Now, I know you may be thinking, why are the words salty and cookies in the same title? Well, I’m here to tell you that I’ve created your new favourite chocolate chip cookie. You're welcome.
I've noticed that my favourite chocolate chip cookies are the ones that are slightly salty. The salt balances the sweetness of the chocolate and the cookie dough and brings out the best in any flavour. Using salt in baking is crucial, but there’s also a fine line of it elevating a dessert, or completely ruining it.
These cookies aren’t savoury by any means, but the cookie dough has a salty undertone that works perfectly with the sweetness of the dough, and the intensity of the dark chocolate and the walnuts. I love these cookies so much that my family went through 3 batches of these last week!
I wanted this cookie to be brown and crispy on the outside yet soft and chewy on the inside. I also wanted it to be a thick cookie, with a nice bite. I wanted an in between of a NYC style cookie and a classic everyday chocolate chip cookie, with minimal chilling time.
There a few things that make these cookies special, and I think they’re so important in the final product.
Cold salted butter
This cookie dough starts off with colder than room temperature butter that gets mixed with dark brown sugar, eggs, flour, cornstarch and some baking soda. I like to start with cold butter so that 1) I don’t have to wait for the dough to cool as long as my regular cookies and 2) the cookies are thick once baked.
Dark brown sugar
This cookie recipes calls for one type of sugar, and that’s dark brown sugar. The dark brown sugar lends a deeper flavour and also keeps the cookie from spreading too much, giving that thicker texture.
Large scoops
Once the dough is made, I like to scoop it with an extra large cookie scoop, roll the dough into a ball, and set it on a parchment lined sheet. Once scooped, the dough needs to be chilled for a minimum of 30 mins in the freezer.
Higher baking temperature
These cookies are baked at 375F, which is hotter than most cookie recipes call for. I do this so that the cookies bake faster, making the outside crispy and brown, but leaving the inside soft.
Salty walnut and chocolate cookies
What you'll need
1 cup salted butter, cold
1 ½ cups dark brown sugar, packed
1 egg
2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tbsp corn starch
½ cup chopped walnuts
2 cups dark chocolate chips
Flakey salt for topping
Directions
Using a stand mixer, combine the sugar and butter until well incorporated. About 2 mins.
Add in the egg and mix.
Add in the flour, baking soda and corn starch and mix on low.
Once combined, add in the chocolate and walnuts. Mix until you can see the chocolate chips are evenly distributed.
Using an extra-large cookie scoop, scoop the cookie dough onto a parchment lined sheet. When you’re done, roll each of the scooped dough mounds into a smooth ball, this provides for a nicer finish when the cookies are baked. The dough should make around 12 cookies.
Allow the dough to chill in the freezer for at least 30 mins.
After the dough has chilled, set your oven to 375F. Bake the cookies for 15-17 minutes or until golden brown. Using a large round cookie cutter, immedietly shape your cookies when they are fresh out of the oven. To do this, place the cookie cutter around the hot cookie, and move the cookie cutter in a circular motion, making sure the edges of the cookie are smooth out. This should make your cookies thicker and also a perfectly round shape.
Sprinkle the tops of the cookies with a generous amount of flakey salt.
Allow the cookies to cool for at least 5 mins.
Enjoy!
Note: If you don’t have salted butter on hand, you can use unsalted butter and add in 1 tsp of salt into the dough with your dry ingredients.
Commentaires