Giant Chewy Salted Triple Chocolate Cookies

Giant chewy salted triple chocolate cookies: For times when regular-sized, plain chocolate chip cookies just won’t do.

You know when you need a cookie the size of your hand? No? Just me?

We went to a local-ish apple orchard/petting zoo/farm last weekend to get pumpkins and after posing the baby on 6 different stacks of pumpkins to get pictures of her (eyeroll), we passed on the line of food trucks and made a beeline for the farm store.

You know, where they keep the good stuff: the cider donuts.

Jug of fresh cider in one hand, package of warm sugar-coated cider donuts in the other, I brushed passed a wall of bakery cookies, croissants, and muffins on my way to the register and did a double-take. And I actually stopped dead in my tracks and walked a few steps backwards to get a better look at the cookies. Again, with cider and donuts already in each hand. (another eyeroll)

THOSE COOKIES. As big as the size of my hand. Just staring out through the glass at me.

I couldn’t possibly pass them up. So I dropped a chocolate chunk and an oatmeal raisin in a bakery bag and marched myself away to the register.

I munched on what was quite possibly the best oatmeal raisin cookie I’ve ever eaten on and off during the afternoon. And then made a sad face when it was gone. Seriously. Where oatmeal raisin cookies can be dry and hard as a rock, this one was the chewiest and most perfectly spiced cookie ever.

You’d think by the way I’m talking up this oatmeal raisin cookie that I’d be sharing a recipe for those today – they’re hopefully coming soon! – but no. Those cookies made me absolutely crave a giant chewy cookie in the worst way. It didn’t really matter what kind of giant chewy cookie it was that I needed but I settled on these giant chewy salted triple chocolate cookies.

In the world of giant chewy cookies, I’ve made a few before ’cause we kind of love them to bits and pieces. S’mores stuffed. Then there were double chocolate. And Levain bakery’s dark chocolate chunk. And most recently, giant wrinkly chocolate chip.

These triple chocolate hunks are similar to the double chocolate version BUT we’ll call them the Super Woman version of those double chocolates.

Because, hi! ONE POUND of melted milk chocolate, deep dark cocoa powder, and another 12 ounces of chocolate chips folded in at the end.

PLUS! That heavy sprinkle of really coarse sea salt before AND after you bake them. I skipped the salt on the first tray that came from the oven and was like WOAH SWEET! They were so sweet and rich that I was afraid they were just too much for me. I didn’t think that was even possible!

So I sprinkled on some salt and it was a magical transformation! They’re still super sweet and so rich you’ll definitely need a cup of coffee or some ice cold milk on the side, but the salt completely balances out the sweet. It adds that punch of contrast to the sugar that leaves you craving those extra salt crystals in every bite.

Giant Chewy Salted Triple Chocolate Cookies

Prep Time: 20min (active) + 30min (inactive to rest the dough if needed)
Cook Time: 14-16min
Yield: 2 dozen giant cookies

Notes

This recipe easily makes 2 dozen giant cookies but you can make them smaller if you’re more interested in portion control than we are. Using a medium cookie scoop will yield about 4 dozen smaller cookies. You can also freeze the dough after you scoop it for easy snacks in the future.

And feel free to use semi-sweet or dark chocolate in place of the milk chocolate here. I happened to be out of both so milk chocolate it was!

Ingredients

2 cups (10 oz) all-purpose flour
½ cup (1 ½ oz) Dutch-processed dark cocoa powder
2 tsp baking powder
½ tsp table salt
16 oz milk chocolate, chopped
2 large eggs
½ cup (4 oz) applesauce (plain or cinnamon)
1 tbsp vanilla extract
2 tsp espresso powder
10 tbsp (4 ½ oz) unsalted butter, softened but cool
1 ½ cups (10 ½ oz) packed light brown sugar
½ cup (3 ½ oz) granulated sugar
12 oz (about 2 cups) semi-sweet chocolate chips
Coarse or extra coarse (like Penzey’s) sea salt, for sprinkling

Instructions

01

Preheat oven to 350° F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.

Combine the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl. Whisk together; set aside.
02

Melt the chocolate in a heatproof bowl set over simmering water until completely melted and smooth; remove from the heat. (Alternatively, microwave the chocolate in 30 second intervals, mixing thoroughly in between, until melted and smooth.) In a small mixing bowl, lightly beat the eggs and vanilla together. Sprinkle the espresso powder over the egg mixture and set aside to allow the granules to dissolve.
03

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter at medium speed until smooth and creamy, about 5 seconds. Mix in the sugars until well combined, about 45 seconds – the mixture will look granular. Reduce the mixer speed to low and gradually beat in the egg mixture and applesauce until incorporated, about 45 seconds.

Add the chocolate to the bowl in a steady stream and continue beating until combined, about 40 seconds. Scrape the bottom and sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. With the mixer at low speed, add the dry ingredients and chocolate chips and mix just until incorporated, being careful not to overbeat.

If the batter is very soft and loose, cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let stand at room temperature until the consistency is scoopable and fudge-like, about 30 minutes. If it is already scoopable (mine was), proceed right to the next step.
04

Using a large (2 ½-inch cookie/ice cream scoop), scoop 6 pieces of dough onto the prepared baking sheets in 3 rows (2 cookies to a row). The dough will be very sticky so you may need to help it out of the scoop a little.

Sprinkle the tops of the dough a small pinch of the coarse sea salt.
05

Bake until the edges of the cookies have just began to set but the centers are still very soft, about 10-12 minutes, rotating the sheets halfway through baking. Remove the cookies from the oven and immediately sprinkle them with a little more coarse sea salt while they are still hot.

Cool the cookies on the sheets about 10 minutes on a wire rack, then transfer them to a rack and allow to cool completely. Cool the baking sheets before baking more batches with the remaining dough and repeating the process of sprinkling salt before and after the bake.

Cookies will last up to 4 days in a tightly sealed container or bag at room temperature.