After-School
Skillet Cookies
Let’s elevate the after-school milk and cookies game, shall we?
Yes. Why not.
Cookies, right out of the oven, right after school, are a venerable American tradition — a hot and comforting demarkation of the transition from school day to . . . whatever comes next. But with a little extra planning and very little (if any) extra effort, you can take things to the next level, surprising your children with an unforgettable afternoon snack. This is a handy trick to pull from your culinary sleeve a couple of months into the fall, as a well-timed counter to the inevitable reduction of enthusiasm for the new school year.
The skillet cookie is meant to be crispy on the edge and slightly gooey on the inside. For best results in achieving that, you’ll want to make the dough in the morning and refrigerate it (though in a pinch this can be skipped). Then you press the cookie dough into the prepared cast iron skillets and put them in the oven half an hour before your assiduous young pupils get off the bus and tromp through the door announcing “I’m starving!” Or if your children are schooled at home, all the better! Put them to work pressing dough into skillets as soon as the voracious rumblings begin. This act is itself an invaluable pedagogical endeavor.
After the skillets cool for roughly ten minutes, top each cookie with a generous scoop of vanilla ice cream and drizzle with honey. Then set out the glasses of cold milk.
Careful! — the cast iron will be hot, and these should be served on a trivet or hot pad and with supervision if your children are small (or clumsy). Feel free to share a skillet with one or two of your kids, knocking spoons together as you scrape up all the gooey post-educational goodness.
Yield: 8 Mini-Skillet Cookies
(Or 40 Large Regular Cookies)
After-School
Skillet Cookies
1 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup granulated white sugar
1 cup light brown sugar, packed
3 large eggs
3 cups old fashioned oats
8 ounces milk chocolate chopped into 1/4 inch pieces, or milk chocolate chips
1 cup golden raisins (optional)
For serving:
Vanilla ice cream
Honey
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Generously butter up to eight 5-inch-diameter cast iron skillets (see Notes for options).
In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Set aside.
Place the room temperature butter in the bowl of a stand mixer.
Using the paddle attachment, beat the butter for one minute on medium-high speed. Add the granulated white sugar. Beat a further 4-5 minutes or until light and fluffy. Next, add the brown sugar. Beat an additional 4 minutes, stopping the mixer two to three times to scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula. Turn the stand mixer to low speed. Add in the eggs one at a time until fully incorporated. Gradually add in the dry ingredients until no flour is visible; then mix in the oats, chocolate pieces and raisins (if using). Mix until just combined. If time permits, refrigerate for several hours or up to 3 days.
Press roughly 3/4 cup cookie dough into each small cast iron skillet. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown and crispy on the sides. Take out of the oven and allow to cool for ten minutes.
Top with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Drizzle honey over the top and serve.
Notes:
This recipe’s yield is intentionally large, more than most families will need on a given afternoon (each skillet is likely to serve a couple of kids or more). But you will never regret making double-use of labor, especially during the flurry of the school year. So our vision is that you’ll probably use half the dough now, making four skillets, and then freeze the rest. To do this, wrap tightly in a double layer of cellophane and find a friendly spot in the freezer. Then in a month or so — when you’re in need of another magical p.m. pick-me-up, but are short on time — partially thaw the dough and make another set of four. (Or do four sets of two. Or whatever.)
If you don’t have 5-inch cast-iron skillets and are not not feeling motivated to add that shopping trip to your to-do list just yet, here are some other options:
- You can use a standard 9-inch cast-iron skillet and still get decent results. To do so, press 2 1/4 cups of dough into the skillet, and bake for 15-20 minutes at 325° F, watching carefully to make sure it doesn’t over-brown. This approach will require a little less than half the dough; you can reduce the quantities, or, per the above, make the full amount and freeze the rest for later. (Maybe you’ll have a chance to buy those 5-inch skillets in the meantime.)
- Alternately, the dough can instead be baked as regular cookies. Scoop roughly two tablespoons of dough with two spoons (or a cookie scoop) and place mounds two inches apart on a parchment lined baking sheet. Bake for 12-15 minutes. Take out of the oven and allow to cool on the cookie sheets. The outside should be delightfully golden and crisp, while the inside remains soft and chewy.
- Or combine these ideas, and, in lieu of freezing anything, make one 9-inch skillet for today and the remainder as regular cookies for distribution in lunch boxes during the rest of the week.
