This is my favorite cookie recipe at the moment. It's for Bouchon Bakery style chocolate chip cookies, and it's absolutely perfect. The cookies are less sweet than some, have a hint of blackstrap molasses flavor and loads of dark and bittersweet chocolate. They're about medium thickness, soft, dense and with crispy edges. I really love Thomas Keller's chocolate chip cookies from Ad Hoc at Home, but these are even better!
Bouchon Bakery Cookbook
The recipe is adapted from one in the Bouchon Bakery cookbook by Thomas Keller and Sebastien Rouxel. It's basically a master class on baking, so well worth the price. Of all the recipes in the book, the cookie recipes are the most approachable, and I think I've tried them all. Chocolate chip is the favorite, while the oatmeal cookies are a close second.
Chocolate and Vanilla
For the chocolate, I've been using Guittard Bittersweet Onyx Wafers and Valrhona, but the cookies are also good with bittersweet chocolate chips. And for the vanilla, well -- there is none! I had to force myself not to add any, but the cookies truly don't need it. There's plenty of flavor with the blackstrap, butter and chocolate.
Best With a Scale
The technique is as simple as any chocolate chip cookie recipe, but you do need to use a scale to get the proper measurements. The volume measurements are a little unusual, which is probably why the cookies are so good. I've never attempted these with the volume measurements.
The Most Difficult Part
The difficult thing about Bouchon Bakery style chocolate chip cookies is waiting for the dough to age. You can bake the cookies right away, but the cookies are so much better after 12, 24 or even 36 hours in the refrigerator. The yield is six giant cookies, so I usually bake one cookie right away and refrigerate the other rounds of dough.
Recipe
Bouchon Bakery Style Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
- 238 grams all-purpose flour or bread flour (both work) (1 ½ cups plus 3 tablespoons)
- ½ tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp salt (Morton Kosher) 3 grams (1 teaspoon for Diamond)
- 168 grams unsalted butter, softened (12 tablespoons)
- 134 grams dark brown sugar, lightly packed (½ cup plus 2 tablespoons)
- 104 grams granulated sugar (½ cup plus 1 teaspoon)
- 12 grams unsulfured blackstrap molasses 1 ¾ teaspoon
- 60 grams of beaten egg 1 jumbo
- 107 grams chocolate chunks or disks (⅔ cup)
- 107 grams bittersweet chocolate chips (⅔ cup)
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, stir or whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
- In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter on medium speed until creamy. Add both sugars and molasses and cream until light and fluffy, scraping the bowl as needed.
- Using lowest speed of mixer or just stirring by hand, stir in the egg until it is blended.
- Scrape the bowl and add the flour mixture in two parts, mixing until just combined. Scrape the bowl once more to ensure that all of the flour is incorporated from the bottom. Don't add the chocolate quite yet.
- Empty the dough onto a sheet of wax or parchment paper and press down into a slab about ¼ inch thick. Lay chocolate disks (or whatever type chocolate you are using) across half of the slab, then fold the other half of the dough over the chocolate. Press down again and repeat, layering half of the slab with chocolate and folding over. Do this one more time or until you've incorporated all of the chocolate evenly. Cut into 6 portions and press into rounds.
- Put the rounds in the refrigerator, cover and chill overnight or until ready to bake. Or bake right away!
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
- Arrange cookie dough disks on parchment lined baking sheet leaving plenty of room for them to spread (at least 4 inches). Bake for 15 to 20 minutes at 325 or until cookies are set. If they are very cold, they may take up to 23 minutes. You can check earlier or later. I don't like underbaked cookies so I tend to bake longer.
- Let the cookies cool directly on the baking sheet for about 10 minutes (or on a brown paper sack), then transfer to a wire rack.
Anna says
Hi Peter, your notes are super helpful. Thanks!! I've been wondering how these would be with extra baking soda since the 1/2 teaspoon is on the lower end of normal for a batch this size. Such well thought out changes. It would be interesting to put the original version of these with the 1/2 teaspoon of baking soda up against the Martha Stewart Fired Me Cookies which have so much soda and powder.
Peter Fidelman says
Yes, Keller and Bouchon, a very good combination. Having tried this recipe of variations of this several times, I have made the following changes to good result.
1. Using Bread flower instead of APFto minimize spreading. And adding a short kneading step after the dough is finished.
2.Increase the Baking Soda to 1 and sometimes 1 1/2tsp for added rise.
3. Increase egg to 80g or two eggs, lightly beaten before adding
4. Use 20g Wholesome Heavy but not Blackstrap Molasses. Better flavor but needed to cut down granulated sugar to 90g.
5. Made cookies in 60g disks which were frozen for about 2 to 3 hours before baking. Baked these cookies for 14 to 15 minutes on Silpat mats. After dough was made, aged in refrigerator for 24 hours before shaping into disks.
Krystal says
I used bread flour and these turned out amazing! I will definitely make these again. Thanks so much for sharing the recipe!
Linda says
These look amazing. What would
You substitute id you cannot have eggs?
Thanks
Anna says
Krystal, did you happen to use European style butter or something other than American butter? Some of the brands with higher fat content could cause the edges to spread more. It's possible it was the Silpat, but I doubt it. Definitely try with parchment paper, though. That's what I always use. In the meantime, I'll make a batch for the family and see if I can troubleshoot what might have caused that. Also, if you like these I highly recommend the Olive Oil Chocolate Chunk Cookies. They're really good and super easy. https://www.cookiemadness.net/2022/01/24/olive-oil-chocolate-chunk-cookies/
Krystal says
I loved these! The molasses added great flavor and the bread flour made the cookies chewier. The only thing I will say is that the edges spread and browned much quicker than the centers of my cookies. I used a silicone mat, so maybe I'll try parchment paper next time. Any suggestions would be appreciated!
Anna says
I added vanilla to one batch and left it out of another and liked both equally, so can't say I missed it. I can't remember if I like bread flour or AP better so I guess the bread flour didn't make that much of an impression. There's not a huge difference between King Arthur AP and King Arthur Bread, but I'll bet using Gold Medal, Pillsbury or (for sure) White Lily will give different results. This recipe is a fun one to play with! It's lot less sweet than the NYT/JT recipe.
T. Martin says
No vanilla - that's enough to raise an eyebrow but the blackstrap molasses makes up for it I guess.
Preference for bread flour vs. AP flour?
Anna says
Hi Phyllis,
The original recipe from Bouchon uses 107 grams of chocolate chunks and 107 grams of chips. I've been a bit freewheeling with the chocolate. Since I have some good chocolate, I've been using combinations of Onyx wafers and chopped Valrhona or using a combination of those plus Ghirardelli Bittersweet Chips, which I like. But yes, the original recipe in the book is called Chocolate Chunk and Chip Cookies.
phyllis says
Hi... so does this recipe call for both the disks AND regular chocolate chips, or just one or the other? also, can I make regular size cookies? thanks
I have made Jacques Torres' choc chip cookies and they also are made w/ bread flour and need to be refrigerated over night...
thanks for the answers.
Phyllis
Anna says
I hope you like them!
Donna L. says
Anna, you and Sue have convinced me to get some blackstrap molasses and make these cookies!
Anna says
Sue, thanks for leaving a review! I agree. Not surprised since they are from Thomas Keller.
Sue says
These are really great cookies and worth planning ahead for the rest time in the refrigerator. They’re incredibly attractive. They look like high end bakery cookies and taste like high end bakery cookies too. I used two kinds of chocolate chips instead of fancier chocolate and they were still great! Thanks Anna!