One-Bowl Chocolate Chunk Cookies - Revised

This recipe was originally published on this blog in 2008. This time we made it without pecans, with regular chips and with bread flour instead of all purpose. We made huge cookies and the results were crispy on the edge chewy on the inside cookies. This replacement of flour is highly recommended!

A family friend gave me this book Sticky, Chewy, Messy, Gooey for my wedding shower and I have been wanting to make some recipe from it but haven't had the chance until this weekend.

I chose to make one-bowl chocolate chunk pecan cookies the key being that they use only ONE BOWL and no mixer PLUS they use melted butter, so you don't have to worry about leaving it out for hours.

Get this book! If this recipe was this delicious I bet the rest of it is outstanding!

A few notes about these cookies:
1. Refrigerate the dough for an hour like it calls for, do not be tempted to bake them before refrigerating.
2. Try to let the pecans cool before adding them to the dough--but add them before refrigeration, if you add them when they are hot the dough gets extra runny
3. Make small cookies, about the size of one scoop from a regular spoon. Small cookies mean big huge chunks of deliciousness
4. One of my friends gave me some extra concentrated vanilla from Penzey's, they say to use half of what the recipe calls for but I always forget so these cookies could be awesomer because I used twice the vanilla the recipe called for. You may want to do that.

My mom has baked the same chocolate chip walnut cookie for years and she volunteered that this cookie is superior and her new go-to favorite.

Ingredients
2 C pecan halves (omitted)
1 C unsalted butter
3/4 C packed brown sugar
3/4 C granulated sugar

2 Large eggs
1 t salt
2 t vanilla extract (technically I used 4t see above)
2 1/4 C bread flour
1/2 t baking soda
1/4 baking powder
2 C semisweet chocolate chunks

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350. Toast pecan halves 6-8 minutes until fragrant.
2. Meanwhile, melt butter in a large microwave safe bowl for 1 minute. Remove from microwave and stir with a wooden spoon until fully melted.
3. Stir in sugars until smooth. Add salt, vanilla and eggs, stir until smooth.
4. Add flour, baking soda and baking powder and stir until a soft dough forms.
5. Fold in toasted pecans and chocolate chunks. Cover and refrigerate the bowl for at least an hour (especially if you didn't find time to cool pecans). Preheat the oven again to 350 if you turned it off.
6. Scoop small regular spoon sized scoops onto cookie trays. Bake 10-12 minutes until they look slightly golden brown.
7. Cool slightly before moving to a rack. Enjoy warm, or cold, or anytime at all, but be sure to make and try these cookies!

Chewy Salted Caramel Chocolate Chip Cookies

The other day I was browsing the web and came across a picture of these amazing looking salted caramel chocolate chip cookies.  I was drawn by how chewy they looked but then I was later excited to realize I had all the ingredients to make them on hand!  These cookies worried me, the proportions of ingredients are all off compared to regular cookie recipes.  It called for less butter, less chocolate, more flour...I just wasn't sure. With this recipe, you really do need to hand fold in the chips, the dough is thick!  I baked mine about 8 minutes after waiting patiently through the 30 minutes of dough chilling.  The results?  Well let's just say I had some cookies for dinner and will probably have some more later.  These are almost as good as the cookies that stole my heart last year.

Because I fear this recipe going away or getting hard to find, I am posting it here so I can make it again!  However, it came from the Zesty Cook.

This really does make about 3 dozen

Ingredients

2 C + 2 T flour

1/2 t baking soda

3/4 C salted butter, softened

1 C brown sugar

1/2 C sugar

1 egg

1 egg yolk

2 t vanilla

3/4 C chocolate chips (I used about a half bag)

16 Kraft caramels, unwrapped and cut into quarters

Maldon finishing salt (or sea salt I gueess)

Directions

1. Mix flour and baking soda in a bowl and set aside

2. Cream butter and sugars

3. Add egg, egg yolk and vanilla, beat to combine

4. Gradually add the flour mixture until combined

5. Fold in chocolate chips

6. Chill dough for at least 30 minutes

7. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees

8. Scoop tablespoonfuls of dough onto baking sheets and press in caramel pieces

9. Bake about 8 minutes until puffy and very slightly golden, sprinkle with maldon salt flakes while warm

10. Let sit on the baking sheet at least 5 minutes then remove to cooling racks

11. Eat at least one warm, you won't be disappointed.

Eggless Cookie Dough

 As part of my cookie party, I felt it was necessary to provide a treat that everyone eats and refuses to admit--cookie dough.  The problem with cookie dough though is that it can totally kill you if you happen to eat the kind filled with raw eggs.  So, in order to not kill my friends, I searched the web for a dough that tastes like the real thing but is eggless.  Some people felt that the risk being taken away, the taste of dough was not as exciting.  This wasn't the biggest hit at the party, and I felt I made a mistake putting huge blobs on regular spoons, what did go were the tiny spoons with just a bit of dough on top.

I saved the rest of the dough in the freezer to use for ice cream in the future, I understand this dough won't bake well.

The thing is, I think you can make any of your favorite doughs, but, instead of putting in an egg, replace it with a bit of milk - 4 T to be exact.

I used this recipe but because the butter was melted I felt it wasn't good until after it had been refrigerated a while and then left out.  Next time, if there is one, I would probably stick with the basic tollhouse recipe and replace the egg with milk.  I also recommend making about 1/2 to 1/4 of the recipe if you plan to use this as a dessert with friends

Mocha Chocolate Chip Cookie

At my cookies & milk party, this cookie tied with "eggless dough" for the Most Unique category. However, I voted for it as The Perfect Cookie. The cookie has a variety of chips, a strong coffee flavor and tastes fantastic with milk but I bet it would also be great with vanilla ice cream. It would probably be the perfect replacement for your morning coffee if you're into that kind of thing.

These look kind of weird in the picture, huh? I can tell you why. This was the first cookie I made for the cookie party. I pulled out my trusty airbake cookie sheets, set the oven and baked up two sheets of cookies. And they spread like crazy. They spread so much that they started to look a little like fake barf. After I pulled them out of the oven and set them to cool and they did not recover, I pulled out my standard rimmed baking sheets, lined them with parchment and threw a few more cookies in the oven. They turned out perfectly, they didn't spread at all. They looked like a really dark chocolate chip cookie. Well, I learned my lesson but it was too late for most of this dough. I haven't used my airbakes again since, and I kind of feel like they might be on their way to goodwill in the near future.

Despite the strange look, these cookies were so delicious. I might have one now actually, now that you mention it.

The Inspiration

Ingredients:

2 cups flour

3 tablespoons instant coffee powder - I used the cheapest kind and it was good in these cookies but gross used for coffee

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

2 sticks butter, cut into chunks (I didn't cut this in chunks because by the time I used it it was very soft)

3/4 cup granulated sugar

3/4 cup packed dark brown sugar

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract (I used Tahitian)

1 pound chocolate chips or chunks -- I used white, milk and semi-sweet

Maldon sea salt flakes (optional)

Directions

1. Whisk the flour, coffee, baking soda and salt together. Set aside.

2. Beat the butter in a mixer until lightened. Add granulated sugar and beat for 30 seconds. Add brown sugar and beat for another 30 seconds. Add eggs one at a time, beating after each addition. Add vanilla and beat until blended.

3. Turn mixer speed down and add flour mixture, mixing until just incorporated. Add chocolate and mix until evenly blended in.

4. Cover with plastic wrap and chill for as long as you can stand it, I did probably about 2 hours

5. Preheat oven to 350, and line cookie sheets with parchment paper. Drop a heaping tablespoon full of dough onto sheets, leaving 2 inches between cookies. Bake for 10-12 minutes.

6. Cool on a wire rack and eat one warm if you can, then eat one for breakfast instead of your coffee and see if it works.

These cookies freeze well. To freeze, lay cookies in a single layer in a zip top gallon sized bag. Add a layer of parchment paper before the next layer of cookies until the bag is full. Lie flat until the cookies are frozen or the whole time if possible. If you didn't head my warnings and used an airbake style cookie sheet make sure the cookies aren't even in the same room as each other as they defrost because they WILL stick together. If you listened and read through this whole post, go you!

Inside Out Cookies

Inside Out Cookies are like a chocolate chip cookie--except opposite--chocolate on the base and white chips in the middle. These cookies didn't win any prizes at my party and there's still a lot of them left, but I thought they were pretty good. More like a brownie than a cookie, these cookies are kind of time consuming. I think I might have overcooked them because I felt they still looked like dough balls even though the tops were cracked. If you see this, they are probably done. You might want to bake just a few first to get an idea of how long this takes in your oven.

The Recipe

Ingredients:

1/3 cup flour

1/4 tsp. baking powder

6 oz. unsweetened chocolate, chopped with a serrated knife

4 Tbls. butter

2 extra-large eggs

1 1/3 cups sugar

1/8 tsp. salt

1 tsp. vanilla

3/4 cup white chocolate chips

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350

1. In a separate bowl whisk the flour and baking powder, set aside

2. Over some steaming water in a double boiler (or similar) melt chocolate and butter together, stirring until smooth. Set aside to cool.

3. In the mixer, mix eggs, sugar, salt and vanilla together for ELEVEN (11-13) minutes. It will get really light colored, thick and fluffy.

4. Pour in the chocolate and beat about 2 minutes until incorporated

5. Fold in the flour mixture and the white chips

6. Line baking sheets with parchment and drop Tablespoon sized balls onto the sheets, these don't really spread so you can crowd them.

7. Bake 10-12 minutes or less until cookies are cracked on top but still look ooey gooey

NY Times Chocolate Chip Cookie

This weekend I hosted a milk and cookies birthday party for my 30th birthday. It was pretty fun. I got some of my friends and relatives and myself to bake over 10 varieties of cookies. Then, we served them with milk and asked guests to vote on five categories. This version of the famous New York Times Chocolate Chip Cookie won 1st place in two categories - Just like Mom's and The Perfect Cookie. See for yourself and make this cookie today...er make the dough today, start enjoying them tomorrow or the next day.

Note 1: Do NOT skimp on the refrigeration. For some reason, it makes a difference. Do at least 24 hours

Note 2: Do not use an airbake-style cookie sheet, it makes the cookies spread too much

Note 3: I started off making them huge but ended up making them more normal sized, they were still good

Note 4: Don't forget to salt the tops

I used this recipe, which is probably a little different than the original, but these are the ones to try.

2 C minus 2 T all-purpose flour

1 2/3 C bread flour

1 1/4 t baking soda

1 1/2 t baking powder

1 1/2 t coarse salt (if you use regular salt you are supposed to use less)

1 1/4 C butter

1 1/4 C brown sugar

1 C and 2 T white sugar

2 eggs

2 t vanilla extract

1 1/4 lbs chocolate disks - bittersweet or dark (I found these at Sprouts in the bulk section, I used dark chocolate but it tasted a lot like bittersweet)

Maldon Sea Salt Flakes

1. Whisk flours, baking soda and powder in a bowl, set aside.

2. Cream butter and sugars together for 5 minutes until very light. Add eggs, one at a time and mix well. Add vanilla.

3. Reduce speed to low and slowly add the dry ingredients until just combined. Add the chocolate discs and try not to break too many of them.

4. Remove the bowl from the mixer and cover with a piece of plastic pressed onto the top of the dough. Refrigerate for 24 to 36 hours-but up to 72. (I did 24)

5. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

6. Line non-airbake cookie sheets with parchment paper or slipat sheets

7. Scoop cookie dough onto the prepared trays and turn chocolate pieces so they are horizontal

8. Sprinkle with maldon sea salt or other flake salt

9. Bake until golden brown but still soft about 10-12 minutes for regular sized cookies or 18-20 minutes for large sized cookies

10. Let cool on trays 5 minutes before transferring to wire racks to cool. Do yourself a favor, have one warm.

These cookies freeze well. To freeze, place one layer of cookies on the long side of a gallon sized zip top bag. Place a piece of parchment on the cookies and continue to layer until the bag is full. Carefully move the bag to the freezer and lay flat until frozen and if possible the whole time. When you defrost, be sure the cookies are not touching or they will stick together.

Bobby Flay's Throwdown Chocolate Chip Cookies

From the moment I received the email in my inbox for 12 days of Christmas Cookies from the Food Network; I knew I had to make Bobby Flay's Throwdown Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe.

The difference in Bobby's recipe from a traditional CCC recipe is the use of a sugar called muscavado brown sugar.  According to the internet, muscavado brown sugar contains a different quantity of molasses to regular brown sugar.  Bobby uses both light and dark brown muscavado sugars in this recipe plus plain white sugar.  He also uses only 10 oz of chocolate and a mix of semi sweet and milk.

As luck would have it, William Sonoma carries muscavado sugar and they had free shipping for Christmas so I was able to get the sugars in hand immediately.  He calls for chocolate to be cut in chunks but I decided to buy chips instead.  I bought ghirradeli semi sweet (those chips are huge!) and nestle milk chocolate and then I weighed them on the scale to get 5 oz of each variety.

These cookies are worth all the trouble of getting the right sugars!  They are crispy on the edges and chewy in the middle. Despite their thin look they are everything I want a chocolate chip cookie to be.  I feel like the milk chocolate makes the cookie taste chocolatey but not too dark like semi sweet can do.  I love the texture.  Joey is a huge fan of these cookies and we're having trouble keeping our hands off them!  Perfect with a glass of milk!

Do use parchement paper, I think it makes a difference plus it keeps your cookie trays clean.  I learned a trick to just slide the parchment paper off the cookie trays and onto the cooling racks so that your cookies stay in tact and still cool effectively.

Bobby Flay's Throwdown Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients

• 2 cups plus 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1/3 cup dark brown muscavado sugar
• 1/3 cup light brown muscavado sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• One 5-ounce block semisweet chocolate, chopped into chunks, such as Callebaut
• One 5-ounce block milk chocolate, chopped into chunks, such as Callebaut

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Line baking sheets with parchment or silicone pads.

Whisk together the flour, salt and baking soda in a bowl. Place the butter in the bowl of an electric stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and beat until smooth, about 1 minute. Add the sugars and continue mixing, scraping down the sides and bottom of the bowl until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes longer. Add the eggs, one at a time, and the vanilla extract. Add half of the flour mixture and mix until just incorporated. Add the remaining flour mixture, again mixing until just combined. Remove the bowl from the stand and fold in the chocolate chunks.

Using a small ice cream scoop, spoon the dough onto the prepared baking sheets, leaving at least 2 inches between each cookie, and bake on the middle rack until the cookies are lightly golden brown and still soft in the middle, about 11 minutes. Let the cookies rest for 2 minutes on the baking sheets before removing them to a baking rack with a wide metal spatula. Let the cookies cool on the baking rack for a few minutes before eating. Repeat with the remaining dough.