I’ve just realized that I haven’t put anything sweet on the blog this week. Since I know that’s completely unacceptable, I wanted to quickly share this recipe, which I made last week before I head out to the farmer’s market.
I made these cookies, adapted from a recipe on marthastewart.com, for the simple reason that I was craving something sweet, chocolatey and salty. Ever since the great New York Times cookie phenomenon of 2008, I’ve been a great believer in sprinkling sea salt over the top of sweet things. Of course, it’s not appropriate for everything (I wouldn’t want a salty strawberry shortcake, for instance), but it can do wonders for the flavour of cookies and cakes.
And salt with chocolate and caramel? Count me in. I took Martha’s recipe and halved it (as I often do with sweets), and added a few of my own minor tweaks. In my Christmas stocking last year, I received several bags of Chipits brand chocololate, butterscotch, peanut butter and toffee chips for my baking pleasure, and I had yet to use the toffee ones. Since caramel goes so well with sea salt, I opted to use them instead of the called-for chocolate chips.
These cookies are very cakey and fat, and if you don’t overbake them, they have a dense, chewy centre very much like a brownie. If you’re not into caramel, you could always replace the toffee chips with chocolate, peanut butter or anything else, but do remember the sea salt. It really elevates the flavours here, making these more grown-up sweet than kiddie treat.
Salted Caramel Brownie Cookies
adapted from this recipe by Martha Stewart.
makes 12
- 4 ounces semisweet chocolate, roughly chopped
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1/2 cup plain flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon fine salt
- 1 egg
- 1/3 cup lightly packed dark brown sugar
- 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
- 1/3 cup toffee bits
- a few pinches sea salt
- Preheat oven to 170°C/350°F. Melt chocolate and butter together, either in a small saucepan over the stove, on in a bowl in the microwave. Set aside.
- In another bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.
- In another bowl (or using a mixer), beat the eggs, sugar, and vanilla together until light and fluffy. Add the melted chocolate/butter mixture and beat until combined. Add the flour mixture and mix until combined. Stir in the toffee bits- batter will be very thick.
- Drop heaping tablespoons of batter onto a parchment-lined baking sheet, about 1 to 2 inches apart. (These cookies will not spread much.) Sprinkle a small pinch of sea salt over the top of each cookie, and bake for 12 to 15 minutes. The tops of the cookies will be shiny, crackly and brown, like a brownie. Cool on a wire rack.