Cast-Iron Skillet Chocolate Chip Cookie

 29 March 2021

Recipe from America's Test Kitchen

I don't remember where I came across this recipe. I do remember, though, that my mother occasionally made something like this, though I think she made it in a baking pan rather than a skillet. Since I enjoy chocolate chip cookies, making them more often than any other kind of cookie, I wanted to give this variation a try.

Over medium heat, butter was melted in a cast iron skillet until it was dark golden brown and had a nutty aroma. (It is hard to observe the color of the butter in the dark cast iron, but it seemed to come out okay.) The brown butter was poured into a mixing bowl and additional butter was added. Once the butter was all melted, brown sugar, granulated sugar, vanilla, and salt were whisked in. The mixture rested for a few minutes then was whisked again. This process, similar to that used in the recipe for Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookies, was repeated several times. A mixture of flour and baking soda was stirred into the butter mixture followed by chocolate chips. After wiping out the cast-iron skillet, the dough was added and baked until the cookie was golden brown. Total time was 70 minutes, excluding cooling, a typical time for making a batch of cookies.

It was very convenient to be making just one giant cookie, saving time in portioning the dough and baking multiple batches. Because of its size, this cookie is less crust and more crumb than chocolate chip cookies  of normal size. It tastes fine, though perhaps a little doughy, maybe under-baked in this instance. Because of this I think I will stick with normal sized cookies, but it was fun to make this one time.