There’s something extra-special about chocolate cookies. I don’t mean chocolate chip – although those do hold a special place in my heart. I mean cookies wherein cocoa powder has been incorporated into the batter, producing a rich chocolate flavor not just in the chip-laden bites, but in every single morsel.
Jump to RecipeMy husband, on the other hand, is less of a chocolate fiend. He prefers the lighter flavor of white chocolate, which – fun fact of the day! – does not actually contain any cocoa solids. Instead, white chocolate manufacturers use cocoa butter, the fatty bit of the cacao bean, and do not mix in any of the dark-colored mass of the cacao bean found in dark and milk chocolate. This omission gives white chocolate its delicate flavor, and allows it to shine without most of the caffeine or other stimulants found in darker chocolates.

Enter: these reverse chocolate chip cookies. Instead of a vanilla batter with added milk- or semisweet-chocolate chips, these cookies use cocoa powder in their batter and are laden with an overabundance of white chocolate chips. It was the perfect compromise. My husband was a huge fan of the white chocolate chips, and I so enjoyed the rich chocolate of the cookies that I found myself coming back for “Just one more!” several times throughout the day. Fortunately this recipe makes a huge batch – more than 4 dozen cookies – so we had plenty to both enjoy ourselves and to share with friends.

What do you need for this recipe? Just the pantry staples, plus a few additions.
- Butter, room temperature
- Granulated sugar AND brown sugar
- All-purpose flour
- Unsweetened cocoa powder
- Baking soda and baking powder
- Kosher salt
- Eggs
- Vanilla extract
- Strong coffee – just a tablespoon, reserved from your morning cup of joe. This lends a subtle “oomph” to the cookies and enhances the chocolate flavor. You won’t taste the coffee in the final product.
- White chocolate chips – I use slightly more than one twelve ounce bag, because I like my cookies abundantly laden with chips. You can limit your cookies to a single bag if that’s your preference!

These cookies start like any other: creaming together your sugars and room-temperature butter in a large mixing bowl, preferably using an electric mixer. Once they are combined, mix in the vanilla extract. (Normally, I use vanilla bean paste, but for this recipe vanilla is not the predominant flavor. I think it’s appropriate to use the less-expensive option to add just a hint of flavor to these cookies.)

In a separate bowl, combine your dry ingredients – the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Set aside for the moment.

Add the single tablespoon of coffee and the eggs (one at a time, stirring between each addition) to your butter/sugar mixture. Once that batter is homogenous, slowly mix in the dry ingredients. Scrape the sides of the bowl as necessary to ensure everything is combining well.
Once the batter is thoroughly combined, slowly mix in your white chocolate chips. As you can see from the recipe, I use what amounted to 1 1/2 normal-sized bags of white chocolate chips. My goal for these cookies is for them to be supremely chippy, with no bite going without both cocoa and white chocolate flavors. If you only had one bag of chips to use in these cookies, they would still taste fine; you would just have a bit less chip in every bite.
Once you have incorporated all of the white chocolate chips evenly into your batter, roll the cookie dough into roughly tablespoon-sized balls and refrigerate. (Disclaimer: this size of ball will result in a lot of bite-size cookies – more than four dozen, to be precise. If you would prefer to have fewer cookies lying around your house, I recommend forming them into larger balls.)
While your cookies are resting in the refrigerator, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Once it is preheated, place the cookie dough balls on a prepared baking sheet and bake for 9-12 minutes, or until the centers appear set and not jiggly. Remove the baked cookies from their pans and allow them to cool on a wire rack.

Congratulations! You’ve made reverse chocolate chip cookies! If your family is like mine, these cookies will disappear in a flash. Once you make these cookies at home, snap a few pics and tag @WhiskAverseBaking on any of your social media posts, or leave a message in the comments below.

Reverse Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup butter room temperature
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 tablespoon strong coffee
- 2 eggs
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- 2 1/2 cups white chocolate chips
Instructions
- In a large mixing bowl, cream together butter and sugars.
- In a separate bowl, combine flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
- Add vanilla, coffee, and eggs to butter/sugar mixture. Beat until combined. Gradually pour in dry ingredients. Once completely combined, stir in chocolate chips.
- Roll into roughly tablespoon-sized balls and refrigerate. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Once the oven is preheated, transfer balls of dough onto a greased baking sheet and bake for 9-12 minutes, until centers are set. Once done, remove cookies from pans to cool on a wire rack.
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