Jacques Torres Chocolate Chip Cookies may be some high maintenance cookies, but you will NEVER taste a better cookie. EVER. Really, EVER.
These cookies are crispy on the outside, chewy on the inside with a hint of Maldon Sea Salt on the tops. The buttery cookie flavor filled to the brim with bittersweet chocolate feves, you won’t even want to drink milk with them because the only flavor you will want in your mouth are the flavors of this delicious cookie.
As I am sure you can imagine, the best things in life aren’t necessarily the easiest. This recipe uses cake and bread flour in place of AP flour. It uses bittersweet chocolate feves instead of your regular chips. You can absolutely use chips, just use bittersweet ones.
The feves are simply flat circles of chocolate so they make more layers of chocolate goodness in the cookie. The biggest difference from any recipe you have likely tried before? The time you let these cookies rest. I personally let them rest 36 hours (24 hours really being the minimum you should wait) and like a fine wine, these cookies really age wonderfully!
Before I lose you at “36 Hours” let me go a bit further into detail about this resting period. The science behind these cookies and the resting period is that the butter in the recipe (and in any chocolate chip cookie recipe) coat the flour. In the related link the NY Times actually goes into the science of how butter is a natural sort of force shield, preventing the flour from absorbing the eggs properly.
The extra time in the fridge allows for the wet ingredients to fully meld with the dry. It turns out even the original Nestle Cookie 1930’s recipe said to rest overnight! This detail is left off the recipe on the bag, probably because most people won’t want to wait that long for cookies.
Have I waxed poetic long enough? Try them! PLEASE! I mean it, try them and come back to tell me what you thought of them. Just please make them exactly as written the first time. And give them the time to mature… it really does make all the difference.
Am I enticing you enough with these photos yet? If not let me know, I love these cookies so much I took almost 200 photos of them for this post. I could make a brag book for them.
In a bowl, combine the two flours, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Using your stand mixer, cream the butter and sugars together for 5 minutes. You want the mixture to be significantly lighter than when you started. Here is the dough after a minute
Here it is after five minutes
Add the eggs in one at a time, making sure they are mixed in well after each one. Don’t worry about over-mixing yet, there is no flour in the bowl. Add in the vanilla. Lower the speed and add in the flour mixture for just a few seconds until it is mixed in. This is when you should worry about over-mixing. Add in the chocolate fèves and mix carefully with spatula to prevent breakage.
Take the bowl off the stand mixture and cover the dough with plastic wrap as if it was a guacamole. Letting air get to the dough will dry it out in a bad way.
Refrigerate for 36 hours. Technically you could for 24, but trust me go for 36. Preheat your oven to 350 degree F or 176C. Using a 2 tablespoon scoop, put them onto a baking sheet. Sprinkle the tops with sea salt. I love and used Maldon Sea Salt.
Bake for 11-13 minutes. Let them cool for 5-10 minutes. Best enjoyed warm. 
This made 55 cookies for me, 39 of which we froze for later use! It is the gift that keeps on giving.
Alternately, here is text from the original recipe for larger cookies: Scoop 6 3 1/2-ounce mounds of dough (the size of generous golf balls) onto baking sheet, making sure to turn horizontally any chocolate pieces that are poking up; it will make for a more attractive cookie. Sprinkle lightly with sea salt and bake until golden brown but still soft, 18 to 20 minutes.
Want to eat some chocolate chip cookie dough while baking these? Try this Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough recipe! It is a great snack while you’re baking!
Tools used in making these Jacques Torres Chocolate Chip Cookies:
Maldon Sea Salt: This is the perfect flaky finishing salt, once you start using it, you’ll be a total convert. AND it is inexpensive!
Bread Flour: Helps with the chewy qualities of the cookies.
Cake flour: Helps with the tenderness of the cookies.
Silpat: Keeps the bottoms of the cookies from burning, this silicone mat is a lifesaver.
Bittersweet Chocolate Feves: These unique shaped chocolate disks make the perfect layers throughout the cookie and melt perfectly.
Recipe
Legendary Jacques Torres Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Yield: 55 cookies
- Prep Time: 1 day 12 hours
- Cook Time: 13 minutes
- Total Time: 1 day 12 hours 13 minutes
- Course: Dessert
- Cuisine: American with French influence
- Author: Sabrina Snyder
Jacques Torres Chocolate Chip Cookies may be some high maintenance cookies, but you will NEVER taste a better cookie. EVER. Really, EVER.
Ingredients
- 2 cups, minus 2 tablespoons (8 1/2 ounces) cake flour
- 1 2/3 cups (8 1/2 ounces) bread flour
- 1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 1/2 teaspoons coarse salt
- 2 1/2 sticks (1 1/4 cups) unsalted butter
- 1 ¼ cups (10 ounces) light brown sugar
- 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons (8 ounces) granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons natural vanilla extract
- 1 ¼ pounds bittersweet chocolate disks or fèves , at least 60 percent cacao content (see note)
- sea salt
Instructions
Note: click on times in the instructions to start a kitchen timer while cooking.
- In a bowl, combine the two flours, baking soda, baking powder and salt.
Using your stand mixer, cream the butter and sugars together for 5 minutes. You want the mixture to be significantly lighter than when you started.
- Add the eggs in one at a time, making sure they are mixed in well after each one. Don't worry about over-mixing yet, there is no flour in the bowl.
- Add in the vanilla. Lower the speed and add in the flour mixture for just a few seconds until it is mixed in. This is when you should worry about over-mixing,
- Add in the chocolate fèves and mix carefully with spatula to prevent breakage.
- Take the bowl off the stand mixture and cover the dough with plastic wrap as if it was a guacamole. Letting air get to the dough will dry it out in a bad way.
Refrigerate for 36 hours. Technically you could for 24, but trust me go for 36.
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F or 176C.
- Using a 2 tablespoon scoop, put them onto a baking sheet.
- Sprinkle the tops with sea salt. I love Maldon Sea Salt.
Bake for 11-13 minutes.
Let them cool for 5-10 minutes.
- Best enjoyed warm.
- This made 55 cookies for me, 39 of which we froze for later use! It is the gift that keeps on giving.
Alternately, here is text from the original recipe for larger cookies: Scoop 6 3 1/2-ounce mounds of dough (the size of generous golf balls) onto baking sheet, making sure to turn horizontally any chocolate pieces that are poking up; it will make for a more attractive cookie. Sprinkle lightly with sea salt and bake until golden brown but still soft, 18 to 20 minutes.
Recipe Notes
Recipe from NY Times
Nutrition Information
Yield: 55 cookies, Amount per serving: 150 calories, Calories: 150g, Carbohydrates: 26g, Protein: 2g, Fat: 3g, Saturated Fat: 3g, Cholesterol: 6mg, Sodium: 103mg, Potassium: 101mg, Sugar: 12g, Vitamin A: 10g, Vitamin C: 0.1g, Calcium: 44g, Iron: 0.3g
All images and text © for Dinner, then Dessert.
I’ve made these a couple times now. Tonight, we decided to compare the Original JT recipe to the same recipe with AP flour instead of the bread/cake flour combo. I measured by weight so every thing was identical. Both turned our great but the original recipe produced a more consistently round cookie and it has a more hearty texture that makes it perfect for dunking in milk or using for ice cream sandwiches. The AP version spread more which gave the cookies a slightly chewer texture, which I prefer for a stand alone CC cookie. You really can’t go wrong with either version. This is an excellent recipe.
Awesome! Thanks for the feedback.
Can we use regular flour instead of cake flour and bread flour? How is it different if you could please explain. Thanks
If you use regular flour, you will want to substitute 2 tbsp of flour with cornstarch for every cup of flour called for. Cake flour has a lower protein content (protein content turns into gluten) so it is a lighter, spongier affect. The cornstarch sifted into the regular flour will keep it from forming too much gluten. Hope this helps!
These are fantastic. My favourite “basic” chocolate chip cookie!
I let the warm for 1-2 hours out of the fridge before baking.
I also leave the dough for 3 nights and find them even better then 36 hours!
Is there a reason this would turn out very flat? I made everything according to recipe and refrigerated for 36 hours and put on the cookie sheet cold from the fridge. I made a cookie recipe years ago that I lost with cake flour and bread flour and they weren’t flat. These taste great mine just don’t look like yours in the picture. Yours aren’t flat. Thanks!
Oh no! I’m so sorry that happened. Usually when that happens, the leavening agent is either expired or has turned. I would check that and try it again. Glad it tasted good though!
I am curious what happens if chocolate is less than 60%. Is it just a matter of personal taste? I also prefer milk chocolate.
Thanks
Nothing really, that’s just the recommendation of the chocolate from the original recipe. You can use whatever chocolate you prefer. 🙂
I wanted to say thank you so much for posting this recipe. I’ve been on the search for a good choc chip (just made Alton Brown’s – wasn’t quite right) and this one is truly perfect. I feel like I’ve just been gifted a family heirloom!
I did make two changes – I ran out of cake flour, so I substituted all purpose with a tablespoon of cornstarch, and I chopped up 70 percent dark Lindt bars instead of disks. But everything else stayed the same.
I did sneak bake a cookie after 30 minutes of resting but found the flavor to be one dimensional compared to the full rest. Definitely benefits from the full 36 hours.
This will be my only choc chip recipe from now on. Thanks again 🙂
I’m so glad you love it! I know it’s so hard to wait but glad you found that it was well worth it.
Made these for a famous band’s manager who travels the world and he said, “These are the best chocolate chip cookies I’ve ever had!”
Also made these as a bday gift for my superstar of a little brother. He shared them around the table and EVERYONE loved them.
Thank you for sharing this recipe!
How awesome! So glad everyone loved them.
In the list of ingredients, it says: 1 ¼ pounds bittersweet chocolate disks or fèves at least 60 percent cacao content (see note). Where is or what is the “note” we are supposed to refer to?
Sorry for the confusion. The “note” is actually referring to the “tools used” section. I linked the Bittersweet Chocolate feves that I used.
Is the dough supposed to stay soft during the resting period?
It’s refrigerated during the resting period so it will get firmer.
This is the best chocolate cookie recipe EVER!! I picked 4 recipes this year and hands down this was by far the best one -I chilled the dough for 30 hours!
Yay!!
Super delicious! and oddly, after I made the dough, I made 3 practice cookies just to see how they bake without resting. the flavor was amazing. Even better before (I think) than after letting it rest.
Question about baking times. I was using a friends commercial convection oven. If you make the cookie smaller, how much time do you usually adjust it? I sense I might have overcooked it just slightly by not reducing time for the portion you called for. Although they didn’t look done, they were still slightly crisp.
Every oven is different so really only you would know by looking but I would say if they’re smaller, start checking 2 minutes earlier.
So glad you enjoyed them!
I’ve been having trouble finding feves. Finally did. However, I made the dough without the chocolate and it’s been in the fridge for 48 hours. Can I take the dough, add the chocolate, then bake? Will the 48 hours negatively affect the cookie – or adding the chocolate just before cooking?
I’ve never tried it but I would think it would still work. I’d love to know how it turns out, thanks!
Hi, Must you let the cookies come to room temperature after refrigerating?
No, you still want them cold.
Thanks for the recipe (especially for including the weights of the ingredients!) What temperature, and how long did you bake the frozen balls for?
If you are baking from frozen, I would say give them 1-2 extra minutes in the oven and yes at the same temperature!(and watch them like a hawk the last minute to make sure they don’t over-brown. ?