RICHMOND, Va. -- Who doesn’t love a fresh, hot, chocolate chip cookie? Cindy Kienzle, creator of the Hungry Monkey Baking Company stopped by the show to share her incredible recipe with three-types of chocolate. For gift ideas, information and more, visit the website. Check out Hungry Monkey Baking Co. on Talk Shop Live.
Start by Preheating your oven to 375° (or 350° if using a convection oven)
Here’s what you will need:
- Parchment paper
- Cookie sheets, lined with parchment or a non-stick cooking mat like a Silpat®
- Retractable scoop (we like a medium-large sized cookie, 1/4 cup/4 TBS. size), but you can make these to your preference. Whatever you use, you want the measure to be the same so the cookies bake evenly and are ready at the same time
- Dry measuring cups
- Whisk
- Stand mixer with paddle attachment OR hand mixer
- Metal and rubber spatulas
Ingredients
- 2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temp (we prefer Land O'Lakes); do NOT put the butter in the microwave to soften (you can leave butter on the counter overnight to soften)
- 1 cup light brown sugar, packed
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour (we love King Arthur’s flour)
- 2 tsp vanilla extract (or vanilla bean paste)
- 2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips (we LOVE Nestle® and we prefer the chips)
- 3/4 cup 60% bittersweet chocolate chips (we LOVE Ghirardelli®)
- 4 oz bar of dark chocolate (can be milk, semi-sweet…to your own preference; we love Ghirardelli bars, chopped very rough into big chunks to be placed only on top of cookie before it’s baked)
- 2 eggs PLUS 1 egg yolk
- 3/4 tsp salt (we prefer Kosher salt, but you can use fine table salt)
- 1 tsp baking soda
Directions
In a separate bowl, whisk baking soda, salt and flour. Set aside. Cream butter and sugars until smooth, about 1 - 2 minutes. Add in vanilla and eggs, one at a time, until smooth. Mix until incorporated.
Add flour mixture in slowly until incorporated, but do not over mix as that will make the cookie tough. Add in the chocolate chips (saving the chopped chocolate bar for the top of the cookies). If you have time, let the cookie dough rest at room temperature or refrigerate for 20 - 30 minutes, covered with plastic wrap. Using a ¼ cup retractable ice-cream scoop, place cookie dough onto parchment lined cookie sheet, spacing 3” apart. Do not crowd your sheet…I only bake 6 cookies at a time/sheet (and I use jelly roll pans as my cookie sheets). Place the CHOPPED dark chocolate pieces from the chocolate bar (3 per cookie) on top of each mound of dough.
Bake for 12 – 15 minutes, depending on the size of your scoop and how hot your oven runs. Our 1/4 cup scoop takes about 13 – 14 minutes. Be sure to rotate your pans top to bottom and back to front after 7 minutes. Do not put more than two cookie sheets in oven at a time, and rotate the pans after 6 minutes (top to bottom, back to front). No two ovens cook the same, and the heat is uneven in most ovens! Take them out just before you think they are done, but they should not look wet on top (bake longer if you prefer a crispier cookie). Let sit on the cookie sheet on a rack for 3 - 5 minutes until they set (they will continue to bake while cooling). Setting on a wire rack on the counter will allow air to circulate under pan (if you just leave the hot pan on the counter to cool the cookies will get wet on the bottom). Then, remove from sheet and put them directly on rack to cool completely. If not eating in the next day, freeze; they freeze beautifully if wrapped tightly (air is the enemy of any baked goods).
Now it’s time to enjoy! Show us your creations…tag us on Instagram (@onehungrymonkey)!
*Yields about 17 cookies*
