forget the box of chocolates—eat this giant cookie instead
Chocolate Chip Skillet Cookie for 2 (or Just You)
I understand that holidays are important. They break up our year with moments of cheesy delight and boost the economy by tricking us into buying stuff we don’t need, but I have a hard time getting behind Valentine’s Day. Does walking down aisles of pink and red candy, teddy bear plushies, and plastic decorations you’ll toss out on February 15th really bring any joy? For most of my life, I dreaded Valentine’s. It was just a reminder of how lonely I was, either because I was actually alone or because my work schedule wouldn’t allow me to be with my loved one (aka, Ham).
At first, I tried to ignore it, but it’s tough when Target starts throwing cupid in your face as soon as the Christmas decorations are put away. (Speaking of Christmas decorations, have any of you noticed that the city is still lighting up the Tompkin’s Square Park tree every night/day/afternoon?!) These days, instead of letting this dumb day get to me, I think of it as another Halloween: a day to celebrate eating chocolate. And maybe that chocolate happens to be heart-shaped and wrapped in red foil.
I had a lot of ideas for chocolate recipes I wanted to develop for you all: triple-layered chocolate tart, chocolate souffle, chocolate rose panna cotta, dark chocolate black forest cake. Ultimately, I decided to keep things simple and nostalgic, a giant cookie packed with molten chocolate and baked in a skillet. You can whip it up in a few minutes, without any equipment, softened butter, or planning. Cause we all deserve some comfort after being bombarded by hearts all month, and nothing hits the spot better than spooning into a skillet. Eat it alone or share (if you want).
You could make your favorite cookie dough and shove it in a skillet, but I found that resulted in something way too rich and gooey to eat by the spoonful. Instead, I reduced the sugar, increased the hydration, and bumped up the baking powder, ending up with a cookie-cake hybrid with all the flavor of a classic chocolate chip cookie, but slightly less rich so that you can eat even more!
Since this is a small batch recipe, be especially mindful of scraping any batter stuck to your whisk or browned butter left in the pan. It’s a good habit always to have, but it becomes vital when you’re working with smaller quantities where even a teaspoon of butter left in the skillet can throw off the texture of your final cookie.
I like to use this recipe to treat myself and pick out a couple of fancy chocolate bars to chop up and add to it. (Some of my favorites include Raaka, Alter Eco, Chocolove, and of course, Valrhona.) A mix of dark and milk chocolate keep things interesting, but feel free to use chips if you’ve got some on hand. Or make this after Valentine’s, once all the holiday chocolates go on sale. Because the dough isn’t too sweet, it can handle the addition of extra-sweet mini candy bars and truffles. Plus, it’s cathartic to destroy all those stupid tiny hearts.
Skillet Cookie For 2 (or Just You!)
Serves 1 to 2 | active time: 20 minutes | total time: 45 minutes
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