Someone on Facebook posted a recipe for New York Times best chocolate chip cookies, which is basically Jacques Torres’ chocolate chip cookie. And if you didn’t know he is, is is better known as Mr. chocolate. Why you ask? Because he is! He does with chocolate things I’ve never seen before, the sculptures and items are simply beautiful. When my girls were young I would watch his show (which is no longer on the air) and think I would love to learn how to handle ingredients like he did. Forget creating the beautiful things he did, I just wanted to truly understand what made this chocolate better than that one, I wanted to understand things like butterfat and why water is BAD for melted chocolate. I desperately wanted to taste ten different chocolates with the same cacao content and understand the flavor notes and subtleties in each of them. Just beautiful.

jacques torres’ famous chocolate chip cookie made gfree

So of course, when I saw that JT’s (not Justin Timberlake) cookie was voted best cookie, I thought, well of course, but I really wanted to land a gluten free version of that cookie. I believe I have. The keys to the jacque Torres cookie are few but important. First, rather than just using AP flour, JT’s cookie has a mix of bread and cake flour. In glutinous baking the bread flout will give a cakiness while the cake flour offers a crispness. Sounds a bit backwards I know. The another important element is the way the butter is creamed. Traditionally I think the chocolate chip cookie is a cookie tossed together by a loving Mommie trying to demonstrate her love for her family, Yet taking that extra time to cream that butter until it almost becomes frosting like, is demonstrating your love for the cookie. This is the main difference between a great Mommie cook and a true chef…for the Mommie the food is thee for people, for the chef the people are there for the food. The third difference between the Mommie cookie and JT’s is time. He chills the dough for 24 36 hours before baking, and it really does allow those flavors to become something different and unique. The last key difference and the one that you can’t get around…the chocolate! JT uses chocolate fèves or pistoles, chocolate disks that are great for baking and melting into his beautiful creations. because of the cacao content (at least 60%) the flavor is just not the same.

So what does Jacques Torres have that I don’t have? GLUTEN!  I had to really work with my flours. I have listed below how I made my GF cake and bread flours. Also, I didn’t have JT’s faves however, bot Guittard and Valhrona, make amazing chocolate that you can get most places. (In Arizona that is going to be Wholefoods and AJ’s Fine Foods). But you CAN order JT’s from his site mrchocolate.com they are priced much better than I would have thought.

Adapted from Jacques Torres’ NY Times Best Chocolate Chip

Time: 45 minutes (for 1 6-cookie batch), plus at least 24 hours’ chilling

 Ingredients

2 cups minus 2 tablespoons (8 1/2 ounces) GF cake flour*

1 2/3 cups (8 1/2 ounces)  GF bread flour*

1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon xanthan gum

1 1/2 teaspoons coarse salt

2 1/2 sticks (1 1/4 cups) european style butter, unsalted

1 1/4 cups (10 ounces) light brown sugar

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons (8 ounces) granulated sugar

2 large eggs, room temperature

2 teaspoons natural vanilla extract

1 1/4 pounds bittersweet chocolate disks or fèves*, at least 60% cacao content

Sea salt, for sprinkling over tops of cookies

Gluten Free Cake Flour

1 cup rice flour

1/2 cup tapioca starch

1/2 cup sorghum flour

Gluten Free Bread Flour

1 1/3 cup AP flour

1/3 cup rice flour

new york times best chocolate chip cookie gone GF

Directions

Sift  all flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt into a bowl. Set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with paddle attachment, cream butter and sugars together until very light, about 8 minutes. Add room temperature eggs (they are better if left on the counter overnight), one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Mix 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.

Transfer dough to a air tight container, then press plastic wrap against dough and place lid on top and refrigerate for 24 to 36 hours.

Dough may be used in batches, and can be refrigerated for up to 72 hours.

When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350° F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a Silpat. Set aside.

Scoop 6 3 1/2-ounce mounds of dough onto baking sheet, (you can use 1 1/4 inch mounds but cut baking time by half).

For a prettier cookie, make sure all disks are horizontal before baking. Sprinkle lightly with sea salt and bake until golden brown but still soft, 18-20 minutes (or 9-11 for smaller mounds).

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 you can save the dough for baking in the next couple days. Eat warm preferably with the coldest glass of milk you can get your hands on.

Yield: 1 1/2 dozen 5-inch cookies or double for 1/2 sized cookies.