Recipe: Giant Chocolate Chip Cookie

Generations of kids and grown-ups have baked and eaten chocolate chip cookies, much like this giant chocolate chip cookie.

We have just one person to thank for the chocolate chip cookies we know and love: Ruth Wakefield. In the 1930s, Ruth and her husband ran a restaurant in Whitman, Massachusetts, called the Toll House. Ruth invented a recipe for Toll House Chocolate Crunch Cookies to serve with ice cream for dessert at the restaurant. Her original recipe contained both nuts and chocolate chips.

In 1939, Ruth gave the Nestle company the right to use her cookie recipe and the Toll House restaurant’s name — and an American legend was born. If you’ve ever seen a package of Nestle Toll House chocolate chips, you’ll find Ruth’s now-famous recipe on the back. Even today, her cookies are a perfect pairing for a scoop of ice cream!

Giant Chocolate Chip Cookie

Serves 12

• Vegetable oil spray
• 1 cup (5 ounces) all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 8 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
• 1/2 cup packed (3 1/2 ounces) dark brown sugar
• 1/4 cup (1 3/4 ounces) sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup (3 ounces) chocolate chips

1. Adjust the oven rack to the upper-middle position and heat the oven to 375 degrees. Spray the inside bottom and sides of a 9-inch springform pan with vegetable oil spray.

2. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda and salt. In a large bowl, whisk melted butter, brown sugar and sugar until well combined. Add egg and vanilla and whisk until smooth.

3. Add flour mixture to butter mixture and use a rubber spatula to stir until just combined and no dry flour is visible, about 1 minute. Add chocolate chips and stir until evenly distributed.

4. Use a rubber spatula to scrape cookie dough into a greased springform pan and spread the dough into an even layer covering bottom of pan. Bake until the cookie is golden brown, and the edges are set, 18 to 22 minutes.

5. Transfer the springform pan to a cooling rack and let the cookie cool in the pan for 30 minutes. Run a butter knife around the inside edge of the springform pan to loosen the edges of the cookie from the pan. Unlock and remove the side of the pan. Use an icing spatula or a wide metal spatula to loosen the bottom of the cookie from the pan and transfer the cookie to a cutting board. Cut the cookie into wedges and serve warm.

Recipe notes

If you don’t have a springform pan, you can use a 9-inch round cake pan instead, but you’ll have to flip the cookie out of the pan just like you would a cake.

You can serve this cookie like a cake: slice it into wedges and top with whipped cream or ice cream.

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