I’ve made a lot of chocolate chip cookies over the years, but this one immediately caught my attention because it uses three different kinds of chocolate. The recipe is adapted from Thomas Keller of The French Laundry and Bouchon Bakery, and his use of cold butter creates a thicker, denser cookie with a wonderfully fudgy center instead of one that spreads thin and flat.
I changed the chocolate combination slightly, adding a little milk chocolate for extra creaminess. The mix of semisweet, bittersweet and milk chocolate gives you layers of flavor rather than one flat chocolate note, while the combination of dark brown sugar and white sugar adds a deep butterscotch undertone.
These are rich cookies. They’re crisp around the edges, soft and dense in the center, and packed with large pieces of melted chocolate.
Looking for some more desserts?
Old-Fashioned Cuppa Cuppa Cake Recipe — A Southern Classic
Dairy-Free Caramel Banana Bread- Rich, Dark & Moist
Coconut Cake from “Warm Bread and Honey Cake”
Banana Lime Cake: Tips for Perfect Baking
Ginger Spice Cookies -Recipe for Rainy Days
Quick Puff Pastry Dessert with Bananas and Pecans
Grandma Ethel’s Best Pecan Pie Recipe
And of course, My Favorite Recipes
The Story:
Thomas Keller developed these cookies for the staff at his restaurants, Ad Hoc and Bouchon Bakery. What caught my attention was how different the technique is from a standard chocolate chip cookie. Instead of starting with softened butter and allowing the dough to spread, Keller uses cold butter and chilled dough to create a thicker cookie with a dense, almost fudge-like center.
A Few Tips:
When you chop the chocolate bars, sift out the fine chocolate dust and use the larger chunks. The chunks create those pockets of melted chocolate you want throughout the cookies.
After shaping the dough, chill the cookies for at least a few hours before baking. This helps them hold their shape and gives you a thicker cookie with a dense, fudgy center.
And most importantly: do not overbake them. They should still look slightly soft in the center when they come out of the oven. They will continue to set as they cool.
(Makes about 25, 3-inch cookies)
Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups plus 1 tablespoon all-purpose Flour
3/4 tsp Baking Soda
1 tsp Sea Salt
1 cup packed Dark Brown Sugar
3/4 cup granulated White Sugar
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
2 large Eggs
5 oz 55% Scharffen Berger Semisweet chocolate, cut into ¼ inch pieces
3 oz 70-72% Scharffen Berger Bittersweet chocolate, cut into ¼ inch pieces
3 oz 41% Scharffen Berger Extra Rich Milk Chocolate, cut into ¼ inch pieces
1/2 lb (2 sticks) cold unsalted Butter, cut into small pieces
Preparation:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Sift flour, salt and baking soda into a medium bowl. Beat half the butter on medium speed until fairly smooth. Add both sugars and the remaining butter, and beat until well combined, then beat for a few minutes more, until the mixture is light and creamy.
Scrape down sides of the bowl. Add one egg at a time, beating until completely incorporated. Add your dry ingredients and mix on low speed to combine. Fold in chocolate pieces by hand. Note: You might want to sift the small pieces out of the chocolate pieces, so the chunks are a relatively inform size.
Shape dough into balls, using about 2 Tbsp each. Arrange cookies on each pan, leaving space between them. Bake for 10-12 minutes. Ten minutes for more gooey cookies and a bit more if you want golden tops. Remove from oven and allow cookies to cool for a few minutes on the cookie sheets and then move to racks to finish cooling.
Thomas Keller-Inspired Triple Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
Equipment
Method
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Sift flour, salt and baking soda into a medium bowl. Beat half the butter on medium speed until fairly smooth. Add both sugars and the remaining butter, and beat until well combined, then beat for a few minutes more, until the mixture is light and creamy.
- Scrape down sides of the bowl. Add one egg at a time, beating until completely incorporated. Add your dry ingredients and mix on low speed to combine. Fold in chocolate pieces by hand. Note: You might want to sift the small pieces out of the chocolate pieces, so the chunks are a relatively inform size.
- Shape dough into balls, using about 2 Tbsp each. Arrange cookies on each pan, leaving space between them. Bake for 10-12 minutes. Ten minutes for more gooey cookies and a bit more if you want golden tops. Remove from oven and allow cookies to cool for a few minutes on the cookie sheets and then move to racks to finish cooling.