Chocolate Chip Cookies by Jacques Torres

The instant I saw a picture of these cookies online I knew they were going to be something special.  And they are!  These cookies by Jaques Torres are special enough to be crowned the New York Times BEST Chocolate Chip cookie, and I can see why.  They aren't just studded with dinky little chocolate chips like most chocolate chip cookies, these ones are fully loaded with chocolate.  Seriously!  These cookies use chopped chocolate rather than chips, which really boots the chocolate flavour.  Just as I was about to dump all of the chopped chocolate into the dough my husband gasped and said "You're not going to put ALL of that in there are you?  It won't all fit!"  To be honest I had my doubts as well, and even double checked to make sure I didn't mis-read the recipe.  Nope!  These cookies had 1 1/4 pounds (nearly 600 grams of chocolate) of chocolate folded into the dough!  

So lets face it - realistically these can't really be considered a chocolate chip cookie.  They're more like a chocolate bar with a bit of chewy dough wrapped around it!  Mmmm delicious!  These cookies are a whole lot of amazing wrapped up in a little package.

The key to what makes these cookies so unique and delicious is that the dough is aged for at least 2-3 days.  Yes, that's right - these cookies are like a fine wine, they get better with age.  The only unfortunate thing is knowing that you've got to live with the fact that there's a big batch of cookie dough in the fridge that you can't bake and eat for a few days.  Talk about torture!  The other key to these cookies is that they use 2 different types of flour - bread flour and cake flour.  For some strange reason cake flour isn't available in the UK, but the standard substitute of a little cornstarch (aka cornflour) mixed in with plain all purpose flour works just as well.

There actually is a scientific reason why these cookies get better with age, and you can read about it here if you're interested.  

The recipe below was originally published in the New York Times back way back in 2008.  I made my cookies a bit smaller than the recommended size, so adjusted the cooking time accordingly (see my notes below in grey).

Jacques Torres' Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients:

2 Cups minus 2 Tbsp Cake Flour 

or 

1/4 Cup (35g) Cornstarch/Cornflour plus 1 3/4 Cup (225g) Plain All Purpose Flour*  Sift the cornstarch and flour together so they're mixed well and then remove 2 Tbsp of the flour mixture to reach the original required amount.

1 2/3 Cups (210g) Bread Flour 

1 1/4 tsp Baking Soda 

1 1/2 tsp Baking Powder 

1 1/2 tsp salt 

1 1/4 Cups (284g) Unsalted Butter 

1 1/4 Cups (250g) Light Brown Sugar 

1 Cup + 2 Tbsp (195g + 2Tbsp) Castor Sugar 

2 Large Eggs 

2 tsp Vanilla Extract 

1 1/4 Pounds (570g) Dark Chocolate Disks - at least 60% cacao content.  I used a combination of chopped 70% dark chocolate squares from about a few good quality chocolate bars, and some giant Cadbury Chocolate Buttons. Each square was roughly 1"x1.5". 

Fleur de Sel or Kosher Salt to sprinkle on top

Instructions:

1.  Sift flours, baking soda, baking powder and salt into a bowl. Set aside.

2.  Using a mixer fitted with paddle attachment, cream butter and sugars together until very light, about 5 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Stir in the vanilla. Reduce speed to low, add dry ingredients and mix until just combined, 5 to 10 seconds. Drop chocolate pieces in and incorporate them without breaking them. Press plastic wrap against dough and refrigerate for 24 to 36 hours. (Best at 36 hours!). Dough may be used in batches, and can be refrigerated for up to 72 hours. (I ended up refrigerating mine for 72 hours as I just didn't have time to bake them!)

3.  When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350ºF (175ºC). Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a nonstick baking mat. Set aside.

4.  Scoop 6  3 1/2oz (100g) mounds of dough (the size of generous golf balls) onto baking sheet, making sure to turn horizontally any chocolate pieces that are poking up; it will make for a more attractive cookie. Sprinkle lightly with sea salt and bake until golden brown but still soft, 18 to 20 minutes. Transfer sheet to a wire rack for 10 minutes, then slip cookies onto another rack to cool a bit more. Repeat with remaining dough, or reserve dough, refrigerated, for baking remaining batches the next day.  *Since UK cookie sheets are smaller than North American cookie sheets I made my cookies smaller, and even then I could only fit 3 per sheet.  I opted to make my cookies using dough balls that weighed 75g each and reduced the baking time to approx 12 minutes - just until the cookies began to brown around the edges. My cookies were still pretty big.  I can't imagine how big they would have been if I made them 100g as originally called for.  Eat warm, with a BIG napkin.

These cookies really are the best chocolate chip cookie I've tasted (I mean regular chocolate chip cookies, and not double chocolate chip cookies because my favourite chocolate dough based cookies are my Quadruple Chocolate Chip Cookies that I blogged about in May).