Charlie: So, Lieutenant, where exactly were you?

Maverick: Well, WE —

Goose: Thank you.

Maverick: — started up on his six, when he pulled through the clouds, and then I moved in above him.

Charlie: Well, if you were directly above him, how could you see him?

Maverick: Because I was inverted.

Iceman: (cough) B———t.

Goose: No, he was, man. It was a really great move. He was inverted.

Charlie: You were in a 4G inverted dive with a MiG-28?

Maverick: Yes, ma’am.

Charlie: At what range?

Maverick: About two meters.

Goose: Well, it’s actually about one and a half, I think. It was one and a half. I’ve got a great Polaroid of it, and he’s, he’s right there. Must be one and a half.

Maverick: It was a nice picture….

Goose: Thanks, man. I like my pictures….

-scene from Top Gun (but you already knew that)

So, while I’d never turn away a chocolate chip cookie, Christmas calls for something a bit more special on the cookie tray. Instead of a pale dough with brown chips, this cookie consists of a deep, dark chocolate dough studded with sweet white chocolate chunks – an inverted chocolate chunk cookie if you will. And, oh, you will!

Inverted Chocolate Chunk Cookies

adapted from Ina Garten in Barefoot Contessa Parties

makes about 36 cookies

• 2 sticks (8 ounces) unsalted butter, softened
• 1 cup (7 ounces) light brown sugar, packed
• 1 cup (7 ounces) granulated sugar
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 2 eggs, room temperature
• 2 cups (10 ounces) flour
• 2/3 cup (2¼ ounces) Dutch-process cocoa
• 2 teaspoons expresso powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 2 cups (12 ounces) good white chocolate, coarsely chopped
• flaky sea salt
• crushed candy canes or peppermints

Preheat the oven to 350°F.

Cream the butter and both sugars until light and fluffy. Add the vanilla, then the eggs, one at a time, and mix well. Whisk together the flour, cocoa, espresso powder, baking soda, and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ones and stir until just combined. Fold in the chopped white chocolate.

Scoop the dough on a baking sheet lined with a Silpat or parchment paper, leaving a bit of extra room between the cookies as they will spread. Bake for about 10 minutes (the cookies will seem underdone in the middle but the edges will have set). Remove from the oven and sprinkle immediately with flaky sea salt and crushed candy canes. Let cool about 5 minutes on the pan, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.