Marcy's Legendary Chocolate Chip Cookies

Marcy's Legendary Chocolate Chip Cookies - made December 10, 2010 from A Passion for Baking by Marcy Goldman (book #22)

One of the things I enjoy about baking is sharing what I make.  I like learning what people's favorites are and making it for them when the right time comes.  For my Dessert Extravaganza party last week, I mentioned that while I like to make bite-size desserts to enable people to sample a variety without getting overly full or sugar-sick, I made an exception for these extra-large chocolate chip cookies.  Chocolate chip cookies are my friend Todd's favorite dessert as well as my friend Krista's.  Both came last week so I couldn't not make them for my party.  I also couldn't resist trying out this recipe from Marcy Goldman of "Marcy's Legendary...." recipe.  Although I try not to take too many risks in trying new recipes for a party, this one seemed like a safe bet.  Chocolate chip cookie recipes usually don't go wrong.  Plus I wanted to try this one as they're supposed to be big honkin' cookies and I can't resist making jumbo versions of the classic chocolate chip cookie.

I didn't try these at the party (imbibed a trifle too much on the chocolate fondue instead) but I had some extra cookie dough so I baked a giant dough ball off a few days later and did the taste test.  It's pretty standard for a chocolate chip cookie so it's fairly good.  The tricky thing with a cookie this large is the edges tend to bake to brown while the middles are still doughy/raw.  You don't want to bake it until the middles are actually done since then the outer ring of the cookie will be overbaked.  Aim for getting half the outer ring of the cookie to be golden brown while the middle is still soft but not raw.  If you do underbake them, once they cool, they should still be okay, if a little doughy.  Better that than overbaked and dry.  Also, if you can find them, use big chips like Guittard's Milk Chocolate Chips or chocolate chunks.  Big cookies deserve big chips.

1 cup unsalted butter, softened

1 ½ cups firmly packed brown sugar

¼ cup white sugar

1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract

2 large eggs

1 egg yolk

2 ½ cups all-purpose flour

¾ teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon salt

2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

1 ½ cups chopped semisweet chocolate (preferably Lindt)

1.     Preheat oven to 350˚F.  Stack two baking sheets together and line top sheet with parchment paper.  Arrange oven rack to upper third position.

2.     In a mixer bowl, cream butter with both sugars until well blended.  Add vanilla, eggs and egg yolk.  Fold in flour, baking soda, salt, chocolate chips and chopped chocolate and blend well to make a thick batter.  If batter seems soft and greasy, add 2 to 4 tablespoons more flour.  Dough should be soft but not too greasy or slack.  You can also chill it 10 minutes if you think it has enough flour or let it stand 20 minutes.  Either approach will help cookie dough “set up”.

3.     Scoop or form ball of 7 to 8 ounces of dough (yes, weigh it!) and place on prepared baking sheets about 2 to 3 inches apart.  If you don’t have a scale, use 1 cup of dough per cookie; each will measure 3 inches in diameter once placed on baking sheet.  (Obviously you can only bake a few of these at a time.)

4.     Bake 20 to 24 minutes or until cookies are nicely browned on top and just set-up looking.  Remove from oven and let cool on baking sheets 15 to 20 minutes before removing.