Is it possible to talk about actor Courteney Cox’s cooking or baking without referencing Monica Geller, her character from “Friends”? Like Courteney, Monica also enjoyed cooking and even became a chef on the show (although she had a lot of free evenings, didn’t she?). For the many details of “Friends,” it’s best to suspend disbelief while watching, including overthinking the fact that the best chocolate chip cookie Monica ever tasted came from the recipe on the Nestlé Toll House chocolate chip package, or as Phoebe pronounced it “Nes-LAY Two-LOUS-ah.”
On Courteney’s wildly popular Instagram account, she frequently cooks and bakes. She’s often joined in the kitchen by other celebs—like when she made the “Best Steak of All Time” with singer Brandi Carlile. Recently, the star teamed up with Paul Cassell of Paul Cassell Bakes to bake some chocolate chunk cookies with Maldon sea salt. Her verdict? “Seriously the best damn cookie I’ve ever had!”
The big chocolate chunk cookies looked pretty damn good to me, so I had to try them. But making them doesn’t happen quickly. There’s a 36- to 48-hour chilling time, a 19-minute baking time, and a 15-minute cooling time before finally getting to devour these (hence why a big dollop of patience should also be an essential ingredient).
The chilling time makes sense—it helps to solidify the fats and keeps the cookies from spreading too much while baking. Most cookie recipes call for at least an hour of chill time before baking, so the extra chill time in this recipe just ensures that the entire batch of dough has firmed up all the way through.
Before giving my opinion of these cookies, let’s talk about the recipe's essential (and surprising!) ingredients that really take these to the next level.
Why Use Bread and Cake Flours in a Cookie Recipe?
The recipe calls for bread and cake flours rather than the all-purpose flour typically used when baking cookies. In the Instagram reel, Cassell quips that the “cake flour makes it cakey, and the bread flour makes it bready.” That’s all the information given on why those flours are used—but I suspect this combination gives it the signature soft and chewy center, with a crispy outer edge. But, in all honesty, I didn’t see much of a textural difference between these cookies and other chocolate chip cookies I’ve baked.
So what is the difference between these three types of flours?
- All-purpose flour is a balance between hard and soft flours. It works in a variety of baked goods such as cookies, muffins, cakes, pie crusts, and quick breads, like banana bread.
- Bread flour has a higher protein content than all-purpose flour (about 2 percent more). Those proteins contain gluten, and it’s the gluten that holds the bread together and helps it rise. It’s often used in recipes like bagels, pizza dough, and no surprise, bread.
- Cake flour is the lightest of these three flours. It has a lower protein content than all-purpose flour (about 2 percent less). It makes light, fluffy baked goods, like cake, obviously, but also works for making tender pie and tart crusts.
Knowing this, it seems to me that the bread flour and cake flour would cancel each other out—which is maybe why these cookies didn't seem texturally different from other chocolate chip cookies I've made.
What Are Chocolate Fèves and Do I Really Need Them?
In addition to two types of chocolate chunks, the recipe calls for placing a chocolate fève atop each cookie before baking. Chocolate fèves are bean- or disk-shaped pieces of chocolate used by professional bakers. They’re designed to melt easily. Courteney says you can also use 1-inch chunks of a chocolate bar, and I chose to go that way.
The only additional substitution I made was to use semisweet chocolate chips instead of semisweet chocolate chunks because my store does not carry them.
What Is Maldon Sea Salt and Where Can I Find It?
The recipe specifically calls for Maldon sea salt, a gourmet salt that comes from the coastal town of Maldon on the banks of the River Blackwater in Essex, England. The salt’s unique pyramid-shaped crystals make it an excellent finishing salt that balances out the sweetness and really makes the flavor of these cookies pop.
My local grocery store does not carry Maldon salt, so I used what I consider to be a suitable substitute: fleur de sel, a similar sea salt harvested in France. Finishing these cookies with flaky sea salt is essential. If you don’t have Maldon, you can use any other flaky sea salt for finishing the cookies, but do not use kosher salt or table salt. The smaller crystal size of these salts will leave a harsher, more overpowering flavor.
Taste Test: Are These Really the “Best Damn Cookies”?
Are these the best damn cookies I’ve ever had? No. That honor goes to the peanut butter cookies my summer camp baker made. But, these are damned good—and huge! About 6 inches in diameter, crispy around the edges, and soft and rich in the center with lots of chocolate bursting through. The salt flakes do their job, creating a perfectly salty, savory complement to the sweetness of the chocolate.
Our Best Tips for Making Courteney Cox’s Chocolate Chunk Cookies
- The recipe says to place the 4-ounce balls of dough 2- to 3-inches apart. I chose 2 inches, and my cookies ran together. Go with 3 inches.
- You will need a stand mixer for these cookies. An important step is creaming the butter and sugars together for four minutes on high speed, and it’s almost impossible to replicate the consistency without a stand mixer.
- Be flexible with substitutions. Any flaky sea salt will do in place of Maldon. Chocolate chips in place of chunks or disks are okay too.
The Origin of This Chocolate Chip Cookie
Gotta give credit where credit is due. Courteney may have brought this damn good chocolate chip recipe to my attention, but neither she nor Paul Cassel created the recipe. The recipe is based on the 2008 New York Times recipe published by James Beard award-winning food writer and cookbook author David Leite. He researched the recipe for 6 months, and the end result is what David describes as an “amalgam of recipes and tips from Jacques Torres and a bunch of other New York City bakers.”
