Jacques Torres Chocolate Chip Cookies
This is the quintessential chocolate chip cookie (yeah, I know, OneandahalfSlices probably doesn’t need another chocolate chip cookie recipe but this is unlikely to be the last…).
A few years back, thanks in large part to the New York Times, the baking world coalesced around Manhattan-based Chocolatier Jacques Torres’ chocolate chip cookie recipe, with its large, angular baking chips and its flat, disc-like appearance. And they were not wrong. Jacques Torres cookies are everything a cookie should be – large, crispy, with a perfectly balanced flavor and excellent chip-to-dough ratio. No complaints. Well, one complaint. Two flours are required, neither of which you are already likely to own. But if you make these a few times a year to freeze single-serving-style, it’s worth it to go the extra mile on the flour front. Bottom line, this is a reliable cookie that will not disappoint.
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what you need
2 scant cups cake flour
1 2/3 cups bread flour
1 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 1/4 cup butter, room temperature
1 1/4 cups light brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 dash cinnamon
12 oz chocolate chips of choice – the look and feel of these cookies is best with the thin Ghirardelli 60% baking bars chipped into chunks. I used 1 Ghirardelli bar and 1 cup of Ghirardelli semi-sweet baking chips (gold package).
how to make it
Heat oven to 350.
Mix flours, baking soda, baking powder, and cinnamon together with a whisk (plus some salt if using unsalted butter). In separate bowl, cream butter and sugars with hand mixer until fluffy. Add vanilla and eggs, and mix again until combined.
Using a spoon, mix the flor mixture into the sugar mixture until just combined. Add chocolate chips of choice and fold into the dough.
Chill dough overnight (ideally – I made them straight away and they are still good!). The flavors blend a bit more when the dough is allowed to rest chilled.
To make these cookies, you want your dough balls to be on the larger side: 3″-3.5″. Bake ~15 minutes until golden brown. If they are large, you may need to go up to 18 minutes.
Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ah, the elusive and controversial – almost biblical – chocolate chip cookie. There are sure to be several chocolate chip cookie posts on this blog before we are through. For a while there, I was captivated by the dueling flours of Jacques Torres chocolate chips cookies, popularized by the New York Times. I still maintain that the best chocolate chip cookie I have ever had is found in central Manhattan on the counters of Culture Espresso. But I am happy to say that my current favorite chocolate chip cookie is vegan! Accidentally, as it turns out. I did not make this recipe because it was vegan, but it turned out to be one of the best chocolate chip cookies I have ever tasted.
French Madeleines
“And once I had recognized the taste of the crumb of madeleine soaked in her decoction of lime-flowers which my aunt used to give me…immediately the old grey house upon the street, where her room was, rose up like the scenery of a theatre to attach itself to the little pavilion, opening on to the garden, which had been built out behind it for my parents (the isolated panel which until that moment had been all that I could see); and with the house the town, from morning to night and in all weathers, the Square where I was sent before luncheon, the streets along which I used to run errands, the country roads we took when it was fine…all from my cup of tea.”
– Marcel Proust, In Search of Lost Time, Swann’s Way
Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
Brown butter? What’s it for and is it worth it? The short answer is yes. Browning your butter gives your dough or batter this deep earthy, nutty quality that is… delicious. Okay, so is it difficult? Absolutely not. So why wouldn’t you brown your butter? At this point, I’m not sure. I’ll be browning my butter until further notice. This recipe yields a crispy cookie that is extra sweet and super flavorful.
