Jacques Torres Chocolate Chip Cookies may be some high maintenance cookies, but you will NEVER taste a better buttery, salty sweet cookie.
When it comes to Cookie Recipes, some are just special and worth the extra time and effort. You won’t regret it with these, but if you need a quicker chocolate chip fix, try Classic Chocolate Chip Cookies, Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies, or Cream Cheese Chocolate Chip Cookies.
Jacques Torres Chocolate Chip Cookies are the best cookies you will ever try. EVER. This is no exaggeration. 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 fèves, 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 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 fèves instead of your regular chips. You can absolutely use chips, just use bittersweet ones.
The fèves 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. The standard is to 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 we lose you at “36 Hours” let’s 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.
Don’t believe the resting makes a difference? Try them! PLEASE! You will be amazed at the cookies you’ve just created. Just please make them exactly as written the first time. And give them the time to mature… it really does make all the difference.
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!
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How to Make Legendary Jacques Torres Chocolate Chip Cookies
- 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 it’s really best to go for 36. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Using a 2 tablespoon scoop, put them onto a baking sheet. Sprinkle the tops with sea salt.
- Bake for 11-13 minutes. Let them cool for 5-10 minutes. Best enjoyed warm.
This made 55 cookies in our kitchen, 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.
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 Fèves: These unique shaped chocolate disks make the perfect layers throughout the cookie and melt perfectly.
How to Store Legendary Jacques Torres Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Serve: You’ll want to devour these cookies while still warm in the oven! But they are still safe at room temperature as long as you need to serve them.
- Store: Seal in an airtight container, a plastic bag with extra air squeezed out is best, for up to 5 days.
- Freeze: It’s best to freeze cookie dough in the balls before baking. Seal in an airtight freezer safe bag up to 3 months. They can be baked from frozen, adding a minute or two to the baking time, watching carefully. Alternatively, thaw in the refrigerator overnight before baking as usual.
Ingredients
- 2 cups, minus 2 tablespoons (8 ½ ounces) cake flour
- 1 2/3 cups (8 ½ 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 ¼ 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
- 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.
Notes
Nutrition
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Photos used in a previous version of this post.
I followed the recipe exactly, except for the chips. I used what I found. These were the best cookies I’ve ever made. The waiting wasn’t too bad, because it’s only 12 hours longer than my regular recipe. Definitely worth trying. The salt was the part that took it over the top. ??
The wait is really worth it, isn’t it?! So glad you enjoyed them!
Made these about 2 weeks ago. I used European-Style butter from Clover and instead of feves, I chopped up some Callebaut milk chocolate and Callebaut semisweet. The taste was phenomenal! I thought some people at my work might be put off by the salt, so I used very minimal. BIG MISTAKE! The salt really brings out the flavor. I wish it was a little chewier, though. Any suggestions?
Also, I’m going to make 2 batches this time and try a separate batch with white chocolate chips. I’m hoping it’s reminiscent of the ones I get at Diddy Riese in Los Angeles.
If you’d like them chewier, I suggest baking them a minute or two less.
So glad you’re enjoying the recipe!
I have made these my go to CCC! Some suggestions: use a high quality butter such as Kerrygold, Plugra, or Finlandia, it has a higher fat content than American commercial butter and makes for a richer cookie. It truly is best to weigh the flours, but if you use the scoop and level method you’ll be ok. My favorite chip to use is by Guittard called Super Cookie Chips, they are large and flat like JT’s “feves” which I will try one day when I want to splurge. I do bring the dough up in temp. a bit from the fridge for about an hour otherwise I’d probably break my cookie scoop it’s so hard! I have frozen them at this point and honestly they seem even better after I do! I bake them frozen, and depending on their size, it takes about 15 min. Intstead if the normal 12. Finally, use parchment paper under them, so they don’t stick or leave chocolate all over your pan. I do love the Maldon Salt sprinkled over the top!
I’m so glad you enjoyed them! Thanks for coming back to let me know!
Can you actually make the cookies then refrigerate for 24 hours, or you have to chill the dough before you do?
Chill the dough before baking 🙂
I mixed up this recipe today and will bake tomorrow. The recipe doesn’t say whether they are baked one sheet at a time; or can 2 sheets be baked at the same time, and reversed after half of the baking time, as many recipes do. Also, there is simply the baking time, with no description of how the finished cookies should look, e.g. “tinged with brown” or “light golden brown” or “dark at the edges and paler on the tops”. This would be helpful. Also, reading the New York Times recipe, many of the readers mentioned the difficulty of portioning out cold dough, so suggested portioning out the dough before refrigerating, which is what I did, and then covered tightly with plastic wrap followed by a tight cover of heavy duty foil. But of course in this way, the scoops of dough will not be as airtight is with the plastic wrap directly on the surface of the dough as described in the recipe. If you can comment on these concerns, I would appreciate it, and I will get back and let you know how the cookies turn out.
If I had QUADRUPLED this recipe, it would not have been enough. I did not change one thing. The 36-hour wait was killing me, but I survived. What came out of my oven was nothing less than magic. I took them along for a ladies weekend and there wasn’t a crumb left. This is the chocolate chip recipe I have been looking for all my life!!!
It sounds funny to say but oh so true that this recipe is life changing!! I’m so glad you enjoyed them and just goes to show that the patience is a virtue, haha!
Best. Cookies. Ever.
I couldn’t agree more!
Hi Sabrina,
I do not have a stand mixer. Would you recommend using a Ninja with a paddle attachment or traditional hand mixer?
Thanks for sharing all of your wonderful recipes! Can’t wait to these as well as many more!
I would just use a hand mixer 🙂 Enjoy the cookies!!
Just loaded them in to the fridge. T-minus 36 hours to go!!
I feel like I maaaay have overmixed the flour. What would happen as a result?
Are you sure the recipe calls for the exact amounts of cake flour and bread flour?
Please review what you have written because they do not seem to be the same amounts of flour for each of them.
The amounts are correct. Bread flour weighs more than cake flour and that’s why the measurements are different.
looks yummy! definitely going to try them out…
Hello,
I enjoy your website and will be trying these cookies today, but my question is that once they are refridgerated, do you let them come to room temp before you start scooping them out, or do you do it when they are hard and chilled.
Thank you
Cindy
Sorry this comment took so long to get to, it ended up in my spam filter somehow! Sorry I just found a huge number of comments over the last three months that was snared in the spam filter and I am trying to follow up with each one now even though in your case I am way too late to help. Scoop the cookie dough chilled 🙂
Can you use extra large eggs instead of large eggs?
No, two large eggs are roughly the equivalent of 1 1/2 extra large eggs. You could try using one extra large egg and the yolk of another – it wouldn’t be exact but it would be close.
How long do you let the dough warm up before baking?
Out of the fridge? Not at all 🙂
It comes out of the fridge as hard as a rock. How do you scoop it?
I used a mini ice cream scoop. I think when my husband was helping he used a sturdy metal spoon. But yup rock hard because it has been sitting in there for over a day!
Help! These cookies look fab but one of the measurements is not showing up correctly in Safari.
The Ingredients list says “1 ? cups (8½ ounces) bread flour.” Can someone please tell me what goes in the question mark slot??
Also, the first line item in the Ingredients list says “2 cups minus 2 tablespoons (8½ ounces) cake flour.” How can both flour measurements be 8 1/2 oz if the cup measurements are different?
Dying to make these – please help!
Thanks!
Yes! Sorry about that, 1 2/3 cups is the missing quantity. My recipe plugin has been erroring “2/3” for some reason, I was trying to catch all the glitches! The reason the volume vs. weight is so different is because of the kind of flour. Cake flour is naturally lighter and not as “heavy” so more of it weighs the same as less bread flour. So if you measure by measuring cup scoop in with a spoon and level don’t dig the cup into the bag. I tend to stick to weight measurements in this recipe for the flour because it is such a delicate balance. Hope that helps! and thanks for helping me catch the glitch!
Thank you so much; can’t wait to try!!
My pleasure! I hope you love it!
Please tell me at what degree celcius do we need to pre heat the oven?
Thanks
Preheat your oven to 350F or 176C. Hope I didn’t get back to you too late!
Please can you advise: on baking cookies straight from the freezer, still use 350 degress to bake?
also: how many ideally on a cookie sheet? Thank you!!
I usually go from freezer to fridge if I know ahead of time. Also, I do them 2 inches apart, so it would just depend on your cookie sheet. If you are baking from frozen, I would say give them 1-2 extra minutes in the oven (and watch them like a hawk the last minute to make sure they don’t over-brown. 🙂 Sorry edited to add, yes same temperature!
My boys adore chocolate chip cookies, especially if they are not too crispy. I think the only way to let the dough rest overnight is to make it when they aren’t looking.
yes! SO chewy on the inside. My suggestion is make them Friday night after bedtime and hide them in the back of the fridge until Sunday morning. Then they get a fantastic surprise on Sunday!
Oh my, this looks gorgeously divine!
Thanks!
They look amazing!!! I’ve never seen sea salt on chocolate chip cookies, but I need to make these ASAP!
Thanks!! They really are amazing, he is a total genius
These cookies look and sound amazing! I need to perfect my cookie recipe!
This is it! I promise you’ll love it!
Oh my goodness, these cookies look amazing! I cannot wait to make some for this weekend!
I hope you love them!
Dude, if I wasn’t trying to look good in a bathing suit at the end of this month I’d be in my kitchen right meow. Those look absolutely sinful.
1. I love that you said Dude, that is exactly how I talk and 2. Tell me about it, I have to get in the pool for my oldest’s swim lessons every weekend!
I’m not much of a baker, but I’ll be doing a lot of that soon for my youngest’s first birthday, so I will add these to the goodie list!
Your guests will love these cookies! And they do make a pretty huge batch if you scoop them the same size I did. They were still 3 inches across baked 🙂
Searching for a great recipe to make as favors for a child’s baptism celebration, and these won! If I double the size of the cookie, approximately 5-6″, how long will they need to bake? I need to have at least 60 cookies, can you help me with the amount of batter needed? If I double the recipe should that do it? Or am I better off making two batches? Anything else I should know about this recipe when increasing the amount? Thanks Sabrina! Can’t wait to smell these baking!!
Sorry this comment took so long to get to, it ended up in my spam filter somehow! I totally missed the boat on getting back to you about this, I’m so sorry. How did you handle the event?
My mom the chocolate lover would disown me for not going berserk over chocolate chip cookies. I really like this recipe, however, and will make it up and put craisins in it, instead. It will be hard to wait 36 hours while the dough matures in the fridge, but I can do it (and I will guard the fridge so no one else decides to cook them early!).
These will be the best craisin cookies of all time!!
Those cookies look perfectly amazing! I love a nice warm, thick and moist cookie with lots of melty chocolate chips.
Thanks!
Oh my. These look so good! Chocolate chip cookies are a huge weakness of mine! I will have to try these!
My mouth is watering. I don’t know if I have the patience to wait for the cookies though.
It is SO worth it! I promise!
To much slobbering… Wow those do look great.
guard the keyboard!! haha.
Ok, those do look absolutely perfect! I love a cookie with an ooey gooey center!
Me too! I am a sucker for most melty foods, like chocolate or cheese!
These look so delicious i wish oi could try them right now. I will have to try this recipe this weekend. I am sure my kids will love them.
Make them Friday night so you can bake Sunday morning! That is what I do every time I make these!
Well now, I’ve got to try them! They do look fantastic. I had almost believed I had perfected my cookie recipe, but now I’m wondering.
Oooh please try them and come back and give me an update!
They look fantastic! Definitely going to give them a try, but I will have to keep my hubby out of the cookie dough….that will be tough! 😀
I keep mine away by stuffing him full of the eggless cookie dough! Haha.
Man, those look scrumptious. I don’t know if I could stand the 36 hour wait to chow down though lol 🙂
It can be hard the first time you make them but after that you know it’s worth the wait and it gets easier 🙂
These look so yummy. Appreciate you sharing them, my kids love chocolate chip cookies and so do most of my adult friends. I just don’t have much of a sweet tooth is all, but would taste test these!
Thanks!
They are so moist and delicious looking. Yummy! I would love to try
Thanks!
Are you freezing the uncooked dough or the baked cookies?
Unbaked 🙂
Can you Freeze dough unbaked in ziplock bag or do you shape into rounds first?
Shape it into rounds or logs – it will make it easier to bake them.
I’d love to have some of these waiting in the oven right about now. Wow do those look good!
Thanks!
Those cookies look so good that I can almost smell them through the computer screen. Makes me miss eating things like that.
Thanks! Looking at this post today is making me want to bake more from the freezer. Sorry they aren’t a recipe you can enjoy.
I love chocolate chip cookies. These really do sound amazingly good. I can’t wait to give them a try.
Hope you love them as much as we do!
Surely you’ll mail a box of these to me, right? They look delicious, and I need chocolate today.
I think if the post office smelled the box they may accidentally “lose” them, haha.
I have to admit, they do look like the best cookies ever. Can’t go wrong with chocolate chip!
yep, chocolate chip with ALL that butter!
These look so yummy. I never would have thought to put sea salt on top of chocolate chip cookies.
It is amazing how much it makes the cookie pop!
My mouth is watering looking at these cookies. I want some now!!! Thank you for the delicious recipe!
Thanks! I hope you get to make them. They truly are the stuff legends are made of.
Oh yeah! I have made these cookies and you’re right – they are in fact the best ever!!! I’m dying for one now. 😉
YUP! they’re so good it makes them so worth the effort!
I have to try this best cookie ever. I have to double the recipe though because with the cookie monsters at home, they’ll be gone before I am able to taste it.
It is a pretty big batch! We made 16 and froze 39 more! 🙂 But even then they are so good you may want more…
Ohhh, I have tried these cookies, too, and they are amazing!! You can never have enough chocolate chip cookie recipes in your life 🙂
Yes!! A fellow devotee!
Anything from Jacques Torres is going to be amazing. I use to watch his show on Food Network all the time.
Those cookies look amazing! I’m sure they taste just as good. Jacques Torres is an amazing chef.
Thanks! Yes, he is totally amazing. If I ever met him I would have trouble forming words.
These look absolutely amazing!! I can’t wait to try them. I also love the idea of freezing some of the dough to use later on for a quick treat for the kiddos.
Thank you! I froze that tray before putting them into a big ziploc bag. You never know when the cookie craving will hit!
These look like the perfect chocolate chip cookies! I am gluten-free so have definitely found the resting after making gluten-free baked goods is key since gluten is a binder that is absent in GF goods. I’m intrigued about resting these 36 hours. Could you tell me the difference you notice in doing so?
Yes! Great question! I am going to update the recipe with the science because it is kind of fascinating. The resting period makes the cookie flavor deeper and richer. In the related link the NY Times actually goes into the science of how the butter is a natural sort of force shield, preventing the flour from absorbing the wet ingredients properly. The extra time in the fridge allows for the wet ingredients to fully meld with the dry. Here is the link to the original article. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/09/dining/09chip.html?pagewanted=2&_r=0 It turns out even the original Nestle Cookie recipe said to rest overnight!
Sabrina, can you leave out the salt in the flour portion if you are cooking with salted butter?
I would say you’d still need to add some salt, using salted butter wouldn’t be as much as what is added. Use 3/4 of a teaspoon of salt in addition to your salted butter and you should be good to go 🙂
Best cookies ever, huh? That means I need to make these STAT!
yes, unequivocally yes! STAT! haha.
She brought me some the other day and they are annexing. Totally worth making 🙂