I love this picture…so we’re revisiting Christmas! So maybe I am just awful at updating blogs of any type. =P I’ll make it a New Year’s resolution to post at least 20 times. This is post 1 of 2012!
Back to the topic at hand. Those cookies up there are awesome. And if you know what I look like, they’re the size of my fist. I’m not kidding. I have made them three times in the past four weeks, and I’ve finally come to a recipe that I like. The pictures here in this post are from the first batch of cookies that Buck and I made, so they’re missing a key ingredient..VANILLA! Why would we ever leave out vanilla in the first place? Because these cookies are modeled after the much loved Levain cookies which do not use vanilla. At least people don’t think they use vanilla; I’m not entirely sure if Levain ever confirmed that they do not use vanilla in their cookies. Regardless, these cookies are delicious and if you decide to make them so that they’re as big as your fist…split the cookie with someone. It’s actually incredibly difficult to eat a whole cookie by yourself. Or you could just hit the gym after eating a whole cookie. Anyhow, the cookies are good without vanilla, but I think it makes a big difference when you add it. The second time I made these, I was a bit over zealous with my vanilla and the cookies had WAY too much vanilla. Yes, that can happen too. Who knew! But the third time’s a charm and I have found the ultimate chocolate chip walnut cookie.
Right, so moving on to the texture of these babies, they’re crispy on the outside and warm and gooey on the inside. Perfect, right? And if you eat them a day or two later, just put the cookie in the microwave for 5-15 seconds (depending on how large your cookie is) and you will end up with instant gooey chocolate-y walnut-y greatness. So the point is, this is a cookie after my own heart and it will worm its way into yours too.
A couple of random notes before I hand over the recipe to you:
The recipe below will make 12 cookies the size of a 5’4″ Asian girl’s fist. If you don’t know what that means, go find an Asian! Just kidding. The amount of dough measured out was 4oz per cookie, so this left a lot of leeway in the baking time. If you decide to make smaller cookies, you’ll definitely want to reduce the time and give it a few trials to find the best timing. I’m suspecting a normal 2oz cookie will take between 8 to 10 minutes. I will try this out eventually!
–UPDATE 2.3.12–
I finally made smaller cookies! And I was wrong about the timing. For 2oz. cookies, you will end up with about 27 cookies. You should bake these for 11-13 minutes with 11 minutes being on the more cookie dough like side and 13 for a crispier outside with gooeyness on the inside. If you’re a real nut like me, do 12 minutes and 30 seconds! Stay tuned for a couple of posts in the next few weeks…I promise!
–END UPDATE–
If you decide to go the 4oz cookie route, the dough does not expand much in the oven. What this means is that you can comfortably bake 6 cookies on a regular cookie sheet. Since the dough for each cookie is huge, it will probably look like you’ll end up with a misshapened cookie cake though but have no fear!
Not all ovens are created equally, use an oven thermometer if you have one! Or fiddle with the baking time if you don’t. This goes for anything that goes into the oven really.
Use a stand/hand mixer if you have one handy or prepare to work those arm muscles.
Without further ado, I give you awesomeness with accompanying pictures!
Giant Chocolate Chip Walnut Cookies
inspired by Levain’s Chocolate Chip Walnut Cookies
makes 12-4oz cookies
Ingredients:
2 sticks butter (cold and cubed)
2 large eggs
2 cups chocolate chip (I prefer bitter-sweet chips. Levain uses semi-sweet chip)
1 cup shelled walnuts (If you’re using halves, break the pieces apart so your measurements are a little more accurate)
3/4 tsp kosher salt
1 tbsp corn starch
¼ tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
½ cup white sugar
1 cup light brown sugar
2 1/3 cups all purpose flour
1 1/6 cups cake flour
1 tbsp vanilla
Procedure:
- In a large bowl, cream the butter and two kinds of sugar together until smooth
- Add eggs one at a time to the yellowy mixture
- Mix the vanilla into the wet ingredients.
- In a separate bowl, mix the dry ingredients together (the two kinds of flours, salt, corn starch, baking soda, baking powder)
- Slowly add the dry mixture into the wet mixture. I like to add 1/3 of the dry mixture in at a time.
- Add the chocolate chips and walnuts to the dough and mix until fully incorporated
- Line the baking sheets with parchment paper or just grease the pans
- Roll the dough into 4 oz balls
- Freeze the cookie dough for 15 minutes
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees
- Bake the cookies for 17 minutes-one sheet at a time in the middle of the oven (bake longer for crispier cookies or bake for a lesser amount of time for more gooey cookies)
Plate and Mat 