Get ready for the best chunky chocolate cookie of your life!
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Ok. I’ve been hearing about this famous Chocolate Chip Cookie by Jacques Torres for like EVER and now I finally get to put them to the test. Even the New York Times found them worthy enough to publish so I knew that they had to be just outta this world good! I’ve certainly been on the hunt for the perfect chocolate chip base cookie. A confection with a slight crisp exterior and a soft, tender interior were my top requirements. It was important that they didn’t harden as fast as they cooled and that were still just as tasty the next day. I noticed that this recipe required a MAJOR planning session. Who mixes cookie dough 2 full days before you actually need them?!?!? Well this guy, Jacques is a genius! Something about allowing the dough to rest in the fridge as long as possible is the trick to making the PERFECT cookie! I even read that Toll House removed this original requirement from their recipe but this step just can’t be compromised. IT’S IMPERATIVE FOLKS!! Get ready for pure bliss all in a little 3.5 ounce package. 🙂 So take out your trusty planners and let’s get started!! 🙂
This is the first time that I actually measured out my ingredients on a scale to ensure that I didn’t incorporate too much of any one ingredient. This is important to guarantee accuracy and consistency in the finished product. Start by sifting 8.5 ounces of cake flour into a large bowl. YEP, cake flour! I’ve been using more of this trusty flour in all of my baking. It just seems to produce a more tender crumb than the typical all purpose flour. Now sift 8.5 ounces of bread flour into the same bowl along with 1 and 1/4 tsp. of baking soda, 1 and 1/2 tsp. of baking powder and 1 and 1/2 tsp. of kosher salt. Set aside.
Now let’s cream 2 and a half sticks of softened, unsalted butter in the bowl of an electric mixture that’s been fitted with a paddle attachment along with 10 ounces of light brown sugar and 8 ounces of granulated sugar until the mixture is light and whippy. Sorry guys! What a run on!! 🙂 Add the room temperature eggs one at a time and mix well until completely combined. Stir in the beans scraped from a 2 inch vanilla bean on low. Now add your dry ingredients to the mixer and combine just until mixed well. Add 1 and 1/4 pounds of good quality 60-66% cacao disks that have been chopped to create small chocolate chunks. This part was so much fun! I chopped in pure expectation of what was about to go down!!! Then I folded in 1 and 1/2 cups of toasted walnuts, which are totally optional but highly encouraged. My momma would never dream of eating a cookie without adding her favorite nut, the walnut! This addition was right on the money! Sooooo good!!! Right, momma? Cover the bowl with saran wrap; pressing it against the dough and place it in the fridge.
Now comes the hard part, not baking them until the end of day two. It’s not easy looking at them EVERY TIME you open that fridge, wondering, “Should I!?” Nope, don’t even think about baking these until you’ve reached the 48 hour mark. Remember “Love is patient, love is kind…” – 1 Corinthians 13:4 Love is also serving your family and friends these delicious cookies. They will love you forever! We even shared them with our church faith group and they wouldn’t stop talking about them…Tim/Harold. 🙂 They’re just THAT good!
After two LONG days, let’s get back to it! Remove the bowl from the fridge and scoop 6 mounds (3.5 ounces of dough) for each cookie! (Yes, you need that scale again!) They should look like oversized golf balls! 🙂 Yowzers!!! Be still my little heart!! Make these to order as you can refrigerate the dough for up 72 hours. I love having a fresh, warm cookie available on demand. So yummy! Place the golf balls, I mean cookie balls on a cookie sheet lined with a Silpat or parchment paper. Make sure that they’re spread apart so that they don’t meld together while baking. Sprinkle each one with coarsely ground sea salt and place in a 350 degree oven for 17.5 minutes. Yep, that half minute is just as important as the 17 preceding it. 🙂 They should be golden brown and may appear to be slightly underdone. Just go with it folks! Transfer the entire baking sheet to a cooling rack and allow them 10 minutes to cool before placing each individual cookie on another cooling rack. Now grab yourself a TALL glass of milk or a BIG scoop of ice cream! 🙂 Say Grace and enjoy!!
Chunky Chocolate Walnut Cookies
Ingredients
- 8.5 ounces cake flour
- 8.5 ounces bread flour
- 1 and 1/4 tsp. baking soda
- 1 and 1/2 tsp. baking powder
- 1 and 1/2 tsp. kosher salt
- 2 and 1/2 sticks unsalted butter softened
- 10 ounces light brown sugar
- 8 ounces granulated sugar
- 2 eggs room temperature
- 2 inch vanilla bean seeds scraped
- 1 and 1/4 pounds good quality 60-66% cacao disks chopped
- 1 and 1/2 cups of walnuts toasted
- coarsely ground sea salt for sprinkling
Instructions
- Sift cake flour, bread flour, baking soda, baking powder and kosher salt into a large bowl. Set aside.
- Cream butter and sugars in the bowl of an electric mixture that's been fitted with a paddle attachment until light and whippy.
- Add eggs one at a time and mix well until completely combined.
- Stir in the beans from a 2 inch vanilla bean on low.
- Add dry ingredients to the mixer and combine just until mixed well.
- Stir chopped chocolate and walnuts in by hand
- Place bowl covered with plastic wrap in fridge
- After 48 hours, remove the bowl from the fridge. Dough will be extremely firm.
- Measure and scoop 3.5 ounces of dough for each cookie
- Place cookies on a cookie sheet lined with a Silpat or parchment paper. Make sure that they're spread apart so that they don't meld together while baking.
- Sprinkle each one with coarsely ground sea salt and place in a 350 degree oven for 17.5 minutes. They should be golden brown and may appear to be slightly underdone.
- Transfer the entire baking sheet to a cooling rack and allow them 10 minutes to cool before placing each individual cookie on another cooling rack for a few minutes more. Serve with milk or ice cream. Say Grace and enjoy!!
Adapted from New York Times recipe
jaysbakingmecrazy says
These look so good! I love that the dough chills for 48 hours- I think that results in the best cookies! That sprinkle of sea salt on top looks like the perfect finishing touch!
Felesha Bell says
Hey Jessica! It certainly made for the perfect cookie – served warm or room temp. I took them to a Faith group meeting and they went super fast! I’m so happy to have found a recipe that crowds will enjoy for fellowship parties to come! Thanks for stopping by!:)