Marbled Black and White Cookies
Can’t decide between chocolate and vanilla? With these marbled black and white cookies, there’s no need to choose! Two different kinds of cookie dough are marbled together with swirls of black cocoa, white chocolate, and flaky salt for a decadent twist on the classic chocolate chip!
I’ve been meaning to make a marbled cookie recipe for a while, but when the time came around, I had the idea to use black cocoa powder. The result is this decadent, melt-in-the-mouth cookie that combines everything you love in the classic chocolate chip cookie with the taste of chocolatey Oreos and flaky salt to finish! All you have to do is make a simple cookie base, divide it in half to make two separate doughs, and marble them together. This has quickly become my go-to cookie, and I can’t wait to share with you how I make them!
What is Black Cocoa Powder?
Cocoa powder is made from separating the solids from cocoa beans and cocoa butter, then grinding them into a powder. There are several different types of cocoa powder, each with its own taste, processing method, and acidity, but here’s a quick breakdown:
- Natural Unsweetened Cocoa Powder. This is probably the type you’re most familiar with—think of the classic Hershey’s unsweetened cocoa powder. This cocoa is the least processed of all types and is typically the lightest in color and highest in acidity/bitterness. Because of it’s high acidity, most recipes pair it with baking soda to react and leaven their baked goods.
- Dutch-Processed Cocoa Powder. Compared to natural cocoa, dutch-processed is much lower in acidity, since it’s been treated with an alkaline solution to neutralize the pH. As a result, it has a richly smooth chocolate taste and darker, almost reddish-brown hue. Since most of the acidity has been removed, a lot of dutch-processed cocoa recipes rely on baking powder as a reactant.
- Black Cocoa Power. This, of course, is the type we’re using today. Of all of the types of cocoa powder, black cocoa is the most intense Dutched powder you can find (basically an extreme version of dutch-processed cocoa powder). As a result, it has a very low acidity but an intense chocolate flavor that’s reminiscent of an Oreo.
Marbled Cookie Ingredients and Substitutions
Aside from a few special ingredients, you probably have everything for these cookies on hand! Here’s what you’ll need:
- Unsalted butter. The higher-quality butter you use, the higher-quality your cookies will taste. I personally love to use Kerrigold!
- Light brown sugar and granulated sugar. Using a mix of both ensures that the cookies have a rich, chewy interior and crispy edge.
- Eggs. To bind the cookies together.
- Vanilla extract. In baking, vanilla acts somewhat like salt and enhances the flavor of your baked goods! If you don’t have any, you can omit it, but I almost always add a dash to all cookie recipes.
- All-purpose flour. For structure. I haven’t personally tested this recipe with gluten-free flour yet, so I can’t advise you on how it will turn out
- Black cocoa powder. If you can’t find any, I recommend trying your local Whole Foods or buying it online—here’s the link to the brand I used. If needed, you can substitute this with dutch-processed cocoa powder.
- Baking soda. Make sure it’s baking soda and not baking powder—these are two different ingredients that produce entirely different results in baked goods.
- Kosher salt and flaky salt (for garnish). To enhance the flavor, balance the sweetness, and add texture.
- Semisweet/milk and white chocolate. Use any brand or percentage you prefer. The milk chocolate will go with the plain cookie dough while the white chocolate goes with the cocoa dough—almost an “inside-out” cookie effect!
How to Shape Marbled Cookies
I promise that the swirl looks a lot more complicated than it actually is! To shape the cookies, there are two different methods you can use:
- Scooping. Using a 1-ounce cookie scoop, alternate scooping between the plain and chocolate cookie doughs until the scoop is full. Try not to mix the dough too much, otherwise you won’t retain the marbled effect!
- Stack and roll the cookie dough. Using a ½ tablespoon measure, scoop out 2 vanilla cookie dough balls and 2 chocolate cookie dough balls and individually roll them between your hands until smooth. To shape the cookies, alternately stack the dough balls (vanilla-chocolate-vanilla-chocolate) and roll between your hands to marble the dough together and create a cookie dough ball. While a little more involved, this method will produce a cleaner marbled cookie as seen below.
Can I Make the Cookies Ahead of Time?
Yes! I discovered this hack several years ago and have never gone back. If you don’t feel like baking off a full batch of cookies, just store your leftovers in the freezer and bake whenever you get a desire for a freshly-baked sweet treat! Here’s how to do it:
- Scoop the dough as normal. Once the dough is made, portion them out with a cookie scoop and line them on a lined sheet pan (no need to space them apart—you won’t be baking them).
- Freeze for one hour. Place the cookie sheet in the freezer for at least one hour—this lets the dough set.
- Store in plastic bags. Place the cookie dough balls in an airtight Ziploc bag and store them in the freezer for up to 6 months.
- Bake as needed. When ready to bake, preheat your oven, take however many cookies you want to bake out of the Ziploc bag, and bake from frozen per recipe instructions (no need to thaw!). You might need a minute or two of extra cook time, but be careful not to overbake.
Cookie Baking Tips and Tricks
For the most part, cookie recipes are pretty simple and straightforward, but here are some of my top tips to get perfect marbled cookies every time!
- Evenly divide the cookie dough in half. To get the marbled effect, you need to divide the cookie dough base in half—one will stay plain while the other gets black cocoa and white chocolate. I recommend using a kitchen scale to get an even amount, but you can eyeball it if you need to—it doesn’t have to be exact!
- Make sure the butter is not hot. If the butter is too hot when mixing with the sugar, you’ll get a cookie with a shiny, crackled top similar to a brownie. While this isn’t a deal breaker, it’s not what we want in a cookie!
- Chill the cookie dough. When you chill cookie dough, the flour has a chance to fully hydrate and develop flavor. The longer you chill the cookie dough, the more flavor it will have—I like to refrigerate it at least overnight, you could leave it for as long as 5 days.
- Don’t overbake. The cookies should be golden brown on the edges but underdone when you take them out of the oven, since they continue to cook while cooling on the baking sheet.
- Browning the butter. If you don’t like the taste of brown butter or don’t want to take the extra step, just replace the entire butter amount with 1 cup of melted and cooled butter.
Be sure to tag me on Instagram if you try this recipe—happy baking!!
Still hungry? Check out these other cookie recipes!
Marbled Black and White Cookies
Can't decide between chocolate and vanilla? With these marbled black and white cookies, there's no need to choose! Two different kinds of cookie dough are marbled together with swirls of black cocoa, white chocolate, and flaky salt for a decadent twist on the classic chocolate chip!
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Servings: 30 cookies
Ingredients
For the cookie base
- 1 cup (227g) good-quality butter
- 1 cup (213g) light brown sugar
- ½ cup (100g) granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
For the cocoa cookie dough
- 1 ¼ cups (154g) all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled
- ¼ cup black cocoa powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ¾ cup white chocolate chips or chopped white chocolate
For the plain cookie dough
- 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ¾ cup semisweet or milk chocolate chips
- Flaky salt, for garnish
Instructions
- Cut the butter into cubes. Take half of the butter (½ cup or 133g) and place it in a large saucepan, then set it over medium heat and stir until melted.
- When it begins to bubble, stir the butter every ten seconds or so until it bubbles and begins to foam. Once you see brown bits floating in the butter and a nutty aroma is released, immediately remove the pan from the heat.
- Pour the butter into a bowl to stop the cooking process, making sure to get all the browned bits from the bottom of the pan. Immediately add in the other half of the cubed butter, whisking until completely melted. At this point, the butter should be cooled to room temperature—if still hot, place it in the fridge.
- Add in the brown sugar and granulated sugar and whisk for 1-2 minutes until well combined, then beat in the eggs and vanilla extract.
- Once the mixture is smooth, divide it equally between two large bowls (this will act as the base for the two cookie doughs).
- To one bowl, fold in all of the cocoa cookie dough ingredients: 1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour, ¼ cup black cocoa powder, ½ teaspoon baking soda, and ½ teaspoon salt. Just before the flour is fully combined, add in the ¾ cup of chopped white chocolate and mix until there are no more streaks of flour left. Do not overmix.
- In the other bowl, fold in all of the plain cookie dough ingredients: 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour, ½ teaspoon baking soda, and ½ teaspoon salt. Just before the flour is fully combined, add in the ¾ cup of chopped milk or semisweet chocolate and mix until there are no more streaks of flour left. Do not overmix.
- Alternate scooping between each type of dough with a 1-ounce (2 tablespoon) cookie scoop until full, then roll each ball of dough between your hands and place onto a baking sheet lined with wax paper (no need to space them apart).1
- Cover the tray with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours but up to 4-5 days. At this point, the cookie dough can be frozen.2 You can bake the cookies immediately, but they will spread more and have less flavor.
- When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 375℉ and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Evenly space the cookie dough balls onto the baking sheet with a 2'' gap between each cookie. Bake for 10-12 minutes, rotating the tray halfway through.
- Remove the cookies from the oven once the edges are golden brown and set, but do not overbake. The inside of the cookies should still be gooey and slightly raw, as they will continue to cook as they cool. Once out of the oven, sprinkle the cookies with flaky salt and allow to cool before serving.
Notes
- Alternate marbling method (stack and roll the cookie dough). Using a ½ tablespoon measure, scoop out 2 vanilla cookie dough balls and 2 chocolate cookie dough balls and individually roll them between your hands until smooth. To shape the cookies, alternately stack the dough balls (vanilla-chocolate-vanilla-chocolate) and roll between your hands to marble the dough together and create a cookie dough ball. While a little more involved, this method will produce a cleaner marbled cookie.
- To freeze, portion the cookie dough onto a baking sheet and place it in the freezer for 1 hour. Once firm, store the dough balls in a plastic bag in the freezer for 3-6 months. To cook, follow the baking instructions as written (no need to thaw the dough), though the cookies may need a couple of more minutes in the oven.
Hello! I hope you’re having a great day. Good luck 🙂