Baking Recipes,  Cookies

Mesmerized by these chocolatey Jacques Torres Chocolate Chip Cookies

If you’re in the mood for some of the most chocolatey choco chip cookies in town, look no further than the cult-fave Jacques Torres Chocolate Chip Cookies!



Apparently it is World Chocolate Day tomorrow, and I failed to get the memo! I am terrible with remembering all these food occasion holiday thingies. Although I am glad I at least get to join in on celebrating one of my favorite things in the world this year. Right now, there’s no other better way to do that than with these SUPER chocolatey Jacques Torres Chocolate Chip Cookies.

These are probably the most chocolatey of all choco chip cookies I’ve ever made. Instead of chips or chunks, his recipe asks you to use actual chocolate discs on your cookies. It may seem over the top at a glance, but with the right kind of chocolate, this will turn into one of your favorite choco chip cookies ever. There’s a reason why this recipe is a go-to for many people after all!

This recipe is actually quite popular because it got featured on the New York Times, but the version I made from many years ago looks really different from the ones I made this time around. These ones look more correct. The actual Jacques Torres Chocolate Chip Cookies are big and a little flatter, with giant pools of chocolate on top. I guess I did something wrong back then. Nonetheless, it’s a damn good cookie recipe, though it may feel a little more “finicky” than most.

[Check out my Choco Chip Cookie Recipe Collection!]

The story behind why I decided to remake these cookies is actually because of Netflix’s ‘Nailed It’ show. That show is occasionally painful for me to watch because there are some legit wtf moments in there! But if there is one takeaway I have from that show, it’s that Jacques Torres is a lovable bear. I had planned to visit his chocolate shop when I was in New York the last time, but time constraints didn’t give me the chance.

Watching ‘Nailed It‘ constantly makes me regret this missed opportunity, yet somehow this feels like a compromise of sorts. If I can’t try the famous Jacques Torres gourmet chocolates and bonbons, at least I can make the cookies that took the world by storm at one point in time.

I noticed some measurement differences between this recipe and the NY Times version I made before, but both cookies are pretty good. The major difference between this recipe and that one is that this recipe spreads quite a bit more, making you end up with thinner cookies. This is actually how Jacques makes his cookies based on the pictures I’ve seen, so now I’m wondering why the old recipe I made came out chunky. Well, this is the beauty of getting to revisit things huh?

Recipe notes

Okay, so the Jacques Torres Chocolate Chip Cookies starts out pretty much like any other choco chip cookie recipe. He has you sift the dry ingredients together in one bowl, and then creaming the sugars and butter in another. You want the butter and sugar to turn beautifully light and fluffy, so it will take some time to beat it to that state. I suggest using some equipment here so you don’t tire yourself out. More importantly, use good butter any time you make chocolate chip cookies. 

Once the eggs are added one at a time, add in the vanilla. You should get a really beautiful light and fluffy mixture like the one below. Absolutely DO NOT skimp on the creaming process! I have made many choco chip cookies at this point and I find that this is a crucial step in getting delicious and beautiful cookies every time.

Now we add in the flour but only mix until just combined, because the rest of the mixing will be done once the chocolate discs are added in. The ones I used are from my favorite local brand, Auro Chocolate. This isn’t a sponsored shoutout. I just love this brand so much I highly recommend you make use of their chocolate coins to make this recipe. Just make sure you use their 64% variant because the 55% tends to be a little too sweet for this recipe.

It is totally worth it to buy a big bag of Auro Chocolate coins like this one because you can use it for other recipes. You can also snack on it unabashedly like I do whenever I bake something with chocolate lol. I order mine from Karton.ph and at the time this 55% was the only one available. Totally delicious chocolate but again, with an already sweet cookie base, these make it that tad bit sweeter. Make sure you use chocolate with cacao that is above 60%, even up to 72%.

When you mix the discs into the dough, be careful not to break them into pieces. Use your spatula to really get into the dough and distribute the chocolate discs well throughout. Now you chill the dough to help it dry out or age. What this does is it helps the flavors of the cookie “ripen” or come out more. Baking cookie dough cold also helps it spread more nicely. I find that chilling the dough always gets me better cookies, so when a recipe says chill the dough, I ask no questions! Jacques actually recommends a 72-hour chill.

Now here’s where it gets tricky for me and the weather here in the Philippines. There are days when we go up to 40°C (that’s over 100°F for you guys that use that measurement) so you can imagine how hard it is to keep dough cold. Though the instructions say to portion out the cold dough right before baking, I make adjustments for the hot weather.

I take out my dough after chilling them in the bowl for anything between 24 to 72 hours, then I shape them all into balls. Some of them inevitably get soft thanks to the heat and the warmth of my hands. What I will do is I either pop them back into the freezer for 20 minutes if I’m in a hurry, or refrigerate them for 45 minutes in their portioned state. I start preheating my oven at this point.

I take another baking sheet, lined with parchment, and only take out the portions I will be baking for that batch from the main tray where all my chilled dough balls are. You have to check to make sure the dough balls are cold and firm before you proceed with baking. Keep the rest of the dough inside the fridge while you wait between batches. 

I portion my dough into 18 mounds, each weighing around 99 grams. These yield HUGE palm-sized cookies. You can probably get away with like 24 cookies portioned a little smaller. Make sure to lessen the baking time though. 

Now before you pop the cookies into the oven to bake, I highly recommend a sprinkling of sea salt on top. Most people are super generous with the sea salt when it comes to this recipe, but you can add as little as you want if you aren’t used to the idea. Just don’t skip it because it tastes to good with salt. You must TRUST ME! This is another important learning I got from all the choco chip cookie making I do. Adding a sprinkling of salt on top is now an SOP around here.

The best kind of salt to add texture wise is probably flaky sea salt. For the life of me I cannot find it in this country, so I always go with rock sea salt. The only issue with that is the sizes aren’t quite as uniform. Sometimes you get one chunk that’s a little too big, giving a surprise of saltiness in one bite compared to the next. However it always ends up making the flavors of the cookies come out more, so it’s all good.

The purpose of the salt is to help the flavors of the chocolate become more intense. It also balance the sweetness of the cookies as well. (Of course, using the right chocolate helps too!) I find I get a more intense caramel note as well when there’s salt involved. Once you start adding that sprinkle of salt to your cookies, you will start noticing the difference. That’s how it is for me and my brothers anyway. We always look for the boost the salt gives in cookies that aren’t sprinkled with them.

I feel kind of weird calling these chocolate CHIP cookies because that’s some legit chocolate pools on there. If you’re in the mood for some of the most insanely chocolatey choco chip cookies in town, look no further than these Jacques Torres Chocolate Chip Cookies. Crisper than the usual choco chip, with a barely chewy center, these are quite a treat. The amount of chocolate that goes into these cookies definitely make it worthy for World Chocolate Day!

Jacques Torres Chocolate Chip Cookies

Crisper than the usual choco chip with a barely chewy center, with intense pools of chocolate throughout. These choco chip cookies are quite a treat!

Makes 18 large or 24 medium cookies

Ingredients

  • 2 cups 240 grams cake flour
  • 2 cups 240 grams bread flour
  • teaspoons baking powder
  • teaspoons baking soda
  • teaspoons salt
  • cups 282 grams unsalted butter, softened
  • cups + 3 Tablespoons, 284 grams firmly packed light brown sugar
  • 1 cup + 2 Tablespoons, 227 grams granulated sugar
  • 2 large eggs, room temperature
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • pounds 570 grams bittersweet chocolate discs (at least 60% cacao)
  • Sea salt

Instructions

  • In a medium bowl, thoroughly whisk together (or sift together) the cake flour, bread flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
  • Using a stand mixer with the paddle attachment (or a hand mixer), beat together the butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add in the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Mix in the vanilla.
  • Remove the bowl from the stand mixer. Using a spatula, stir in the flour mixture, mixing just until combined. (Alternately, you can reduce mixer speed to low, then mix for about 10 seconds or until just combined.) Stir in the chocolate discs, trying not to break them.
  • Divide the dough into 18 (around 99-gram portions) using a ¼ cup-sized measuring cup, or 24 (about 75-gram portions) using an ice cream scooper. Place side by side in one baking pan; making sure there is enough room that the dough mounds aren’t pressed together. Cover the tray with plastic wrap, pressing the plastic directly against the dough. Chill for 24 to 72 hours.*
  • Once ready to bake, preheat oven to 350°F (180°C). Line baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone liner.
  • Place about 4 to 6 mounds of dough on the prepared pans. Depending on the size of your pan and whether you’re making large or medium cookies, make sure to give the cookies ample room to spread. Sprinkle the top of each cookie with a pinch of sea salt. (Keep the rest of the cookie dough in the fridge as they await their turn in the oven.)
  • Bake cookies 18 to 20 minutes (around 15 minutes for the medium ones), or until golden brown but still soft. Cool on the pans on a wire rack for 10 minutes, then transfer the cookies to a rack to cool completely. Enjoy these gooey and chocolate-y cookies with a cool glass of milk!

Notes

*In the original recipe, the dough is chilled before portioning, and then baked straight afterwards. Due to the hot weather where I live, the dough becomes soft way too quickly so I do a second round in the freezer (20 minutes) or fridge (45 minutes) after portioning to make sure I bake these cold. They come out best when baked cold.
Adapted from Jacques Torres via Bake or Break blog

Enjoyed this post? Follow me on social media for more! I’m on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube. See you around!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.