Giant Crinkled Chocolate Chip Cookie

I struggle with receiving birthday presents; mostly because if I really want something, I just go out and buy it myself. But when Ina Garten announced in the fall that she would be releasing her latest cookbook, Modern Comfort Food, in May (the month of my birth) I added it to my amazon wish list (built solely for my mother to use). Upon receiving it, I quickly flipped through the pages to find an easy recipe with which to start and landed on Sarah Kieffer's giant crinkled chocolate chip cookie.

I quickly made a batch of 16 giant cookies and started passing them out to friends and family for a taste test. The most consistent feedback I received was this: "that was the best cookie I've ever had." How do you make a classic like the chocolate chip cookie even better? Let me tell you what I learned from making this recipe:

1. Substituting traditional chocolate chips for candy bars is a must. Sarah's recipe with Ina's edits calls for 8 ounces of bittersweet chocolate, such as Lindt's 70% baking bar. I decided to use two 4.1 ounce Lindt's milk chocolate classic recipe bars. The extra sweetness and milk added a caramelized flavor to the cookie batter that I have no regrets about.

2. Finely chop chocolate for the win. Ina gives very little direction on the chocolate other than to chop it. My gut told me to finely chop it, even shaving it with my knife at times, and my gut reaction was correct. The results of my effort produced a cookie where you always have the perfect bite of evenly distributed chocolate.

3. Freezing the dough is significant to the texture. Ina lists a 3-step baking process after freezing the cookies for 15 minutes. Based on my electric oven, I switched to a 20 minute freeze and then moved the cookies to my refrigerator to keep them cold. The freezing process helps the cookies keep their shape during the first round of baking when you start the pan-banging in between each round of baking. Don't skip this. If you do, you won't have crinkled cookies but giant cookie thin chips.

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Giant Crinkled Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients:

• 1/2 pound (2 sticks) salted butter, at room temperature

• 1 1/2 cups sugar

• 1/4 cup light brown sugar, lightly packed

• 1 large egg, at room temperature

• 1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

• 2 cups all-purpose flour

• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

• 2, 4.1 ounce Lindt milk chocolate classic recipe bars, finely chopped

• course sea salt, for sprinkling

Yield: 16 cookies Prep Time: 45 minutes Bake Time: 16 minutes

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. In the bowl of an electric mixer with a paddle attachment, beat on medium speed butter, sugar, and light brown sugar for 3 minutes, until light and creamy.

3. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Add the egg and vanilla and mix on low speed to combine.

4. In a separate bowl, whisk together flour and baking soda. Slowly add flour mixture to butter mixture on low speed.

5. Finely chop and shave chocolate bars. Add chocolate (including dust from chopping) into mixture on low speed.

6. Using a 2 inch ice cream/baking scoop, make 16 rounded scoops of dough and place them on a lined sheet pan. Freeze dough for 20 minutes (no more). Then arrange 4 balls of dough, spaced widely apart, on a lined cookie sheet.

7. Bake for 10 minutes; cookies will be slightly puffed in the center and flatter around the edges. Remove pan from oven and bang the pan on the stove top until the cookie deflates some (approximately two times).

8. Bake again for 3 minutes. Remove pan from oven and bang the pan on the stove top until the cookie deflates some (approximately two times).

9. Bake again for a final time of 3 minutes. Remove pan from oven and bang the pan on the stove top until the cookie deflates (approximately two times). The edges of the cookies will look golden brown that the centers will completely deflate to look flat and crinkled on the edges.

10. Let the cookies cool on the pan for a few minutes. While cooling on the pan, sprinkle the cookies with course sea salt. Once cookies are firm enough to remove from the pan, allow cookies to continue to cool for 20 minutes on cooling racks. Enjoy!