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
White chocolate isn’t the most popular out of all the chocolates but personally, I really like it. Yes, it’s much sweeter but there’s a time and place for it and I love using it across different desserts. But what’s even more interesting than white chocolate is caramelised white chocolate. You bake regular white chocolate in the oven for about an hour, stirring often, until it turns a beautifully milky caramel colour. The flavour difference is truly noticeable - it’s got a bit more depth and more caramel like tones.
Try and use white chocolate with a higher percentage of cocoa butter for best results - I’ve found Green & Blacks and Waitrose white chocolate to work quite well and both are easy to find. It’s also easier to caramelise larger amounts of white chocolate to avoid it burning so we’ll make more than needed for the recipe. Just store the leftovers in an airtight container.
RECIPE
makes 12
Ingredients
200g white chocolate
60g blanched hazelnuts (skinless)
150g unsalted butter
100g light muscovado sugar
80g caster sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla bean paste
120g plain flour
90g wholemeal flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1/2 teaspoon flaky sea salt, plus extra to finish
3 tablespoons sesame seeds
METHOD
Preheat the oven to 120C fan/140C. Roughly break up the chocolate and place on a lined rimmed baking tray. Bake in the oven for about 60-70 minutes. You’ll need to stir the chocolate every 10-15 minutes to make sure it caramelises evenly. At some points it may look grainy but after stirring it should smoothen again. Once the chocolate turns a milky caramel colour, remove from the heat and let it cool completely. Once set, break it into large chunks. We’ll only need 100g for the cookies so store the rest in an airtight container until needed.
Turn the oven up to 160C fan/180C. Place the hazelnuts on a small baking tray and toast them in the oven for 12-15 minutes until they’re lightly browned and smell fragrant. Turn off the oven, let them cool completely before roughly chopping and setting aside.
To make the browned butter, add the butter to a deep saucepan and let it melt. Continue cooking the butter until it starts to smell fragrant, get foamy and the colour turns a deep dark brown. Pour it into large bowl and let it cool enough so it’s not hot to the touch.
Once cooled, add the caster sugar and light muscovado sugar to the browned butter and mix to combine. Mix in the egg and vanilla.
In a separate bowl, sift together the plain flour, wholemeal flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and salt. Tip this into the butter mixture and mix gently until just combined.
Add in 100g caramelised white chocolate and the chopped hazelnuts and stir to incorporate.
Line a large baking tray with greaseproof paper and use a small ice cream scoop to portion out 12 balls of dough. Place them on the tray, cover with cling film and chill in the fridge for 4-6 hours or until firm.
When you’re ready to bake, preheat the oven to 170C fan/190C. Roll each ball of dough into some sesame seeds and bake the cookies in batches for 13-15 minutes, until the edges are set and the middle is still a little soft. Top with a little extra flaky sea salt.
Let them cool completely before serving.
Hi Benji! Making the brown butter cookies today - do you add the oats with the flour or with the chocolate? I think they were missed in the method steps