If Billy from Stranger Things was a cookie he would be this Dark Chocolate Chilli Cookie
A dark, chewy brown-butter cookie loaded with chilli chocolate, deep caramel notes, and a slow burn that lingers. Bold, messy, and impossible to ignore. Just like Billy.
Billy is fire, danger, and drama all at once. He’s intense, unpredictable, beautiful in a broken way, and impossible to ignore. He hurts people, and he is hurting. He is anger, pride, jealousy, and that lonely look he never talks about. When he loves, it is messy. When he breaks, he burns everything around him.
This cookie is not safe, and neither is he.
Ingredients
Dark Chocolate Chili Dough
¾ cup unsalted butter, browned and slightly cooled
½ cup light brown sugar, packed
½ cup molasses sugar, packed
¼ cup granulated sugar
1 large egg + 1 egg yolk, room temperature
1 tbsp vanilla extract
1¾ cups all-purpose flour
¾ tsp baking soda
¾ tsp kosher salt
Topping
Flaky sea salt
Ingredient Notes
· If you don’t have molasses sugar add ½ tablespoon molasses
· If you don’t have molasses at all use only light brown sugar. The cookies will still work perfectly.
How To Make Billy’s Dark Chocolate Chili Cookies
1. Brown the butter
Add the butter to a saucepan over medium heat.
Let it melt, foam, and then form golden brown bits at the bottom.
Once it smells nutty and deep, remove from heat.
Pour into a bowl and let it cool until slightly warm, not hot.
2. Mix the sugars
Add the light brown sugar, molasses sugar, and granulated sugar to the browned butter. Mix until glossy and well combined.
3. Add the eggs
Add the egg, egg yolk, and vanilla extract.
Mix until smooth and fully incorporated.
4. Add the dry ingredients
Add the flour, baking soda, and kosher salt.
Mix just until the flour disappears.
Do not overmix the dough.
As soon as everything comes together, stop. Overmixing will make the cookies dense instead of soft and chewy.
5. Fold in the chocolate
Gently fold in the Lindt chilli chocolate chunks. Mix slowly so the chunks stay intact.
6. Chill
Cover and refrigerate the dough for 20 minutes. This helps control spread and keeps the cookies thick.
7. Shape
Preheat the oven to 180°C and line a baking tray with parchment paper. Scoop about 1½ tablespoons of dough per cookie. Place on the tray with space between each cookie. Press a few extra chocolate chunks on top if you want a bakery look.
8. Bake
Bake at 180°C for 10 to 12 minutes.
The edges should look set, but the centres should still look soft.
9. Finish
As soon as the cookies come out of the oven, sprinkle lightly with flaky salt and Tajín.
Let them rest on the tray for 5 minutes before moving.
Why This Cookie Is Billy
The dark chocolate is his anger and intensity. Heavy, bitter, impossible to ignore.
The chili is the side of him that burns without warning. Sudden. Sharp. Dangerous.
And the soft middle is the part nobody talks about, the broken kid still in there.
This is not a comforting cookie.
This is the kind of cookie that stares back.
Troubleshooting
· Cookies spread too much
The butter was still too warm or the dough wasn’t chilled enough. Chill the dough another 10 to 15 minutes before baking.
· Cookies came out dense
The dough was overmixed after adding the flour. Next time, stop mixing as soon as the flour disappears.
· Not spicy enough
Use slightly larger chunks of Lindt chilli chocolate or add a pinch more Tajín on top after baking.
· Too spicy
Skip the Tajín and rely only on the chilli chocolate. The heat will be more subtle.
· Dry cookies
They baked too long. Pull them out while the centres still look soft. They will finish setting on the tray.
· Chocolate burned
Use chopped chocolate bars, not chips, and avoid letting chunks touch the baking tray directly.