Hello hello! Right now I am enjoying my first cup of coffee of the day, listening to the rain, and taking in the aroma of the most heavenly chocolate chip cookies baking in the oven. I've been feeling a bit under the weather these past few days - no pun intended - and haven't been cooking as much as I would like. However, tonight I managed to cook dinner; two types of pasta dishes, fresh Focaccia bread, and a crisp artisan salad. We were all hungry by the time it was finished cooking and I forgot to snap a picture of it for you guys. Sorry! Next time it's made I will share it with you along with the recipe. It's become a favorite in this house.
While perusing Pinterest a couple weeks ago I found a pin for Jacques Torres' Secret Chocolate Chip Cookie and they looked divine! So, guess what I made tonight when I was wanting something sweet? http://pinterest.com/pin/78039006013541499/
Okay enough with all that jazz; let's get to the good stuff. Now I love a good chocolate chip cookie, but it has to fit my criteria: thick and chewy with equal proportions of chocolate to cookie, and most importantly NO add-ins. I've tried several recipes in the past but none of them even come close to this one. The best part? They are 5" cookies packed with chocolate in every bite. Now that is what I call a cookie.
There were a few tips on the blog where I got the recipe from. I didn't follow them because I was a.) too impatient, b.) was not going to leave the house in the pouring rain to get pastry flour from the store, and c.) I had several bags of chocolate chunks and large chips on hand, so I used those in place of the bulk chocolate piece. Needless to say these cookies turned out without following the tips. I can only imagine how good they would be if they were followed. I have listed them for you if you would like to give them a try.
The following tips are from the original blog post on Tender Crumb.
- Don't substitute the pastry and bread flours w. AP flour. I really believe that the combination of the pastry and bread flours give the cookie a nice slightly crunchy exterior giving way to a really tender middle.
- Hand chopped chocolate chunks, NOT premade chips - I will purchase a hunk of the best bittersweet chocolate that I can afford and hand cut them into chunks. The easiest method to chop a block of chocolate: nuke the block at 50% power for a few seconds, no more. It softens the chocolate just enough. Then take a large kitchen knife and chop away! Your effort will be rewarded with really nice ribbons of melted chocolate throughout the cookie.
- Chill the cookie dough at least 24 hours (I let my dough sit anywhere from 2-3 days) before baking. This is not for taste reasons that were recently written about in an article from NY Times (god forbid we're aging cookie dough...let's leave that for wine and cheese). IMHO, refrigeration makes a difference with the look and texture. I think the dough sets in a way so when you bake the cookies, you end up with the lovely wrinkles and folds as the balls of dough spread and bake
As I said, I did not have pastry flour on hand so I used 1 1/3cup of unbleached all-purpose flour and 2/3cup of cake flour to make 2cups of a pastry flour substitute. I also used Ghirardelli Bittersweet, Semi-sweet, and Milk chocolate pieces. Everyone in my house likes a different type of chocolate so I used the three favorite. As soon as I mixed the dough, I used a 1/4c ice cream scoop to measure the cookie dough. I started to get excited when I saw them start to spread every so slightly as they were baking and I was afraid that with a pound of butter that they would spread more than they did. But they kept a nice puff to them and browned lightly around the edges. I was also afraid that with using "pastry flour" and bread flour that they would be too dense, but I was surprised to find that they were airy in the center. I must admit that I had doubts about them as I was preparing them, but trust me, these will turn out to be the best chocolate chip cookie you have ever made. If anyone tells you they haven't ever been wowed by the homely chocolate chip cookie, hand them one of these and let them be blown away.
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Enjoy!
Jacques Torres' Secret Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe
Makes twenty-six 5-inch cookies or 8 1/2 dozen 1 1/4-inch cookies
Ingredients
1lb unsalted butter
1 3/4c granulated sugar
2 1/4c packed light-brown sugar
4 large eggs
3c pastry flour
3c bread flour
1tbs salt
2tsp baking powder
2tsp baking soda
1tbs pure vanilla extract
2lbs bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
Directions
-Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line baking sheets with parchment paper or nonstick baking mats and set aside.
-In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream together butter and sugars.
-Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition.
-Reduce speed to low and add both flours, baking powder, baking soda, vanilla, and chocolate; mix until well combined.
-Using a 4-ounce scoop for larger cookies or a 1-ounce scoop for smaller cookies, scoop cookie dough onto prepared baking sheets, about 2 inches apart.
-Bake until lightly browned, but still soft, about 20 minutes for larger cookies and about 15 minutes for smaller cookies.
-Cool slightly on baking sheets before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
