Tara's Chocolate Chip Cookies

Seemingly in an attempt to simplify the world and eliminate all shades of gray, we have been grouped into or defined by a myriad of classifications. Very few of us left high school without being willingly or unwillingly bound to one group or another. Almost daily there is some unscientific, yet ridiculously entertaining BuzzFeed survey feeding into our underlying need to feel connected to a group, regardless of how fiercely independent, unique, or different we believe ourselves to be. I can't help but wonder if we secretly wish these surveys would tell us something different, validate what we already know, or prove to some of the people in our lives they just don't really know us. It's okay if you don't want to admit being lulled into taking at least one of these surveys for any, some, or all of the aforementioned reasons. For those of you who have not yet been tempted, what are you afraid of? That the survey results will get hacked and everyone will discover your personal theme song, what country music cliche you exemplify, or which 80s movie girl you are? Spoiler alert: Everyone already knows. 

Regardless of our chosen profession, there are yet another set of groups to belong to, to define us. The Innovators, the Early Adopters, the Second Wave Followers, and the Laggards. The smallest of these groups are the innovators, the risk-takers, the ones quick to adopt new and innovative approaches or strategies. The Early Adopters, perennially young and restless are the ones paying attention to the discoveries and lessons learned by the innovators. The Second Wave Followers, skeptics who prefer to take the wait and see if this too shall pass approach before finally caving. And then there are Laggards, the traditionalists, content with the way things are, the last to change. In the food world, I find myself in awe of some of the innovators and going in and out of all of the other groups. Yes, even the laggards. In the spirit of self-disclosure and the risk of skewing to TMI, I must confess to being in a state of kicking and screaming over kale, adding sriracha sauce to almost everything, or topping my favorite foods with kimchi. 

However, I am happy to announce I have joined the group of early adopters of innovator foodblogger Tara O'Brady's chocolate chip cookie recipe. As loyal to and enamored as I have been with the Jacques Torres chocolate chip cookie recipe, I am now completely smitten with Tara's as close to chocolate chip cookie perfection as is possible recipe. They are the complete package. Beautiful, crispy around the edges, chewy in the center, chocolatey, addictive, incredibly easy to make. There is nothing high-maintenance about these cookies, yet you might think only high end kitchen tools and ovens could create such chocolate chip cookie perfection. 

Who knew that all it took was a large bowl, a whisk and a wooden spoon. Well Tara knew.

Chopping the chocolate might be the most time-consuming part of the recipe. If you have yet to give up using chocolate chips for your chocolate chip cookies, you should know chopped chocolate is not a passing, this too shall pass trend. There are not enough adjectives to describe the taste and texture Trader Joe's Pound Plus Dark Chocolate Bars bring to this cookie. I would put it in a throwdown against any of the high-end, pricey dark chocolate bars out there.

After reading the advice of other foodbloggers, I decided to wait to bake the cookies until they had a chance to chill in the refrigerator overnight. Forming the dough into balls, placing them on a parchment paper lined tray, and lightly covering them with a plastic wrap before chilling, makes baking the cookies feel effortless.

Approximately three tablespoons of dough goes into making the cookies. To ensure as uniform of a cookie as possible, I used an almost three tablespoon ice cream scoop and then rolled the dough into balls. However, you don't even need an ice cream scoop to make these cookies. 

A light sprinkling of flaky sea salt is the finishing touch.

The cookies spread when they bake. Allow for at least 3 inches of space between each of the balls of dough.

The cookies are baked in a preheated 360 (F) degree oven. Yes, 360 (not 350, not 375). My oven doesn't have a digital temperature setting, so I set it a smidge over 350 degrees. This lack of oven temperature precision may have been responsible for increasing my baking time by a couple of minutes. Before placing the cookies on a cooking rack, they remain on the cookie tray for two minutes.

One taste of Tara's Chocolate Chip Cookies and you won't be able to resist giving up your favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe. Unless of course, you take great pride being set in your ways or in belonging to the group known as the chocolate chip cookie laggards. If it has been awhile since you felt real bliss, make these cookies. Because cookie bliss is better than no bliss at all. And feel free to call them your own. 

Recipe

Tara's Chocolate Chip Cookies (inspired by Seven Spoons blogger Tara O'Brady's Basic, Great Chocolate Chip Cookies recipe)

Makes 28-32 large golf ball sized cookies

Updated December 2021

Ingredients

1 cup (225 g) unsalted butter, cut up into 8 pieces (European style butter highly recommended)

3 1/4 cups (415g) all-purpose flour

1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt

1 1/4 cups (260g) light brown sugar, firmly packed (See Notes)

1/4 cup (60g) dark brown sugar, firmly packed 

1/2 cup (100 g) granulated sugar

2 large eggs, room temperature

2 teaspoons vanilla

12 ounces (340 g) semi-sweet or bittersweet chocolate, chopped (Recommend Trader Joe's Pound Plus Dark Chocolate)

Flaky sea salt for finishing (Recommend Maldon Sea Salt)

Directions

1. In a heavy bottomed saucepan, melt butter on lowest heat possible to ensure the butter does not sizzle or lose any of its' moisture. Stir occasionally. Once the butter has melted, remove from heat and set aside.

2. In a medium sized bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and kosher salt. Set aside.

3. In a large bowl, pour in melted butter. Add brown sugars and granulated sugar, whisking until sugar has melted. 

4. Add eggs, one at a time, whisking after each addition.

5. Stir in vanilla.

6. Using a wooden spoon or silicone spatula, stir in flour mixture until barely blended and still a bit floury.

7. Stir in chopped chocolate until all ingredients are combined.

8. Using a large ice cream scooper (large golf ball sized), scoop dough and place on parchment paper lined cookie sheet. Leave at least 3 inches between the cookies. Note: For best results, the dough balls should be refrigerated at least 6 hours or overnight on a lightly covered tray.)

9. Before baking sprinkle each cookie with a bit of flaky sea salt.

10. In a preheated 360 degree (F) oven, bake cookies until the tops are cracked and lightly golden rotating pan halfway through the baking process. Baking time is approximately 10-12 minutes, however, mine ranged from 13-14 minutes. This could be due in part to not having a digital oven. Recommend checking the cookies at 10 minutes and making any time adjustments as necessary.

11. Allow cookies to cool on pan for at least 2 minutes before transfering to a wire rack to cool completely.

12. Enjoy immediately! Store cookies in a sealed container.

Additional notes: (1) You can alter the amounts of light and brown sugars used, but recommending not increasing your dark brown sugar to more than 1/2 cup or reducing the light brown sugar to less than 1 cup. The total amount of brown sugars used will be 1 1/2 cups or 320 g. (2) Chilling the balls of dough at least 6 hours or overnight is a game-changer. When baking each sheet of cookies (about 8-9 will fit on a sheet pan), keep the remaining dough( formed into balls) in the refrigerator. (3) Once chilled, cookie dough balls can be transferred to a freezer ziplock bag and stored in the freezer. When baking, remove frozen cookie balls, place on baking sheet, sprinkle with sea salt, and bake. Baking time may be one or two minutes longer. (4) If you are not a big fan of dark brown sugar, use all light brown sugar. The inspiration recipe called for the use of light brown sugar only.

The windmill in the Children's Garden at Morton Arboretum in Lisle, Illinois.

Peanut Butter Oatmeal Sandwich Cookies

The plan for this year's Valentine's Day, weather permitting, is to run a five mile race with some of my running group friends. It has been fourteen years since I last ran this winter road race and up until recently, thirteen years since I ran that distance. Needless to say I am not anywhere near as 'fast' (relatively speaking) as I was back then. After searching out what my finish time was all those years ago (big mistake, really big mistake), I wondered if those results belonged to a doppleganger. One not only looking like me, but also having my name. Isn't it funny how your perspective shifts as you age? Back then I considered myself a 'slow' runner. Yet, if I could run that pace again today, well I wouldn't exactly be a speed demon, but I definitely wouldn't be 'slow'. Since it is not possible to get back to that pace in a week (heck I may not get there in a year), I need to take a deep breath and remind myself or rather convince myself 'slow and steady' isn't such a bad thing. And if that doesn't work, search for a doppleganger who runs 'fast', relatively speaking.

I am now going to launch into one of those glowing, so over the top you might become a little skeptical, reviews of these Peanut Butter Oatmeal Sandwich Cookies. This cookie is worthy of so many accolades, ranging from 'the best cookie in the universe as we know it today' to 'you haven't lived a complete life until you have eaten this cookie' to 'if cookies were awarded an Oscar, it would win in every category it was nominated', I don't know which one to pick. Seriously, yes seriously, these cookies are phenomenally, insanely delicious. They are cookie perfection. And they now fall into a group of cookie recipes posted to this blog likely to lead someone into thinking they have died and gone to cookie heaven: Viennese Finger Biscuits, Tara's Chocolate Chip Cookies, Chocolate Whoppers, Sugar Saucers, and Amy's Shortbread Cookies. I know, you have come across other blogs where the blogger endlessly gushes about every recipe they post or okay, maybe every other recipe.

As a result of all of this (almost) too hard to believe hype (sort of the inverse of a wolf crying one too many times), you are reluctant to drop everything and/or rush to the grocery store to make what often contains the word 'best-ever' in the recipe's narrative. If, by any chance, you are reading this blog in the middle of the night, I only hope you have a grocery store open 24/7 within 20 miles of where you reside. Because these are the real deal, the drop everything, really must make cookies. After you taste them, I am willing to bet you will never make another Peanut Butter cookie recipe again. Okay, that's enough cookie fanfare for now.

The good news is that with the exception of the Roasted Honey Peanuts, you may already have everything you need in your pantry and refrigerator to make these cookies. If by some chance you have all of the ingredients, you will only need to wait until the eggs and butter come to room temperature.

Whenever I make anything requiring room temperature eggs or butter, I always take them out of the refrigeratore the night before. While some claim there is a negligible difference in the taste/texture of cookies and/or some cakes made with room temperature egg or those made with cold eggs, there are others who disagree. I happen to agree with those advocating for room temperature eggs. Why? Because the whites and yolks of room temperature eggs combine easier and more evenly into the batter. Resultling in a much better texture (especially for cakes as room temperature eggs are better able to trap air creating a lighter texture).

The room temperature unsalted butter, light brown sugar, and granulated sugar are beaten together until light and fluffy (approximately 2-3 minutes). If using a stand mixer, use the paddle attachment. Once the butter and sugars are fully mixed together, the peanut butter and vanilla are beaten in until combined. Then those room temperature eggs are added in one at a time.

Not grinding the oats further helps to give the finished cookie a great texture. After whisking the dry ingredients together (no sifting required), they are added slowly the batter. As soon as the flour mixture is incorporated, one and a half cups of roughly chopped honey roasted peanuts are mixed in.

The dough needs to be chilled for at least two hours (or overnight) before the cookies are baked. Like Tara's Chocolate Chip Cookies, I have found forming the cookies into balls and then refrigerating them ensures that all of the cookies bake evenly. Additionally, you are not struggling to form a dough ball with hardened, chilled dough. I chilled the balls of dough for a little more than 2 hours, taking out only enough of them to put on the baking pan before putting in the oven. Note: Before placing the balls of dough in the refrigerator, press down lightly using a meat tenderizer (or you can criss-cross with a fork if you would like) and lightly sprinkle with sea salt. Tightly wrap the tray with plastic wrap before putting in the refrigerator to chill.

Further elevating these Peanut Butter Oatmeal Sandwich Cookies on the taste/texture deliciousness scale is the filling. This creamy Oreo-like filling provides the perfect contrast to the crisp, salty, peanut butter cookie.

How much filling you spread on these cookies depends on whether you are a regular or double-stuff kind of Oreo cookie eater. Using the same ice cream scoop used to form the dough balls will give you the perfect cookie to filling ratio (double-stuff style). Use a smaller ice cream scoop to create a thinner layer of filling.

There is enough batter and filling to make 25-27 sandwich cookies or 50-54 cookies. As much as I love this cookie sandwich, the cookies by themselves are so incredible, even those who don't list peanut butter cookies amongst their favorites will become converts.

The peanut butter cookie is crispy on the outside and tender on the inside. The addition of flaky sea salt, aka a cookie game changer, sprinkled on top of the cookie before they are baked further ramps up their flavor.

If ever there was such a thing as Genius Peanut Butter Oatmeal Sandwich Cookie recipe, this would be it. Think I will be making this cookies again next weekend. Not just because it is Valentine's Day and they would make a great gift, but in all likelihood I am going to need something to soothe my ego after the race.

Recipe
Peanut Butter Oatmeal Sandwich Cookies (Slight adaptation to Jose Bowen's Oatmeal Peanut Butter Cookie, Gourmet 1996 as well as to Sally's Baking Addiction Oreo Cookie Filling) 
Makes 25-27 sandwich cookies

Ingredients
Cookie Dough
1 1/2 cups old-fashioned oatmeal (not quick cook oats)
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup light brown sugar, firmly packed
1 cup granulated sugar
1 Tablespoon vanilla
3/4 cup smooth peanut butter (recommend JIF)
2 large eggs, room temperature
1 1/2 cups honey roasted peanuts, roughly chopped in a food processor (recommend Fisher Honey Roasted Peanuts)
Flaky sea salt for finishing (recommend Maldon)

Filling
1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup solid shortening
3 1/2 cups confectionary sugar, sifted
1 Tablespoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

Directions
Cookies
1. In a large bowl, combine oatmeal, flour, baking powder, baking soda, and kosher salt. Stir to combine and set aside.
2. In a standing mixer fitted with a paddle attachment cream unsalted butter, light brown sugar, and granulated sugar until light and fluffy (approximately 2-3 minutes).
3. Beat in vanilla and peanut butter.
4. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
5. Gradually add oatmeal-flour mixture, mixing just until combined.
6. Mix in chopped peanuts.
7. Using an ice cream scoop, form cookie dough balls and place on a large sheet pan. Press balls down slightly using a meat tenderizer to create divots and sprinkle lightly with sea salt. Note: Can criss-cross top of the cookies using a fork instead of creating divots with the meat tenderizer.
8. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and chill for at least 2 hours or overnight.
9. Preheat oven to 325 degrees (F). Line baking sheets with parchment paper or a silpat. 
10. Place 12 cookies on a baking sheet, spacing 2 inches apart. Bake for 15-16 minutes or until just pale golden. Cool cookies on baking sheet for 5 minutes, then transfer to a rack to cool completely.

Filling
1. In a large bowl, beat butter and shortening until well blended.
2. Add salt, vanilla, and sifted confectionary sugar. Beat until smooth, thick, and creamy. Set aside. Note: Filling should be room temperature when assembling cookies. Filling can be made ahead, but remember to bring to room temperature.

Assembling
1. Using an ice cream scoop, place a dollop of the filling on the flat side of a cookie. Top with another cookie to make a sandwich.
2. Serve immediately.
Note: Cookies can be kept in a sealed container at room temperature. To extend the life of the cookie, store in the refrigerator. Cookies taste equally delicious when chilled.

Gigantic Chocolate Chip Cookies

I have been faithfully married to Tara's Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe for awhile now. While I am not forsaking my commitment to this beloved cookie recipe, I have made the decision to be a chocolate chip cookie polygamist. What is happening to me? This Gigantic Chocolate Chip Cookie, aka, the famous New York City Levain Bakery cookie, this is what is happening to me. It is one of those cookies I guarantee will cause you to lose your mind and break your chocolate chip cookie vows.

Thanks to the diligent efforts of baker extraordinaire and cookbook author Stella Parks, who worked tirelessly to recreate the self-proclaimed"world's greatest" $4.00 bakery cookie, we all can make and swoon over these Gigantic Chocolate Chip Cookies at home. We no longer have to drool over photos of Levain's cookies and/or take a cookie buying trip to New York City.

Considering there were several aspects to this recipe managing me to question everything I believed about making really great chocolate chip cookies, I realized I am not as chocolate chip cookie savvy as I thought I was.  Instead of mixing room temperature eggs into the batter, eggs are taken right out of the refrigerator. Rather than chop up a block of dark chocolate to create those luscious pools of chocolate, an assortment of chocolate chips are used in these cookies. Raw, instead of slightly toasted walnuts, are used (the exception to the slightly toasting rule applies only if pecans are used). Then there was the recommended butter: room temperature (not melted) unsalted American instead of unsalted European butter. Even the sequence of mixing the ingredients differed. Needless to say my head was spinning as I read through the recipe. And that was even before I took a bite of a warm, freshly baked, right out of the oven cookie.

My assortment of chocolate chips included Guittard Extra Dark Chocolate Chips (63% cocoa), Ghiradelli Bittersweet Chocolate Chips (60% cocoa), and Ghiradelli Semi-Sweet Chips. Whether you use two or three different kinds of chocolate chips may not matter as much as the quality of chocolate chip chosen. You can't go wrong with any combination of Guittard and Ghiradelli chocolate chips.

In the bowl of a standing mixer with a paddle attachment the butter, both sugars, the vanilla, the baking powder, the baking soda, the kosher salt, and the pinch of freshly grated nutmeg are added in all at once. Yes, some of the dry ingredients are mixed in with the butter and sugar. The entire mixture is beaten at medium speed for almost eight minutes. The reward for this longer than usual beating time is the softest, fluffiest, most pale cookie dough batter. The out of refrigerator eggs are added one at a time, beaten only each is incorporated. And just like the flour gets mixed in all at once, so do the chocolate chips and nuts. Is your head spinning yet? If not, it will be shortly.

This recipe makes eight, yes eight, cookies. Each weighing approximately six ounces or two ounces short of a half pound. We are talking huge, ginormous, slightly more than 4 inches in diameter chocolate chip cookies here. Almost too big for one person to eat by themselves. I said almost.

So were these Gigantic Chocolate Chip Cookies worth any angst I may have felt dividing my loyalty and love between two different chocolate chip cookie recipes? The answer is an emphatic, completely guilt-free YES! Who am I? Obviously someone who should be wearing a chocolate chip cookie scarlet letter.

When compared to my other favorite chocolate chip cookie, I must tell you, in defense of my behavior, these are a completely different kind of chocolate chip cookie. They are chocolate chip cookie insanity. And here is why this recipe works. A lower proportion of sugar to flour helps to reduce the cookie's spread and keeps them thick. Less sugar than flour and more chocolate chips than sugar both contribute to keeping the cookies thick without making them taste cakey. The 12 hour (overnight) refrigeration period hydrates the flour, again contributing to the cookie's thickness. Blending different kinds of chocolate chips creates an incredible texture.

It's bigger, richer, more chocolatey. A cookie definitely not for the faint of heart and one probably best shared with a big glass of ice cold milk.

Stella Parks recommending eating these cookies while they are still warm. It seemed pointless not to listen to her advice. (You can reheat them in the low oven if they get to room temperature or if you kept them in a tightly sealed container for up to two days.) Although I wouldn't walk away from a room temperature Gigantic Chocolate Chip Cookie.

There is room as well as a time and place in our lives for both Tara's Chocolate Chip Cookies and these Gigantic Chocolate Chip Cookies. And honestly if I were selling them, my first thought is they are priceless. My second thought is a price tag of $5.00 almost wouldn't reflect their worth.

In the next couple of weeks I am having some friends over for dinner. My plan was to make the Buttermilk Panna Cotta with Ginger Cardamom Rhubarb Compote for dessert. What is it they say about the best laid plans?

Recipe
Gigantic Chocolate Chip Cookies (inspired by Stella Parks Super-Thick Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe)
Makes 8 ginormous cookies

Ingredients
1/2 cup (8 Tablespoons, 113 g) unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 cup (113 g) light brown sugar, firmly packed
1/2 cup (100 g) granulated sugar
1 Tablespoon vanilla
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 3/4 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
Pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
2 large eggs, straight from the refrigerator
2 1/4 cups (283 g) all-purpose flour
2 1/2 cups (15 ounces, 425 g), assorted semi-sweet and bittersweet chocolate chips
8 ounces (240 g) raw walnut pieces (or 8 ounces lightly toasted pecan pieces)
Optional: Flaky sea salt for finishing

Directions
1. In the bowl of standing mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, add the butter, brown sugar, granulated sugar, vanilla, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and nutmeg. 
2. Mix on low to moisten the ingredients, then increase speed to medium. Continue to beat until soft, fluffy and pale (approximately 8 minutes). Halfway through pause to scrape bowl and beater with a spatula.
3. With mixer running, add in eggs one at a time, letting each fully incorporate before adding the next one.
4. Reduce the mixer speed to low. Add in the flour all at once. When flour is incorporated add the chocolate chips and nuts, mixing the dough until it is homogenous.
5. Divide the dough into 8 equal portions (6 ounces/170g each). Round each mound into a smooth ball. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 12 hours before baking. Note: If well protected the dough will be good in the refrigerator for several days.
6. Adjust oven rack to middle position and preheat oven to 350 degrees (F). Line two sheet pans with parchment paper. 
7. Place only 4 cookies on the pan, leaving ample space between them to account for the spread. Note: If adding, top with coarse sea salt. Note: Bake only tray of cookies at a time.
8. Bake until cookies are puffed and light brown, approximately 22-24 minutes. Rotate baking pan midway through and lightly tamp down the baking pan. Note: I also lightly tamped the baking pan with about 4 minutes left of baking time.
9. Cool cookies on baking sheet for 10 minutes. Serve warm or within 12 hours of baking. Note: These cookies taste best when freshly baked. However, they can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 days. Rewarm briefly in a 350 degree (F) oven before serving.

Notes: (1) Stella Parks is a big fan of Gold Medal all-purpose flour. For these cookies, I used Gold Medal Flour. Because, like, duh? (2) I would never walk away from a room temperature gigantic chocolate chip cookie and neither should you. (3) Stella Parks using an American versus European-style unsalted butter for these cookies. I have used both kinds and love them equally. 

Chocolate Chip Skillet Cookie

After a week of a couple of 'all my fault' driving mishaps, I was in serious need of some therapy. The unanticipated expense of a new tire took retail therapy off the table. So the next best therapeutic option had to involve dark chocolate. What was it going to take to soothe my distressed soul? One of those sold only once a year dark chocolate coconut cream eggs I had been resisting for the past month or a warm, gooey Chocolate Chip Skillet Cookie, a la mode, of course. My first thought was 'why choose, why not have both?'. Uncharacteristically I decided my crisis intervention option meant choosing only one of them. I can only attribute this significant decision-making departure to being in a cross-training delirious-induced state. Who knew cross-training could have this added benefit?

The final decision all came down to: 'Store-bought or homemade?' Homemade won. It usually does.

A million years ago I tasted a Chocolate Chip Skillet Cookie that left a permanent impression on my warm, gooey chocolate chip cookie loving palate. I managed to get the recipe but it somehow vanished from my disorganized stack of handwritten recipes. Over the years I had tried a few other recipes, but none of them were 'anything to write home about'. Not willing to give up (perseverance is my middle name), I thought it was time to go on the hunt for another one.

While embarking on another Chocolate Chip Skillet Cookie research project, I discovered none of the dozens of recipes I came across had a common butter to flour to sugar ratio. Which meant I had to choose one that seemed closest to the recipe I sort of remembered. Ultimately I went with one fully assembled and baked in a cast iron skillet. Will share my takeaways on that baking process ahead. The initial (and permanent) change I made to this untested recipe was using a combination of both dark and light brown sugars. The post cookie making change will be to slightly reduce the amount of all-purpose flour (either using a scant 1 1/2 cups or reducing it all the way down to 1 1/4 cups) to create an even gooey-er cookie.

After making Tara's Chocolate Chip Cookies, I have been forever converted into a chopped chocolate versus chocolate chip cookie fan. And at the moment Trader Joe's Pound Plus Dark Chocolate is my favorite chocolate bar to chop up. I used somewhere between 7 and 8 ounces of chopped chocolate in this skillet cookie.

So let's talk about the cookie assembly process. The inspiration recipe called for melting the butter in the cast iron skillet followed by mixing in the granulated sugar, brown sugar, and vanilla and a brief (5 minute) cooling off period before the egg was added. I waited almost 10 minutes and worked furiously to prevent the incorporated the egg from scrambling. After a sigh of it all worked out relief, I added in the dry ingredients. The batter was very, very thick (and didn't resemble at all the recipe blogger's photo). Again, I worried mixing too much would toughen the cookie dough and/or would be too thick to fully incorporate the chopped chocolate. That shouldn't have been my worry. When adding the chocolate to the batter (which was still rather warm from being in the cast iron skillet), some of the chards of chocolate began to melt. While having some of the chocolate melt is not necessarily a bad thing, having it all melt would have defeated the chocolate chip look to the cookie.

So while I think I have now found (and tweaked) a Chocolate Chip Skillet Cookie as good as or maybe even better than the one I remember, I will make a change to the assembly process. Once the butter is melted, I will pour it into a medium sized bowl before mixing in the sugars and vanilla. Mixing the butter and sugars together in a bowl versus the pan should not only help to cool the mixture down faster but should eliminate any other issues caused by the residual heat of the pan. From there, I will mix in the egg, add the dry ingredients, stir in the chopped dark chocolate, and then transfer to the more than likely still warm cast iron pan. Before placing the pan in a preheated 350 degree oven, I will lightly sprinkle the top with sea salt.

The baking time on the skillet ranges from 20-25 minutes if baking in a 10 inch (if measured across the top) cast iron baking pan. If using an 8 inch cast iron baking pan the baking time could be slightly longer. Any pan bigger than 10 inches would make for a large, crispy, not likely to be gooey cookie. And the added deliciousness factor to this cookie is its' gooeyness.

I loved the idea of having Chocolate Chip Skillet Cookie right out of the pan served communally, with everyone being able to gather round and dig in. If your family and friends aren't into that kind of dessert eating fun, well then just let them scoop their warm, gooey cookie into a bowl. Regardless of how you decide to serve it, the vanilla ice cream is a must! But for what it's worth, I would be remiss if I didn't tell you there is something incredibly magical about eating and sharing a warm chocolate chip cookie topped with melting vanilla ice cream right out of the pan with friends.

Not because this Chocolate Chip Skillet Cookie had high therapeutic value or that it was really easy to make will I make it again (my version), but because it was really, really, really delicious. So delicious, that maybe I won't be too upset if the Easter Bunny doesn't drop off one of those dark chocolate coconut eggs this year. Just to be on the safe side, I better not drive that day.

Recipe
Chocolate Chip Skillet Cookie (slight adaptation to Tasty Kitchen's Dark Chocolate Chunk Skillet Cookie)

Ingredients
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar (equal parts of dark and light brown sugars)
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 large egg, room temperature
A scant 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (or consider reducing flour to 1 1/4 cups for a more gooey cookie)
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
7-8 ounces of dark or semi-sweet chocolate coarsely chopped (recommend Trader Joe's Pound Plus Dark Chocolate) Note: If you don't have a scale, use a generously filled cup of chopped chocolate.
Sea Salt
Vanilla Ice Cream (Ben and Jerry's Vanilla is my favorite) and for added decadence caramel sauce

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees (F).
2. In a 10 inch cast iron skillet, melt the butter. Pour the butter into a medium sized bowl and mix in the granulated sugar, brown sugars, and vanilla until the sugars have completely melted. Allow to cool for at least 8-10 minutes.
3. Add the egg and mix until it is fully incorporated. Note: You could use either a whisk or hand held mixer.
4. Stir in dry ingredients until fully incorporated.
5. Add chopped chocolate.
6. Transfer batter to the cast iron skillet, pressing down lightly to ensure the batter covers the entire bottom of the pan and has the same relative thickness. Sprinkle lightly with sea salt.
7. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until the top of the cookie is golden on the edges and top but still soft in the center. 
8. Scoop and serve warm in bowls with slightly softened vanilla ice cream or top with several scoops of vanilla ice cream and hand out spoons.

Notes: (1) I used Lodge's 10 inch skillet (Top dimension: 10 inches, Bottom dimension: 8 inches) in the making of this Chocolate Chip Skillet Cookie and (2) the inspiration recipe is linked in this posting, just in case you want to try your hand at making and baking the cookie all in one pan.

Scenes from the Tucson landscape.