Sea Salt Chocolate Chunk Cookies

It’s been awhile. But if you follow me on Instagram, you will know I’m still goofing around and actively baking. And I baked A LOT of brownies and cookies recently. Those are my absolute favouritest things to bake and eat and repeating it. Whenever I crave for sweet things, it’s almost always these chewy gooey and crunchy things could satisfy the craving. Brownies and cookies have those kind of elements.

I have churned out TONS of cookies over the years. Sometimes great, other times not so. Whenever I baked a not-so-great batch of cookies, I’ve been asked why still bother to try variations when that batch from last week was awesome already. Why can’t I just stick to that great cookie recipe forever. Well… I don’t know. Maybe its great but not THE BEST yet.

I have an excel spreadsheet to record the cookie ingredient measurements so as to track the variations of each recipe. I analyse the measurements methodically and make adjustments here and there. So every now and then, I trial baked my findings. I did all these in a quest to discover THE BEST CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES. You see, I’m an accountant by day so this could well be an occupational disease. I just cannot control the desire to keep trying. And eating. And trying. And eating. UNTIL I BAKED THIS. My cookie trial project has officially come to an end.

Oh. My. God. The moment I sink my teeth into the still-warm-cookie, with melty chocolate oozing bits of goo held together with just enough chewy buttery brown dough and crunchy sides to hold them in shape, I knew it. I’m literally floating in the clouds. This is it. I told everyone. From now on, this is the only cookie recipe I will use. Period.

So when I shared this bite-shot photo of THE BEST cookie last week, many of you asked me for the recipe. And so here you go peeps! Go shop for the ingredients and bake these now!

A Note on the Ingredients

CHOCOLATE. These cookies are very simple to make. All you need is good quality ingredients. Especially the chocolates. Use good quality chocolate. I used Whittakers Artisan Collection Single Origin Samoan Extra Dark Chocolate for these and absolutely love it! You can get these chocolates from major supermarkets like Cold Storage and NTUC. Of coz you can also use other fancy chocolates like Valrhona or Lindt is great as well. Just make sure the chocolates you used are of min. 60% cacao but not too dark, unless you prefer very bitter cookies.

BROWN SUGAR. This recipe uses more brown sugar than white sugar to achieve more flavour. My personal favourite is Tate+Lyle light brown sugar. It has a very pleasant butter caramel flavour that is perfect for this recipe. I absolutely love it! You can get it from Phoon Huat or Redman. Billington’s is another good alternative brand to try.

BUTTER. I strongly believe in using good butter for baking. I recommend President, Elle & Vire or Le Gall butters. All can be found from major supermarkets.

FLOUR. When baking American cookies, I prefer to use American flours like Bob’s Red Mill or King Arthur All-purpose flour. The latter is not always available so most of the time I used Bob’s Red Mill.

SEA SALT. You can use Maldon’s sea salt flakes which is easily available. I also like to use Fleur de sel if available as I find it less salty which is very suitable for desserts.

VANILLA. I typically use Nielsen-Massey Madagascar vanilla extract. Another brand to use is Lorann Gourmet Madagascar bourbon vanilla extract. These also come with double strength. Good stuff.

So now let’s get on to the recipe!

SEA SALT CHOCOLATE CHUNK COOKIES

• 170g unsalted butter
• 150g light brown sugar
• 50g fine white sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 egg yolk
• 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
• 210g all-purpose flour
• 3/4 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp flaky sea salt
• 250g dark chocolate (min. 60%)
• Extra flaky sea salt for sprinkling

The Prep

Melt the butter over medium heat. Set aside to cool.

Chop the chocolate into uneven chunks, about an inch or smaller. Place in a mixing bowl.

Sift flour and baking soda into the bowl of chopped chocolate. Add in sea salt, Briefly mix them up.

The Method

Bring both sugars and melted butter into a mixing bowl. Using a hand whisk, beat until well combined. Add in the egg, egg yolk and vanilla extract into the butter-sugar mixture. Whisk again until well combined.

Mix in the bowl of flour and chocolate mix into the butter-egg mixture. With a spatula, fold the mixture until just combined. You should not see any dry flour but DO NOT OVERMIX. You don’t want to activate the gluten too much here.

Cover the cookie dough with beeswax wrap or cling wrap. Place in the fridge for an hour or up to 48 hours.

When ready to bake, preheat your oven to 180C. It is very important that your oven temperature to be at 180C when you place the cookies in. Use an oven thermometer to be sure. If no oven thermometer, preheat it for at least 20 minutes, should be safe.

Line the cookie sheet with baking paper or silpat. Scoop the cookie dough with a big ice cream scoop into round balls and place them on the tray separating them about 2 inches apart.

Bake for 11 to 12 minutes. After opening the oven door, bang the cookie tray from a height before removing them from the oven. This is to “flatten” the cookies and create some wrinkles which is a desirable look. The cookies will look like its underbake but not to worry, it will continue to cook even after it’s out from the oven.

Sprinkle more sea salt on the hot cookies and leave it on the tray to cool before storing it. Eat at least one while it is still warm. This is the best way to enjoy the cookies.

Storing

The cookies can be stored in airtight container in room temperature for up to 5 days. But bear in mind that the texture will change by the day but still delicious nonetheless.

If you like this recipe, you might also be interested in these:

Double Chocolate Chunk Cookies

Original Chocolate Chip Cookies

Hazelnut Chocolate Truffles