Bouchon Bakery is well known for its cookies. We love our cookies, and we make them big. The chocolate chunk and chip recipe was one of our first. In most cooking or baking, varying textures is important, and cookies are no different. This is why we use both chocolate chunks and chocolate chips, which behave in the dough. The chunks melt, but the chips don’t.
I’ve always believed that when you have a special, expensive ingredient- truffles, for instance, or foie gras—it’s important to offer it in abundance so that people know what the fuss is about. Chocolate falls into that category here—these cookies are packed with chocolate. (When we want even more chocolate flavor, as in our Double Chocolate Chunk and Chip Cookies—see the variation—we replace about 25 percent of the flour with cocoa powder.) We use plenty of brown sugar as well as molasses for a deep, rich flavor. If you like nuts in your cookies, feel free to add them instead of either the chocolate chunks or the chocolate chips.
Ingredients
- 1½ cups + 3 tablespoons (238 grams) All-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon (2.3 grams) Baking soda
- 1 teaspoon (3 grams) Kosher salt
- ½ cup + 2 tablespoons (lightly packed) (134 grams) Dark brown sugar
- 1¾ teaspoons (12 grams) Unsulfured blackstrap molasses
- ½ cup + 1 teaspoon (104 grams) Granulated sugar
- 0.66 cup (107 grams) 3/8-inch chunks 70% to 72% chocolate
- ½ cup (107 grams) Chocolate chips
- 5.9 ounces (167 grams) Unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 3 tablespoons + 2½ teaspoons (60 grams) Eggs
- Place the flour in a medium bowl. Sift in the baking soda. Add the salt and whisk together. Place the dark brown sugar in a small bowl and stir in the molasses and granulated sugar, breaking up any lumps; the mixture will not be completely smooth.
- Place the chocolate chunks in a strainer and tap the side to remove any powdered chocolate, which would cloud the cookies. Mix with the chocolate chips.
- Place the butter in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Turn to medium-low speed and cream the butter, warming the bowl if needed, until it is the consistency of mayonnaise and holds a peak when the paddle is lifted. Add the molasses mixture and mix for 3 to 4 minutes, until fluffy. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl. Add the eggs and mix on low speed for 15 to 30 seconds, until just combined. Scrape the bowl again. The mixture may look broken, but that is fine (over whipping the eggs could cause the cookies to expand too much during baking and then deflate).
- Add the dry ingredients in 2 additions, mixing on low speed for 15 to 30 seconds after each, or until just combined. Scrape the bottom of the bowl to incorporate any dry ingredients that have settled there. Add the chocolates and pulse on low speed about 10 times to combine. Refrigerate the dough for 30 minutes.
- Position the racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven and preheat the oven to 325°F (convection or standard). Line two sheet pans with Silpats or parchment paper.
- Using the ice cream scoop, divide the dough into 6 equal portions, 150 grams each. Roll each one into a ball between the palms of your hands.
- The cookies are very large; bake only 3 on each pan. With a short end of the pan toward you, place one cookie in the upper left corner, one in the lower left corner, and the third one in the center, toward the right side of the pan. firing the dough to room temperature before baking.
- Rake until golden brown, 14 to 16 minutes in a convection oven, 18 to 20 minutes in a standard oven, reversing the positions of the pans halfway through baking. Set the pans on a cooling rack and cool for 5 to 10 minutes, then transfer the cookies to the rack to cool completely.
- The cookies are best the day they are baked, but they can be stored in a covered container for up to 3 days.