If you grind up chocolate in the food processor to make coarse shards of chocolate, and add that to your cookie dough instead of chocolate chips, you can make the ultimate chocolate chip cookies. Grated chocolate might be the best kept secret to making the best cookies!
Jacques Torres' chocolate chip cookie recipe published in a 2008 in the New York Times is ever-popular. The recipe seems pretty standard, just like most other chocolate chip cookie recipes, a simple list of ingredients and nothing different from most other recipes. And yet, when you start to analyze it, you'll see there's actually more to it.
The type of flour
One thing that sets the Jacques Torres recipe apart from the rest is that it combines bread flour and cake flour to make the dough, instead of just using all-purpose flour. And though all-purpose flour would be a descent baking substitution for the combination of flours, protein-wise, in terms of starches, it doesn't match up:
- cake flour is higher in starch and lower in protein, and it's a very fine, soft flour, that would add a lighter, cakey texture to cookies
- bread flour is lower in starch but higher in protein, and has a great capacity for absorbing water that is prone to gluten development . By combining the two flours, you can see how they each bring different properties that all-purpose can't.
Still, I am pretty lazy, so I'm giving you the option of either using only all-purpose, or using a 50/50 mix of bread and cake flour. I used all-purpose to develop my big fat chewy chocolate chip cookies, but I also tested spelt flour for spelt chocolate chip cookies.
Chilling the dough
There's another point in the recipe technique that sets the Jacques Torres chocolate chip cookie recipe apart: a rest period of 24–72 hours for the dough prior to baking. This means the recipe takes planning. If you want cookies now, sure this technically would work, but the results won't be the same.
Resting the dough transforms a good old chocolate chip cookie dough into the perfect cookie: crispy, chewy, sweet, salty, chocolaty. The texture of the rested dough is completely different from that of a freshly prepared batch. It's definitely worth the wait. I find it easier to portion out the dough before resting, personally. Better yet, always have a batch of the rested dough on hand, pre-scooped and frozen.
Then all you have to do is place the scoops on a parchment-lined baking sheet and bake them, when the craving strikes. The baking time varies depending on if your dough is chilled or frozen. Sometimes I prefer letting the dough warm up slightly at room temperature (while the oven preheats) so that the cookies can spread a little as they bake before setting. This way your cookies aren't so squat.
The chocolate: chocolate chips vs grated chocolate
For this recipe, I tested two types of chocolate: whole chocolate chips versus dark chocolate that was grated into shards in the food processor. The cookies were made from the same batch, split in half prior to adding the chocolate:
- to half the dough, I added dark chocolate chips
- to the other half, the same amount of dark chocolate chips that I had ground up in the food processor
The ground dark chocolate render the cookie slightly less sweet. I think I might have preferred these to the chocolate chips, especially that 70 % dark chocolate is much less sweet than chocolate chips.
Normally I chop chocolate to incorporate it into cookie doughs, but the grated chocolate brought more chocolate flavour to them and gave the cookies a greater bitter-sweet character which, dare I say, might put these in the category of the ultimate chocolate chip cookies.
The ultimate chocolate chip cookies
Equipment
Ingredients
- 500 grams (4 cups) all-purpose flour or use half bread flour and half cake flour
- 7.5 mL (1½ teaspoon) baking powder
- 7.5 mL (1½ teaspoon) Diamond Crystal fine kosher salt
- 6.25 mL (1¼ teaspoon) baking soda
- 290 grams (1¼ cups) unsalted butter 2 ½ sticks, room temperature
- 300 grams (1½ cups) light brown sugar
- 200 grams (1 cup) granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs room temperature
- 10 mL (2 teaspoon) pure vanilla extract
- 570 grams (1¼ lbs) dark chocolate chips either whole or ground in the food processor
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, whisk together flour(s), baking powder, salt, and baking soda. Set aside.
- In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together the butter and sugars for at least 5 minutes, or until the mixture becomes very light in color.
- Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing well and scraping down the bowl between each addition with a spatula.
- Add the vanilla, and beat again.
- With the mixer on low, slowly add the dry mixture, scraping down the bowl as needed.
- Add the chocolate and mix to incorporate (whether chips or chocolate shards).
- Portion out the dough and roll into 60 balls. Place in an air-tight container and refrigerate for 36 to 72 hours.
- To bake, preheat the oven to 350°F. Place portions of cookie dough on a sheet pan about 1 inch apart on a Silpat-lined cookie sheet or parchment lined.
- Bake the cookies for about 18 minutes until the edges are golden brown (less time if baking on parchment). Place the sheet on a wire rack to cool slightly before enjoying.
- Alternatively, freeze the balls of cookie dough on a baking sheet, then transfer to a tupperware to store in the freezer for when you need a cookie or two.
Ann says
I'm glad you and the cat are okay and reunited! Who knew that resting cookie dough would do so much! I wonder if it would work for other cookie doughs? Love it and buzzed it!
S.V. says
Thank goodness after all the madness there will always be cookies.
Kelly @ Eat Yourself Skinny says
Love this recipe!! After a crazy day like that I'd make cookies too! 🙂
Terra says
I do agree, cookies can calm the soul! Something about those delicious treats that make me smile:-) In our home, chocolate chip cookies, and brownies make our home feel so much more cozy! Your cookies look so packed full of Chocolatey happiness, love that!
Hugs, Terra
Winelady Cooks says
How stressful for you and even for your cat. You were right to focus on chocolate chip cookies. They always help to make things a little better. This recipe looks great, and the wait time can work for me. I can whip up the dough and get on with my day.
Thanks for sharing and I hope things are better for you.
Cake Duchess says
That must have been so scary for you and your kitty. I bake pies or banana breads. My mom makes the best chocolate chip cookies. This recipe is one I must try b/c they look delicious!:)Have a great weekend!
Susan says
Gotta love the classics! Nothing says home like one of these. Cookies solve all of the world's problems... well, except for weight gain but, let's not talk about that.
The Procrastobaker says
I love the way that its the same recipe but could pass off as 2 different cookies, makes it look all the more impressive if guests came round 🙂 Gorgeous recipe indeed and lovely photos 🙂
Carolyn Jung says
Jacques Torres can do no wrong. The man just has a way with chocolate. 😉
Jamie says
Whenever we go out of town, I am always terrified that our son will lock himself out of the apartment... meaning Marty the Boston gets locked inside. Yipes! Terrified! I always give a set of keys to one of his friends. And you are so right that chocolate chip cookies must be the ultimate comfort food. My younger son will soon be home and he is always begging for cc cookies. I'll make these. They look fabulous!
Rose Forever says
That is the problem with old locks! In any moment you can end up stuck outside! The recipe is just delightful and I always feel like home when I bake something in the oven and feel the smell of fresh baked spreading in the house!
Rose White says
I always get so calm when I bake! It's an easy way to relax and nothing can describe home better than fresh cookie smell from the oven!
Tabby Plush says
Looking at those cookies I can imagine that is one crunchy cookie but chewy in the inside. Am I right? I want to make a perfect cookie that has a texture like that. I can't wait to try this and take a bite on my own. Yum!
Jan says
@Tabby Plush Crunchy with a chewy middle is absolutely the right way to describe these! They certainly aren't raw-chewy... I love them. Honestly. I actually have an extra batch frozen, frozen as scoops, ready to be baked 😉
Spinet Grand says
Oh my! Oh my! This will be a big threat on my figure but no one can stop me on trying this recipe. So tempting and I can't wait to eat lots of these.
Anonymous says
At any time I often have several bags of cookie dough balls in my freezer. Great for a small treat from the toaster oven or, more realistically, an assortment in a hurry for impromptu guests. Cleaning is my nemesis: set up the recipes side-by-side, chop all nuts in sequence, set aside, cream sugar/butters separately, add "fixings" either by hand or in order of messiness/taste. One massive prep/cleanup, then reap the rewards for weeks with only a dirty Silpat or a few pieces of parchment.