This chocolate chip cookie recipe took the internet by storm when it was shared by the New York Times many years back. You may have heard of it as the “New York Times Chocolate Chip Cookie” often touted as the mother of all chocolate chip cookies. It’s the brain child of chef Jacques Torres and it’s a little more labor intensive than other everyday chocolate chip cookies. It uses cake and bread flours instead of all purpose, and calls for an overnight chill in the fridge. If you’re looking for a quick cookie to quench a craving, this isn’t the cookie for you (make this one instead). But if you want a cookie that’s good enough to be sold in a bakery, to serve at an event, to sell at a bake sale, or simply eat because you love a great cookie, this is the one. The result is an incredible chocolate chip cookie with a soft chewy center and butter crisp outer edge and a sophisticated salt-sprinkled top. After making these many times, I’ve adapted a few things, outlining below some of the science behind the process.
Ingredients Needed
- Cake Flour
- Bread Flour
- Baking soda
- Baking powder
- Salt
- Brown sugar
- White sugar
- Eggs
- Vanilla – extract, or I love using a high quality vanilla bean paste
- Chocolate Chunks or chips – more info below
- Flaky sea salt – like Maldon
Why it Works and what you can substitute
You might be wondering why the fancy treatment with something as simple as a chocolate chip cookie and if it really matters that much. Here’s a brief explanation and some notes after making these many many times!
- Flour – Jaques Torres uses a blend of 2 flours. Bread flour has a higher protein content and adds gluten strength for chewiness, and cake flour has a lower protein content, resulting in less gluten development and a more delicate crumb. If you have these 2 flours in your pantry, definitely use them! If you only have all purpose, or don’t want to spend money on specialty flours, this recipe is totally delicious with all purpose flour. Side-by-side, I don’t think the difference is significant enough to warrant the 2 flours if you’re hesitant about it, so don’t let that stop you!
- Chocolate – The original recipe calls for over a pound of 60% bittersweet chocolate disks or “fèves.” I generally use dark chocolate when I make them, and I’m not buying specialty disks. Feel free to use standard chocolate chips, or if you’d like them to be extra fancy with an upscale bakery feel and beautiful pools of chocolate, chop your own chocolate from a high quality bar or brick. Trader Joes sells pound plus bars which work well. If you’re chopping chocolate, you’ll also get little shreds and flakes of chocolate in your dough. I also love Guittard’s Super Cookie Chips, which you’ll see in some of my photos here, and that will give you beautiful big pools of chocolate.
- Chill Time – People have big feelings about chilling cookie dough but this is one step I’d suggest not to skip. Of course you can still bake this dough and it will be delicious, but if you’re investing in the effort (and possibly two flours and special chocolate) than absolutely don’t skip on the chill time. People sometimes assume it’s to help the cookies not spread too much, but it’s actually much more scientific than that. When cookie dough has the time to chill for extended periods of time, the dry ingredients have time to fully hydrate, the fats solidify and the flavors develop. It results in a cookie that is less likely to overspread, has a chewier texture and a richer, more developed flavor.
- Cookie Size– You can make these cookies in any size you like, but there is a scientific reason for the large amount of dough per cookie. Larger cookies will obviously require longer bake time and with a longer bake time, the dough has time to develop chewiness around the outer edge. If you make your cookies smaller, they’ll still be delicious, but they won’t have as developed of a texture.
How to Make Bakery Style Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Start by mixing your dry ingredients together. A food scale is encouraged, if you have one!
- Cream butter and sugars together and then add eggs and vanilla. I love using a high quality vanilla bean paste for deeper flavor and little specs of vanilla bean in my dough.
- Add the dry ingredients to your dough and stir until just combined.
- Stir in the chocolate.
- You can chill your dough at this point, but I like to shape my cookies into portions before chilling so they can go straight from fridge to oven. Either free form your cookies for a craggly top finish, or use a large cookie scoop.
- After baking, immediately sprinkle with flaky salt so it sticks to the melted chocolate and doughy bits between the cracks.
Tips for Bakery Style Cookies
- After shaping your cookies, place some chocolate pieces by hand on top of your dough. This will give you those big pools of chocolate on top of your cookies. You can also place a few chocolate pieces gently onto the tops of your cookies immediately after they come out of the oven. The residual heat will melt it as if it was baked in.
- For a perfectly round shape, use a large cookie cutter and place it over the top of your cookies immediately when they come out. Gently swirl and it will round out the edges of your cookies to a uniform shape.
Bakery Style Chocolate Chip Cookies
A deliciously chewy-soft chocolate chip cookie with depth and richness. Slightly adapted from Jacques Torres famous NY Times recipe. If you have a kitchen scale, I suggest weighing your ingredients.
Servings Large Cookies
Ingredients
- 8 ½ oz cake flour 2 cups minus 2 tablespoons (lightly spooned and leveled)
- 8 ½ oz bread flour 1 ⅔ cup (lightly spooned and leveled)
- 1 ¼ teaspoons baking soda
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
- 1 teaspoon coarse salt
- 1 ¼ cups butter 2 1/2 sticks
- 1 ¼ cups light brown sugar 10 ounces
- 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar 8 ounces
- 2 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste
- 16 ounces bittersweet or dark chocolate chips, chunks, or disks
- Flakey sea salt for the topping
Instructions
- Sift flours, baking soda, baking powder and 1 teaspoon of salt into a bowl. Set aside.
- Using a mixer fitted with paddle attachment, cream butter and sugars together until very light, about 5 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Stir in the vanilla.
- Reduce speed to low, add dry ingredients and mix until just combined. Stir in chocolate.
- Place dough in an airtight container in the fridge for 24-36 hours, and up to 72 hours. For ease, scoop/portion your dough before chilling so it's ready to bake straight from the fridge.
- When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Scoop 6 3 1/2-ounce mounds of dough (the size of generous golf balls) onto baking sheet. For extra pretty presentation, gently press a few pieces of chocolate into the tops of the dough. Sprinkle lightly with sea salt and bake until golden brown on the outside edges but still soft in centers, 15 to 20 minutes.
- Immediately after removing from oven, sprinkle with a little flaky sea salt. Let cool until just warm and then transfer cookies onto a rack to cool.
Nutrition
Serving: 1cookie, Calories: 423kcal, Carbohydrates: 52g, Protein: 5g, Fat: 22g, Saturated Fat: 13g, Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g, Monounsaturated Fat: 6g, Trans Fat: 0.5g, Cholesterol: 48mg, Sodium: 323mg, Potassium: 215mg, Fiber: 3g, Sugar: 29g, Vitamin A: 388IU, Calcium: 55mg, Iron: 3mg
Calories: 423kcal
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Questions & Reviews
Can dough be frozen & baked later? If yes bake from frozen or thawed
Yes! For best results, thaw in the fridge first.
Great recipe, I use Ghirardelli semi-sweet chocolate chips, because I haven’t found the ones used in this recipe. Once out of the oven I drop the pan on the counter to flatten them, it makes a difference! I also cook for 17 minutes so they aren’t as crispy. Excellent cookies!
I have cake flour and all purpose….should I adjust the cake flour?
Nope, just use your AP in place of the bread flour.
You can make any size cookies you like, just eyeball it and watch them in the oven!
When you say coarse salt…is that the same as kosher salt?
kosher salt totally works if that’s what you have! I sometimes use that, but I prefer a flaky sea salt if you’ve got something like that.
my dough is in the fridge…. BUT although I weighed everything as instructed, I found that the 8.5 ounces of bread flour measured more than 1 and 2/3 cup, and the same for the 10 ounces of light brown sugar, which also was much more that 1 and 1/4 cup ….. the dough is chilling, and I hope it will be fine… has anyone else found this issue? I would love some feedback….
thanks
Phyllis
As long as you weigh correctly, you’re good!
In the fridge!!
I found this recipe years ago after searching for “the” recipe and it is INCREDIBLE. I sometimes make some other quicker versions (including another you posted) but if we really want the perfect cookie, this is it!!
I have another choc chip cookie recipe that rests in the fridge before baking. I like to scoop it into balls before I chill it because it’s tricky to do so when the dough is cold.