These popcorn chocolate chip cookies are loaded with dark chocolate chunks and lots of sweet and salty popcorn. They’re chewy, gooey and downright delicious!
When is any moment not improved with a cookie? I can’t think of one and that’s all the justification I need to bring you these popcorn chocolate chip cookies right now. We all love chocolate chip cookies don’t we? Well, imagine stuffing your cookie dough with popcorn! The result? Insanely chewy and addictive cookies full of toasty popcorn flavour. Think oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, but with popcorn instead of oats!
How to make popcorn chocolate chip cookies
It’s so quick and easy to whip up a batch of these popcorn chocolate chip cookies as we’re using melted butter (a must in any good chocolate chip cookie!) along with the usual suspects and a good measure of sweet and salty popcorn for fun! Here’s how:
- Start by melting your butter. By using melted butter, these cookies come together quickly and easily. And there’s no need to worry about whether or not you’ve remembered to get your butter out of the fridge – bonus!
- Whisk together your dry ingredients in a medium mixing bowl. This way, you’ll ensure that all of your raising agents are evenly distributed throughout the flour and you’ll have everything ready to go.
- Next, you’re going to mix your melted butter with the sugars until well combined. The easiest way to do this is using a stand mixer but if you don’t have one, you could use an ordinary mixing bowl and an electric hand mixer.
- This recipe uses a mixture of sugars: granulated, light brown and dark brown. Using a mixture of granulated sugar and soft brown sugar is necessary to create the right texture for these cookies, but the light and dark brown sugars are interchangeable – I like to use some dark brown sugar for the rich, toffee-like flavour it lends the cookie dough – but if you prefer you can use all light (or all dark).
- Next, add the egg and the vanilla extract to your butter and sugar mixture. Turn the mixer onto medium speed and let it mix until well combined. You don’t want to overmix – 30 seconds to 1 minute is plenty.
- Pour in the flour mixture you prepared earlier and mix on low speed until just combined and you can no longer see any pockets of flour.
- Now the fun part! It’s time for your add-ins. Add your dark chocolate chunks and popcorn to the bowl and mix on gentle speed until everything is well-dispersed in the cookie dough. Experiment by using different flavour popcorn – I used sweet and salty popcorn here but imagine how good toffee popcorn would be!
- Roll the cookie dough into balls. There’s no need to chill this dough before using but you can if you wish. Grab about 2 tablespoon-size lumps of cookie dough and roll into balls. You will get 24 cookies from this amount of mixture.
- At this point you can either bake the cookies (on a lined sheet pan, 6-8 at a time) in an oven preheated to 180C/350F for 8-10 minutes until the cookies are just lightly golden. They should be gooey and soft in the centre and they’ll firm up as they cool. Sprinkle with lots of flaky sea salt for that sweet and salty vibe!
- Alternatively, freeze the dough balls on the sheet pan. Once frozen, transfer them to a container or freezer bag and keep on hand for when those emergency cookie cravings hit! Bake as directed, adding an extra minute or two to the baking time.
I hope you enjoy making these cookies! And if you’re looking for more cookie inspo, be sure to check out my white chocolate macadamia oatmeal cookies!
Popcorn Chocolate Chip Cookies
These popcorn chocolate chip cookies are loaded with dark chocolate chunks and lots of sweet and salty popcorn. They're chewy, gooey and downright delicious!
Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 10 minutes
Total Time 40 minutes
Servings 24 cookies
Calories 178kcal
Ingredients
- 10 tablespoons unsalted butter (150g)
- 2 1/2 cups all-purpose (plain) flour (300g)
- 2 teaspoons cornstarch (cornflour)
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda (bicarbonate of soda)
- 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1/4 cup packed light brown sugar (50g)
- 1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar (100g)
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar (50g)
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 7 ounces dark chocolate (200g) chopped into chunks
- 4 cups popcorn (50g) ready made, not kernels
- flaky sea salt, to finish optional
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 180°C/350°F. Line a large baking tray with greaseproof paper.
- Melt the butter in a small saucepan. Set aside to cool for a few minutes whilst you prepare the rest of the ingredients.
- In a medium mixing bowl, combine the all-purpose (plain) flour, cornstarch (cornflour), baking powder, baking soda (bicarbonate of soda) and fine sea salt. Stir together using a whisk, to ensure all the ingredients are evenly distributed.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the brown sugars and granulated sugar with the slightly cooled melted butter. Mix on medium speed, until well combined. (Alternatively use a large mixing bowl and an electric hand mixer).
- Add the egg and the vanilla to the butter and sugar mixture and continue to mix on medium speed until well combined.
- Add the flour mixture and mix on low speed until no streaks of flour remain.
- Add the chocolate chunks and the popcorn (remember to check for any unpopped kernels in the bag first!) to the cookie dough. Mix on low speed until evenly distributed throughout the dough.
- Roll into approximately 2 tablespoon-sized balls (you should get 24 cookies from this mixture) and place on the prepared baking tray. You should get 6-8 on a tray at a time.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 8-10 minutes (mine took 8 minutes in a fan-assisted oven) until lightly golden at the edges. They should still feel soft and underbaked in the centre – that’s what you want! They’ll continue to bake as they cool.
- Sprinkle the tops with flaky sea salt and leave to cool on the tray (or for as long as you can bear to wait!) Enjoy!
Notes
You can bake these in batches or alternatively, keep the unbaked cookie dough in the fridge for a day or two and bake as you need them.
You could also roll the cookie dough into balls and freeze on a baking tray – bake from frozen as the need for a cookie hits, just add a minute or two to the baking time!
I made these at the weekend and they were such a hit! The kids loved them and the salty popcorn was just delicious! Thank you for a great recipe.
you’re welcome, so glad you enjoyed!
Those sound awesome! I’ve always loved putting chocolate chips in my popcorn, so I think these cookies are really going to hit the spot for me.
love that idea too! choc chip popcorn, yum!
I love the dark chocolate in these cookies! Such a fun unique recipe. Perfect for chocolate and popcorn lovers. Now they can have both.
oh yes! dark chocolate is everything
I’ve never had popcorn in a cookie, but what a great idea. I love the sweet & salty combo, and these look delicious.
you must try it, it’s a winner!
These cookies are way amazing! I made them for a work party, and everyone loved them! I didn’t have a single cookie left to bring home!
so glad to hear that, thank you!
This is ingenious! We always have loads of popcorn leftover (we always make too much), and this would not only use it up but the kids would love these cookies!
it’s the perfect way to use up leftover popcorn!
I love the idea of popcorn and chocolate chip cookies together, thanks for sharing!
it’s a match made in heaven!
I am already trying to choose the movie I will watch with these because there is just nothing better than a load of popcorn cookies on your favorite movie night 🙂 Delicious!
absolutely! hope it was a good one!
This is such an cool combination to put into a cookie! And I love anything with dark chocolate so I know these will be devoured!
oh yes, anything with dark chocolate and i’m there too!
These cookies looks gorgeous!! I need a dozen!!
thanks! you really do!
These are the best cookies I have ever made. Seriously, they are a little extra work but so worth it. It reminds me of when I was a kid and would drop dark chocolate snow caps in my hot popcorn at the movies. Sweetness from the cookie but bits of savoriness. My kids wouldn’t stop eating them, so I had to hide a few for myself for later LOL.
Thanks for the review! Glad you all loved them. It’s definitely hard to stop eating them!
I can’t believe that I’ve never tried this! Popcorn + Chocolate Chips in a cookie is genius! I could only imagine how amazing the salty + sweet combo must be!
it’s the best combo!!