Valrhona fleur de sel chocolate cookies (300 views)

Valrhona fleur de sel chocolate cookies

Excerpt From: Jessica Koslow - Everything I Want to Eat

To know me is to know that I add fleur de sel to finish just about everything.

Makes about 18 cookies

2 cups (250 g) all-purpose flour
⅔ cup (55 g) unsweetened cocoa powder (the darker the better)
1½ teaspoons baking soda
Pinch of fine sea salt
1 cup (2 sticks/225 g) unsalted butter, at room temperature
¾ cup (165 g) packed brown sugar
⅓ cup plus 1 tablespoon (80 g) granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
9 ounces (250 g) 70 to 85% cacao Valrhona chocolate (see Note), chopped into chips
Fleur de sel

In a bowl, stir together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt.

In another bowl, using electric beaters or a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter, brown sugar, granulated sugar, and vanilla until exceptionally fluffy, about 7 minutes. Slowly add the flour mixture, then stir in the chopped chocolate. (The dough is pretty stiff; don’t be surprised by that.)

Wrap the cookie dough in plastic and chill it in the refrigerator for at least a few hours. (We usually make the dough in the late afternoon and let it chill overnight. There’s nothing wrong with letting it chill for several days.)

Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C). Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

Shape the cookie dough into 1¼-ounce (35-g) balls (a little larger than Ping-Pong balls) and place them, spaced a couple of inches apart, on the prepared baking sheets. Sprinkle each with a pinch of fleur de sel.

  Bake for 5 minutes, switch the position of the baking sheets in the oven, and then bake for 6 minutes more. When they come out of the oven, they should have a dark, sexy sheen to them. While they’re still hot, we use a round cookie cutter to make the edges of the cookies perfectly round, but that step is definitely not necessary. However, you should know that the little scraps that result are possibly the best snack in this book. Let cool on the baking sheets.

These are best when just barely cool enough that they can be picked up, still gooey and fresh. However, they will keep, covered, at room temperature for a few days. You can refresh them by warming them in a 325°F (160°C) oven for 4 to 5 minutes.

NOTE ON CHOCOLATE
If you can’t find Valrhona chocolate (Trader Joe’s sells it!), you can use any super-good 70 to 85% cacao chocolate. I first encountered Valrhona chocolate when I worked at Bacchanalia, at the beginning of my career in the kitchen, so it fills me with a certain nostalgia for those days. At Sqirl we make ganache with Guittard, which is another high-quality chocolate you can try”

Excerpt From: Koslow, Jessica. “Everything I Want to Eat.” Abrams, 2016-07-30. iBooks.
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