giant chocolate chip cookie

For all the questions in life, the answer is almost always this: One giant soft and chewy chocolate chip cookie.

What would make me feel awesome today? One giant soft and chewy chocolate chip cookie.

What could create world peace? One giant soft and chewy chocolate chip cookie.

What is delicious and chocolatey and more exciting than a regular chocolate chip cookie but also isn’t anything too crazy? One giant soft and chewy chocolate chip cookie.

What is something I should drop everything I’m doing right now to do instead? Make this one giant soft and chewy chocolate chip cookie.

Just saying.

giant chocolate chip cookie
giant chocolate chip cookie

I actually first made this cookie (or, OK, fine, these chocolate chip cookie bars, if you must share) on a whim back in April during a freak snowstorm in Minnesota. We Minnesotans love nothing more than to talk about the weather, but I’ll spare you — just know it snowed an unfathomable amount in the middle of April, when it was supposed to be all sunshine and flowers and rainbows by then. NOT COOL, MN, NOT. COOL. But whatever, I’m over it, it’s fine. I had a giant chocolate chip cookie to allay any potential grudges to be held against said weather. Ahem.

Anyway, the point is, I made this cookie and it stopped me in my chocolate chip cookie-loving tracks. Why, I asked myself, have I never thought to make a chocolate chip cookie like this before? I’ve made them countless times in so many other variations, but never as one gigantic cookie that is thick, dense and chewy but also kind of crispy on the edges and soft in the center and full of chocolate goodness and sprinkled with a little sea salt on top for good measure. It was — and is — everything I’ve ever wanted in a CCC.

This giant cookie is not like those cookie cakes you get from the mall store — you know what I’m talking about. Those cookies are thin and overly sweet and lack all the texture and flavor. This cookie is the cookie all cookies wish to be. You use melted butter and an extra egg yolk to give the cookie its classic chew (pro tip from my friend Sally!), then you bake it in a 9-inch pan so each bar is extra thick and bakes up soft. I like baking these bars in a round cake pan because then it looks more like an actual single cookie, but a square pan works great, too. Either way, you still get crispy edge pieces which will have my heart forever and ever.

sliced giant chocolate chip cookie
pieces of giant chocolate chip cookies

What’s even better is these cookie bars get even denser and chewier as they sit overnight. It’s fantastic. Of course, rarely do these bars make it beyond a day or two in our household (I mean, a giant cookie in my house = my kryptonite), but my guess is they would continue to become chewier as time goes on like the good CCC bars they are. Just be sure to store them in an airtight container at room temperature to keep them as fresh as possible. To let any of this giant cookie go to waste would be the opposite of world peace.

pieces of giant chocolate chip cookie

May I remind you that, if you’re questioning anything in life — perhaps, even, what you should be baking in your kitchen right this moment, ahem — the answer is right here, staring you in the face, in all its giant cookie glory.

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giant chocolate chip cookie

One Giant Soft and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookie

★★★★★ 5 from 2 reviews
  • Author: Adapted from Sally's Baking Addiction
  • Prep Time: 15 mins
  • Cook Time: 35 mins
  • Total Time: 50 mins
  • Yield: 24 bars 1x
  • Category: Dessert
  • Method: Bake
  • Cuisine: American
Print Recipe

Ingredients

Scale
  • 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons cornstarch
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
  • 1 cup packed brown sugar
  • 1/4 cup granulated sugar
  • 1 large egg plus 1 large egg yolk, room temperature
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla
  • 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips, plus more for topping
  • Sea salt, for sprinkling (optional)

Instructions

  1. Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Line 9-inch round cake pan (or square pan) with foil.
  2. In large bowl, whisk flour, baking soda, cornstarch and salt until combined. In separate medium bowl, whisk butter, brown sugar, granulated sugar, egg, egg yolk and vanilla until combined. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients. Using wooden spoon, stir ingredients until soft but thick dough forms. Stir in chocolate chips (you might need to use your hands to “knead” the chips into the dough).
  3. Press dough evenly into prepared pan. Press a few more chocolate chips into top of dough, if desired (this is purely for looks). Sprinkle lightly with sea salt, if desired. Bake 35-38 minutes until edges are golden brown. Cool completely in pan on cooling rack, about 1 hour. Remove cookie from pan using foil. Cut into bars or wedges. Store tightly covered at room temperature for up to 5 days.