Recipe
Giant chocolate chunk cookies with spelt, oat and olive oil
- Prep time:
- 130
- Cook time:
- 20
- Skill level:
- Low
- Serves:
- 5 giant cookies
Giant chocolate chip cookies are delightful for all ages. (ABC Everyday: Heidi Sze)
Heidi Sze is a monthly recipe contributor with ABC Lifestyle.
She is a pre- and post-natal dietitian and nutritionist from the Mornington Peninsula, Victoria.
She shares her thoughts on food and life as a mostly stay-at-home mum on Instagram @HeidiApples
"How big should we make the cookies?" I asked my daughter, as I took a bowl of chilled cookie dough from the fridge.
"REALLY big," she replied, with outstretched arms. And so we started rolling generous portions of dough into balls, then squashing them flat with the palm of our hands.
While in the oven I watched the cookies spread wider and wider, and wondered whether we had perhaps made them too big.
Once they had cooled my two-year-old picked one up, flabbergasted; it was almost the size of his head. No, that's just right, I thought.
Everyone has their own preferences when it comes to chocolate chip cookies. For this recipe I made batch after batch until I achieved the precise texture I desired — thin, chewy, chocolatey and with crisp edges.
Inspired by Robyn from Sweetish Co., I used both oat flour (by blitzing rolled oats in a food processor — see tips below) and spelt flour. While experimenting, I learnt that even a slight change in flour variety and quantity can greatly alter the texture of your cookie. Similarly, you need a certain amount of sugar to get that desired texture; so, while you might be tempted to cut the quantity down, I would warn against doing so here.
Giant cookies are a delight to eat, though they do require a bit of care to ensure they bake-up nicely.
You'll need to squash them before baking to ensure you don't end up with burnt edges and an under-cooked middle.
You'll also need to bake just one tray at a time, while ensuring the cookies aren't overcrowded. I think it's worth the effort, though. If only for the look on my son's face when he sees them.
Be sure to flatten your cookie balls lightly to make sure the middle cooks.
Tips:
- While it's tempting, avoid sugar substitutions: Brown sugar may also be called light brown sugar, depending on where you live. Unfortunately, you cannot swap the brown sugar for white sugar in this recipe, as the texture would be too greatly altered.
- Choosing olive oil: use an extra virgin olive oil that has a nice flavour, but not the highest quality, first pressed variety.
- DIY oat flour: I blitz my rolled oats in a food processor to make a semi-fine flour. I make sure to not over-process them — a bit of rough texture is necessary.
- Flour substitutions tips: you can try playing around with different flours here, however keep in mind that flours behave quite differently (for example, some absorb more liquid than others), and so even a slight change in variety or quantity can greatly alter the texture of your cookies.
- If you are still keen to try the two options below, I would recommend reducing the total flour quantity by 10g (leaving you with a total of 80g flour instead of 90g), as this might help give you a thinner, crispier texture. Similarly, you can try using plain flour in place of spelt but, again, this will alter the texture and give you a different cookie.
- Using GF flour: If you are after a thin, chewy cookie (like the ones in this recipe) using gluten-free flour, I have had success swapping the 50g spelt flour for 40–45g buckwheat flour, however, you will need to leave the cookies on the baking tray to cool for a while before transferring to a wire rack (otherwise they might fall apart). If you're baking for those with coeliac disease it is best to avoid oats.
- If you don't have a food processor to make the oat flour you can try using pre-ground oats or 100 per cent spelt flour, however, when I trialled these options the cookies turned out quite cakey, and I missed the interesting texture of the rolled oat flour.
- Baking soda: be sure to use baking soda here, not baking powder, as this will help give you the right texture. The molasses in the brown sugar will help activate the baking soda, which is why it's important not to swap the brown sugar for white sugar.
- Don't skip the chilling step: It is imperative that you chill the cookie dough for at least two hours before baking, as the dough is simply too wet to use straight away. Two hours is the minimum time required to chill the dough, overnight is preferable. Though previously I've left the dough for two days before baking, and the cookies were the best they've ever been.
- Bake one tray at a time: to ensure the cookies bake up nicely. When re-using baking trays, wipe the baking paper to remove any crumbs or chocolate, and carefully rinse the hot baking tray under cool water, before drying with a tea towel and returning the baking paper. You don't want to add the cookie dough onto a hot baking tray.
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Giant chocolate chunk cookies with spelt, oat and olive oil
- Prep time:
- 130
- Cook time:
- 20
- Skill level:
- Low
- Serves:
- 5 giant cookies
Ingredients
Method
- Warm the butter in a small saucepan over low heat until just melted, then set aside to cool.
- Meanwhile whisk the egg in a cup or small bowl, blitz the oats and chop the chocolate into 1.5cm pieces.
- Add the cooled melted butter, sugar, oil and whisked egg to a medium-sized mixing bowl. Using a whisk, stir vigorously for 30–60 seconds until you have a smooth, homogenised mixture that looks like caramel.
- Add the oat and spelt flours, baking soda and salt to the mixture, then use a rubber spatula to gently fold the ingredients until the flour is just incorporated (be careful to not overmix the batter). Add around 100g of the chocolate (saving the remaining 20g to press onto the top of cookies before baking) and gently fold once or twice more.
- Cover the bowl then place in the fridge for at least 2 hours or ideally overnight. This is an important step you can't skip, as the dough will be too wet to use straight away.
- Approximately 20 minutes before you wish to bake your cookies, preheat the oven to 180˚C (fan). Line one or two (depending on how many you have) large, low-sided baking trays with baking paper.
- Remove the cookie dough from the fridge. It should now be firm enough to scoop, though it will still be quite soft. Moving quickly, remove a heaped ¼ cup of dough, then use your hands to roll it into a ball (slightly wetting your hands with water can help stop the dough sticking to your hands). Place the dough ball on the baking tray, allowing 8cm space from the edge and 8–10cm space from any other cookies (overcrowding will alter the way they cook).
Using the palm of your hand, press down firmly on the ball to flatten the dough into a cookie shape (flattening is important for big cookies, to ensure the middle cooks), then press two or three pieces of chocolate into the top of the cookie. Depending on the size of your baking tray, you might be able to add one or two more cookies, before placing the tray in the oven for around 8–10 minutes, until the cookies are golden brown at the edges and slightly golden across the top.
Start checking for doneness at 8 minutes. Be sure to bake just one tray at a time (see tips above) and remember to place the mixing bowl back in the fridge in between batches to keep the dough chilled. - Allow the cookies to sit on the baking tray for 1 minute before removing them using a wide spatula to a wire rack to cool. If the cookies feel like they might break upon transfer, leave them for a little longer before attempting again. See tips for re-using baking trays and preparing them for another round of cookies.
- Eat the cookies once they have cooled slightly, storing any completely cooled leftovers in a container with a piece of baking paper between each cookie.