Jumbo Chocolate Chip Cookies {w/jumbo chocolate fèves}

Happy National Chocolate Day!

Is it National Chocolate Day though? It depends on who you ask. In actuality (my eighth grade teacher used to drop this phrase all the time and we mocked her behind her back for years), July 7th is the widely accepted as Chocolate Day. But that’s not the only day of the year we are allowed to celebrate this sweet treat.

The U.S. National Confectioner’s Association acknowledges July 7, as Chocolate Day, October 28th and December 28th as National Chocolate Day, and September 13th as International Chocolate Day. There’s also National Milk Chocolate Day on July 28th and National Cocoa Day on December 13th. That’s six reasons to celebrate chocolate goodness in the second half of the year. I’ll take it.

In honor of one of the many days of celebration of chocolate we have this year, I thought I would bring to you one of the best chocolate chip cookie recipes I’ve tried in a while. It’s made with jumbo bittersweet chocolate feves, by the way.

This recipe is from Smitten Kitchen and adapted from David Leite’s recipe from The New York Times. I adapted it slightly by greatly reducing the amount of baking powder called for in the original recipe. The first time I tried the recipe, I made as is and got a very cake-y cookie. I am not into cake-y cookies. The second time I tried the recipe I reduced the baking powder, which, in my opinion, yielded the perfect texture for a cookie but the damn feves I used did not melt! The third time I made this recipe, I got it just right: a thin (but not too-thin) cookie that was crispy on the edges and soft in the middle with pools of chocolate spread throughout the cookie and sea salt dotting the top bringing out the flavor of the cookie.

ingredients.

1 ¼ c. butter, at room temperature
1 ¼ c. light brown sugar
1 ⅛ c. granulated sugar
2 large eggs, room temperature
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 ¼ tsp. baking soda
¼ tsp. baking powder
1 ½ tsp. coarse or kosher salt
3 ½ c. plus 2 tsp. all-purpose flour
1 ¼ lb bittersweet chocolate disks or fèves, at least 60%
flakey sea salt

directions.

With a hand or stand mixer, cream the butter and sugars together until light and fluffy, about 3 to 4 minutes.
Add eggs, one at a time, and mix to combine. Add vanilla, mix, then scrape down bowl.
Sprinkle baking soda, baking powder and salt over dough and mix it until fully combined. Add flour and mix it in short bursts until you no longer see any white streaks; don’t over-mix it.
Add chocolate pieces in and gently mix in; try not to break any pieces. Cover bowl with plastic wrap or dough with wax paper. Refrigerate for a minimum of 24 hours and up to 72 hours. Allow to come back to room temperature completely before baking. This could take several hours.
When ready to bake, heat oven to 350 degrees and line a couple large baking sheets with parchment paper or nonstick baking mats.
Use a large ice cream scoop to scoop 3 1/2-ounce mounds of dough onto sheets, arranging mounds very far apart on sheets (I baked 5 or 6 at a time; 6 at a time end up touching) and sprinkle the tops of each with flakey sea salt.
Bake cookies for 12 to 15 minutes, until golden all over. Cool cookies completely on trays.

Recipe rating: 