Okay, so I decided to tackle making one giant chocolate chip cookie in my Dutch oven the other day. Been seeing it around, figured I’d give it a whirl myself.
Getting Started – The Dough
First things first, I grabbed my ingredients. Nothing fancy, just the usual suspects for chocolate chip cookies:
- Butter, softened (left mine out on the counter for a bit)
- Brown sugar and regular white sugar
- Couple of eggs
- Vanilla extract (the good stuff, makes a difference)
- Flour
- Baking soda
- A pinch of salt
- Chocolate chips (loaded up on these, obviously)
I tossed the softened butter and both sugars into my big mixing bowl. Creamed ’em together with my hand mixer until they looked fluffy enough. Didn’t overthink it, just got it done. Then cracked in the eggs one by one, mixing after each, and splashed in the vanilla. Gave that a good whiz.
In a separate bowl, I whisked the flour, baking soda, and salt together real quick. Just helps avoid clumps later. Then I dumped the dry stuff into the wet stuff. Mixed it on low speed, just until it came together. Don’t overmix here, seriously, makes the cookie tough. Finally, folded in pretty much the whole bag of chocolate chips. Used a spatula for this part.
Prepping the Dutch Oven
While the oven was preheating – I set mine to around 350°F (about 175°C) – I got the Dutch oven ready. I decided to line the bottom with a circle of parchment paper. Makes getting the beast out way easier later. Some folks grease it, but I find parchment is less messy. I didn’t preheat the Dutch oven itself this time, though sometimes I do for bread. For this cookie, I just put the dough straight into the cold, parchment-lined pot.
Baking the Giant Cookie
Okay, so I pressed the cookie dough evenly into the bottom of the Dutch oven. Tried to make it level-ish. Then, popped the lid on and carefully put the whole thing into the hot oven.
I let it bake with the lid on for about 20 minutes. This helps it cook through without the edges burning too fast. After 20 minutes, I took the lid off. You gotta be careful here, that lid is screaming hot. Used my oven mitts, duh.
Then I let it bake another 15-20 minutes or so without the lid. Kept an eye on it. You’re looking for golden brown edges and the center to look mostly set. It might still be a little soft in the very middle, but that’s okay. It firms up as it cools.
The Result
Once it looked done, I carefully pulled the Dutch oven out. The smell was amazing, let me tell you. The hardest part? Letting it cool. I let it sit in the Dutch oven for a good 15-20 minutes before even thinking about getting it out. Used the parchment paper edges to lift it onto a wire rack to cool completely. Or, mostly completely. Who waits for completely cool?
Sliced it up like a pie. It was thick, chewy in the middle, crispy on the edges. Perfect with a glass of milk. Definitely doing this again, maybe toss in some different chips next time. Pretty straightforward, really, and looks impressive.
