Tuesday, June 15, 2010

Big Bakery-Style Chocolate Chip Cookies

I made these based on a Baking Bites recipe, and overall, I think they turned out pretty well!
Scott says the verdict is still out on the cornflake crumb addition though, so I'm thinking for next time I would keep all else the same, but substitute food-processed oatmeal instead, to still give the cookies some heft but less corn-grain-y crunch.
Anyway, I thought they turned out pretty well, not going flat or spreading too much. I added about a 1/4 cup extra of AP flour and reduced the baking soda a little for altitude (prob used ~3/4tsp), so if making this at sea level, back off the flour by about a 1/4 cup. You can also use all AP flour, though I mixed mine up a little to play with the cookie texture (and a little added nutrition never hurts!)

Giant Chocolate Chip Cookies
1 cup butter, room temperature
2/3 cup sugar
2/3 cup brown sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 large eggs
2 cups all purpose flour (1 3/4 if at sea level)
1/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1/4 cup spelt flour
1 tsp baking soda (3/4tsp at alt)
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups crushed corn flake crumbs/rice krispies/puffed rice cereal (or oatmeal "flour"?)
2 cups chocolate chips (I used the large ghirardelli 60% cocoa ones...SO good)

Preheat oven to 350F and line a couple of baking sheets with parchment paper.
In a large bowl, cream together butter, sugars and vanilla extract until light and fluffy. Beat in eggs one at a time.

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda and salt. Stir the flour mixture into the sugar mixture, followed by cereal crumbs and chocolate chips.

Using a 1/4 cup measure as a spoon, drop 1/4 cup scoops of cookie dough onto the prepared baking sheets. Leave at least 4 inches between cookies to allow for spread (I put 5 or 6 on a sheet). Cookie dough should be shaped in the 1/4 cup measure, not in a round ball (as this results in the most even baking). Refrigerate dough mounds for about 30min to reduce spreading.

Bake for 13-16 minutes, until cookies are golden at the edge. Remove from oven and let cookies set on cookie sheet for 6-10 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.

Makes 18-20 large cookies...but then again, I ate a lot of dough :-)