbon. For me in particular, I’d have to say it ranks number one amongst my favorite spirits. Give or take a day or two when a smooth rum or feisty tequila catches my tongue. The age of bourbon has never been so extraordinary, with so many exceptional craft distillers creating such a range of great bourbons to enjoy.
Bourbon and Chocolate Together
“Why not extend the smokey, subtly sweet pleasure of bourbon in chocolate crack cookies?” I think to myself one day. Well, I didn’t think it in so many words, it was more like, “Bourbon… Chocolate… must have!” and soon this cookie was devised.
So for all of you bourbon lovers out there (BTW if you are in NYC in the flatiron district, there is a great bourbon bar on 26th called Maysville – tons of bourbons and good food – thanks Rachel for the recommendation- you rock!)… Sorry, “squirrel” moment. So for all of you bourbon lovers out there, please share your favorites. It is always a pleasure to find another great bourbon.
My favorite go-to for cocktails & cooking (not too shabby for sipping either) is Buffalo Trace or Bulleit. Both have great character, smooth, goes great in cocktails, nice straight up, and is an incredible price for the quality.
I’d love to hear your favorites.
-Todd
BTW – For those of interest in whisk(e)y – we wrote up a little Guide to Types of Whisk(e)y to share a bit of what we’ve come to know. 
This was originally published in 2013 and was updated in 2019.
Dark Chocolate Bourbon Crack Cookies
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup (100g) all-purpose Flour
- 1/2 teaspoon (3g) Baking Powder
- 1/4 teaspoon (1g) Kosher or Sea Salt
- 8 ounces (225g) Dark Chocolate, chopped
- 3 Tablespoons (45g) unsalted Butter
- 2 Tablespoons Bourbon
- 2 large Eggs , room temp.
- 1/3 cup (65g) Sugar (+ extra for coating cookies)
- Confectioners Sugar (for coating cookies)
Instructions
- In a bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt until well combined. Set aside.
- Combine the dark chocolate, butter, and bourbon in a medium bowl over a pot of simmering water. Gently melt the chocolate and butter, stirring frequently. Remove the bowl from the simmering water.
- Whisk together the eggs and sugar on high until the mixture forms a well-defined ribbon when the whisk attachment is lifted out, about 5 minutes. By hand, gently stir in the melted chocolate mixture until combined.
- Again by hand, stir in the flour mixture until just combined. Cover and refrigerate until firm (1-2 hours).
- Preheat oven to 325°F. Line a couple baking pans with parchment paper.
- Pour the granulated sugar and confectioners sugar into two separate small bowls. Form the chocolate cookies into 1 1/2-inch balls. Roll the balls in the regular sugar, and then roll in the confectioners sugar to coat. Place on the baking sheets spaced about 1-inch apart.
- Bake for 8 minutes then rotate the cookies sheets and bake for another 6-8 minutes. Cookies should still be slightly firm on the edges and fairly soft in the centers. Don't overbake them.
- Let the cookies cool on the sheet pan until firm enough to handle then transfer to a cooling rack.
I love making these for the holidays. Always a hit with family and friends! I have been making them for years, thank you for sharing. I was wondering if I wanted to double the recipe would it affect the dough?
Hi Maria, so happy that you enjoy the cookies! We have not tried doubling the recipe yet but to be safe, don’t try it until we do our tests. That way you don’t waste any ingredients or time. But if you do happen to do it, let us know how it turns out.
As a fan of bourbon, I just HAD to make these cookies. SOOOOO GOOD.
Making these for all my friends who love boozy desserts! They’re gonna love these cookies!
Delicious! The cookies out very well, but I only ended up with 14 cookies..
Sounds delicious. Can I substitute brownie mix?
Thanks for this recipe! I made these last year for a ‘Robert Burns Day’ party, and they’ve been requested to make an appearance again for it this weekend! I’m also making shortbread for those who shy away from boozy cookies.
Confession #1: To keep it honest, I used scotch instead of Bourbon.
Confession #2: These were enjoyed numerous times during the rest of the year as well.
Thanks again for combining two of our favorite things- Chocolate and Whiskey- in one cookie!
Just made these…they’re good, but it would be helpful to clarify in the recipe that the dark chocolate used is sweetened. I used unsweetened dark chocolate (I figured that it would balance out after rolling it in the two different sugars), but the flavor is a tad bitter. They look pretty though.
Overall I would make it again. Maybe add a little more bourbon =)
I just pulled my first batch of these cookies out of the oven and there was absolutely no spreading whatsoever. They taste awesome but are little rounded balls.
Have you ever had this issue? Do you know how to remedy it?
Hi Rachel,
These spread very, very little. That’s part of why they have their “crack” texture. If you have the dough at room temperature it will spread a touch more than if fully chilled.
My favorite is Hooker’s House.. First distilled & aged in KY then moved to Sonoma and aged further in Pinot casks. Very very smooth
Those cookies look amazing! I love bourbon and I love dark chocolate so this is a match made in Heaven for me!
Hi,
I have been planning on making these cookies for a long time and finally made it last night. A quick question: Why mine doesn’t melt down much as yours and doesnt look as white as yours? Is there any tips?
By the way, I bought your book and it is soooo inspiring! Just love it!
Thank you!
Might be how cold the dough is. Or it could be how much flour or the batch of flour. If you measure by cups instead of weight it will be less consistent to the recipe. Thanks so much for the compliments on our book. Yay!
Hi!
The dark chocolate your recipe calls for, is that sweetened or unsweetened?
Thanks,
Sal
It is sweetened dark chocolate.
Hi there,
Thank you for this recipe. I made it yesterday morning for our Christmas dinner for my dad. Everyone else liked it, too. This recipe is a keeper. It was very good. I used Valrhona dark chocolate 85%. Dense, chocolatey, and oh so good. Happy holidaze to you!!
amy.
Mmm, I finally made these last night. It was my first time ever making these crackle-type cookies. I learned you need to almost cake on the powdered sugar instead of just roll it around because my first batch pretty much had the sugar soaking into the cookie 🙁 But that’s good because that meant we got to eat the “bad” batch! These were so amazing…I even ate one of the bad ones this morning as I was drinking my morning coffee! I’m making a big batch again tonight because people are definitely gonna want more than 2 in their box of treats! Thank you!