salted chocolate chunk cookies
These are now my second favorite chocolate chip cookies (after Thin and Crispy Chocolate Chip Cookies). The salt adds a lovely tang, and if you can use it, the turbinado sugar makes for a great texture!
A few notes from Deb:
A few notes from Deb:
A couple recipe-specific notes: The version I originally made from the Not Without Salt site called for light brown sugar, says you can bake the dough right away and calls for 8 ounces of chocolate. The version in the (excellent) Date Night In book calls for dark brown sugar, says the dough is best after resting in the fridge for a day or two, and calls for only 6 ounces of chocolate. The good news: both versions work perfectly, but I must insist you use the full half-pound (8 ounces) of chocolate. You will not regret it. In both versions, like most baking recipes, the dry ingredients (salt, flour, baking soda) are to be mixed separately but I’m a lazy cook, and include my own hack below to skip this. Finally, yes, that’s 360, not 350 degrees as the baking temperature. Rodriguez says the extra 10 degrees makes for a better cookie, and I’m not one to argue with such clear mastery of the chocolate chip cookie arts.
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1/2 cup (4 ounces or 113 grams) unsalted butter, at room temperature
2 tablespoons (25 grams) granulated sugar 2 tablespoons (25 grams) turbinado sugar (aka Sugar in the Raw; you can use more brown or white if you don’t have this, but the subtle crunch it adds is delightful) 3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons (165 grams) packed light or dark brown sugar 1 large egg 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 3/4 teaspoon baking soda Heaped 1/4 teaspoon (or, technically, 1/4 + 1/8 teaspoon) fine sea or table salt 1 3/4 cups (220 grams) all-purpose flour 1/2 pound (225 grams) semi- or bittersweet chocolate, cut into roughly 1/2-inch chunks with a serrated knife Flaky sea salt, to finish |
Heat oven to 360°F (180°C) and line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicon baking mat.
In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugars together with an electric mixer until very light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add egg and vanilla, beating until incorporated, and scraping down the bowl as needed. Beat in salt fine sea or table salt and baking soda until combined, then the flour on a low speed until just mixed. The dough will look crumbly at this point. With a spatula, fold/stir in the chocolate chunks. Scoop cookies into 1 1/2 tablespoon (I used a #40 scoop) mounds, spacing them apart on the prepared baking sheet. Sprinkle each with a few flakes of sea salt. Bake for 11 to 12 minutes, until golden on the outside but still very gooey and soft inside. Out of the oven, let rest on baking sheet out of the for 5 minutes before transferring a cooling rack. Extra dough — I know, what’s that?! — can be formed into scoops and frozen on a sheet until solid, then transferred to a freezer bag. I’ve baked these right from the freezer; they need, at most, 1 minute more baking time. You could also form them into a 2-inch log, freeze it, and slice and bake the cookies off as desired. The only difference I’ve noted between the cookies baked right away and those baked a day or more later is that the older cookie dough is less puffy when baked. |