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If it’s wrong to be infatuated with a cookie, we don’t want to be right—the Valrhona chocolate chip cookie from Craftsman and Wolves chef-partner William Werner being the object of our affection. The salty-sweet marvel takes the combination to extremes, with intensely bitter (80 percent cocoa) chocolate and a topping of flaky sea salt. For a gourmet update of a childhood classic, dip this confection in milk or, as Werner suggests, almond milk with a nip of bourbon. “That’s next-level, master-of-the-universe good.”
Valrhona Chocolate Chip Cookies
Makes 15 cookies
Ingredients:
2 cups + 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1¼ cups high-gluten bread flour
¾ teaspoon baking soda
1½ teaspoons baking powder
1¼ teaspoons salt
⅓ cup + 1 tablespoon sugar
1 cup brown sugar (packed)
1 vanilla bean, scraped
1 cup (2 sticks) butter at room temperature
2 eggs at room temperature
2 cups 80% Valrhona chocolate, chopped
Maldon sea salt
1. Whisk flours, baking soda, baking powder, and salt together, and then sift through a fine mesh sieve. Set aside.
2. Combine the sugars and vanilla bean,
and set aside.
3. In a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream butter, sugars, and vanilla bean on medium low until the mixture is even and there are no visible chunks of butter. Take care not to overmix—it will lead to cookies that spread out during baking.
4. Scrape the bowl. On medium low speed, add eggs one at a time, pausing after each to fully mix them into the butter and sugar mixture.
5. Once the eggs are fully incorporated, add sifted dry ingredients in 3 installments on the lowest mix speed. Right before the last addition is fully incorporated, add the chopped chocolate and mix until dough is even and there is no visible flour.
6. Let dough rest in the refrigerator overnight.
7. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
8. Scoop cookies, evenly spacing 6 onto a parchment-lined 18-by-13-inch baking sheet. (Use a green #12 scoop, equal to 1/3 cup.)* Repeat for the rest of the dough.
9. Sprinkle a very small amount of sea salt on the tops of the cookies.
10. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until the edges are set and each whole cookie is a nice, even brown color, and slightly puffed in the middle.
11. Allow the cookies to set for 5 minutes, and then transfer to a cooling rack.
(* Vollrath or Hamilton Beach green #12 scoop can be purchased online at amazon.com.)
This article was published in 7x7's September 2014 issue. Click here to subscribe.