I made the Jacques Torres Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe aka NY Times Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe. Are they the best cookie? I actually think they might be. Fussy and time consuming, but 100% worth it!
These cookies are incredible but these are still my favorite chocolate chip cookies.
The Famous Jacques Torres Chocolate Chip Cookies
Can you believe after all the years I’ve been baking cookies I have never once fallen victim to the hype of the famous (or infamous) Jacques Torres Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe? It was just one of those cookie recipes that was annoying to me in SO many ways. Two types of flour? Annoying. Multiple days of chill time? Eye roll. Special chocolate? Pretentioussssss. Yet here I am. Fully admitting that I was wrong. I mean, the NY Times declared it the best…so it was definitely worth a go!
What Changed My Mind?
Here’s the deal. When I did my Best Online Bakery Challenge a few weeks ago, Jacques Torres was one of the cookies we ordered. Friends, they were BAD. Totally stale. They had clearly been sitting on the shelf for at least a week before they even shipped out. BUT, I knew they had crazy potential. The chocolate ratio, the perfect size and thickness…I could tell that if these cookies were fresh, they would have been contenders. But they weren’t, and that challenge was all about what to buy online.
Anyhow, I knew I had to finally try the dang recipe. So I did. And then I did again. And then again 2 more times. Because people, they are good. Also, I wanted to test some shortcut options to give you. Unfortunately, I really have none. You need to follow it as-is. I’ll tell you why.
Why Two Types of Flour?
The Jacques Torres chocolate chip cookie recipe calls for 2 types of flour. This was the biggest hump for me. I was like COME ON NOW.
You use a combo of bread flour and cake flour. The difference in these is the protein content which is what is related to the amount of gluten that is formed. For example, bread flour has 14-16% protein, and cake flour has 7-8%. To create a dense, chewy bread, you will use bread flour, because as the dough is kneaded the amount of gluten that is formed creates the texture. And likewise, with a cake, you use cake flour because it has a lower protein amount, also you mix it much less to produce less gluten, giving it an airy, soft texture.
My point is, all purpose flour has 10-12% protein…so I thought why go to all the trouble of using these two flours when I could use all purpose and it’s basically right there in the middle. Makes sense, right?
Well, when I made the cookies for the first time I followed it to a “t”. The second time I started experimenting. Out went the bread and cake flour, and in went the all purpose. Were the cookies bad? No. Were they as good as the bread/cake flour combo? No. The texture with the all purpose produced a good, fairly typical cookie. The combo of the two gave the edges a chewy texture, with the center still soft and gooey. I don’t know the science and magic behind it, but it’s definitely worth the trouble.
Why Chill the Cookie Dough?
Second, I tried them without chilling. Again, were they bad? No. Were they AS good as the chilled dough? No. The flavor in the chilled cookies was noticeably richer, because as the dough chills, it dries out slightly concentrating the flavor, and giving you crispier, chewier edges. Also chilling the dough gives the gluten in the dough a chance to relax, again, adding to the crispier texture of the edges. And the color deepens as well, so you have a beautiful deep colored cookie, as opposed to a pale one.
One slight change I made to the recipe (and think is an improvement) is using chopped dark chocolate instead of chunks or disks. The difference in taste is only slight, but I preferred the look of the chopped chocolate cookie. The chopped chocolate cookie (which is what is photographed here) is just pretttttyyyy.
What Kinds of Sugar to Use
The slightly unusual measurements of the sugars was kind of silly to me, to be honest. I mean, 1 cup, plus 2 tablespoons of granulated sugar? So, I tried it with just a cup for simplicity. Did it make an enormous difference? Again, no. But that extra 2 tablespoons, I guess just adds to the magic. The more sugar in a cookie recipe adds to the spread, browning, and crispiness of the edge. So go the extra mile and measure out the two tablespoons.
Salted or Unsalted Butter?
Also unsalted butter…I am a huge baking no-no in many ways, and using salted butter is one of them. I pretty much always use salted. Sue me. BUT I did try the unsalted in the recipe with the salt that was listed in the original recipe and added the flaked salt on top, as stated. I didn’t notice too much of a difference when I used salted on another batch and omitted the additional salt in the original recipe (but still sprinkled sea salt on top), so I don’t think this is a huge issue.
So I guess my takeaway on this chocolate chip cookie recipe is DEFINITELY try them. Measure the flour properly with the spoon and sweep method. Don’t pack your flour today or EVER. Also, use your food scale to measure the cookie weight. And buy the dang bread & cake flour.
They aren’t an everyday recipe in a pinch, but they are absolutely the cookie you make when you’re looking to impress.
xo
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Jacques Torres Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 18 minutes
- Total Time: 28 minutes
- Yield: 20 cookies 1x
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: American
Description
I made the Jacques Torres Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe aka NY Times Chocolate Chip Cookie. Are they the best chocolate chip cookie? I actually think they might be. Fussy and time consuming, but 100% worth it!
Ingredients
- 2 cups minus 2 tablespoons (8 ½ ounces) cake flour
- 1 2/3 cups bread flour
- 1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 1/4 cups butter, room temperature (I used salted)
- 1 1/4 cups light brown sugar
- 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 1 ¼ pounds chopped dark or semi-sweet chocolate chunks or disks
- flaked sea salt to sprinkle
Instructions
- In a large bowl, sift together (or whisk) the cake flour, bread flour, baking soda, and baking powder. Set aside.
- In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment mix the butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar together for 5 minutes, until light and fluffy. Add in the eggs one at a time until mixed, and then vanilla. Continue mixing for an additional minute, scraping the sides as necessary.
- Turn mixer to low and add in the flour mixture, until just combined. Fold in the chocolate until evenly incorporated. Cover and chill dough for 24-72 hours.
- When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Allow the chilled dough to sit out at room temperature for 20-30 minutes before baking to soften slightly. Scoop out 3.5 ounces of dough for each cookie, using a large cookie scoop. This is approximately 1/4 cup. Place mounds onto your baking sheet, spacing them 3- inches apart.
- Bake cookies for 15-18 minutes, until the edges are golden. Turn your baking sheet 180- degrees once, halfway through baking.
- Remove from the oven and immediately sprinkle with sea salt. Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
Notes
Instead of chilling the dough in a large bowl, you can scoop and measure your dough right away and chill it in prepared mounds on a large baking sheet until ready to bake. Baking chilled dough produces a slightly thicker cookie than room temperature dough.
Store airtight for up to 3 days.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 Cookie
- Calories: 222
- Sugar: 9.6 g
- Sodium: 91.4 mg
- Fat: 12.2 g
- Carbohydrates: 25.7 g
- Protein: 2.7 g
- Cholesterol: 49.1 mg
Have you tried freezing these cookies? I’d like to store them for a week or two while I finish all of the components for holiday cookie assortments for my kids’ teachers.
I have never frozen them, but I would say they would certainly be fine frozen!!
I’m trying to figure out what one and 1/4 pound is in chocolate most of the bars say 4 ounces semi sweet morsels are 12 ounces do you just do two bags of the morsels or four bars of chocolate
1 1/4 pounds is equal to 20 ounces of chocolate 🙂
Great! I’m guessing you used a medium scoop (not sure how many ounces that is)? How much did you have to adjust the baking time? Thanks for the quick answer!
Yes, a medium, 2-tablespoon scoop! I decreased the bake time to 12 minutes for my oven!
I saw in a comment above that you were going to make a smaller version of this cookie and report back on how it turns out vs the size of the original recipe. Did you ever give it a try?
I did!! And they turned out PERFECT!
This is my absolute favorite Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe. A lot of people complain about the two types of flour and the adding and subtracting of the sugar etc. But after making this recipe and others that have weights available I have grown to love weighing my ingredients vs measuring . I love my digital scale and use it all of the time. I think there can be variation in flours these days and the weighing really helps with consistency. If you go back to his original recipe it is in weights and it makes more sense when you see that it is equal amounts of flour per weight.
P.S. I use salted butter all of the time too!
Do you need to brown the butter fro this?
You don’t need to, but you certainly could!
I didn’t see a response to the salt question. Is salt an ingredient or just the flaked salt at the end? Thank you.
Hey! Nestly has new chocolate chips out, they are a high-end one I think with only ‘natural’ ingredients. Have you (or anyone else) heard of these, tried them or recommend them?
Thanks so much!
I haven’t tried them, but I will definitely look for them next time I’m at the store!
Shelly, do you recommend a chocolate brand for this? It seems like this recipe is mostly used with Valhrhona feves. I priced them on Amazon and they’re forty dollars for two pounds! I’m thinking of scaling back to Ghiradelli, Guittards, or even Trader Joe’s giant chocolate bars because who wants to go broke making cookies. Do you think it would make a real difference?
I have never used the Valhrhona feves…For the cookies that are in the pictures I used the TJs bar! BUT I also have used both Ghirardelli and Guittard as well, because I feel like those are both superior supermarket chocolates. I really love the TJs bars though, because chopping up the chocolate bar you get not only the chunks, but all the little flakes of chocolate that make these so pretty!
Followed recipe to the letter and it was sooooo worth the extra time and fuss. Hubby’s opinion will decide if this becomes the go-to cookie recipe for our family!
Thank you for posting!