This year I am going to attempt to complete the 52 week baking challenge. Each week has a different theme and the challenge is to bake one recipe a week that fits the theme. All my recipes are lactose free, but lactose free ingredients can simply be swapped for their dairy counterpart. Here is my recipe post for week nine, the theme “sweet and salty”…

Browned Butter, Chocolate Chip and Sea Salt Cookies for week 9 ‘sweet and salty’ challenge.

When the term ‘sweet and salty’ is mentioned, I think most people would think first of salted caramel. The trend for salted caramel is massive, and Restaurants.com names a long list of salted caramel products in their article ‘Salted Caramel: Does the Fad Dessert Have Staying Power?’. I wanted to avoid baking just another analogous salted caramel recipe, and wanted to do something without caramel in this weeks bake. I found a recipe for Nutella-Stuffed Browned Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies with Sea Salt by thebitesizedbaked, and although I am not a huge fan of Nutella (don’t get me wrong, I do like it, I just don’t love it) the browned butter, chocolate chip and sea salt combination appealed to me, and fit the ‘sweet and salty’ category. As the Nutella is only a filling in these cookies and is not incorporated in the dough, I decided to leave it out of my recipe, and I don’t think these cookies suffer at all from this omission, however if Nutella is your kryptonite go ahead and follow the original directions to stuff these cookies.

I was interested in the ‘sweet and salty’ combination, especially the use of salt in sweet baked goods, as from previous experience I know that too much salt in what should be a sweet treat is NOT a good thing. This Science and Food article discusses the interaction between salty and sweet tastes and reveals that “salt suppresses bitterness and therefore allows the more ‘favorable flavors,’ such as sweet, to shine through”. Sweet and salty combinations are also thought to be favourable to us due to being a vestige of our primal nutritional instincts; “sweetness indicates carbohydrates, or energy… salt is a necessary component in the body’s water balance and blood circulation”. Individually, sweet tastes and salty tastes are desirable and elicit a biological response, but the double hit of something sweet AND salty is better, “two positive biological responses… is a very pleasurable experience” as stated in this article from Alter Eco.

These cookies turned out so well. Sometimes when I try a new recipe for the first time the cookies end up too soft, too crunchy, too sweet, too dense, too ‘something’ to not be perfect. These were (to my tastes) perfect! They had a crunchy outer rim and a soft chewy centre. The cookie was buttery, vanilla-ry and sweet, the chocolate was smooth and creamy and the hit of salt punched through the other flavours. Not every mouthful was salty, if it were I think it would be too much, there was just enough to enhance the flavours and provide a contrast. The recipe made about 30, and they lasted maybe 3 days. No exagerration, I ate 6 in one go instead of lunch one day as they are just so moreish – I didn’t intend for it to happen, and 6 cookies is definitely not a balanced meal, but I had one, then another and before I knew it 6 had gone!

Recipe adapted from Nutella-Stuffed Browned Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies with Sea Salt by thebitesizedbaked

Ingredients

2¼ c. plain (all-purpose) flour

1¼ tsp. baking soda

¼ tsp. of salt

1 c. dairy free margarine

1¼ c. packed dark brown sugar

¼ c. granulated sugar

1 large egg plus 1 egg yolk

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1 tbsp. lactose free yoghurt (or exchange for apple sauce)

1 c. dark chocolate chips (make sure they do not contain milk)

coarse sea salt for sprinkling

Method

1. In a saucepan over medium heat, melt the margarine until the colour changes to a caramel colour. Remove from the heat.

2. In a large bowl mix flour, baking soda, and salt until combined.

3. Put the melted butter and both sugars into a bowl and beat until fully incorporated. Beat in the egg, egg yolk, vanilla and yoghurt until combined. Gradually add the dry ingredients until a dough forms, then mix in the chocolate chips.

4. Wrap the dough in clingfilm and place in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours.

5. Preheat the oven to 350F (180C). Line a baking tray with baking parchment.

6. Take walnut sized pieces of dough, roll into a ball in your hand. Place the balls on the baking sheet and flatten gently, the cookies should be half an inch thick and one inch apart on the tray.Sprinkle the cookies with the coarse sea salt and pat gently to press the salt into the dough.

7. Bake for 10 minutes in the centre of the oven, checking halfway through and turning if browning on one side.

8. Remove from the oven and cool for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire cooling rack.