Thomas Keller's Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe is from Ad Hoc at Home. I'll have to update the post when I try other recipes from the book, but so far I've only made the chocolate chip cookies and they are as good as you'd expect given the source.
Over the years I've had issues with these cookies coming out a little too thin, so I've learned to use slightly heavier (140 grams) per cup of flour and be mindful of which brands of chocolate to use since some higher cocoa butter chocolates cause more spreading. I've also made Thomas Keller's Chocolate Chip Cookies with chocolate chips instead of chunks.
The original Thomas Keller Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe calls for molasses sugar, but allows for regular brown sugar as a substitution since molasses sugar isn't always easy to find. You can use light, dark or a mixture of both. I like using a mixture. As for the molasses sugar, if you want to order some the most popular brand seems to be Billington's. I'm not ready to order $30 worth of brown sugar from Amazon quite yet. Plus I think I tried it at one time and felt like it made the cookies too molasses-y.
Recipe
Thomas Keller’s Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
- 2 ⅓ cups plus 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour (320 grams)
- ¾ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 8 ounces (2 sticks) cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces (230 grams)
- 1 cup packed dark brown sugar preferably molasses sugar (200 grams)
- ¾ cup granulated sugar (150 grams)
- 2 large eggs
- 5 ounces 55 percent chocolate cut into chip-sized pieces
- 5 ounces 70 to 72 percent chocolate cut into chip-sized pieces
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with Silpats or parchment paper.
- Sift flour and baking soda into a medium bowl. Stir in the salt.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle, beat half the butter on medium speed until fairly smooth. Add both sugars and the remaining butter, and beat until well combined, then beat for a few minutes, until mixture is light and creamy. Scrape down sides of the bowl. Add eggs one at a time, beating until the first one is incorporated before adding the next and scraping the bowl as necessary. Add dry ingredients and mix on low speed to combine.
- Put chips in a fine-mesh basket strainer and shake to remove any chocolate “dust” (small fragments). Stir chocolate chunks into dough.
- Remove bowl from mixer and fold dough with a spatula to be sure the chocolate is evenly incorporated.
- Using about 2 level tablespoons per cookie, shape dough into balls. Arrange 8 cookies on each pan, leaving about 2 inches between them, because the dough will spread. Bake for 12 minutes, or until the tops are no longer shiny, switching the position and rotating pans halfway through baking.
- The dough or shaped cookies can be refrigerated, well wrapped, for up to 5 days or frozen for 2 weeks. Freeze shaped cookies on the baking sheets until firm, then transfer to freezer containers. (Defrost frozen cookies overnight in the refrigerator before baking.)
- Cool cookies on the pans on cooling racks for about 2 minutes to firm up a bit, then transfer to the racks to cool completely. Repeat with second batch of cookies. (The cookies can be stored in an airtight container for up to 2 days.)
Jennifer says
Hmm.. I've been using 125 grams of flour per cup. I'll use 135 grams from now on, because that might explain why my Goop ccc came out so flat.
Louise says
I just remembered what called for molasses sugar. It was for a spice rub for salmon or pork for the grill.
Louise says
Oh, and Happy Canada Day. 🙂
Louise says
Funny you ran across a recipe calling for molasses sugar. I can't remember what it was, and I'm not home to check my recipes, but I came across a recipe within the last month that called for molasses sugar. I think it was berry muffins or rhubarb something. I didn't have any molasses sugar and the recipe only called for a little, so I used a small amount of dark brown sugar. Probably another fad food.
Anna says
AJ, when I was in Italy all I saw was muscavado sugar. I think that might be more of the norm in Europe but am not usre.
Apparently molasses sugar is a little dryer and more like granulated. Muscovado, from what I've read, is just a little stronger. I only see it listed in a few gourmet style recipes.
AJ says
These look fantastic, even with the "pooling." It makes them look even gooey-er, which, for me, is a good thing.
Wondering (as a baking novice) what the difference is between dark brown sugar, molasses sugar, and muscavado sugar. When I lived in the UK, all I could get was muscavado most of the time...
Katrina says
Yummy. And interesting stuff there about the brown sugar. Who knew? Will you be posting today's results?
Mimi says
This comment has nothing to do with today's cookie but I was just wondering if you had any suggestions for what kind of cookies to make for a graduation party?
Rosie says
I love brown sugar in baked goods and your cookies look so very temptingly decadent - just what I like *giggle*
Anna says
Carrie, thanks for the scoop on the molasses sugar. I'll bet it also makes a thicker cookie. Today's cookies were very good, but they just didn't look quite the same as Bouchon's. Then again, I'm not sure Bouchon uses that recipe.
Carrie says
Anna, I've seen (and purchased) the molasses sugar from Whole Foods (in CT, but that link you posted suggests WF in TX carries it). It was a while back, so my memory could be spotty, but I think it wasn't quite as moist as your standard brown sugar. It also went hard REALLY fast. Now, I don't bake near as much as you and the package is small, so you may not have that problem. Was it better than regular brown sugar? Probably. But, apparently not so much that a) I remember or b) went back and bought more.
Vanessa says
Will have to try these this week!
Valerina says
Brown sugar always makes desserts have that lovely, rich caramel-like flavour. Your picture is very enticing, They look gooey and sinful! I'll add these to my list of cc cookie recipes to try. Thanks! 🙂
Anna says
Carolyn, I'm going to try a second round tomorrow with 24 hour chilled dough and a different brand of chocolate.
Rita, I'm glad you had faith in me.
Mary, that's just about the nicest compliment anyone's ever given me and I'm glad the fact I used 135 grams per cup of flour meant something to you. LOL. So many people would look at that and think I'm nitpicky, but those little things matter....or so I am learning.
Mary says
I can always depend on you - no snark intended believe me - to cover my baking back. You make it hard for the rest of us to make a mistake. Thanks, Anna.
clumbsycookie says
I've seen this recipe yesterday as well! I thought it was really interesting, specially the sifting chocolate part! I'm glad you tried it, I actualy knew you would ;)!
Carolyn Jung says
They look great! Glad you tried the recipe and liked it, even if you found you had to add more flour. It's surprising how you don't miss the vanilla, huh? I'm a big vanilla fan just like you are, so I was skeptical at first. But the cookies taste fine without them. I even think you end up tasting the chocolate MORE because of its absence.