Thank you to everyone for all of your support and good wishes for me in the Bake-Off. I recieved over 340 comments on my Snickerdoodle Snack Cake Bake-Off post! It was so fun traveling to New York, meeting the other contestants and competing in my first bake off in the Unilever Test Kitchens. Congratulations to Sara, Average Betty, for her winning Snowball Cupcake recipe.
The I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter! Bake-Off judges were so nice and liked my Snickerdoodle Snack Cake. Normajean, Unilever’s Test Kitchen Director, said it did taste like a Snickerdoodle cookie and Barry, ICBINB Brand Manager, even ate his entire sundae. The PR firm who arranged the trip was awesome and took care of every little detail. We were treated to limo rides, cooking demonstrations, and breakfast and lunch at the Test Kitchen with some of the delicious recipes they’ve created in the Test Kitchen for the I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter! website.
Anna, Cookie Madness, was also one of the contestants. (She won the Pillsbury Bake-Off in 2006.) Anna did a great recap of the Bake-Off and while I was there reading her recap, of course I had to check out her cookie recipes. She has a great top 10 list of favorite cookies and I’d love to bake my way through it one day.
But it was her description of Jacques Torres’s Secret Chocolate Chip Cookie that really caught my eye. “Crunchy edges, tender centers, lots of nooks & crannies and plenty of chocolate. These are the perfect chocolate chip cookies. Your friends will think you bought them at a bakery.” Since I had some Scharffen Semisweet Dark Chocolate Baking Chunks in the pantry that I’d been saving for a fantastic recipe, I decided to give Jacques recipe a try.
I baked one batch of the huge 4 oz chocolate chip cookies and they do bake up like a beautiful bakery cookie. I like my chocolate chip cookies a little more chewy in the middle, but these are the prettiest chocolate chip cookies I’ve ever made and they would make a great Christmas gift individually wrapped. [/donotprint]
Jacques Torres’s Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
- ½ pound unsalted butter room temperature
- ½ cup plus 6 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons light brown sugar packed
- 2 large eggs
- 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla
- 1 ½ cups plus 1 tablespoon pastry flour*
- 1 ½ cups bread flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder*
- 1 teaspoon baking soda*
- 1 ½ teaspoons salt
- 1 pound good quality dark chocolate chopped coarsely
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line baking sheets with parchment paper or nonstick baking mats; set aside. Don’t grease the baking sheets because this might cause extra spreading.
- In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together butter and sugars. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Reduce speed to low and add vanilla, then add both flours, baking powder, baking soda, salt and chocolate; mix until well combined.
- Using a 4-ounce scoop for larger cookies or a 1-ounce scoop for smaller cookies, (I used a very generously rounded tablespoon) scoop cookie dough onto prepared baking sheets, about 2 inches apart.
- Bake until lightly browned, but still soft, about 20 minutes for larger cookies and about 15 minutes for smaller cookies. If you use a rounded tablespoon, check your cookies at 12 minutes. Cool slightly on baking sheets before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
Notes
This post is part of a 12 Weeks of Christmas Cookies blog hog. Be sure and check out all of the fabulous cookies the other 12 weeks of Christmas Cookies bakers baked up this week.
Cristie
So fun to read about your experience in the test kitchen! I’m so behind on blogs, but had to come directly to yours first to see how you had done. It sounds like you did enjoy yourself, but maybe it was too quick?
Katrina
Yes, I’m behind. Fun recap of the trip to NYC for the bake-off.
You should have gone TO a Jacques Torres chocolate shop while there and tasted
his cookies if you haven’t before.
That said, yours look great! I love that recipe and use it a lot!
FOODESSA
What a wonderful event for you to be part of…especially the 5 star treatment that went along with it ;o) I’m glad your recipe got great attention…maybe next year you’ll bring home the big prize. For now, I’m sure you’ll have this as a blessed great memory. I’m so envious right now ;0)
Thanks for this choco chip cookie recipe…we can never have enough trys!
Ciao for now,
Claudia
Joy
Hmmm that look so good.
Heavenly Housewife
Oh god those cookies look sooooooooo good, and what an amazing experience. I wish i got the chance to try those cookies when I was in NY… alas, I guess I can make my own :)… i guess (so lazy!)
Wishing you and your family a wonderful thanksgiving.
*kisses* HH
Sue
Sounds like you had a blast, Barbara! What fun! Jacques Torres is such a chocolate expert that I’m sure these chocolate chip cookies are as exceptional as they look:)
Rose
Oh boy , im so glad u have fun and enjoyed so muc!!!
U deserved it and made the best and i loveeeeddd ur SD snack cake too, and now i loveee this gorgeous cookie coz i love crispy and i can see if i bake a little longer they will no longer be chewy n the middle:-)
Happy holidays!
Sarah, Maison Cupcake
That looks such fun! I would love to host a US style cookie swapping event in London, I read about one in the Martha Stewart magazine and have wanted to do it ever since!
the blissful baker
beautiful chocolate chip cookies!! i have a favorite ccc recipe, but i love trying new things, so i’ll definitely test these out. they look yummy!
Cakelaw
Anna has some great recipes on her site, and this certainly looks like a winner. Glad you had a good experience at the bakeoff.