the NYT classic chocolate chip cookie

 

Lately there’s been a run on chocolate chip cookie posts on various blogs I follow including The Broken Bread. The result is that I’ve been craving a batch myself.  And although you likely already have a favourite recipe of your own  – if you haven’t already discovered the Jacques Torres recipe posted in 2009 in The New York Times – then perhaps it’s time to give it a try.

I don’t know if these are actually the best chocolate chip cookies going.  But they are pretty damn tasty. And it’s hard to argue with The New York Times. Personally I like these crystallized ginger and chocolate shortbread drops just as much or more but change is good and I try not to get too stuck in a rut in the kitchen.

I don’t actually make them the way Jacques Torres does. For one thing – I don’t bother with the cake flour and bread flour – I just use unbleached all-purpose flour. Organic if I’m in the mood. And I don’t use bittersweet chocolate disks. I use a 350 gram bag of pure, semi-sweet chocolate chips. I do bother with the sea salt and pure vanilla. And because dairy-free daughter is home – I made this batch with – shock, horror – margarine.  That’s the price of love. Sometimes you have to sacrifice.

 

I also make the dough in advance – just as the recipe calls for. It means a bit of deferred gratification – a modicum of self-discipline. There’s no rule though, about sampling the dough in the meantime. I think waiting the required time to bake the cookies is likely worth it but then again – I haven’t tried making a batch without waiting.

If you make them on parchment – the way the recipe calls for – you might want to use some of the parchment to bundle them up afterward. And then give them away to whoever you cross paths with.

I think these would be really good with some Reese’s pieces added. But for now, here’s my version of the classic NYT recipe.

NYT Chocolate Chip Cookies

• Servings: about 36 cookies
• Time: start the day before
• Print

• 4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 1/4 cups unsalted butter or margarine
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1 1/4 cups brown sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 2 tsp natural vanilla
• 350 grams pure  semi-sweet chocolate chips
• sea salt for sprinkling on top

Mix the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt and set aside.

Beat the butter (or margarine) and sugars for about five minutes or until fluffy. Add the eggs and vanilla and beat until mixed.

Stir the flour into the butter and sugar mixture and mix to combine. Add the chocolate chips.

Cover the cookie dough with a lid or saran wrap and refrigerate for 24 hours. (Supposedly this is vital.)

Roll the dough into balls (NYT recipe says they should be the size of “generous golf balls” – mine were about an inch in diameter. I don’t golf.)

Place on parchment paper lined cookie sheets  (or grease your cookie sheets which is the way it’s been done for hundreds of years before we got our hands on parchment paper).

Sprinkle each cookie with a pinch of sea salt and bake at 325 for about 15-20 minutes. The original recipe calls for a 350 degree oven – but I find that too hot. Could just be my oven. I like my cookies a bit on the underdone side – soft and melty. Make sure you eat a couple while they’re warm. ♥

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