Jacques Torres Chocolatey Chocolate Chip Cookies

These have been on my To-Bake List for a while now. Ever since my mom emailed me the link to this recipe and video from an episode of The Chew. They are crazy amazing chocolate chip cookies from Jacques Torres. Watch the video with the recipe if you have a minute. Jacques is just so cute.

But I warn you, if you do, youll want to make these cookies just like I did.

Why?

Mainly because the cookie dough is filled with these

giving you lots of chocolate with every bite.

Oh my oh my.

Thank you Jacques!

The recipe calls for cake flour and bread flour and of course all the other goodies that go in to making chocolate chip cookies.

But its the chips that kept calling me, beckoning me to make them.

The recipe uses large chocolate wafers.

As in much bigger than the ones you find at the grocery store.

I bought these Guittard chips in Williams-Sonoma. They are not inexpensive so be prepared to spend a little dough if you make these cookies.

And here are some you can order from Jacques.

P.S. these arent the kind of candy coatings you use in cake pops either if you were curious.

The only thing difficult about this recipe is waiting.

The dough should chill for 24 hours.

I basically call it torture.

But when its time to bake them, you get to enjoy the other reason why I wanted to make these babies.

You dont use a small or regular cookie scoop for these.

Were talking ice cream-sized scoops of chocolate chip cookie dough.

Mounds.

Mini Mountains of mega morsels.

Sprinkle a little sea salt on before baking. Do it.

Ummm yum!

And pretty much perfect.

Heres the recipe:

Jacques Torres Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe

Print it out and make them for a special day. Like today.

Youll be glad you did.

Enjoy!!!

Malcolm Goh

To be honest, before receiving the invite from Alice George PR Company, for this AFC event, featuring a special media preview session with Malaysian Celebrity Chef Malcolm Goh and Malaysian Talent Tham Zher Peen, the hosts of AFCs Back to The Streets, I can't say I've actually heard of Malcolm Goh, so I actually googled him to find out what it's all about. I was quite fascinated with what I read, so I thought yes, I should skip work for the afternoon and make my way to Berjaya Time Square for the privilege of meeting this celebrity chef.


Photo courtesy of AFC Press Kit

One of the highlights of the event was a sneak preview of the first episode of BACK TO THE STREETS, where,as secret agents, Malcolm and Zher Peen go undercover to the streets of Kuala Lumpur, searching for local culinary delights where they then revamp inspiring dishes from the streets of Kuala Lumpur, working together with students from Berjaya University College of Hospitality.

It's always quite fun visiting this Berjaya University College of Hospitality. It reminds me of my halcyon days, when young, innocence, bright eyed idealism ruled the day, and looking at the young students with eager hunger to learn the tricks of the trade. Back in my days, culinary schools weren't even an option in our career paths, or who knows, I might be a chef by now. But honestly, I have great admiration for chefs, slogging away in hot kitchens, on their feet all day, it's quite a tough life.

The event's emcee was Daphne Iking, and and the co founder of AFC, Maria Brown, also said a word or two, and heaped praises upon Malcolm Goh, and how he was a natural, etc etc and so forth.


The preamble leading up to the introduction of the Chef himself. Due to unforeseen circumstances, the co-host of the Back to the Streets program could not make it. I have to say, Malcolm has a very likeable personality, like someone who is actually quite real.


He does a brief demo on a LENTIL SOUP WITH POACHED EGG recipe, which involves cooking the egg sous vide style, some fancy smancy method where the temperature is kept constant at 63C to yield the most beautiful poached egg one can ever hope to lay eyes upon.


After that, we are given a tour of the university culinary school, from the oenology department (wine! ooohhhh, what fun..) to the pastry kitchens to the serious cooking place. Students were dotted around everywhere, looking very chef like in their uniforms.



Finally, we get to sample the Lentil Soup With Poached Egg, along with some other finger food.

To end it, we were given a preview of the first epi! sode of Back To The Streets, where Malcolm and Zher explore beef noodles, roast goose and using that as their muse, create something totally new in the Berjaya kitchens. Stay tuned to AFC to catch these fascinating Malaysian based episodes.

Mooncakes 2012 @ Chynna, Hilton Kuala Lumpur

Last year, I tried over 40 mooncake flavours, and my favorite snow skin ones were from Hilton KL.

Every year, Executive Chef Lam Hock Hin would create a new snow skin flavour... this year, he incorporated the king of fruits, durian into this special limited edition mooncake called "Heavenly Gold". Not just any durian, but the most sought after durian in the world by durian aficionados - the Musang King durian, also known as Raja Kunyit.

Heavenly Gold

This premium mooncake is available at RM33 nett per piece. You can also purchase them by the box (RM276 nett for 6 pieces), and it comes in this gold limited edition box.

The Heavenly Gold is made using only fresh premium Musang King Durian enveloped in a delicate snow skin.Musang King durians and are prized for their full bodied aroma, bittersweet taste and thick clotted cream like texture. Biting into one of these mooncakes was definitely like eating the real thing - rich and creamy!

Durian may not be everyone's cup of tea, but the following three snow skin mooncakes were a HUGE hit in our household. Flower Drum, Yellow Moon and Blue Moon ... each with their distinctive tastes and qualities. Priced at RM19 nett each, they're actually cheaper to buy this year and still as good as ever!

The Yellow Moon, the signature mooncake from 2010, is filled with violet flower essence and chocolate centre with brandy flavoured lotus paste. Hubby loved this very much, I wonder if it has anything to do with the inclusion of brandy? Hehe.

I found the Blue Moon this year really great. The Blue Moon is a snow skin with Amaretto lotus paste and blueberry cheese Feuillantine. Kiddies love it too, especially Baby D who kept trying to eat the centre only! ;P

TheFlower Drum was my favorite one from last year, a snowskin mooncake with lotus paste and a soft custard egg yolk centre in a pretty purple shade. This year, I felt that the salted egg yolk taste is more prevalent. A gorgeous salty/sweet combo!

If I smile nicely for the camera, maybe mummy will let me eat them ALL!

We also tried two of its traditional baked mooncakes - the baked white lotus and baked green tea paste with pistachio nuts. Both had very smooth paste and was not too sweet. Very nice! All baked mooncakes are priced at RM19nett too.

Other baked flavours available here are white lotus paste with single yolk, baked pandan paste with single yolk, baked red bean paste with almond flake, five nuts and lotus paste with single yolk. Box of 6 mooncakes which include 3 baked and 3 snowskin is priced at RM93 nett and Box of 4 baked mooncakes is priced at RM74 nett. Do check out their mooncake booth at th! e hotel lobby where you can get to taste of their delicious mooncakes.

Click here for review of Hilton KL's mooncakes from 2011.

*The photo without watermark is courtesy of Hilton KL.

Location: Chynna Restaurant, Hilton Kuala Lumpur, 3 Jalan Stesen Sentral, 50470 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Tel: 03- 2264 2264

Website: http://life.hiltonkl.com/

Mooncakes Toh Yuen, Hilton Petaling Jaya

Toh Yuen Chinese Restaurant of Hilton Petaling Jaya celebrates the joyful Mid-autumn Festival with its new range of robustly flavoured snowskin selections and premium baked mooncakes from 11th August till 30th September 2012.

Now, does anyone mind telling me exactly when is the Mid-Autumn festival? It seems that every festival has an early start this year. Invites for Ramadhan came 1 month before Ramadhan, and I seen mooncakes being sold starting a few weeks back.

Im not a big fan of mooncakes but I admit these mooncakes from Toh Yuen got me hooked. We had tasting samples of the snowskin range and was given 4 of the baked ones to take home. I thought the mooncakes would be left sitting on my kitchen top since Im not fond of mooncakes, but after I started with theWhite Lotus Paste with Single Yolk (RM22), I was hooked!

Now the key factor why I like it so much it that the baked mooncakes (all 3 I ate so far) are NOT GREASY. Neither were they overly sweet. Traditional super oily, sticky and sickly sweet mooncakes were the norm. Now, the art of making mooncakes are refined and we lucky consumers has the choice of consuming healthier mooncakes, definitely something to rejoice about!

It helps of course, if youre buying from hotels, where the mooncakes are generally more skillfully made.

The price paid may be a premium but the way I see it, I rather pay for food than suits my palate rather than consume ones thats cheaper but I wont enjoy because its unsuitable for my taste/diet.
Below is the Baked Mooncake withAssorted Nuts (RM22). This is one mooncake I cant stand due to the smell or aftertaste which I suspect is contributed from thecandied winter melon. Also, the nuts tends to impart a rancid taste after a while, even as soon as I unwrap it.

After years, I think I found my favourite Mixed Nuts mooncake. I love it so much that I ate almost half at one sitting, which says a lot for someone who absolutely abhors it!
The best description I could come up with for this nutty mooncake?
It tasted almost like an energy sports bar!

Jam packed with crunchy fresh nuts (no masuk-angin aftertaste!), very little stickiness or kamquat/mandarin peel and a thin layer of non-oily fragrant skin, Im actually keeping this for myself because I love it so much!

With 2 opened and having surpassed my expectations, I confidently unwrapped the Pandan Paste with Single Yolk (RM22).

Yup, just as expected this was similar to the White Lotus Paste one. Very balanced sweetness lev! els and non-greasy.

Below are the Snowskin mooncake range I sampled, which is well, basically all the flavours available this year!

Master Chef Lees creative snowskin selections with pillowy skin, velvety fillings and intriguing flavours are deliciously smooth and melt in your mouth.
I highly recommend:
* Snowskin Mooncake with Yam Paste and Strawberry
* Snowskin Mooncake with Durian. This one encased luscious, creamy pulp within its soft skin, perfect for durian lovers
* Snowskin Mooncakes with Pumpkin and Pandan a varied combination thatblend surprisingly well

My favourite: The Yam Paste and Strawberry Snowskin.

The others areSnowskin Mooncakes with Lotus Paste and Sunflower Seeds,Snowskin Mooncake with Green Tea and Cheese Cake and Snowskin Mooncake with Red Bean Paste and Banana. All retails for RM13++ each.

Perfecting the art of gifting, the handcrafted mooncakes are elegantly packaged with an oriental flair in three vibrant themes red and black, turquoise and green. It is an ideal gift for business associates, friends and family to convey ones warm greetings andheartfelt wishes.

Enjoy 10% discount on bulk purchase of 100 boxes of mooncake and above. Besides, Toh Yuen offers personalized company logo in gold hot stamping on the box lid for bulk purchase of 150 boxes of mooncake and above.

Prices are subject to 6% government tax for take-away. An additional 10% servicecharge applies to dine-in orders.

So anyone ordering?? Do remember to order the Mixed Nuts Baked Mooncake as well as a Yam and Strawberry Paste Snowskin!