World's Best Chocolate Chip Cookies

Sometimes I like to google "World's Best" and then insert the name of whatever recipe I happen to be on the hunt for.  I've been fairly successful with it.  One of the best successes was when I googled "World's Best Chocolate Chip Cookies."  O.M.G. did I ever find the quintessential recipe!!  I made these for my boyfriend's birthday, which is why an average chocolate chip cookie just would not do.  It had to be special for my special guy.

The recipe I found was published in the New York Times, and was adapted from a Jacques Torres recipe.  I also googled Jacques Torres, of course.  He is a master pastry chef known as Mr. Chocolate.  Well, that certainly explains a lot about why this recipe is so delicious!

The recipe itself is fairly straightforward.  You cream together butter and sugar (lots of sugar!), then mix in flour and chocolate chips.  10 oz. of light brown sugar!  Plus white sugar after this!

 Here is a picture of the ingredients I assembled for this project:

And here is the recipe.

World's Best Chocolate Chip Cookies

2 cups minus 2 tablespoons
(8 1/2 ounces) cake flour
1 2/3 cups (8 1/2 ounces) bread flour
1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons coarse salt
2 1/2 sticks (1 1/4 cups) unsalted butter
1 1/4 cups (10 ounces) light brown sugar
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons (8 ounces) granulated sugar
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons natural vanilla extract
1 1/4 pounds bittersweet chocolate disks or fèves, at least 60 percent cacao content (see note)
Sea salt.

Directions:
1. Sift flours, baking soda, baking powder and salt into a bowl. Set aside.
2. 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. Dough may be used in batches, and can be refrigerated for up to 72 hours.
3. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a nonstick baking mat. Set aside.
4. Scoop 6 3 1/2-ounce mounds of dough (the size of generous golf balls) onto 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 and bake until golden brown but still soft, 18 to 20 minutes. Transfer sheet to a wire rack for 10 minutes, then slip cookies onto another rack to cool a bit more. Repeat with remaining dough, or reserve dough, refrigerated, for baking remaining batches the next day. Eat warm, with a big napkin.
Yield: 1 1/2 dozen 5-inch cookies.

Take a look at that delicious yummy goodness!!!  I upped the ante on my batch by adding some walnuts to the cookies because that's the way my boyfriend likes them, but you could leave out the nuts or add whatever kind you wanted.

 Here's a look at my other batch, without nuts, after it's been all mixed up.  I ran out of the one kind of chocolate chips and had to add another kind, so you might notice that there is more then one shape of chocolate in my dough!

The chocolate chips I used were Ghirardelli Chocolate Premium Baking Chips 60% Cacao Bittersweet Chocolate.  Click here to buy through my Amazon affiliate link, or you can get them at Krogers.

My advice?  You should really listen to the recipe when it says to refrigerate the dough for at least 24 hours.  For some reason it makes a huge difference.

If you're interested in science and the reason these cookies are the world's best, then you should read the study put together by Serious Eats Food Lab.  They did a lengthy inquest to determine what aspects of cookies lend themselves to what qualities.  You can find that article here.

The end result of this recipe is a large, delicious cookie with the right balance of delicious chocolate and salt.  They are fabulous hot out of the oven, or at room temperature.  And they are even better if you dip them in milk.  yum yum! Let me know if you give this recipe a try!