Why This Recipe Works

Chocolate chip cookies are fun for kids to make. But you know what’s even more fun? One gigantic chocolate chip cookie that they can eat like a cake. For bursts of chocolate throughout, we stir ½ cup of chocolate chips into this colossal cookie. This recipe is a great opportunity for kids to explore the wide world of chocolate. Gather the different types of chocolate you have in your kitchen—bittersweet, semisweet, milk, and unsweetened are all fair game. Have kids sample each type of chocolate and describe what each tastes like—they might use words such as bitter, sweet, creamy, soft, hard, etc. Afterwards, you can explain to kids that all chocolate comes from cacao beans, which grow inside pods on cacao trees. Depending on the way the cacao is processed, chocolate products can taste different. Have kids look at the ingredients list on each product’s packaging and look for ingredients that might affect the chocolate’s flavor, such as sugar or milk.

Before You Begin

If you don’t have a springform pan, you can use a 9-inch round cake pan instead, but you’ll have to flip the cookie out of the pan just like you would a cake. You can serve this cookie like a cake, too: Slice it into wedges and top with whipped cream or ice cream.

Instructions

Adjust oven rack to upper-middle position and heat oven to 375 degrees. Spray inside bottom and sides of 9-inch springform pan with vegetable oil spray.

In medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt.

In large bowl, whisk melted butter, brown sugar, and sugar until well combined. Add egg and vanilla and whisk until smooth.

Add flour mixture to butter mixture and use rubber spatula to stir until just combined and no dry flour is visible, about 1 minute. Add chocolate chips and stir until evenly distributed.

Use rubber spatula to scrape cookie dough into greased springform pan and spread dough into even layer covering bottom of pan.

Place springform pan in oven and bake until cookie is golden brown and edges are set, 18 to 22 minutes.

Use oven mitts to remove springform pan from oven and place pan cooling rack (ask an adult for help). Let cookie cool in pan for 30 minutes.

Run butter knife around inside edge of springform pan to loosen edges of cookie from pan. Unlock and remove side of pan. Use icing spatula or wide metal spatula to loosen bottom of cookie from pan and transfer cookie to cutting board. Cut cookie into wedges and serve warm.