Two New Cookies!
my ideal oaty chocolate chip cookie and a caramelised white chocolate, hazelnut & sesame cookie.
Hello friends,
Welcome back to another week of Sweet Things. I'm happy to say I’m back home after a whirlwind USA book tour, welcomed back in true British fashion to grey skies and unending rain. Such joy. I wrapped things up in San Francisco with the loveliest event at Omnivore Books and managed to squeeze in a stop at Tartine Bakery for some of the best pastries of the whole trip. Still dreaming of those morning buns!
It’s been great to be back in my own kitchen though and I’ve been inspired by all the bakeries I was able to visit. The urge to bake cookies was pretty strong this week and I realised that after years of writing recipes, I don’t think I’ve ever shared my favourite chocolate chip cookie. There are literally hundreds of thousands of cookie recipes online claiming to be the *perfect cookie ever* so I won’t join in with such bold statements. But I can say that these are the *perfect cookies ever* for me. And I’m sure they’ll hit the spot for lots of you too!
So what makes this my ideal cookie?
They’re not too thick. Or too thin. I’m not particularly keen on those super chunky Levain style cookies. It’s just too much going on for me. You end up with an interior that’s mostly soft and you lose some of the crispness and chewiness that I love. Equally, I don’t want a cookie that’s too thin. They can either end up too crispy, or so chewy that they’re almost bendable. I like something right in the middle!
Not too many mix ins. This one might be a little more controversial but I don’t appreciate it when there’s tonnes of chocolate in a chocolate chip cookie. You know those ones where it’s more chocolate than dough? No thank you! I still want to taste the dough and all it’s butteriness and caramel like sugar flavour. Excess chocolate can sometimes be a bit distracting. Same thing goes for too many extras like nuts. I don’t need every bite to have every thing if that makes sense? However, I wouldn’t go as far as the guys over at Bon Appetit who recently put out an article in favour of chocolate chip cookies…without the chocolate.
Well salted! I could cry over an undersalted cookie. It’s just no fun at all. Salt the dough and then put a little extra on top too. It makes a world of difference.
Oats. Now, my ideal cookie is ‘oaty’, as in there are oats in it, but it’s not oat forward if you get my drift. These aren’t in the same family as an oatmeal raisin cookie, you’ll be pleased to hear. But the addition of some jumbo (old fashioned) oats really helps with the texture. They feel a little more robust and I’m convinced it makes them chewier too.
So, depending on your cookie style, these may or may not be your ideal cookie but I’d encourage you to give them a try anyway!
Paid subscribers will also get the recipe to my caramelised white chocolate, hazelnut & sesame cookies which I also really love.
Enjoy!
Benjamina
OATY CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES
These start out as most good cookies do, with a base of browned butter. I know it can sometimes feel like an extra faffy step but you really do taste the difference. And once it’s done, everything else comes together pretty quickly.
I chill these for about 4-6 hours and have found that to be enough time to firm them up, let the flour hydrate and give a good amount of spread once baked. You can definitely chill them overnight if you’ve got the time but you don’t need to.
RECIPE
makes 12 cookies
Ingredients
200g unsalted butter
140g light muscovado sugar
90g caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla bean paste
1 large egg
220g plain flour
100g jumbo/old fashioned oats
1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1/2 teaspoon flaky sea salt, plus extra to finish
100g dark chocolate, roughly chopped
METHOD
Start by making the browned butter. Add the butter to a deep saucepan and let it melt gently over a medium heat. Continue to cook the butter until it starts to smell fragrant, get foamy and turns a deep amber colour.
Pour the hot butter into a jug or heatproof bowl (including all the brown bits) and let it cool to room temperature before chilling in the fridge until it thickens to the consistency of softened butter.
Add the butter to a bowl along with the light muscovado and caster sugar and beat until well combined. You don’t need to beat it until it’s super pale and fluffy.
Mix in the vanilla followed by the egg.
In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, oats, baking soda and salt.
Pour this into the butter mixture and mix on low speed until just combined. Tip in the chocolate and stir to incorporate.
Line a large baking tray with greaseproof paper. Use a small ice cream scoop or just a spoon to portion out 12 balls of dough. Place them on the baking tray, cover with cling film and chill in the fridge for 4-6 hours or until firm.
Preheat the oven to 170C fan /190C. Bake the cookies in batches for 15-17 minutes. You can bake for a couple of minutes longer if you prefer them extra crunchy.
Remove from the oven and top with extra sea salt before letting them cool completely.
CARAMELISED WHITE CHOCOLATE, HAZELNUT & SESAME COOKIES
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