Giant Skillet Cookie Recipe Warm Gooey Dessert
There is something fundamentally comforting about a warm, freshly baked cookie. Now, imagine that cookie scaled up to fill an entire cast-iron skillet, with a gooey, molten centre and gloriously chewy edges. That’s exactly what we’re making today with this giant skillet cookie recipe. Forget scooping individual dough balls; we’re creating one magnificent dessert that’s meant for sharing, served warm right from the pan with scoops of melting vanilla ice cream. This is my go-to recipe when I need something quick but impressive for a last-minute get-together.
What sets this pan cookie apart is the use of browned butter. It’s a simple step that transforms the flavour from merely sweet to something deeply nutty and complex, with a caramel-like aroma that will fill your kitchen. Paired with generous chunks of dark chocolate and a sprinkle of flaky sea salt, it strikes the perfect balance between rich, sweet, and savoury. This is a dessert that works wonderfully for a cosy family night in, a relaxed dinner with friends, or whenever you need a genuinely satisfying sweet treat that comes together in under an hour.
Recipe Overview
This skillet cookie recipe delivers a dessert with an incredibly rewarding texture and flavour profile. The outside bakes to a perfect golden-brown with a satisfying chew, while the inside remains soft and slightly underdone, almost like a warm cookie dough pudding. The secret is the browned butter, which adds a wonderful toffee-like depth. I’ve tested this with various chocolates, and I find that a good quality dark chocolate (around 70% cocoa solids) chopped into chunks gives you the best molten pockets of flavour.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 20-25 minutes
- Total Time: 40 minutes
- Servings: 6-8 people
- Difficulty: Easy
Why You’ll Love This Skillet Cookie Recipe
- Deep, Nuanced Flavour: We don’t just melt the butter; we brown it. This one step creates a nutty, toasted flavour that elevates the entire cookie, making it taste far more complex than the sum of its parts.
- Ready in Under an Hour: From starting the butter to pulling the golden, bubbling skillet from the oven, the whole process takes about 40 minutes. It’s ideal when you want a showstopping dessert without hours of effort.
- Wonderfully Flexible: This recipe is a fantastic base for your own creations. You can swap the dark chocolate for milk or white, add a cup of toasted pecans or walnuts, or even throw in some toffee pieces for extra crunch.
- Great for Sharing: A pan cookie is a communal dessert by nature. It’s brilliant for family film nights, casual get-togethers, or as a birthday treat instead of a traditional cake. Just place it in the middle of the table with spoons and let everyone dig in.
- Family Tested and Approved: My children adore this skillet cookie. They love helping to press the dough into the pan and, of course, adding an extra handful of chocolate chips on top before it bakes. It always gets rave reviews.
Ingredients You’ll Need
For the best results, using high-quality ingredients really makes a difference here, especially the butter and chocolate. I often use Green & Black’s 70% dark chocolate, which I chop by hand to get a variety of sizes, from fine shards to big, melty chunks. Ensure your eggs are at room temperature, as this helps them incorporate into the butter and sugar mixture more smoothly.
- 170g unsalted butter, plus extra for greasing the skillet
- 150g light brown soft sugar
- 50g caster sugar
- 1 large free-range egg, at room temperature
- 1 large free-range egg yolk, at room temperature
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 225g plain flour
- 1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
- 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 200g dark chocolate, roughly chopped into chunks
- Flaky sea salt, for sprinkling (optional but recommended)
Marcus’s Tip: Don’t skip the extra egg yolk! It adds a wonderful richness and contributes to that chewy, fudgy texture in the centre of the cookie. It’s a small detail that makes a big impact.
How to Make This Skillet Cookie Recipe
The process is straightforward. The most important stage is browning the butter carefully—don’t walk away from the hob! We want it nutty and golden, not burnt. Once that’s done, the rest of the cookie dough comes together in one bowl.
- Preheat and Prepare: First, preheat your oven to 180°C (160°C fan). Generously grease a 23-25cm (9-10 inch) cast-iron skillet with a little unsalted butter, ensuring you cover the bottom and sides well.
- Brown the Butter: Place the 170g of butter in a light-coloured saucepan over a medium heat. Melt the butter, then continue to cook it, swirling the pan occasionally. It will foam and sizzle. After 5-8 minutes, the sizzling will subside, and you’ll see golden-brown specks forming at the bottom. It will smell intensely nutty. Immediately remove it from the heat and pour it into a large mixing bowl to cool for 5-10 minutes. For a deep dive into the science, Serious Eats has a great guide on how to brown butter.
- Mix the Sugars: To the bowl with the slightly cooled browned butter, add the light brown sugar and caster sugar. Whisk vigorously for about a minute until the mixture is smooth and well combined.
- Add Eggs and Vanilla: Add the egg, egg yolk, and vanilla extract to the butter mixture. Whisk again until everything is fully incorporated and the mixture looks glossy.
- Combine Dry Ingredients: In a separate, smaller bowl, whisk together the plain flour, bicarbonate of soda, and fine sea salt. Add this to the wet ingredients. Using a spatula or wooden spoon, fold the dry ingredients in until just combined. Be careful not to overmix; stop when you no longer see streaks of flour.
- Fold in the Chocolate: Gently fold in your chopped dark chocolate chunks, distributing them evenly throughout the dough.
- Assemble the Skillet Cookie: Scrape the cookie dough into your prepared cast-iron skillet. What works best for me is using the back of a spoon or slightly damp hands to press the dough into an even layer across the bottom of the skillet.
- Bake to Perfection: Place the skillet in the preheated oven and bake for 20-25 minutes. The edges should be set and golden brown, but the centre should still look slightly soft and underdone. This is key for a gooey middle.
- Rest and Serve: Carefully remove the skillet from the oven and place it on a heatproof surface. If you like, sprinkle over a little flaky sea salt. Let the pan cookie rest for at least 10-15 minutes. This allows the centre to set up a little more. Serve warm, straight from the skillet, with scoops of vanilla ice cream.
Tips From My Kitchen
- Control the Butter’s Temperature: After browning the butter, it’s crucial to let it cool for about 10 minutes before adding the sugars. If it’s too hot, it can start to dissolve the sugar granules, which can affect the final texture of the cookie.
- The Secret to Chewy Cookies: I learned that letting the finished cookie dough rest in the skillet for 20-30 minutes at room temperature before baking allows the flour to hydrate fully. This small step deepens the caramel notes and results in an even chewier texture. It’s not essential if you’re short on time, but it does make a difference. For another chewy treat, check out my recipe for Stuffed Cookies Recipe With Gooey Center.
- Make-Ahead Dough: You can prepare the cookie dough up to 3 days in advance. Just cover the bowl tightly with cling film and store it in the fridge. When you’re ready to bake, let it sit at room temperature for about 30 minutes to soften slightly, then press it into your skillet and bake as directed (you may need to add a few extra minutes to the baking time).
- Storing Leftovers: If you have any leftovers (which is rare in my house!), you can cover the cooled skillet with foil or cling film and store it at room temperature for up to 3 days. Reheat individual slices in the microwave for 15-20 seconds to get that warm, gooey texture back.
Equipment You’ll Need
- 23-25cm (9-10 inch) Cast-Iron Skillet
- Large mixing bowl
- Light-coloured saucepan (to monitor the butter browning)
- Whisk
- Spatula
Common Mistakes to Avoid
- Overbaking the Cookie: The biggest mistake is baking it for too long. People see a wobbly centre and think it’s not done. Remember, the cookie continues to cook from the residual heat of the cast-iron skillet after you take it out. Pull it from the oven when the edges are set but the middle is still soft for that perfect gooey result.
- Not Preheating the Oven: Placing the skillet in a cold oven will cause the butter to melt and spread too slowly, resulting in a greasy, dense cookie. Ensure your oven is fully preheated to 180°C (160°C fan) before the pan goes in.
- Skipping the Rest Time After Baking: It’s tempting to dive right in, but letting the skillet cookie rest for 10-15 minutes is vital. It allows the molten centre to set slightly, making it fudgy rather than liquid. It also prevents you from burning your mouth!
Delicious Variations to Try
This skillet cookie recipe is a brilliant canvas for customisation. Once you’ve mastered the basic technique, feel free to experiment with different flavour combinations. Here are a few of my favourites:
- Nutty Toffee Crunch: Swap half of the dark chocolate for 100g of toffee or fudge pieces and add 75g of toasted pecans or walnuts to the dough. The crunchy nuts and chewy toffee are a fantastic combination.
- White Chocolate and Raspberry: Use 150g of white chocolate chunks and gently fold in 100g of frozen raspberries (don’t thaw them) into the dough right at the end. The tartness of the berries cuts through the sweetness of the white chocolate beautifully.
- S’mores Skillet Cookie: Use a mix of milk chocolate chunks and digestive biscuit pieces in the dough. Just before it’s finished baking, pull it out and dot the top with a handful of mini marshmallows. Return to the oven for 1-2 minutes until the marshmallows are puffed and toasted.
What to Serve With Your Skillet Cookie
A warm pan cookie is a dessert that calls for simple but decadent accompaniments. You can’t go wrong with these pairings:
- Vanilla Bean Ice Cream: The absolute classic. The contrast between the warm, gooey cookie and the cold, creamy ice cream is unbeatable.
- Salted Caramel Sauce: A generous drizzle of warm salted caramel sauce over the top of the cookie and ice cream adds another layer of rich, buttery flavour.
- A Glass of Cold Milk: For a touch of nostalgia, nothing pairs with a warm chocolate chip cookie better than a simple glass of cold milk. For adults, a good-quality flat white or a dark stout beer also works wonderfully. If you’re looking for more comforting dessert ideas, my Maple Pecan Sticky Buns are always a hit.
Frequently Asked Questions
Skillet Cookie Recipe
Ingredients
Method
- Preheat and Prepare: First, preheat your oven to 180°C (160°C fan). Generously grease a 23-25cm (9-10 inch) cast-iron skillet with a little unsalted butter, ensuring you cover the bottom and sides well.
- Brown the Butter: Place the 170g of butter in a light-coloured saucepan over a medium heat. Melt the butter, then continue to cook it, swirling the pan occasionally. It will foam and sizzle. After 5-8 minutes, the sizzling will subside, and you'll see golden-brown specks forming at the bottom. It will smell intensely nutty. Immediately remove it from the heat and pour it into a large mixing bowl to cool for 5-10 minutes. For a deep dive into the science, Serious Eats has a great guide on how to brown butter.
- Mix the Sugars: To the bowl with the slightly cooled browned butter, add the light brown sugar and caster sugar. Whisk vigorously for about a minute until the mixture is smooth and well combined.
- Add Eggs and Vanilla: Add the egg, egg yolk, and vanilla extract to the butter mixture. Whisk again until everything is fully incorporated and the mixture looks glossy.
- Combine Dry Ingredients: In a separate, smaller bowl, whisk together the plain flour, bicarbonate of soda, and fine sea salt. Add this to the wet ingredients. Using a spatula or wooden spoon, fold the dry ingredients in until just combined. Be careful not to overmix; stop when you no longer see streaks of flour.
- Fold in the Chocolate: Gently fold in your chopped dark chocolate chunks, distributing them evenly throughout the dough.
- Assemble the Skillet Cookie: Scrape the cookie dough into your prepared cast-iron skillet. What works best for me is using the back of a spoon or slightly damp hands to press the dough into an even layer across the bottom of the skillet.
- Bake to Perfection: Place the skillet in the preheated oven and bake for 20-25 minutes. The edges should be set and golden brown, but the centre should still look slightly soft and underdone. This is key for a gooey middle.
- Rest and Serve: Carefully remove the skillet from the oven and place it on a heatproof surface. If you like, sprinkle over a little flaky sea salt. Let the pan cookie rest for at least 10-15 minutes. This allows the centre to set up a little more. Serve warm, straight from the skillet, with scoops of vanilla ice cream.
Notes
I really hope you give this skillet cookie recipe a try. It’s one of those desserts that brings a little bit of joy and theatre to the table, and it always gets compliments. Friends always ask me for this recipe after trying it at dinner parties, and now it’s yours to share too. Let me know how you get on in the comments below – I’d love to hear about the variations you come up with!
All the best,
Marcus Bennett
