Jumbo Chocolate Chip Cookies

Jumbo Chocolate Chip Cookies - made dough August 6, 2017 from Center Cut Cook

It’s ironic that the last chocolate chip cookie recipe I tried was a Levain Bakery copycat but it didn’t look or taste like Levain Bakery but this one, simply and honestly billed as a Jumbo Chocolate Chip Cookie and wasn’t trying to be a Levain Bakery copycat, came closer to being one.

Since it was supposed to be jumbo, I did make the taste test cookie as a jumbo. I portioned out a half-cup measure of cookie dough and made it into a high, round, thick disc. It was practically the size of a biscuit. When making large cookies, I prefer to make the dough into disc shapes rather than round balls. If you make them as golf balls rather than discs, during baking, the ends will spread thinner while the middle remains rounded. Which in most cases is fine but it does mean your edges are likely to bake faster than your middle and your edges will be thinner. Depending on how big you made the dough ball, you could end up with a raw middle and overbaked edges in the same cookie.

I prefer a little more uniformity so I go the disc route. The cookies spread less, remain thick at the edges and the cookie tends to bake more evenly, even if not perfectly uniformly. In this case, the taste test cookie was so thick (I wasn’t messing around) that it didn’t spread very much and the middle was still domed by the time I took it out. If I had left it in to bake longer, I’m sure it would’ve spread to a more even thickness but you know me and my preference for underbaked cookies.

Consequently, when I cut it in half, it almost looked like a Levain Bakery copycat in terms of its size and texture. Cool. The outside didn’t have the same crust as a Levain cookie but that was okay. This was still a great cookie. I could’ve baked it a trifle longer as the thickest part of the cookie was a bit more cookie-dough-like than I prefer (I’m not a fan of cookie dough) but still, at room temperature, this has great texture. You do want it to cool completely or else it’ll be too mushy.

I only made the jumbo size for the taste test cookie. I made the rest of the dough into normal size cookies since I was giving them away at work. As non-jumbo cookies, these spread to a nice uniform thickness. I didn’t try any of the regular-sized ones since I had eaten the jumbo (yes, all of it) but these disappeared at work faster than usual so I assume they came out okay, even at a more modest size.

2 1/4 cups flour

2 teaspoons cornstarch
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup butter
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/2 cups chocolate chips

1. In a medium-size bowl, whisk together flour, cornstarch, baking soda and salt; set aside.
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together butter, brown sugar and granulated sugar until well combined. Add egg and vanilla and mix until just combined.
3. Add dry ingredients and mix until just combined. Fold in chocolate chips.
4. Scoop dough into 1/2 cup portion and form into thick discs. Cover and chill or freeze for several hours or overnight.
5. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees F and line baking sheets with parchment paper. Evenly space 3 frozen cookie discs onto each sheet and bake for 17-19 minutes, until edges are golden brown and middles are no longer raw. Remove from oven and let cookies cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before removing to wire rack to cool completely.