Chocolate Chip Cookie Nirvana

I was catching up on some blogs when I came across Cake On the Brain's post on her recent cookie making venture. Anyone who knows me knows I love, L.O.V.E., chocolate. So when she called her cookies Chocolate Chip Cookie Nirvana I knew I had to make these. I did change the recipe a bit and, well, they didn't turn out the way they were supposed to. Who knew that the cookie dough-to-chocolate chip ratio could throw it all off? Not me! How can you go wrong with more chocolate? I guess I was too chocolate-hungry. So I am posting the recipe, but please don't follow my changes and you'll be in nirvana as Cakebrain was when she made these.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Nirvana

makes 3 dozen ridiculously large cookies

by Cakebrain adapted from Jacques Torres' A Year in Chocolate

4 3/4 cups all-purpose flour

2 t salt

1 1/2 t baking powder

1 1/2 t baking soda

1 1/2 cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature

2 1/4 cups packed light brown sugar

1 1/4 cups plus 2 1/2 T granulated sugar

3 large eggs, at room temperature, lightly beaten

2 t pure vanilla extract

1 2/3 pounds bittersweet chocolate, chopped into bite-sized pieces (I used 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips and 1 cup milk chocolate chips)

1 cup white chocolate pieces (I used white chocolate chips)

• Preheat the oven to 325°F. Have ready 2 nonstick cookie sheets, or line 2 regular cookie sheets with parchment paper or silicone mats. Set aside.
• In a bowl, stir together the flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda. Set aside. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle, beat the butter on medium speed for about 5 minutes, or until very light and fluffy. Add the brown and granulated sugars and beat until well blended. Add the eggs and beat just until incorporated. Beat in the vanilla. Reduce the speed to low and add the flour mixture a little at a time, beating after each addition until incorporated. When all of the flour mixture has been incorporated, remove the bowl from the mixer and, using a rubber spatula, fold in the chocolate (this was so hard to do).
• To shape the cookies, using a tablespoon, scoop out a heaping spoonful of the dough and, using the palms of your hands, form it into a 3-inch ball. Place the balls on the prepared baking sheets, spacing them about 1 inch apart (my batch didn't flatten out during baking so next time - yes, I haven't given up on this recipe yet - I would flatten them before putting them in the oven).
• Bake for about 15 minutes, or until lightly browned around the edges. Remove from the oven, transfer the cookies to wire racks, and let cool completely.
• Store, in an airtight container, for up to 5 days.

This recipe really does make an enormous amount of cookies. I baked only half the batch and rolled and froze the rest of the dough into balls to be baked another day.