The Skillet

There have been three attempts to write this post. Three. The first one, I accidentally didn’t save and was too tried at the time to rewrite. The second, I just simply did not like. The third was just bad and lazy writing. So this is now my fourth attempt to write about something I truly deeply love.

Think about your favorite love song. Hum the melody in your head. Now imagine that song playing over and over as you bake something. Imagine taking out the pan in the oven and hearing the angels from above, or whatever, singing, harmonizing. This is how I feel about this recipe.

I have a separate bookmark page for all my recipes, and a separate “Favorites” folder. This recipe is the top of the list. This is my go-to, pick-me-up when I’m feeling down, fills every emotion with happiness, recipe. It is my ideal.

Now I know you’re thinking, holy shit calm down Gilly, it’s a recipe. But it’s not just any recipe, it is a deep dish chocolate chip cookie recipe aka Skillet Cookie.

I have made, and re-made, over-baked, under-cooked, eaten the entire dough from this recipe. I make it so often that when people come to my apartment there’s an 85% chance it’s made. I simply love it that much.

I stumbled upon this recipe YEARS ago. At the time I did not have a skillet and I only dreamed about it in my head. Then, like some miracle, I got a skillet! So, it seemed only natural that I finally try this recipe out. I clearly made the right choice.

First though let me sell what makes a skillet so great. Here, I’m talking about a cast-iron skillet. I was given mine by my old roommate Emily (thanks Emily!!), but since then have thought about investing in different sizes of them. Cast-iron skillets, in my opinion, are perfect for everything. I’ve made deep dish cookies, brownies, pies and fried dough in this thing. Along with, beer battered pork tenderloin, bacon bits chicken, roast beef, you name it! The skillet is the perfect addition to your pan cabinet. Now some do not like the cast-iron skillet. If you do not prefer it, I suggest you stop reading, because this recipe is all about the cast-iron!

So, the skillet cookie. The recipe I found was on Tasty Kitchen, who I believe adapted it from Jamie at sophistimom.com. Either way, this recipe is so great! One area to consider, is the size of your skillet. If it’s super big, you may want to double the recipe (anything past 10-inches would do better doubled). In the recipe, it calls for an 8-inch skillet, I make mine in a 10-inch, sometimes I double, sometimes I do not it depends.

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and then set that bad boy skillet on a burner over medium-low heat. First you melt the butter on the pan. I usually use a rubber spatula to guide the butter and to make sure it gets every crack of the pan. Once the butter is melted, dump both the sugars into the butter, along with the vanilla and mix together. Remove the skillet from the heat. Let the pan rest. This is crucial so that when you crack the egg, it won’t turn into a scrambled egg, sugar, butter mess. Trust me on the cooling.

Next, once the pan is cool. Crack the egg in the center and using a fork or mini-whisk, add into the sugar/butter mixture. Place the dry ingredients (flour, baking soda, salt) in the pan and stir into the mixture. I have found this works best with a rubber spatula. Then add 3/4^th of the chocolate chips.

Next, I usually roll the mixture into a giant ball in the center of the skillet for the next step. Using the spatula, press the dough to cover the entire bottom of the pan. I press just enough to make sure the cookie it going up on the sides to make a defined crust. If you double the recipe, this will be easier. If you did not, work with the dough, do it however you’d like! Top the skillet with the remaining chips and pop into the oven for 15-25 minutes. I like mine gooey, so usually 18 minutes it perfection.

You can serve the skillet with ice cream, or cut it like pizza slices and just go at it. Either way, it’s so delicious. I highly recommend playing with this recipe. I recently added Nutella into the cookie, which I will post about…it was a great idea. Add some nuts if you like nuts, add some different chocolate. As you can see, I added some white chocolate which was an equalizer of the flavors. You can never go wrong with the skillet cookie.

Take a look at the recipe!

Chocolate Chip Skillet Cookie

 recipe adapted from Tasty Kitchen

Ingredients

• 1 stick Butter
• ½ cups Granulated Sugar
• ½ cups Light Brown Sugar
• 1 teaspoon Pure Vanilla Extract
• 1 whole Egg
• 1-½ cup All-purpose Flour
• ½ teaspoons Baking Soda
• ¼ teaspoons Salt
• 1 cup Semi-sweet Chocolate Chips or Chunks

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Melt butter in an 8 inch cast iron skillet set over medium-low heat. Stir in sugars and vanilla and remove from heat. Let rest until pan is warm, but no longer very hot, about 5 minutes.
2. Crack an egg onto the butter and sugar mixture, and use a fork to whisk it into the mixture. Place flour, baking soda, and salt on top, and very carefully stir into the mixture until smooth and well-mixed. Stir in chocolate chunks. Place in the oven for 15-25 minutes, or until starting to turn golden on the top and around the edges, but still soft in the center. Serve with vanilla ice cream.