The Ultimate Choco-Chip Cookie Recipe

By Madison Shaw, 2023

Published 11/21/20

There are many chocolate chip cookie recipes out there, but none that I will more enthusiastically promote than Jacque Torres'. Torres is a master chocolatier, pastry chef, and Nailed It! judge. His recipe calls for two types of flour (bread flour and cake flour) so you know that it has got to be fancy. There's also two and a half sticks of butter in the dough, as well as high-quality chocolate. To be honest, I dumped a truckload of Kirkland Signature chocolate chips (from Costco, of course) in there instead, and... I have no words. Usually, I shape them into medium/small sized balls, garnish them with a pinch of salt, and bake in the oven for 10 minutes. With that method, the cookies come out with lovely golden-brown crust. When eaten fresh out of the oven, they are *chef's kiss*.

That's cool and all, but the 1/4 cup mounds of cookie hit different. When baked for 15-ish minutes, the outside has the perfect amount of slightly crunchy crust, and the inside is just barely cooked and gooey and soft. Sigh... I'm in love.

So please. Just bake these cookies. Your precarious mental health will thank you.

Editor's Note: You can make your own cake flour by removing two tablespoons of all-purpose flour and substituting in 2 tablespoons of cornstarch instead. Or you could just use regular all-purpose flour instead of bread flour and cake flour. The recipe's very forgiving. How badly could you mess up chocolate chip cookies?

Recipe:

2 cups minus 2 tablespoons (8 1/2 ounces) cake flour

1 2/3 cups (8 1/2 ounces) bread flour

1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 1/2 teaspoons coarse salt

2 1/2 sticks (1 1/4 cups) unsalted butter

1 1/4 cups (10 ounces) light brown sugar

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons (8 ounces) granulated sugar

2 large eggs

2 teaspoons natural vanilla extract

1 1/4 pounds bittersweet chocolate disks or féves, at least 60 percent cacao content (see note)

Sea salt.

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

2. Using a mixer fitter 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. Dough may be used in batches, and can be refrigerated for up to 72 hours.

3. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a nonstick baking mat. Set aside.

4. Scoop 6 3 1/2-ounce 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, 18-20 minutes. Transfer sheet to a wire rack for 10 minutes, then slip cookies onto another rack to cool a bit more. Repeat with the remaining dough, or reserve dough, refrigerated, for baking remaining batches the next day. Eat warm, with a big napkin.

Yield: 1 1/2 dozen 5-inch cookies.

Note: Disks are sold at Jacques Torres Chocolate; Valrhona féves, oval-shaped chocolate pieces, are at Whole Foods.