Classic Chocolate Chip Cookies

Chocolate chip cookies are fiercely competitive with one another. And why blame them? Everyone likes a good chocolate chip cookie, so cookies have had to step up their game. In a cut-throat cookie world where Google lists about 11 million links to “best chocolate chip cookies”, how does a binge-seeking baker separate the Toll House “please the masses” cookies from the serious “fancy pants” variety (not that there’s anything wrong with the good people who live in the Toll House)?

A batter that takes 24 – 36 hours to contemplate its greatness in the refrigerator before being baked definitely stands out.

This recipe has been annointed as one of the very bestest (by Google, and a few other million people), so I’ve brought it forth as a viable candidate for your “keep for life” recipe file. (You too should wait an unduly long amount of time for the dough to steep, so to speak- to feel my pain- and then be the judge as to whether or not they were worth your time. Obviously I think you’ll support the 1.5 day process, or I would have classified this as a recipe for disaster.)

Adapted from Jacques Torres’ recipe…

2 cups minus 2 tablespoons cake/pastry flour

1 2/3 cup bread flour

1 1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1 1/2 teaspoon coarse salt

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

1 1/4 cups light brown sugar, packed

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar

2 eggs

2 teaspoon natural vanilla extract

1 1/4 pounds (or 2 1/2 cups) bittersweet chocolate chips or chunks (at least 60 percent cacao content)

Sea salt for garnish (optional)
1. In a medium bowl, sift flours, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
2. Using a mixer fitted with paddle attachment, cream butter and sugars together until very light (about 5 minutes).
3. 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 – 10 seconds).
4. Drop chocolate chips/pieces in and mix until just combined.
5. Scoop tablespoon size amounts of dough onto parchment-lined baking sheets, wrapping with plastic wrap (or store dough balls into a container that you can comfortably store in the fridge). (You will likely scoop more dough mounds than you will actually bake onto each sheet; you can separate them before you bake them.)
6. Refrigerate for 24 – 36 hours. (Dough may be used in batches, and can be refrigerated for up to 72 hours or frozen & thawed in the fridge for use at a later time).
7. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350°. Spread 12 dough mounds onto each parchment-lined baking sheet, sprinkle lightly with sea salt (optional) and bake until golden brown but still soft, 10 – 12 minutes. Transfer sheet to a wire rack for 10 minutes, then slip cookies off sheet and onto the rack to cool.
Tips:
- The wait can be excruciating. There is no better way to describe it, because every time you open your fridge you’re reminded of what you can’t bake yet. I’m sorry, but all the reviews on this cookie recipe are adamant that you must wait. (I’m usually inclined to cheat in such areas- like maybe baking after 12 hours [which is still ridiculously long for a cookie dough batter to wait], but I refrained and was a good little baker. I think it paid off.)
  The spread factor was not that much of an issue with these cookies- likely because they were refrigerated for so long.
- Two kinds of flour. Really? I didn’t argue with the recipe. But what I will tell you is that some reviewers say that all-purpose works, too (as I’m really sure it does). I almost want to make a batch with the pastry/bread flour combo and a batch with the “commoner recipe” all-purpose flour and see if anyone in their right mind could tell the difference. I doubt I will ever make the time to do this. Could you do it and tell me how it turns out?
- As always, the quality of the chocolate dictates the quality of the dessert.
- What, no nuts? If nuts make you happy, then add them in. Same goes with toffee chunks (like in my Toffee Chocolate Chewy Cookies), and same goes with coconut or macadamia nuts & white chocolate, or even raisins. Or dried fruit- like maybe cranberries with slivered almonds (and a dash of almond extract)? You decide.
- Scooping before refrigerating? The original recipe requires you to scoop the dough after chilling it for 24 – 36 hours. I couldn’t fathom scooping hard mounds of dough out at that point, so I scooped first. I think I’m brilliant sometimes.
- Do tellwhat you thought of this recipe. Was it a crowd pleaser? Did you eat all the batter before baking any of it? Did you wait the 24 hour minimum? Did you polish every cookie off before they had a chance to cool properly? I must know.
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September 15th, 2012 | More Sweets Please | No Comments | Tags: Chocolate, Classics, Cookies