Smoked Chocolate Chip Cookies

Nothing is better than a warm, gooey, chocolate chip cookie – well, except maybe a warm, gooey, SMOKED chocolate chip cookie! 

This recipe takes the classic chocolate chip cookie and gives it a smoky makeover. With a touch of smoke and flaky salt, these will be some of the best chocolate chip cookies you’ve ever tasted. 

This is a fairly simple cookie dough recipe that only takes about 20 minutes to whip up. 

Smoked chocolate chip cookies 

Everyone loves a chocolate chip cookie. There is a reason it’s the most popular cookie in the country. While this recipe totally works in the oven too, baking them on a smoker or pellet grill adds a touch of smoky flavor that can’t be beat. 

Ingredients you’ll need 

• Butter – I use salted butter, but you can use unsalted if you prefer. It’s essential to ensure the butter is at room temperature as it will be challenging to cream with the sugar if it’s too hard. 
• Sugar – a combination of white sugar and brown sugar for this recipe. 
• Eggs  
• Vanilla – I use a full tablespoon of vanilla extract. It may sound like a lot, but trust me – it makes these cookies so flavorful and delicious. 
• Flour – I use all-purpose flour for this recipe. If you want to use self-rising, skip the baking powder.
• Baking powder – a touch of baking powder will help the cookies rise. 
• Chocolate chips – I recommend using good-quality chocolate chips.
• Flakey sea salt – the thing that helps take these cookies over the top is a touch of flakey salt on top. I used Maldon flakey sea salt. 

Equipment you’ll need 

• Smoker or pellet grill – any smoker or pellet grill work for this recipe, but it must maintain a steady temperature of 325°F for 30 minutes. I used my Traeger Ironwood XL for this recipe. 
• Stand mixer (or hand mixer) – I prefer to use a stand mixer, but if you don’t have one then a hand mixer will work fine. 
• Cookie sheet (or baking sheet) 
• Parchment paper – to prevent the cookies from sticking to the baking sheet. 
• Wire rack

How to make smoked chocolate chip cookies

1. Make the cookie dough 

Start by adding the softened butter, brown sugar, and white sugar to your stand mixer.

Set the mixer to medium speed and cream together the butter and sugars until smooth, about 3-4 minutes. 

Once the butter and sugars are creamed together, you can add the eggs and vanilla extract and continue mixing for another 3-4 minutes until the mixture is fully incorporated. 

While that is mixing, add the flour and baking powder to another bowl and combine. 

At low speed, add the dry ingredients to the mixer a few spoonfuls at a time. This will help the dough form smoothly and without clumps. Continue to add spoonfuls of the dry ingredients until you’ve used them all up. The dough should be thick, but soft. 

Remove the bowl from your mixer and add the chocolate chips. Fold them through the dough using a spoon or spatula.

Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper and roll the dough into 1” balls. Spread the balls of dough out on the parchment-lined cookie sheet, but be sure to leave a few inches of space between each cookie so they don’t run together on the smoker. 

2. Smoke the cookies 

Preheat your smoker or pellet grill to 325°F. This is the perfect temperature for the cookies to get a touch of smoke flavor while still cooking evenly. 

Place the cookie sheet on the smoker’s grates and shut the lid. Let them smoke for 15 minutes.

After 15 minutes, open the smoker and sprinkle on the flakey sea salt. Then, let them smoke for another five minutes until they just start to turn golden brown. 

They may not look completely done, but that’s okay! You want them to be just done so that you are left with soft, gooey cookies. 

3. Rest 

Once your cookies are done, you can remove them from the smoker. Transfer them to a wire rack with a spatula. This will ensure they don’t continue to cook on the bottom of the hot cookie sheet. 

Let the cookies rest for 10-15 minutes, then you can serve them up and enjoy! 

More sweet desserts made on the smoker