Jacques Torres chocolate chip cookies are made with chocolate chunks and have a coating of chocolate on the bottom of the cookie. Originally shared in the New York Times, this recipe has received thousands of 5-star reviews for good reason!
You might also like our Copycat Chick-fil-A Chocolate Chunk Cookies, our Shortcut Grasshopper Cookies, or our Hostess Cupcake COOKIES!
Watch our step by step video!
I made the world-famous chocolate chip cookie recipe that was featured in the New York Times years ago. Was it worth the effort and did they live up to the hype? Absolutely.
Truth be told, this wasn’t my first go-around with these cookies. I first made them back in the 2010 era, but was too lazy to let them chill, used all-purpose flour, and didn’t know about spreading the bottoms with chocolate. They were delicious and what I based our family’s classic chocolate chip cookie recipe off of. <—-We’ve been using this altered recipe for years.
A Good Morning America clip recently changed my life and I decided to revisit the classic recipe and ACTUALLY FOLLOW IT to the letter.
New York Times Chocolate Chip Cookies Recipe
Many know about the famous chocolate chip cookie recipe that was shared in the New York Times years ago. It was created by a French artisan chocolatier named Jacques Torres. It isn’t a quick recipe, but your patience will pay off with one of the richest cookies you’ll ever put in your mouth. One recipe makes 18 large (5″) cookies. Let them cool and allow the chocolate to harden then individually wrap them in plastic. They look (and taste) fancier than any cookie that you’ll find at a local bakery.
You’ll probably need to make a quick trip to the store to get some dark chocolate, but the rest of the ingredients are pretty basic. The measurements had me scratching my head though:
“2 cups minus 2 Tablespoons”
“1 cup plus 2 Tablespoons”
Why the funky measurements? It probably has to do with weight. 1 cup plus 2 Tablespoons of sugar is 8 ounces. He uses a 50/50 ratio of cake flour and bread flour so 2 cups minus 2 Tablespoons of cake flour probably weighs about the same as 1 2/3 cups of bread flour.
Jacques Torres Dipped Chocolate Chip Cookies
I saw Jacques make these cookies on a segment of the Rachel Ray show and then he made them again on Good Morning America and brushed the bottom of each cookie with melted chocolate. WHAT?! I KNEW I needed to make a batch and do that too. It’s such an easy thing to do and makes them look so fancy. You can buy a package of these famous cookies on Amazon or his website, but the price of 6 cookies is more than what it would cost to make 1 1/2 dozen fresh cookies in your own kitchen.
Tips for Making The Best Chocolate Chip Cookies
Jacques shared a few tips on Good Morning America for making his world-famous cookies.
Use cake flour AND bread flour
After testing batches with different ratios of flour he said that the best combination is a 50/50 measurement of bread flour and cake flour. This produces an elastic dough and a perfectly chewy cookie. In the ingredients list you’ll notice that they aren’t the same measurement, that’s because one flour weighs more than the other. If you weigh out the ingredients they weigh the same, but the cup measurements are different.
Do you really need two different types of flour for this recipe? Probably not, but if you want to make the recipe as close as possible to the original PLEASE TRY IT! The cookies have crisp edges and chewy centers so there’s definitely something good going on here. There’s no need to go out and buy a bag of cake flour if you have no other use for it. You can make your own with 2 ingredients.
To make a cup of cake flour, scoop 1 cup of all-purpose flour into a measuring cup then remove 2 tablespoons of flour and replace it with corn starch.
Use good chocolate
Jacques uses large chocolate discs that you can purchase from his website, but for the budget shopper, you’ll want to look for chocolate that is over 50% cacao (bittersweet or dark chocolate). You can use bittersweet chocolate chips, chunks, or chopped-up chocolate bars. I used a combination of both.
I used chopped-up baking chocolate bars for the cookie dough because I wanted large chunks in the cookies, and used dark chocolate chips for the melted chocolate to spread on the bottom of each cookie. You can use whatever you’d like.
Chill the dough
This is something that I don’t typically do. I’m an impatient baker, but it really does elevate your cookies, helps the dough mature, and brings out the flavor. You can chill this dough 24-48 hours before baking. One tip that I have is to portion the cookie dough into balls before chilling the dough. It’s much easier to do that vs. scooping hard cookie dough!
Bake cookies on light-colored pans
This is my own tip. All of my recipes are aimed at baking with light metal cookie sheets. That’s all I bake with. If you use dark sheets you’ll need to keep an eye on the cookies and adjust the baking times, if necessary.
Sprinkle cookies with a pinch of flaked salt
Salt intensifies the flavor of anything that it touches. Adding flaked or coarse sea salt to the tops of your cookies elevates the flavor. You can add salt before or after baking. I typically add it after the cookies come out of the oven and it sticks to the warm chocolate.
Jacques Torres Chocolate Chip Cookies Ingredients
Butter: you can use salted or unsalted butter, whatever you prefer. I only bake with salted butter.
Sugar: a combination of brown and white sugar.
Eggs: 2 large eggs for richness and texture.
Vanilla: for flavor. Have you tried making your own vanilla extract? It’s easy!
Baking powder, baking soda, and salt: for texture and leavening.
Flour: bread flour AND cake flour.
Chocolate: at least 50% cacao chocolate (dark chocolate) bars or chips.
Sea Salt: to sprinkle over baked cookies (optional).
How To Make Dipped Chocolate Chip Cookies
Start by chopping your chocolate bars into chunks. Set these aside while you make the rest of the dough.
Sift flours, baking soda, baking powder, and salt into a bowl. Set aside.
Using a mixer fitted with the 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 5 to 10 seconds. Drop chocolate pieces in and incorporate them without breaking them. Press plastic wrap against dough and refrigerate for 24 to 36 hours. Dough may be used in batches and can be refrigerated for up to 72 hours.
My Note: it’s easier to portion the dough into balls before chilling it. You can place them in a gallon-sized plastic bag or put them on a parchment-lined cookie sheet and cover them with plastic while they chill. It’s not impossible to form chilled dough into balls though, it’s just tougher. In my video, I chilled the dough and then formed it later into balls by hand, weighing them on my kitchen scale.
When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a nonstick baking mat. Set aside.
Scoop 6 (3 ½ -ounce) mounds of dough (the size of generous golf balls) onto a 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 (optional) and bake until golden brown but still soft, 16-18 minutes.
Transfer the sheet to a wire rack for 10 minutes, then slip cookies onto another rack to cool completely. Repeat with the remaining dough.
Dipped Cookie Version
Optional: For added indulgence, brush the bottom of the cookies with melted bittersweet chocolate.
Melt chocolate in the microwave for 1 minute or melt in a double boiler and stir until smooth and melted.
Spoon chocolate onto the back of each cookie and spread with a spatula or butter knife. Place cookies on a parchment-lined baking sheet and chill until chocolate hardens.
Wrap hardened cookies in plastic and store them at room temperature.
Jacques Torres Dipped Chocolate Chip Cookies
(printable version)
Jacques Torres Dipped Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
- 2 cups minus 2 Tablespoons cake flour (see note)
- 1 2/3 cups bread flour
- 1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
- 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
- 2 1/2 sticks unsalted butter ( 1 1/4 cups, I use salted)
- 1 1/4 cup light brown sugar
- 1 cup plus 2 Tablespoons granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 1/4 pounds bittersweet chocolate (20 ounces, bars or chips)
- sea salt flakes (optional)
- 10 ounces bittersweet chocolate (for spreading on the bottom of the cookies)
Instructions
- If using chocolate bars, cut them into small chunks then set aside.Sift flours, baking soda, baking powder and 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 5 to 10 seconds. Drop chocolate pieces in and incorporate them without breaking them. Press plastic wrap against dough and refrigerate for 24 to 36 hours.
- When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a nonstick baking mat. Set aside.
- Scoop 6 (3 ½ -ounce) mounds of dough (the size of generous golf balls) onto a 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 (optional) and bake until golden brown but still soft, 16 to 18 minutes. Transfer the sheet to a wire rack for 10 minutes, then slip the cookies onto another rack to cool a bit more. Repeat with remaining dough, or reserve dough, refrigerated, for baking remaining batches the next day.
- Optional: For added indulgence, melt the remaining chocolate bars or chips (10 oz.) and spoon the melted chocolate onto the back of each cookie. Spread with a spatula or butter knife to smooth out the chocolate then place the cookies on a parchment-lined baking sheet and chill until chocolate hardens.
- Wrap hardened cookies in plastic and store them at room temperature.
Notes
Nutrition
Welcome! I'm Brandy, mother to 5 darling kiddos and a cute black lab named Toby. My husband is in the Coast Guard so we've lived all over the place, turning each house into a home. I love baking, sewing, making cute things with my kids, and sharing what I've learned with all of you!
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