You know I have a monstrous cookie for every season… and, well, this is my Valentine’s Day/winter bulk up cookie! Incase you were wondering, they are EXACTLY as advertised: chocolate cookies that have a rich, gooey, chocolate ganache center. *Keyboard drop.*
My obsession with large cookies started after I made my DIY Levain cookies 3 years ago, and since then, I’ve loved to play with this recipe and see what else I can do with the big cookie “format.” I was going to make chocolate molten lava cakes for Valentine’s Day, but I quickly realized …. I don’t really have ramekins lying around to whip up molten lava cakes on a whim. Like, I do have them in the basement in my random item stash that I keep for work, but if I didn’t do this for a living, would I actually have ramekins hanging around? And would the average person have them in their kitchen? I’m not sure but my guess was “no.” So that’s when I thought, “what about chocolate molten cake….in a big, monstrous, gooey cookie,” anddddd now we’re here.
A few things I want to note before you get cooking!
Let’s talk filling! A little info on chocolate ganache and other filling options.
Chocolate ganache sounds fancy…and it is decadent….but it’s just so easy to make that it doesn’t deserve to seem fancy and intimidating anymore. We are making a super simple ganache with heavy cream and semi sweet chocolate. You could also use dark chocolate, but milk chocolate won’t really fly here. If you decide to go milk chocolate, just put a little Hershey’s Kiss inside the dough and it will melt as the cookies bake! If you like hazelnut and chocolate, you could use Nutella in the center of the cookies. I would still freeze it to firm it up a bit, then follow the same steps. If you prefer white chocolate filling, follow the same steps with some white chocolate chips! You can also swirl raspberry jam in there for some extra deliciousness.
MAKE AHEAD TIPS!
You can make the chocolate ganache up to a week ahead, leaving it in the freezer. You can also assemble the cookie dough balls and freeze for a few days before making them as well. So long as they are covered and stored properly, you can make them up to a week ahead. If they are uncovered, they could stand a night in the freezer without tasting like…well, a freezer. Use your judgement!
Not into the Valentine’s Day theme? That’s fine! Use sprinkles that fit your vibe… I think using your favorite team colors for the Super Bowl would be a great thing to do. Or, you could always go classic funfetti rainbow.
Free cooking class is also here so you can watch and learn!
My obsession with large cookies started after I made my DIY Levain cookies 3 years ago, and since then, I’ve loved to play with this recipe and see what else I can do with the big cookie “format.” I was going to make chocolate molten lava cakes for Valentine’s Day, but I quickly realized …. I don’t really have ramekins lying around to whip up molten lava cakes on a whim. Like, I do have them in the basement in my random item stash that I keep for work, but if I didn’t do this for a living, would I actually have ramekins hanging around? And would the average person have them in their kitchen? I’m not sure but my guess was “no.” So that’s when I thought, “what about chocolate molten cake….in a big, monstrous, gooey cookie,” anddddd now we’re here.
A few things I want to note before you get cooking!
Let’s talk filling! A little info on chocolate ganache and other filling options.
Chocolate ganache sounds fancy…and it is decadent….but it’s just so easy to make that it doesn’t deserve to seem fancy and intimidating anymore. We are making a super simple ganache with heavy cream and semi sweet chocolate. You could also use dark chocolate, but milk chocolate won’t really fly here. If you decide to go milk chocolate, just put a little Hershey’s Kiss inside the dough and it will melt as the cookies bake! If you like hazelnut and chocolate, you could use Nutella in the center of the cookies. I would still freeze it to firm it up a bit, then follow the same steps. If you prefer white chocolate filling, follow the same steps with some white chocolate chips! You can also swirl raspberry jam in there for some extra deliciousness.
MAKE AHEAD TIPS!
You can make the chocolate ganache up to a week ahead, leaving it in the freezer. You can also assemble the cookie dough balls and freeze for a few days before making them as well. So long as they are covered and stored properly, you can make them up to a week ahead. If they are uncovered, they could stand a night in the freezer without tasting like…well, a freezer. Use your judgement!
Not into the Valentine’s Day theme? That’s fine! Use sprinkles that fit your vibe… I think using your favorite team colors for the Super Bowl would be a great thing to do. Or, you could always go classic funfetti rainbow.
Free cooking class is also here so you can watch and learn!
Chocolate Molten Cookies
Ingredients
Chocolate Ganache Filling
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 1 1/2 cup semi sweet chocolate chips can sub for finely chopped chocolate bars
- 1/2 tsp fine kosher salt optional – for people who like a little salt in their chocolate! You can also add to taste. Go with 1/4 tsp if you want a little bit
Chocolate Cookies
- 2 2/3 cups all purpose bleached flour
- 3/4 cup cocoa powder
- 3 tbsp corn starch
- 1 1/4 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp fine kosher salt if you do not have fine kosher salt, please only use 1/2 tsp of salt here. If you like sweet/salty chocolate, go for 1 1/2 tsp fine kosher salt — this is my personal favorite measurement for this recipe but salt levels are personal and up to you. If you go with the 1 1/2 tsp salt, it must be fine kosher salt because this is the a mild salt that's best for baking!
- 1/2 cup white granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 cup light brown sugar
- 1 cup + 5 tbsp very cold cubed unsalted butter
- 1 cup sprinkles of your choice plus more if needed
Equipment
- Standing mixer – not necessary but preferred for accuracy!
Directions
- Before starting anything, cube your butter and then place it into a bowl. Put the bowl in the freezer to ensure the butter gets as cold as possible!
- Make the ganache. First, put the chocolate chips into a large mixing bowl and set aside. Next, pour the heavy cream into a sauce pan and heat over medium high heat. Bring the cream to a simmer (lightly bubbling around the edges) and then remove it from the heat and pour it into the bowl with the chocolate chips. Whisk together until smooth and until the chocolate is fully incorporated into the heavy cream. Cover the ganache with tin foil or plastic wrap, then place it in the freezer to firm up.Note: you do not want to boil the heavy cream as it will be too hot to properly mix with the chocolate.
- In a mixing bowl, combine the dry ingredients for the chocolate cookies and whisk until fully incorporated. Set aside.
- In the bowl of a standing mixer, combine the light brown sugar and white sugar. Then, add the frozen cubed butter into the bowl. With the paddle attachment, mix on low speed until the butter is fully incorporated into the sugar. If the butter/sugar mixture is sticking to the paddle or bowl, use a rubber spatula to free it from the edges of the bowl and continue mixing until combined. The end result should feel and look like cold, wet sand. This will take a few minutes since the butter is so cold! That is A okay and it's what we want.
- Add the 2 large eggs into the bowl with the butter/sugar mixture and mix with the paddle attachment on medium speed until the eggs become fully incorporated into the butter/sugar mixture.
- Pour half of the dry ingredients into the standing mixer bowl and mix with the paddle attachment on low speed until fully combined with the butter/sugar/egg mixture. Add the second half of the dry ingredients and continue mixing until a dough is formed.
- Remove the dough from the bowl and place it onto a clean work surface. Divide it into 12 equal sized chunks and roll them into balls. Set aside. Pour about 1/2 cup of sprinkles onto a flat clean work space or plate and set next to the dough.
- Remove the ganache from the freezer. One by one, flatten each ball of dough with your hand and then scoop 1 tbsp of ganache into the center of the dough, leaving about a 3/4-inch radius around the ganache so you can close it inside of the dough without it leaking. Pour about 1-2 tsp of sprinkles on top of the ganache. Take the edges of the dough and fold them together around the ganache/sprinkle filling so that the ganache is folded into the center of the dough ball. Make sure there are no openings and that the ganache is tucked in and cozy in the dough. Roll the dough ball in the sprinkles and then set aside. Repeat these steps with each piece of dough, until all the dough is filled with ganache and coated in sprinkles! Woohoo!
- Place a piece of parchment paper onto a sheetpan. Put all of the balls of dough onto the parchment paper and place the sheet pan into the freezer for at least 20 minutes before baking. If freezing longer, cover the dough with cling wrap or tin foil so that it doesn't get that freezer burn taste.
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
- Remove the dough balls from the freezer and make sure they are not stuck to the sheet pan before baking. Then, bake for 12 minutes. Allow them to cool for 10 minutes before eating! Enjoy!
Rate & Review
WHAT DID YOU THINK OF THIS RECIPE?
Wondering if you could freeze this after baking it? Need to make it for a party and won’t have time the day of.
The best thing to do is freeze the dough then serve them right out of the oven . Or just make them the day before and keep in the fridge until 1 hour before serving.