Recipe Update: Jacques Torres Chocolate Chip Cookies

As I have written The Cilantropist over the last year, there are some recipes that I get from cookbooks or magazines and I put my own spin on them; however, as I become more inspired by the 'hows and whys' behind cooking, I find myself working to develop my own recipes based on basic techniques and principles of flavor.  I feel more confident completely re-vamping a published recipe, or simply starting from scratch and writing my own recipes.  What does that really mean?  These days, I spend a great deal of my kitchen time with recipe testing.  I think it is important to perfect both new and old recipes, which is why I often go back and test recipes I have previously posted. 

Case in point: my recipe for Jacques Torres Chocolate Chip Cookies.   

Ever since I tried this recipe for the first time almost a year ago, I have not been able to make any other kind of chocolate chip cookie; I was so smitten, that I was able to overlook the slightly arduous NY Times recipe, that became an extremely arduous recipe when I tried to halve the ingredients.  Despite being difficult, I did cut the original measurements in half, posted them on this blog, and the recipe worked.  

But really... 

Who wants to measure out 2 cups minus 2 tablespoons flour?  Or 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar?  I like nice, round measurements, especially for a chocolate chip cookie that should bring me soothing, chocolatey comfort rather than stress.  I decided enough was enough and so this week I reworked the recipe to be easy-peasy. 

I had planned to try and change just a few of the measurements, and see how it went.  Admittedly, I wasn't sure I could come up with a recipe to rival the original and so I wasn't even going to tell you I was working on it (yes I know, sneaky sneaky).  But then plans changed when this cookie turned out to be fantastic, and I was so tickled pink that I just had to tell you all about it.  

Now I am sure Mr. Torres (or his battalion of pastry chefs and bakers) painstakingly concocted his heavenly chocolate chip cookie recipe and I am by no means saying my tweaks and changes make it the pinnacle of perfection.  Yet, it is amazing how just a little math and flexibility with ingredients can make the recipe substantially easier to follow, while still producing what I think is the best chocolate chip cookie.       

Now I have said it before and I will say it again: I am thick-and-chewy cookie kind of gal, so these confections are the stuff of my dreams.  This recipe results in a cookie with a little extra heft because of the inclusion of bread flour;  I mean look at it, this cookie has some serious height and a center that is soft and dense.  Not to mention, it is riddled with enough chocolate chips to satisfy even your strongest chocolate craving.      

So, now that I have fixed up the recipe to be all new and shiny for you, go ahead and check it out.  It will still be listed under Jacques Torres Chocolate Chip  Cookies, and I would highly recommend that you make these as soon as possible.  I promise it is super easy, so you have no excuse not to make them.  (As though you needed an excuse to make chocolate chip cookies anyway.)

Enjoy! 

And just so that you know, in the future (and also in the past) if I - make any minor recipe revisions/suggest ingredient substitutions/include extra instructions for freezing or canning - I will post those on The Cilantropist Facebook Page.  If there are any other major recipe changes like this one (especially to favorite recipes), I will devote a short post to keep you updated.   

Molten Chocolate Lava Cake

So I would bet that everyone reading this post has eaten a molten chocolate lava cake at one point or another.  Or at least, I certainly hope you have.  If you have never had one of these luscious, decadent, oh-so-sexy desserts you are missing out.  Really.  If you are one of those deprived people, go ahead and tell someone else you have not eaten one.  I can guarantee you they will be incredulous and respond with, "Whaaaat??!  You have never eaten a lava cake?  OMG.  They are soooooo good, you are crazy.  You need to eat one right now."  

Whether you are a lava cake newbie, or a certified chocolate connoisseur, you do need to eat this cake right now.  Because while it is likely to be featured on the dessert menu at your favorite fancy restaurant or the local Italian joint, this cake can just as easily be whipped up in your own kitchen.  In fact, I would argue that your kitchen is a better place to eat this dessert; only in the comfort of your own home can you fully appreciate its warm, intimate center that flows like molten gold.  At home, you can eat with abandon and lick your lips after each satisfying bite.  If you are doing it right, eating this kind of cake might even make you a little hot and bothered...  So grab your loved one and go into your kitchen and start making it.  Or be really naughty and make one just for yourself.

Jacques Torres Chocolate Chip Cookies

Although I made these a few weeks ago now, I decided to post this today because I think it is the type of day where a good chocolate chip cookie is in order.  Today I feel sad, lonely, and tired.  Today is the kind of day where I just want to curl up with a blanket on a comfy couch, and not really talk about much.  Today I took my boyfriend to the airport to fly back to Norway.  Now lets be real here, I want you to eat this cookie, and love this cookie (because I did), so do not fear: I will not bemoan you with my feelings of depression or the fleeting, strange sensation that I get when I remember he isn't in the apartment anymore... No, no.  But suffice it to say, that today is definitely a chocolate-cookie-kind-of-day.   

Because a good chocolate cookie is warm and comforting; really, it is like the food incarnation of a big tight hug, where you never want to let go.  

I know you are waiting for me to say that this is my favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe, and that I have been making it since childhood.  Because everyone has a go-to chocolate chip cookie recipe, right?  Well, I certainly remember making loads of cookies, and I think we used the Toll House Recipe.  To be honest though, I have my fondest memories of heading down to the freezer in our basement, and sneaking prepared cookie-dough that we had gotten from the store.  There was a big tub of it in the freezer, which was perfect for sly snacking.  

(If you ask my mom, she will tell you a story about when I came up from the basement one morning - yes I was eating cookie dough in the morning - and she accused me of having my hand in the cookie "jar."  Of course, I denied it up and down like a good little girl.  I thought I had gotten away with the crime until she pointed out a piece of dough that had gone awry and affixed itself to the front of my shirt.  Ah, caught red-handed, moms notice everything!)