Ina's Giant Crinkled Chocolate Chip Cookies

The I Heart Cooking Clubs group started out as Tyler Florence Fridays way back about 12-14 years ago. Back then Tyler's Big Fat Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe was all the rage. I think every group member made it, and for good reason. They are some award-winning cookies! In fact, to this day, after all the Tyler Florence recipes I've tried, his Big Fat Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe is my fave!

Ina's Giant Crinkled Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe from her Modern Comfort Food book reminded me of Tyler's recipe and I knew I needed to give them a try. The ingredients and size of the cookies are similar, but the difference is Ina takes turns baking and banging her cookies on the counter every 3 minutes to give them the crinkled appearance. Then she sprinkles them with sea salt.

Chocolate chip cookie recipes are a very personal preference kind of thing. I had to find out if Ina's recipe would trump Tyler's. Does the baking and banging and crinkling of the cookies make them better or worse? Do we prefer them with sea salt, or not? 

Well, it turns out both cookie recipe are very similar and both taste amazing. However, we all voted and said that we preferred Tyler's recipe better because we like thick chewy cookies and Ina's were thinner and cripser. Turns out the baking and banging does create crinkles in the cookies and the crinkles add a crisp texture to the cookie. Ina's cookies were also sprinkled with sea salt and were saltier. I am a huge fan of salt, but surprisingly I prefer the cookies without the salt. 

Again, it comes down to personal preference. If you prefer thick chewy cookies then Tyler's Big Fat Chocolate Chip Cookies recipe would be the one for you. If you prefer thin crisp cookies, then Ina's Giant Crinkled Chocolate Chip Cookies would be the one for you. Either way you can't go wrong! 

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all who are celebrating!

Giant Crinkled Chocolate Chip Cookies

Adapted from Barefoot Contessa

by Ina Garten

Makes 12

1/2 pound (2 sticks) butter, at room temp

1-1/2 cups granulated sugar

1/4 cup light brown sugar, lightly packed

1 extra large egg, at room temp

1-1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

2 cups all purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon kosher salt

8 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped, such as Lindt*

Fleur de sel or sea salt, for sprinkling

Note: Ina calls for bittersweet chocolate and I never use that in my cookies. We prefer semisweet so I always opt for that. You should always make recipes to suit your own tastes! Also worth noting is that even though I froze the cookies for the required 15 minutes and set them wide apart on the cookie sheet, they spread and and ran together. I think they may need to bake 2-3 per cookie sheet to avoid them spreading.

Preheat the oven to 350F. Arrange three racks evenly spaced in the oven (see note). 

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter on medium speed for 3 minutes, until creamy. Add the granulated sugar and brown sugar and beat on medium speed for 2 to 3 minutes, until light and fluffy. Scrape down the bowl with a rubber spatula. Add the egg, vanilla, and 2 tablespoons of warm water and mix on low speed just to combine. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and kosher salt. With the mixer on low, slowly add the flour mixture, then the chocolate (including the fine chocolate dust) to the batter until combined. Mix well with a rubber spatula.

With a 2-1/4" standard ice cream scoop (or 1/3 cup measure), make 12 rounded scoops of dough and place them on a sheet pan. Freeze the dough for exactly 15 minutes, then arrange 4 balls of dough - spaced wide apart - on each of three sheet pans lined with parchment paper. Bake for 10 minutes, until the cookies are slightly puffed in the center. Remove the pans from the oven and bang them on the stove top, until the center of the cookies deflate. Bake for 3 minutes, then bang the pans again, repeating baking and banging every 3 minutes, for 18 to 20 minutes total, until the edges of the cookies are golden brown. (The centers will be lighter and not fully cooked.) Rotate the sheet pans in the oven so the cookies bake evenly. Sprinkle the cookies with fleur de sel and cool completely on the pans.

If your oven has only two racks or you have only two sheet pans, or less, bake these in batches but don't freeze any batch of dough for more than 15 minutes.

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