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Marcel Desaulniers: The Best Chocolate Chip Cookies – Bar None

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What smells better than cookies fresh from the oven?

I first encountered Marcel Desaulniers at The Trellis restaurant in Williamsburg, Virginia, around 1991 when I took several extended business trips to Yorktown.  My co-worker and I decided to stay in historic Williamsburg so we’d have plenty of nice places to eat and things to do on the weekends.  Suffice it to say, we quickly learned to order a salad at The Trellis so we’d be able to manage one of Marcel’s astonishing chocolate creations.  When he says “Death by Chocolate,” he’s not kidding.  One bite of any of his desserts is enough to send you into a swoon!  I often saw him in the kitchen at The Trellis and was lucky enough to meet him and have him autograph a cookbook for me once.  Since then, I’ve made several recipes from many of his books, but this is the one I use all the time.  They’re so good that my husband actually uses them to “bribe” people at work!

Rich, flavorful cookie dough
Recipe from: Death By Chocolate Cookies
by Marcel Desaulniers
Cookbook Heaven at  Recipelink.com
Excerpt:  The question I inevitably hear is, “What’s your favorite recipe in the book?” With one of my mother’s recipes in this book, that question is easily and honestly answered: of course, Mrs. D’s Chocolate Chip Cookies. This is my favorite recipe and not because I would sound ungrateful otherwise. As a toddler, I teethed on this cookie (along with her fudge). As time passed, it greeted me after school and brought my family together around the kitchen table. When I was in the armed services, this cookie brought me joy in Vietnam and put a smile on the faces of my U.S. Marine buddies desperate for a taste of home. With a cookie like this from Mom, I don’t know why anyone needs apple pie. ~ Marcel Desaulniers
Mrs. D's Chocolate Chip Cookies
 
Author:
Recipe type: Cookies
Cuisine: American
Serves: 2 Dozen
Prep time:
Cook time:
Total time:
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Every blogger has a favorite Chocolate Chip recipe but, I promise, these are THE best!
Ingredients
  • 4 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1½ teaspoons baking soda
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • ½ pound unsalted butter, cut into 1-ounce pieces
  • 2 cups tightly packed dark brown sugar
  • 2 large eggs
  • 2 tablespoons dark rum
  • 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  • 24 ounces semisweet chocolate chips
Instructions
  1. Preheat the oven to 300 degrees Fahrenheit.
  2. In a sifter combine the flour, baking soda, and salt.
  3. Sift onto a large piece of wax paper and set aside until needed.
  4. Place the butter and brown sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle.
  5. Beat on medium for 4 minutes until soft.
  6. Use a rubber spatula to scrape down the sides of the bowl, then add the eggs, dark rum, and vanilla extract and beat on medium for 1 minute until combined.
  7. Scrape down the bowl once again.
  8. Operate the mixer on low while gradually adding the sifted dry ingredients until incorporated, about 1 minute.
  9. Add the chocolate chips and mix on low for 30 seconds.
  10. Remove the bowl from the mixer and use a rubber spatula to finish mixing the dough until thoroughly combined.
  11. Using 2 heaping tablespoons of dough (just shy of 3 ounces) for each cookie, portion 6 cookies, evenly spaced, onto each of 4 nonstick baking sheets.
  12. Place the baking sheets on the top and center racks of the preheated oven and bake for 28 to 30 minutes until dry to the touch, rotating the sheets from top to center halfway through the baking time (at that time also rum each sheet 180 degrees).
  13. Remove the cookies from the oven and allow to cool on the baking sheets for 30 minutes.
  14. Store the cookies in a tightly sealed plastic container until ready to serve.
 Mrs. D and her family love crisp cookies. If your preference is for a soft-baked cookie, then bake them for only 20 minutes at 325 degrees Fahrenheit.


My Notes:

– I only use 2 cups of Chocolate Chips
– I often use Bourbon instead of Dark Rum – they’re great, either way.
– I add 1/2 cup, each, chopped walnuts and pecans
– This is a great base recipe for crushed Heath Bars and Symphony Bars, too.
– If you can allow Chocolate Chip Cookies to cool before eating them, you’re nuts!  Seriously, what’s better than a warm cookie with gooey chocolate?
These recipes are provided for your personal use. If you publish them, or re-post them, please give me credit. Grazie e Buon Appetito!

Comments

  2. Paula @ Vintage Kitchen Notes says

    That book is one of the first I ever bought, and I made the chocolate date cake so many times. I MUST try these, the rum sounds perfect! I used to make chocolate chip cookies and add frangelico, and they were extraordinary.

  4. Cher Rockwell says

    Whoa, Susan – you are a brave woman! Some people can be very territorial about their chocolate chip cookies.

    These sound wonderful – it must be the rum that sends them over the top 🙂

  5. Have Apron....Will Bake says

    Just made them!! And they were really good! I have put the rest of the cookie dough in the freezer for another day.
    I think the rum makes them. Not that you can taste it once the cookies are baked, but it lessens the taste of the vanilla. (which is usually a strong taste in chocolate chip cookies)
    Thanks for sharing this, Susan. 🙂

  6. Mary Hirsch says

    I didn’t think I needed a new chocolate chip cookie recipe (okay, admittedly, I’m still using the recipe on the back of the Tollhouse package – pathetic) but these cookies are something I have to try. Can you imagine all the kids at The Gant’s front office when I show up with a platter of these. Thanks for posting this recipe. The cookie dough looks real.

  10. Cocoa and Lavender says

    Oh, boy! These apsound incredible… I would think 2 cups chips would be more than plenty but a, intrigued to try them with all 24 ounces! Bourbon! Frantastic idea!!! Now, for the big questions – soft or crisp?

  11. Mary Hirsch says

    Making these next week following your pix on Facebook. The kids at The Gant are spoiled and well-deserving also. Enjoy the wedding and the week-end. xoxox

  12. Winnie says

    I was lucky enough to eat at the Trellis when he was there, and now went to his shop “Mad about Chocolate” in Williamsburg, and I ate one of these cookies each morning on vacation. Such a lovely man and I was glad to meet him while there. I will try my hand at these cookies. I have all his books and made a bunch of his cookies, but never these. Now, I have to try them after eating them.