Review: King Arthur Flour Jacques Torres Mudslide Cookie Mix

Phew, the name of this mix is quite a mouthful huh? Well, I suppose I'm lucky enough to have a Jacques Torres location nearby (I try not to pass by too often, the temptation is too great!) so if I really want one of his awesome cookies, I could just walk in to the shop. But if you don't live nearby, then I would say this mix is a pretty handy thing to have on hand. This was one of the items from the gift basket I won at the Girls Club bakeoff back in December. I felt like baking something up over the weekend but discovered to my horror that I was out of sugar! Me! I don't know how on earth this could happen! Anyhow, so, this mix allowed me to indulge in some baking without actually having to go out to buy sugar (yes, yes, I know, extremely lazy of me...)


So this is what actually comes in the box--two 7 oz packs of chocolate discs, and a baggie of the actual cookie mix itself (which has bits of walnuts in it). It's pretty simple to put together, and the only additional ingredients you need are two tablespoons of butter and two large eggs. So here we go!


Step 1, melt the butter and one packet of the chocolate discs together. Appreciate the fantastic smell of butter and chocolate. And the shiny!


Step 2, stir in the cookie mix. This batter stirs up very easily, so I just used a spatula...I don't think you need to break out an electric mixer at all.


Step 3, stir in 2 eggs, one at a time.


Step 4, stir in the other packet of chocolate discs.


Step 5, scoop out 1/4 cup portions of dough (these are big cookies, so give them plenty of space!), let sit for 10 minutes, and then bake in a 350 oven for about 13 minutes. When done, the cookies will be set around the edges, and soft in the center (actually, they'll seem totally under-baked), so you have to let them cool on the pan. This way, they'll be soft and chewy.


Step 6, eat! Oh, you want to see another picture?


If that pool of melted chocolate doesn't convince you, I don't know what will!


Try to make sure you have a glass of milk on hand, because holy cow, these cookies are soooooo rich. Too rich for me, actually, and I only managed half of a cookie. (Don't worry, the other half has been earmarked for breakfast tomorrow...).

The mix retails for $12.95 on the King Arthur website, which is a bit steep for a mix, but the cookies retail for around $2.50 apiece, so actually the mix isn't a bad deal (the pack makes 10 cookies). If I didn't bake regularly, I think I'd keep a box of this on hand for emergencies--and certainly if you don't live in the NYC area and want to taste a Jacques Torres style cookie, this is a pretty good option!