Mollie Bakes: The Best Quick-Bake Chocolate Chunk Cookie
As I began to organize my thoughts for this shoutout to a favorite cookie, I realized I have written about it before. Many times! Find more about them here and here. Just goes to show that my taste hasn’t changed much and this cookie continues to be a knockout.
However, I must now report again since I’ve baked them twice in our new kitchen and have a few new baking details to share. I cannot recommend this recipe enough; it’s a true “must” in my opinion and is the perfect cookie for sharing with friends, family, or anyone who wants a really great cookie (i.e. everyone).
The best feature of these cookies? They bake so quickly! I barely need 90 minutes to prep the dough and bake off the entire batch, which is perfect for those last-minute (read: same-day) cookie cravings we all have most of the time.
So, without further ado, once again, my favorite quick-bake chocolate chunk cookie which I have adapted to be gluten free…
Recipe: Salted Chocolate Chunk Cookies via Smitten Kitchen
Bake It Gluten Free: Simply swap out the regular flour for Cup4Cup Gluten Free Flour (or King Arthur Measure for Measure)
Cookie-Baking Tips + Tricks:
For the quickest dough-making, get all of your ingredients out and measured before you begin (at least the dry ones).
In general, buy the highest-quality ingredients possible for the most stellar-tasting cookie. I make no apologies for buying large quantities of fancy unsalted butter and high-quality chocolate whenever we’re grocery shopping. I like to be well-stocked!
To quickly get the butter to room-temperature, put the stick in a sunny window for about 10 minutes (maybe less). I did this and it worked perfectly.
Yes, there are three kinds of sugar in the recipe. It’s important! They are all available at grocery stores. Buy them.
Don’t over-mix the dough once the flour is added! I know you want to, but don’t! Also, let the dough sit while you measure and chop the chocolate.
Note: I’ve been buying Guittard Chocolate (chips, discs/wafers, bars) for all of my baked goods for years. It’s fantastic and is available on Amazon. You’re welcome.
The recipe calls for eight ounces of chopped (best you can get) chocolate. Yes! It’s a lot and it’s glorious. I like a mix of semisweet and bittersweet, but that decision is up to you. Be sure to chop the chocolate. Buy chocolate wafers or bars and chop them with a knife. The cookies (and your cookie recipients) will thank you.
The dough can chill in the fridge while you prep the baking sheets or you can leave it on the counter. I like to chill it briefly before baking, but it’s a personal preference for this recipe.
The balls of cookie dough should be fairly small. I bake six at a time, per baking sheet, because I don’t like to crowd the cookies and I don’t want them to run into one another while baking. You could probably fit eight per sheet, but I tend to stick with six. PS: line your non-rimmed baking sheets with parchment, not a Silpat, for this recipe.
Top each cookie dough ball with just the slightest sprinkle of sea salt before baking. My favorite sea salt is from Duxbury Saltworks (local to MA) and Maldon Sea Salt (from England). You can add the salt right when the cookies come out of the oven, but adding it before seems to provide a less-intense (but still present) salt flavor. It’s just a tiny sprinkle!
Here’s the real joy: they only need to bake for at-most nine minutes!! I bake each sheet for seven minutes, then add on a minute (or less) accordingly. They will come out of the oven looking under-baked, but this is correct! They will settle and cook a smidge more once out of the oven. Don’t move the cookies to cooling racks for at least ten minutes.
I dare you to not devour a couple of these right from the oven. They are scrumptious and excellent with a cold glass of milk! And they are perfect for sharing with family and friends.
Keep this recipe on-hand for when you need cookies NOW or when it’s just the right time to bake a batch to give away. Everyone loves fresh-baked cookies. I guarantee it.
Enjoy!
