Wednesday, January 31, 2018

Huge Chocolate Chip Cookies

What is it about chocolate chip cookies that make them so irresistible? I don't know about you, but they are by far my favorite cookie out there...as you can tell from the many times I have made different variations on the blog! So, when I got a new cookbook for my birthday, I decided I had to give the ones in it a try!

Huge Chocolate Chip Cookies by freshfromthe.com.

Typically, I don't make huge cookies, bakery-style cookies at home very often. It's just easier to eat a cookie in a few bites rather than eating one the size of my entire hand. Granted, I do have small hands, but still. But, I wanted to stick straight to the recipe to see how they turned out the way the author intended them, so huge they are, though it's very hard to judge the size of things without a reference, so you probably can't even tell how big they are from my photos. Trust, they are big.

There's an interesting step in the instructions for these cookies, where you take the baking sheet and lift the side up while it's in the oven, then kind of gently bang it as you set it down. This apparently gives you those crispy edges with kind of multiple striations, or whatever you might call them. It was something I'd never heard of before, but heck, the cookies turned out just as she said they should!

Huge Chocolate Chip Cookies by freshfromthe.com.

Now, confession time. My first batch in the oven turned out perfect, just like they were supposed to. The second batch turned out like the below photo. Yes, my friends, I am not perfect when it comes to baking either! Four cookies turned into 1 giant one and two semi-attached ones all in one huge mass in the middle of the baking sheet. The baking sheet is to blame here, I'm afraid. I was using an older one for this batch that has kind of bowed in the center, and apparently the cookies all sort of rolled into each other when they started baking in the oven. Whoops! Oh well, they still taste good, and that's really all that matters, right?

Honestly, I share this because I feel like so much of the time everyone tries to present themselves in the most perfect light online, when perfection is just not the case in daily life. Sometimes you have warped baking sheets and get almost one giant cookie instead of four individual ones, and that's okay.

Huge Chocolate Chip Cookies by freshfromthe.com.



Write recipe photo description here

Bakery style chocolate chip cookies with large and small chunks of chocolate, crispy edges, and a soft center.

Ingredients:
  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 3/4 teaspoon salt
  • 2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
  • 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
  • 1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
  • 1 large egg
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 2 tablespoons water
  • 6 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped into bite-size pieces about a 1/2 inch in size
Instructions:

  1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and preheat oven to 350F. Line 3 baking sheets (if you have that many!) with aluminum foil, dull side up. Or, you can use parchment paper or silicone baking mats (I used silicone mats).
  2. In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt.
  3. In a stand mixer with the paddle attachment on, beat the butter on medium speed until creamy. Add the granulated sugar and brown sugar and beat on medium until light and fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes. Add the egg, vanilla, and water and mix on low to combine. Add the flour mixture and mix on low until combined. Add the chocolate and mix on low until incorporated. But don't over mix!
  4. Form the dough into 3 1/2 ounce balls (a heaping 1/3 cup). Place balls an equal distance apart on a prepared pan and transfer to freezer for 15 minutes before baking. After you put the first baking sheet in the oven, put the second one in the freezer. (See my notes below on this step.)
  5. Place the chilled baking sheet in the oven and bake 10 minutes, until the cookies are puffed slightly in the center. Lift the side of the baking sheet up about 4 inches and gently let it drop down against the oven rack, so the edges of the cookies set and the inside falls back down. After the cookies puff up again in 2 minutes, repeat the lifting and dropping of the pan. Repeat a few more times to create ridges around the edge of the cookies. Bake 16 to 18 minutes total, until the cookies have spread out and the edges are golden brown but the centers are much lighter and not fully cooked.
  6. Transfer the baking sheet to a wire rack; let cool completely before removing the cookies from the pan.
Note on the freezing step: my baking sheets will not fit in my freezer, which is the pull out kind with the drawers. So, what I did was use a mini sheet (or you could just use a plate or something), and put each set of balls on there for the freezing step. I placed two baking sheets in the fridge to keep them cold, then put the chilled dough on the chilled sheet when it was ready to go in the oven. I think it worked just fine!

From The Vanilla Bean Baking Book

Huge Chocolate Chip Cookies by freshfromthe.com.

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