It’s raining and cold so, of course, I’m baking. I’ve also tried to make my house as cosy as possible to keep from slipping into social distancing depression. We have a fire going well before usual and I finally caved and signed up for Disney+, so I’ve had Fantasia on as background baking entertainment. I plan to follow that up with Fantasia 2000 and then The Aristocats.
Meanwhile, in the baking world, I am continuing to create new uses for all the white whole wheat flour I have. I’m still too nervous to make cookies made entirely of whole wheat flour since I have no idea how they would turn out, so for this recipe I added a tiny bit of white flour and a tiny bit of whole wheat pastry flour in the hopes of keeping these cookies from turning into doorstops.
When it comes to the flavor, I thought about one of my favorite cookies, a ginger molasses cookie, and decided to do a version of that, but combine it with a brown butter chocolate chip cookie; mostly because I wanted to experiment with browned butter. I have to say, the smell of toasty browned butter in my kitchen was a welcome addition to my home’s overall coziness factor. Just be very careful not to let the butter burn. Keep an eye on it and keep on swirling it until it smells nutty and is golden and foamy on top.
These taste fantastic. The whole wheat flour makes gives the cookies a richer, deeper flavor, and I just adore the combination of chocolate and salt. My best friend always needs to have something salty after she has something sweet and vice versa, so these cookies are dedicated to her. I can’t wait to make them for her when this whole social distancing thing finally ends.
Note: I would highly recommend storing leftover cookies in the refrigerator. I don’t know why, but something amazing happens to the cookies when they come straight out of the fridge. I can’t describe it, you just have to try it for yourself.
Recipe
(Makes 12)
Ingredients:
1 stick unsalted butter, melted and browned
25 g maple syrup
65 g caster sugar
2 tbs molasses
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 large egg
25 g plain flour
65 g whole wheat pastry flour
80 g white whole wheat flour
1½ tsp. ground cinnamon
1 tsp. allspice
1/4 tsp. ground cloves
2 tsp. ground ginger
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
125 g dark chocolate roughly chopped
60 g pecans toasted and roughly chopped
Flaky sea salt for sprinkling on top
Method:
Brown the butter in a pan on the stove, pour into a stand mixer bowl at let cool.
Meanwhile, sift the flours, cinnamon, clove, allspice, ginger, salt, baking soda, and baking powder into a large bowl.
Once the butter has cooled, add the maple syrup, sugar, vanilla, and molasses and beat together for 1-2 minutes.
Add the egg and beat together with the butter and sugar for 3-5 minutes until lighter in color and fluffy.
Slowly add in the dry ingredients until just combined.
On a low speed, add the chocolate and pecans alternately so that they are evenly dispersed.
Let the dough chill in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.
When they’ve finished chilling, preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Once chilled, scoop out about an ice cream scoop sized ball of dough and place them 2-3 inches apart on the baking tray.
Sprinkle the top of each cookie with flaky sea salt.
Bake at 350 for about 10 minutes, keeping a close eye on them to make sure they don’t overbake. They should still be a little soft when you take them out, they will keep cooking as they cool.
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