Salted Chocolate Cookies

A few days ago, two of my friends Edible Ireland and Like Mam Used To Bake were talking about a recipe for Salted Chocolate Cookies which was causing them some confusion.  It was from a blogger called Orangette and unusually for a cookie recipe, it added milk to the dough which turned it into a batter and first attempt reports weren't good.  I am a big fan of mixing salty and sweet together for the wonderful contrast of flavours so I was curious.

I changed the original recipe a bit because I'm comfortable enough making cookies at this stage to know what will work for my eating audience (our work colleagues) and I sliced my cookies much thinner so they were more biscuit-like rather than doughy - this also gave me more cookies to feed people with.  Some people were initially sceptical when they heard salt and chocolate together in the same sentence but just one bite and they were hooked.  So hooked in fact, that the big box that The Hubs brought to work, with the intention of giving some to his Mum, vanished without trace by lunchtime.  Savages!  This recipe is not a quick mix & bake - you do need to make it the day before and leave it in the fridge to set fully because of the melted chocolate it contains.  It's worth the extra effort though.  Oh, and they spread like wildfire when they cook, so leave at least 2 inches between each cookie...

Salted Chocolate Cookies

225g Milk & Plain Chocolate, roughly chopped
115g Butter, at room temperature
225g Caster Sugar
2 Eggs
1/4 tsp Salt
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
155g Plain Flour
50g Cocoa Powder
2 tsp Baking Powder
Sea Salt to sprinkle over the top of the cookies

Melt the chocolate either in a bain marie or the microwave gently, until melted.  Leave to one side to cool down.

Whisk the butter and sugar together until pale and fluffy.  Add the eggs one at a time, scraping the sides of the bowl between additions to make sure everything is really well mixed together.  Now add the salt, vanilla and chocolate, again beating well so everything is mixed thoroughly.

Finally, add the flour, baking powder & cocoa and mix well.

Lay out a large sheet of cling film on your counter and dollop half of the mixture onto it.  It will be quite fluid at this stage because of the melted chocolate, so gather the cling film around the mixture and form it into a log about 4cm in width.  Get it right now because once the dough sets in the fridge, you won't be able to manoeuvre it around like now.  Square off the ends of the dough, wrap the cling film tightly and stick in the fridge for at least 8 hours.  Repeat with the remaining dough.

When you're ready to bake, preheat your oven to 180c/Gas Mark 4 and line some large baking sheets with baking paper.

 Remove the dough from the fridge, unwrap & using a serrated knife, cut the dough into 1-2cm slices.  Place on the baking sheets, spacing well apart, and sprinkle with the sea salt.  If you like, you can roll the dough log in some caster sugar for added crunch.  I tried this but I don't think it made a huge difference to the end result.

Bake for 10-12 minutes until set.  Allow to cool on the sheet for 10 minutes before transferring to a wire cooling rack.  Keep in an airtight tin (if they make it that far)