The (Chocolate Chip) Skillet Cookie

Well, it's official. The skillet cookie has finally had a showing in my kitchen. A brief showing it was though - gobbled up immediately by myself and my partner in crime.

I've seen variations of the skillet cookie weave in and out of food blogs for the last year or two. The classic chocolate chip variety was my gateway cookie last night. The evidence is long gone by this point, so I'll be starting this week cookie free. The glory of the skillet cookie is the speed and ease of preparation. Ten minutes, two dirty bowls, and in the oven it goes. The cast iron skillet does away with all the putzy rolling-out-balls business and swapping out cookie trays every ten minutes. Just pat the batter into the pan, cook 35 minutes, try to wait as long as humanly possible to cool, and eat with abandon. Eat like nobody's watching.

 
Careful, though. Normally, with a cookie-shaped cookie I am semi-consciously aware of how many I'm eating (left over from childhood I presume, when we had a 3-cookie-a-day policy: one for each hand and one for the mouth.) The skillet cookie allows for no such counting. Slice at your own risk.

Being an American expat living abroad, I had a single precious bag of chocolate chips stashed away, and I wanted a rich, classic recipe to do them justice. So we went Martha Stewart style. Partly because her recipe shows them baked in a white Le Creuset, which I've been lusting over some time. But mostly because I wanted some Americana in my belly, and fast, and I knew for this, Martha's recipe would be perfect. Crispy on the outs, gooeylicious in the middle. This thing is seriously dangerous!

Continue to Recipe...

Recipe: Chocolate Chip Skillet Cookie

Adapted from: Martha Stewart

(for Imperial/American measurements in cups/oz. see original recipe here.)

250g flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

170g soft butter

112g vanilla sugar

150g brown sugar

1 egg 

1-2 tsp vanilla extract

250g chocolate chips (or cut-up chunks)

2 handfulls chopped toasted hazelnuts

1) Preheat oven to 350°F/175°C. Smear some butter in a cast iron skillet, if it's not oily enough already.

2) In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.

3) In another bowl, cream butter and both sugars together. Add in the egg and vanilla extract. Beat in the flour just until well mixed. Stir in the chocolate chips and hazelnuts. Pat into the skillet and smooth the top a bit.

4) Bake 35-40 minutes. Let cool a good 15 minutes, and then slice up into wedges sized to your discretion.

Enjoy / Dobrou Chut'

-- Jo