Revisiting these fabulous Bouchon Bakery Chocolate Chip Cookies after 8+ years.
When I first made these Bouchon Bakery Chocolate Chip Cookies in late 2013, I made a bold declaration: I named these cookies “the one”. Between then and now, I have made quite a bit more chocolate chip cookie recipes and discovered new favorites. Since I haven’t made these in a long time, I decided to refresh my memory as to how these cookies compare to my new favorites, and boy does it have some stiff competition now.
Although these cookies have been pushed down several spots in the “rankings” I keep in my head, it’s undeniable this recipe has its own charms. I’m not trying to say at all that I think these cookies aren’t good anymore. In fact, I would go as far as saying these Bouchon Bakery Chocolate Chip Cookies are still pretty fantastic in my book. It’s why I ended up determined to give them the justice they deserve with nicer photos compared to the ones I had in my original post. It’s just that now I have a different favorite recipe and a couple of others below that.
Still, these are as good as I remember them to be.
You know how choco chip cookie recipes these days seem to have these secret ingredients and/or techniques that differentiate them from their, uh, peers? Well in the case of these cookies, the secret ingredient is a little thing called molasses. It’s quite a delicious and powerful ingredient, but in this recipe we’re not using a whole lot. We’re not making gingerbread cookies after all. A bit of molasses gets mixed in with the brown and white sugars, and that is enough to create a chain reaction.
Thanks to the molasses, these Bouchon Bakery Chocolate Chip Cookies get a flavor boost that reminds one of toffee. I do think the texture is also improved by molasses, because these cookies have a very soft and chewy center. It crosses into gooey territory depending on your choice of chocolate.
You know I am an advocate of using the combo of chips and real chocolate in my chocolate chip cookies, and now that I think about it, I probably unconsciously learned it from this recipe. At some point the chip and chunks combo became my standard practice, and it’s elevated every choco chip cookie I’ve made since. Once you fall in love with the effect of the combination of firm chocolate chips and melty pools of chocolate chunks/rounds in your cookies, it’s hard to return to baking cookies with just chocolate chips alone. You’ll start looking for those pools of melty chocolate in every bite.
Ironically enough, I had run out of chocolate chips when I made this, so I ended up using Auro chocolate buttons with differing cacao percentages in my cookies instead. Was it good? Hell yes. I imagine these cookies will come out well regardless of your chocolate choice. It’s a Thomas Keller creation after all!
I wanted to circle back to my talk about ranking cookies for a second here. Honestly speaking, I love pretty much all of the chocolate chip cookie recipes I have chosen to try thus far. However, there are minor differences to each recipe that seems to suit my personal tastes more and less. I also think about the accessibility of the recipe and whether it requires a lot of “unusual” ingredients and steps.
For example, these Bouchon Bakery Chocolate Chip Cookies require molasses (which is something I do not always have in my pantry) as well as refrigeration to help the flavors mature. In comparison, my favorite Doubletree recipe needs ingredients I usually have on hand and requires no refrigeration at all. Both recipes make superb cookies, but one is more convenient for me than the other.
I guess what I’m trying to say is: My chocolate chip cookie rankings isn’t specifically about ranking the cookies just by flavor. (To tell you frankly, all of them are delicious and have wonderful texture.) The rankings also reflect how simple it was for me to make them. You may find it funny that I’m actually writing a lengthy post about chocolate chip cookies like it’s some sort of hot controversial topic, but for bakers and fanatics of sweets, it might as well be lol. I have actually had discussions on this topic with certain fellow bakers, so it doesn’t hurt for me to put things into perspective!
1st Place: DoubleTree Chocolate Chip Cookies Recipe— I thought this was great when I first had it as a welcome treat at a DoubleTree Hotel in LA back in 2016, but it’s even better homemade! This has all my favorite qualities in a choco chip cookie– just the right amount of chocolate plus walnuts– with an added heartiness thanks to the bit of rolled oats added in.
2nd Place: Jacques Torres Chocolate Chip Cookies Recipe— This is the ultimate favorite of one of my brothers, so you can see that even in our own house we don’t agree which choco chip cookie is number 1 lol. For me this bordered on over-chocolatey, but the overall cookie is DELICIOUS. This recipe also makes an incredibly attractive cookie.
3rd Place: Claire Saffitz Chocolate Chip Cookies— I love Claire so I always have high expectations when it comes to her recipes. This one delivered! This is a fantastic cookie that’s just a bit on the too-thin side for me, but the flavor is superb.
Also 3rd because it’s a different beast of a choco chip cookie: Bravetart’s Chocolate Chip Cookies— I don’t indulge in the thick-style Levain Bakery-style choco chip cookie often, but this is my go-to recipe for that. I just cannot get myself to leave it out of the list. It’s such a delicious recipe!
4th Place: Bouchon Bakery Chocolate Chip Cookies— While 4th seems like a sad place to be, if I had to score these cookies using a point system one would barely win over the other by mere decimal points. So yes, 4th place means very little when we’re talking about the Bouchon Bakery Chocolate Chip Cookies. Have no doubt these are some pretty damn good cookies!
This ranking is largely a matter of personal preference, however I can assure you this is most definitely a list of the best classic chocolate chip cookie recipes I have managed to try out so far. You can think of it as my personal choco chip cookie recipe recommendations. Feel free to try any which one (or two, or all) of these because you will not be disappointed with any of them!
Recipe notes
Let’s actually talk about the Bouchon Bakery Chocolate Chip Cookies now. If you own or have seen the cookbook where this recipe is printed, you might have been intimidated by the extremely precise weighted measurements of the ingredients for these cookies. Thomas Keller is incredibly detailed, and his cookbook is indeed a little daunting at a glance, so in an attempt to make it more reader-friendly, I decided to rewrite some of the instructions to simplify the recipe according to how I did it.
If you want to read the original as written in the Bouchon Bakery cookbook, you can refer to my original post.
Bouchon Bakery's Chocolate Chunk Cookies
Ingredients
- 238 grams (1½ cups + 3 Tablespoons) all-purpose flour
- 2.3 grams (½ teaspoon) baking soda
- 3 grams (1 teaspoon) kosher salt
- 134 grams (½ cup + 2 Tablespoons) lightly packed dark brown sugar
- 12 grams (1¾ teaspoons) unsulfured molasses
- 104 grams (½ cup + 1 teaspoon) granulated sugar
- 214 grams (about 1¼ cup) combination of 50% to 72% chocolate chunks and chips
- 167 grams unsalted butter, room temperature
- 60 grams (3 Tablespoons + 2½ teaspoons) eggs*
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt. In a separate small bowl, place the dark brown sugar and white sugar, then stir in the molasses. Break up any lumps and mix until the sugars are entirely coated with the molasses. The mixture will not be completely smooth.
- In a bowl, cream the butter until it is the consistency of mayonnaise and holds a peak when the spatula is lifted. (You can also do this on a stand mixer at medium-low speed.) Add the sugar-molasses mixture and beat until fluffy. (It will take 3 to 4 minutes on a stand mixer.) Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl as needed.
- Add in the eggs and mix until just combined. (Turn mixer to low speed and mix for 15 to 30 seconds only.) The mixture may look broken, and that is fine. Overwhipping the eggs could cause the cookies to expand too much during baking and then deflate. Scrape down the sides of the bowl again as needed.
- Fold in the dry mixture in 2 additions, mixing until just combined each time. (Using the stand mixer, this is done on low speed for 15 to 30 seconds each addition. Mix until just combined and make sure to scrape the bottom of the bowl to incorporate any dry ingredients that have settled there.)
- If desired, place the chocolate chunks in a strainer and tap the side to remove any powdered chocolate before adding in. This step helps to keep the cookies looking clean rather than clouded with fine bits of chocolate. Fold the chocolate in until distributed. Cover and refrigerate dough for 30 minutes.
- Once ready to bake, position the oven racks in the upper and lower third of the oven and preheat to 325°F (165°C). Line two sheet pans with parchment paper.
- Using a 1½-Tablespoon capacity ice cream scoop, portion dough mounds onto your baking sheet, about 5 per sheet. Roll each one into a ball between the palms of your hands. Bring the dough to room temperature before baking. (The rolling will help.)
- Bake cookies until golden brown, 18 to 20 minutes, reversing the positions of the pans halfway through baking. Set the pans on a cooling rack and cool for 5 to 10 minutes, then transfer to the wire rack to cool completely. Cookies can be stored in a covered container for up to 3 days.
Notes
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