Recipes that promise better – or perfect – chocolate chip cookies churn continually through the food blogosphere. There’s no keeping up. Before Big-Ass Chocolate Chip Cookies, I always found myself going back to the trusty recipe on the bag of chocolate chips.

I finally ditched the back of the bag recipe when America’s Test Kitchen published “Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookies.” The recipe was developed in 2009 by Charles Kelsey for Cook’s Illustrated. It’s fantastic.

The cookies are oversized, soft in the middle, and crispy around the edge. Starting with melted brown butter means you don’t need a stand mixer and you get rich caramelly flavors. Browning the butter is an extra step, but makes a big difference.

I appreciate America’s Test Kitchen recipes because they’re guaranteed to work and taste great. But sometimes the intricacies cause me undue stress. After messing up “Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookies” several times, I adjusted the recipe to favor ease over perfection.

My adaptation is straightforward. There’s still brown butter because it’s key. Otherwise, the main difficulty is downtime, waiting for the brown butter to cool and later for the dough to firm up. You can’t rush it. Even so, in about an hour, you’ve got 16 big, beautiful cookies tempting you with their melty pools of chocolate.

I don’t promise perfection, but I will say that Big-Ass Chocolate Chip Cookies are just a bit bigger and bolder than the original. Using chunks of chocolate rather than chips provides heft that befits a big cookie. Dark chocolate adds oomph. Walnuts complement the rich flavors.

More Please?

Salted or Unsalted Butter? Until recently, I followed popular wisdom that says to use unsalted butter in baked goods. So for years I purchased only unsalted butter. But then I would feel jealous tasting salted butter when dining out. It was this bold assertion by Christopher Kimball of Milk Street that finally changed my mind. I’ve switched to salted butter and had not one occasion of regret since. I used to made these cookies with unsalted butter, but several months ago I started using salted butter. The change was not discernible, the cookies are still delightful. Even better?
Brown butter is a big flavor booster but involves some drama. It requires patience in the beginning as the butter melts, foams, and sputters. Then it requires careful attention at the end as the butter goes quickly from light brown to dark brown to burnt. It helps to pay attention to the aroma as well as the color, turning off the heat (if I haven’t already) as soon as I notice the distinctive nutty-toasty aroma of brown butter. I find it helpful to review instructions like these from King Arthur Flour with photographs of the process.

Big-Ass Chocolate Chip Cookies

These oversized cookies are soft in the middle and crispy around the edge. Using melted brown butter means you don’t need a stand mixer plus you get rich caramelly flavors. Big-Ass Chocolate Chip Cookies are adapted from America’s Test Kitchen “Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookies,” developed in 2009 by Charles Kelsey for Cook’s Illustrated. My adaptation favors ease for cookies that are still big and bold. Other than browning the butter, the main difficulty is the downtime, waiting for the brown butter to cool and the batter to firm up after mixing.

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Author Margie

Prep Time 45

Total Time 1

Servings 16 large cookies

EQUIPMENT

2 baking sheets or half sheet pans approximately 18 x 13 inch each

Ingredients

14 Tablespoons salted butter
1/2 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
1 ¼ teaspoons coarse salt
1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs
2 cups all-purpose unbleached flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 ¼ cups dark chocolate chunks
¾ cup chopped walnuts

Instructions

Position two oven racks towards the center of the oven. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
Melt the butter in medium sauce pan over medium heat. Continue cooking, for several minutes more (about 3-5), swirling the pan or stirring the butter frequently, until butter is a light golden brown with nutty aroma. Remove pan from heat.
Immediately transfer brown butter to heatproof bowl. Set aside to cool for 15 minutes.
In a small bowl, combine flour and baking soda, stir well. Set aside.
After the brown butter has cooled, add granulated sugar and brown sugar. Stir well until thoroughly combined.
Add salt, vanilla, and eggs to the butter-sugar mixture. Stir well until mixture is smooth.
Pour the flour mixture into the butter-sugar mixture. Stir until the flour is just nearly incorporated.
Add chocolate chunks and walnuts. Stir again until flour is entirely incorporated, and chocolate and nuts are evenly distributed in the dough.
Rest the dough in the refrigerator for 15 minutes.
Form the dough into 16 dough balls, about 3 Tablespoons of dough per cookie. (The raw balls of dough should hold their shape. Chill for several minutes longer if needed. To form the dough balls, I use a 3 Tablespoon scoop, or ¼ cup measuring cup filled about ¾ of the way, for each cookie.)
Place 8 dough balls about 2 inches apart on each of 2 baking sheets. If needed, use your hands to shape each portion of dough into round ball.
Put both baking sheets in oven and bake for 7 minutes, then rotate the position of the baking sheets and bake for another 7 minutes or until cookies are golden brown, slightly darker brown and set around the edges but soft-looking in the center. If you prefer, bake the cookies one sheet at a time in center of oven for 14 minutes each.
Use a large sturdy spatula to transfer cookies to cooling rack.

Notes

Browning butter requires close attention as it goes quickly from browned to burnt. It helps to use a light colored pan to better gauge the color of the butter as it browns. It’s helpful to know that the distinctive toasty-nutty aroma is a cue that the butter has browned sufficiently. Check out this post at King Arthur Baking for more details about how to brown butter.
I opt for salted butter in this recipe, but unsalted butter works just as well if you prefer.
When you’re scooping the dough, the raw dough balls should hold their shape. If they start to slump at all, chill the dough in the refrigerator for another 5 minutes or until the dough holds its shape when scooped. This ensures the cookies won’t spread out too much.
If the baking sheet is much smaller than roughly 18″ x 13″, you may need more than 2 sheets. Be sure to allow 2 inches between dough balls for proper spread.
Swapping the position of the two baking sheets halfway through baking is important for even cooking. If you prefer, bake a single sheet in the center of the oven for about 14 minutes and repeat with second sheet.
Use your preferred type of chocolate chunks or chips, whether milk chocolate, semi-sweet, dark chocolate, or a combination.
Omit the walnuts if you prefer.