Have you ever had those store-bought chocolate-covered blueberries? I used to be obsessed with them. I thought of them recently when seeing the plump, fresh blueberries at the farmers market. Making a pie or tart or some kind of pastry crossed my mind, but my heart really wanted blueberry chocolate chip cookies. I wanted to see how blueberries would work with my mom’s classic recipe, and they came out so delicious. They remind me of those nostalgic chocolate-covered blueberries and are bundled in a buttery, chewy cookie package.

Maine Blueberry Stands

I started the week with two trips to Portland, about an hour drive from home each way. I had chores to do, but I also was able to connect with new friends and discover new favorite food places! So I was feeling tired and inspired. I sat a lot in traffic and kept thinking about cookies, for some reason. And it seemed like every 5 minutes I passed a farm stand pitched on the side of the road with a homemade “fresh blueberries” sign. I knew it was time to make a blueberry recipe, which I’ve been holding off on until I could think of something worth the beauty and flavor of my favorite summer berry.

I live in Maine, so blueberries are very special. It’s our state food, besides than lobster. So I had a million ideas. Blueberry hand pies. Blueberry ice cream and custard and blueberry cakes, donuts, and more. But my mind kept imagining those native Maine jewels cooked in blueberry chocolate chip cookies. Cookies aren’t an especially summery food, and the humidity is not ideal for keeping cookies chewy, but I said why not. I popped into the store to get ingredients. And I picked up a pint of blueberries at the farmers market on Thursday. They only had high bush blueberries, which I like for their plump size. But you can use low bush instead, which are smaller and juicier and more deep purple.

Craving Chocolate Chip Cookies

I was pretty tired when I got home so I took it easy for a bit and took out two sticks of butter to soften on the counter. I spent a few minutes gathering ingredients and photographing my blueberries. They had that familiar, mellow blueberry flavor with a background of acidity. I chopped up a couple chocolate bars and found the end of a bag of chocolate chips in the cupboard. I sifted through my golden recipe box, where I keep my painted recipe cards, and found my mom’s chocolate chip cookie recipe.

Her recipe is super chocolatey, without being a double-chocolate chip cookie with cocoa powder. She uses a touch of cocoa powder like it’s a spice, as well as a little bit of coffee for flavor. Because I wanted the blueberries to shine, I omitted these, and went for blueberry chocolate chip cookies with a butter/sugar/egg base. Before I knew it I was beating sugar and butter together in our navy blue stand mixer and watching it meld together. I cracked eggs on the counter and nearly lost one on the oven because the shell was so easy to break. Then I splashed in a bit of vanilla and a pinch of salt and dug through another cupboard for a sifter.

Baking with High-Bush Berries

I sifted my dry ingredients together into a bowl and dumped the whole thing into the stand mixer. Almost every recipe says to gradually add flour, but in this case, I wanted it to coat the blueberries, and I also don’t really care. I like to cook and bake without following the rules too strictly. I am trying to follow my heart, and my palate, and it wants blueberry chocolate chip cookies. So, after adding the dry ingredients, I dumped in the washed and picked blueberries and chunks of chocolate. I carefully powered on the mixture in bursts a few times until the dough was formed.

Another benefit to using the high bush berries is that they don’t bleed color as much until they cook. So the dough stayed a classic chocolate chip cookie beige / orange, rather than a dull gray. I quickly scooped huge balls of cookie dough onto two sheet pans. I use an ice cream scooper, like my mom always does, because life is too short to have small cookies. And if I had small blueberry chocolate chip cookies I would simply eat 3-4 to compensate. Once all the mounds of dough were ready, I had a little dough leftover, so I ate a few bites with a spoon. Living life on the edge.

Baking Blueberry Chocolate Chip Cookies

The blueberry chocolate chip cookies baked for nearly 15 minutes until they became golden brown around the edges. Some started to spread and mutate into each other, which I didn’t photograph. But the others became a nice array of round, cakey-yet-chewy blueberry chocolate chip cookies with pops of berry red. Like jewels scattered throughout. Because it was so humid, my cookies had a hard time setting and stayed slightly soft in the middle. So I bypassed transferring them to the wire rack out of fear of them falling apart. On the baking sheet they stayed for a couple hours while I took a walk in 90 degree heat.

When I got back I showered off and picked out my favorite cookie on a paper napkin. I sat in the living room with afternoon light on my feet and at my blueberry chocolate chip cookie. The first bite was that classic, nostalgic flavor of my mom’s recipe. Intense dark chocolate melted into a buttery dough. Crispy on the edges and slightly chewy and cakey in the middle. They aren’t the trendy brown butter rippled edge perfect puck that you see on instagram with flakes of sea salt. I got chocolate on my hands and it broke apart as I ate it.

Summer Berries + Dark Chocolate

The berries started to come through on my second bite. Bright, acidic pops of purple and red with the intense melted chocolate. Somehow I’ve spent my whole life thinking chocolate chip cookies can’t be improved upon, but I think I did. Blueberry chocolate chip cookies remind me of the pleasure of eating chocolate-covered blueberries. A perfect balance of fresh summer acidity with intense cocoa and buttery, caramelized cookie dough. With each berry my face grew into a child-like grin, and I ate like a vacuum. I went back for another half, which is how you know they’re good. Or that I just really love blueberry chocolate chip cookies.

If your weather is super hot and humid, I would still make these, but bake them a couple minutes longer. I also froze half of mine, because cookies out of the freezer are not only a guilty pleasure, but fix the texture issue the humidity causes and is so refreshing on a hot day. If you are lucky to have perfect 60’s or 70’s where you live, and you see a blueberry stand on the side of the road, don’t hesitate to make these. They are so delicious, perfect for chocolate chip cookie lovers, and provide a fresh pop of summer berries. These are going in the repertoire forever, and I can’t wait to have one fresh out of the freezer.

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Print Pin

Blueberry Chocolate Chip Cookies

A classic chocolate chip cookie recipe with summer blueberries

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Keyword berry cookies, bluberries, chocolate chip cookies

Prep Time 30 minutes minutes

Cook Time 15 minutes minutes

Servings 12

Author theforkedring

Ingredients

• 2 sticks unsalted butter softened
• 3/4 cup white granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 large eggs
• 2 3/4 cups AP flour
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp salt
• 4 oz 70% dark chocolate bar
• 1/2 cups dark chocolate chips
• 1 pint high bush blueberries

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 375° F.
• In a stand mixer beat together the butter and sugars for about 5 minutes.
• Add eggs (one at a time) and vanilla and mix until smooth.
• In a separate bowl sift together the flour, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt.
• Add the dry ingredients to the stand mixer while you prepare your chocolate and blueberries.
• Chop your chocolate bar and add to the flour/dough mixture with chocolate chips. Add blueberries.
• Mix on low, pulsing the mixer on and off to prevent flour from flying everywhere. Mix until a dough forms with no flour streaks.
• Scoop 4-5 large cookies at a time onto a parchment-lined baking sheet with at least an inch of space between each.
• Bake for 12-15 minutes until lightly golden brown.

Notes

• The cookies will get softer as they sit, so try keeping them in the fridge in the summer if they get too soft.
• If you bake these when blueberries aren’t in season, you can use dried blueberries in place of fresh.
• Sprinkle a dash of sea salt on top for extra flavor!