THE BEST CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIE RECIPE (IN MY OPINION)
I’m not much of a baker. I prefer cooking. My mom on the other hand, is a baker and a cook. Growing up with my family, processed foods and eating out in restaurants or fast food was NEVER an option. We never bought bread from the store. Every morning I would wake up and have 2 slices of home made bread, I’d have 2 cookies with my lunch baked by my mom, and come home to dinner made by the whole family. I know I was lucky. I also know it saved them a heck of a lot of money.
My parents are kind of crazy. They really like eating out of the garden, and they hate spending money on anything expensive. Especially when it comes to food. My mom even grinds her own flour weekly for her baking. I’m not sure I’ll ever get to that stage, but I sure have been getting into baking lately. The difference between my mom and I is that her baking is no-frills, whole goodness that is healthy for you. It tasted delicious, and she made sure her kids were healthy. My goal, on the other hand, in baking is to make everything with good quality ingredients, and make it so moist and delicious it will give you a heart attack. Haha.
Allan’s been asking me to bake cookies for a long time, but since we moved into our new apartment and sold off all our old stuff, we haven’t had any of the supplies we needed to bake. So now that we have them again, hopefully I’ll be baking a lot more in the future.
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So, here’s a recipe for the best chocolate chip cookie, in my opinion. It’s adapted from the New York Times, you can read more about their search for the best chocolate chip cookie here. I made mine a little less sweet, a little smaller, and a little more vanilla-y. The recipe for mine is below. I can honestly say this is the best cookie recipe I have found (in my limited experience), and so far everyone who has tried them agrees 
But you be the judge! Let me know what you think…
THE BEST CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIE RECIPE, adapted from the New York Times
Note: I doubled the recipe below, so that we could have fresh baked cookies every night for a week. The single recipe below here makes about 20 small cookies or 16 large cookies. Another trick: Use thick-bottomed baking sheets so your cookies are crispy on the top but chewy and not burnt on the bottom
Ingredients:
2 cups minus 2 tablespoons (8 1/2 ounces) cake flour (I used Italian Tipo ’00′ 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 teaspoon coarse salt
2 1/2 sticks (1 1/4 cups) unsalted butter
1 cup light brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
2 1/2 teaspoons natural vanilla extract (I like Madagascar Bourbon vanilla extract)
1 1/4 pounds bittersweet (dark) Belgium chocolate disks
How to Do It:
1. Sift flours, baking soda, baking powder and salt into a bowl. Set aside.
2. Using a mixer, 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.
3. (Optional) Mix together different batches of cookies (but make sure you keep a batch of the chocolate chips ones in this recipe). Split up your dough into as many batches as you want, and knead in various ingredients.
I can’t speak highly enough about using chocolate disks. SO much better than chocolate chips. A dark Belgium chocolate is soooo good. I wanted to buy the Valrhona chocolate fèves but they were $21 a bag. Yes, seriously. How ridiculous. So I settled for some good Belgium ones instead… I don’t regret my decision
As per Allan’s request, I used butterscotch chips and rice crispies in this one.
I also tried ones by mixing in frozen homegrown raspberries and blueberries. SO GOOD. I highly recommend this if you don’t mind seeds in your cookies. I also made oatmeal raisin ones for Allan. I made Callebaut chocolate chips ones for me
4. 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.
5. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Set aside.
6. 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. Bake until golden brown but still soft, 18 to 20 minutes. I varied my baking time depending on the cookie… I like crispy cookies (see picture below) so I used 22 minutes for those. For soft chewy ones I baked them for 19 minutes (see first picture in this post). 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.
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Let me know what you think of the recipe if you try it! What’s your favourite cookie recipe?
Tomorrow, I’m off to Tofino for some more surfing. SO exciting. I’m going to use my new flexible underwater housing and see if it is better than the other one I have. I’ll post a pic of the housing tomorrow! Can’t wait! Rain and surfing… it’s a beautiful combination out here on the West Wet Coast
Tags: baking, Best Cookie Recipe, cake flour, chocolate chip, cookie, cookies, ingredients, Madagascar Bourbon, recipe, Tipo '00' flour, Valrhona, vanilla
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September 3rd, 2009 at 12:48 pm
Allie your blog always makes me hungry, even though I’ve just scarfed down a huge bowl of poutine for lunch. I can’t believe your mom grinds her own flour and you had fresh bread everyday! that’s incredible.
I’ll give those chocolate cookies a try this fall – though I must say I’m a complete disaster when it comes to cooking and baking. My husband says I have very little common sense when it comes to this sort of thing.
Have a blast in tofino – hope you get lots of video and pics to post.
September 3rd, 2009 at 1:14 pm
Have you considered the possibility of adding bacon to your cookies? It’s quite tasty.
September 3rd, 2009 at 1:53 pm
This is the cookie I kicked off Cookie Of The Fortnight with! After I tried it, I haven’t gone back to anything else. I weighed all of my ingredients, which really helped with minimizing the bowls/measuring cups required. I found keeping it in the fridge was key to the taste – how long did you refrigerate yours for? I wished they’d last 36 hours before I baked them, but no such luck, so you’ll have to tell me how those frozen ones you’re keeping are working out for you!
September 3rd, 2009 at 1:58 pm
Sandy, I actually cheated and made a small batch immediately after making the batter. Allan and I couldn’t wait
I did find though that after 24 hours refrigeration they had a nicer flavour. I made the batch up on Saturday, and made cookies Saturday night, Sunday, Monday, and Wednesday (last night). Even last night they were really really good. I find they have no problems keeping in the fridge.
I’m planning on finishing off the cookies tonight, so that’s pretty much 5 nights in the fridge! So far they’ve kept really well. I wouldn’t go longer than 5 though.
I haven’t frozen any, so I don’t know how those will turn out…
September 3rd, 2009 at 2:08 pm
Have you tried the Madagascar Bourbon vanilla paste? Made by the same company (Nielsen-Massey) in the same sort of bottles, but it has real vanilla beans in suspension. Heavenly in baked goods, whipped cream, etc.
http://www.williams-sonoma.com/products/2749604
September 3rd, 2009 at 3:09 pm
Mmm, these look awesome. My fav recipe for cookies is Kim & Greg’s lemon & thyme cookies (though I made them with mint instead.. sooo good) http://www.flickr.com/photos/divinaimages/3236077086/
September 3rd, 2009 at 5:26 pm
Those ridiculously delicious. I grew up surrounded by home baked items and unprocessed food too. Never really went to McDonalds or drank pop.
September 3rd, 2009 at 5:28 pm
My eyes are currently bigger than my stomach, and this is the best kind of torture (I’ve resumed watching what I eat along with a new trainer) But man alive I would eat those cookies hand-over-fist, a la Cookie Monster. As it’s been mentioned earlier, home-baked cookies that have been frozen are AWESOME as well.
“When I get a proper kitchen..” This and the pizza recipe (and several more of your earlier food-posts) are on my list.
September 3rd, 2009 at 10:07 pm
Hey Allie – do you measure the flour before or after you sift?
September 3rd, 2009 at 11:28 pm
Hi Natalie… I measure the flour and then sift for all my baking (unless otherwise specified). But that’s just my method, I’m sure there’s an actual baker’s guide somewhere on the “best practice”
September 4th, 2009 at 12:44 pm
I live sooo much cookies. *-*
September 4th, 2009 at 1:16 pm
Hi Allie, Started following you via the Twilight cast sightings posts, and I find your blog just facinating. But, I seem to see Twilight in so many things, I just had to point out that the Raspberry cookies would be great for a Twilight themed party!! Were the Raspberries hard to mix in without really breaking apart? And did they add any extra “wateryness” to the dough at all? They definitely look mouthwatering.
September 7th, 2009 at 5:23 am
After reading the first 10 chapters of ‘Wide Awake’, a very popular Twilight Fan-fiction, I am dying to find a good gluten-free cookie recipie. In the story, Bella makes a different batch of cookies, which reflect her mood or events of that day. I’m looking for ingredients that can be easily altered to suit a gluten-free diet. Any recommendations for books, websites?
September 10th, 2009 at 3:03 pm
Hi Linda,
Sorry for the late response. Good point about the raspberries! I used frozen ones so they stayed together fine. I mix stuff into the dough by hand though. (Use an electric mixer to make the dough smooth, and then I mix the chips/berries etc in my hand)…
A little trick I used was to take a spoonful of cookie dough, flatten it out on the counter, and then place a couple raspberries or blueberries in the centre. Then fold the sides of the circle up to form a pouch that is firmly closed with the berries inside. Then squeeze the entire ball in your hand firmly. Place the pouch opening face down on the baking tray.
I didn’t find it made the dough watery at all! But definitely let me know what you think.
Lynda, hmmm.. unfortunately, no sorry, I don’t have much experience with gluten free diets I am sorry. But I will keep a look out for you!
November 17th, 2009 at 3:38 pm
I’ve been holding onto this recipe since I saw it, until I had a free afternoon to go shopping (cake flour is hard to find!). They were so amazing, and look exactly like the ones in your picture did! Thanks for the recipe!
June 3rd, 2010 at 10:03 pm
I made these cookies last week and they were PHENOMENAL. Family and friends thought I purchased them from a bakery in town! I used a combination of milk and dark chocolate disks as well as some chopped walnuts – Fabulous! Thank you! I will be making them again and again =)
November 3rd, 2010 at 11:10 am
Where do you buy the Tipp 00 flour from?
November 3rd, 2010 at 11:53 am
Hi Mala, you can buy Tipo OO flour from stores like Gourmet Warehouse. Are you in Vancouver? Does that help?
December 2nd, 2010 at 1:44 pm
[...] going there was to check out Jacques Torres’ chocolate shop. For those of you who remember my chocolate chip cookie recipe, it is based on Mr. Torres’ recipe… so that’s why I had to sample some of his [...]
December 7th, 2010 at 8:01 pm
Oh my gah! These sound incredible! I think I’ll make them this weekend for an upcoming cookie exchange. Thanks for the save!
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