NY Times Chocolate Chips Cookies

Adapted from Jacques Torres

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


2 cups minus 2 tablespoons (8 1/2 ounces) cake flour
1 2/3 cups (8 1/2 ounces) bread flour (I used All-Purpose flour)
1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 1/2 teaspoons coarse salt (I used 1/2 tsp Fleur de Sel)
2 1/2 sticks (1 1/4 cups) unsalted butter (I used salted)
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)(I used 3/4 pound chocolate chips & 1/2 pound President Choice Extra Dark Chocolate 72%)
Sea salt (I used Fleur de Sel)


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.

Note: Disks are sold at Jacques Torres Chocolate; Valrhona fèves, oval-shaped chocolate pieces, are at Whole Foods.

Les biscuits au chocolat 'craquelés' - Chocolava Cookies

Les biscuits au chocolat 'craquelés'

1 1/3 tasse de farine
1 tasse de sucre
1/3 tasse de cassonade
1/2 tasse de cacao
1 c. à thé de poudre à pâte
1/4 c. à thé de sel
1/4 tasse de beurre ou margarine, température pièce
2 oeufs
1 c. à thé de vanille

Préchauffez le four à 350° F.

Dans un grand bol combiner la farine, le sucre, la cassonade, le cacao, la poudre à pâte et le sel, bien mélanger. Ajoutez le beurre et avec deux fourchettes bien mélanger.

Ajouter les oeufs et la vanille, mélanger à la cueillère de bois. Bien mélanger jusqu'à ce que la farine soit incorporer au mélange.

Faire des boules et les rouler dans le sucre en poudre. Déposer sur une plaque à biscuits et cuire pendant 12 minutes. Donne 22 biscuits.

Source: One Smart Cookie

Chocolava Cookies

1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup sugar
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup cocoa
1 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 cup butter -- or margarine at room temperature
3 large egg whites -- or 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 tsp. vanilla -- (1 to 2)

Preheat oven to 350° F.

In a large bowl or in the bowl of a food processor, combine the flour, sugar, brown sugar, cocoa, baking powder and salt, breaking up any lumps of brown sugar. Add the butter and work it in with a fork or pastry cutter (or pulse in the food processor) until the mixture is well blended. If you use a food processor, transfer the mixture to a large bowl.

Add the egg whites (or whole eggs) and vanilla and stir by hand (I use a spatula - that way you can scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl as you mix) until the dough comes together, using your fingers if necessary. The mixture will seem dry at first, and the dough will be sticky because of the low fat content. But keep going, use your hands if you need to, and the dough will come together!

Place a few spoonfuls of icing sugar in a shallow dish. Roll the dough into walnut-sized balls and roll in the sugar to coat. Place 1"-2" apart on a cookie sheet that has been sprayed with non-stick spray.

Bake for about 12 minutes, until just set around the edges but still soft in the middle. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.

Makes 22 cookies.

Source:
"One Smart Cookie, page 57"

Per Serving (excluding unknown items): 101 Calories; 2g Fat (20.7% calories from fat); 2g Protein; 19g Carbohydrate; 1g Dietary Fiber; 6mg Cholesterol; 77mg Sodium. Exchanges: 1/2 Grain(Starch); 0 Lean Meat; 1/2 Fat; 1 Other Carbohydrates.