| Recipe: |
From NYTimes Cooking (they call them Tiny, Salty, Chocolaty Cookies... but I needed the name to not show up alphabetized with the T's)
Sweet, baby Jeezus! These cookies represent only the very best of the best part of brownies for me (the crinkly, chewy top). I didn't reduce the sugar at all (though I may try a little alterations next time), and think they're worth it... a single cookie packs a LOT of decadence!
I had some challenges baking them, and I expanded baking notes to capture that. Doesn't matter, they're worth a little tinkering. I also followed their recipe pretty much to a T, but got more cookies. My data reflects that.
6 T butter (NYT said unsalted, but I only have salted and it was delish)
2 c (240 g) powdered sugar 2.5 c (300 g)
3/4 c (50 g) unsweetened cocoa powder (high quality... I used Droste)
1 t kosher salt
2 large egg whites
1 large egg
8 oz. bittersweet chocolate (I used from a Trader Joe's 72% Pound Plus bar; NYT says at least 67% cacao)
1/2 c finely chopped hazelnuts, almonds, pistachios, pecans, or walnuts, optional (I've tried pecans... they didn't do it for me)
flaky salt for sprinkling (I used margarita salt, but you can use fancier Maldon if you prefer)
Heat oven to 350F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. I used my Silpat for the first pan. SEE BAKING NOTES.
Melt the butter in a small saucepan over medium heat (avoid non-stick if you can... it's really hard to see when the butter browns when the bottom of the pan is dark). Swirl the butter until it starts to foam and brown, 3-4 minutes. Stir as it starts to foam and watch for it to turn golden. Let cool a bit. Mine was warm, but not hot... I think that's key to a good final texture.
Whisk powdered sugar, cocoa, and salt in a medium bowl, ridding it of as many lumps as possible. Or sift all together.
Beat egg whites & egg in a small bowl until the whites break up.
Add eggs & browned butter to dry ingredients and stir until you've got a smoothish mixture. Stir in chocolate (and nuts, if using).
Use a spoon to drop quarter-sized blobs of dough onto the parchment, leaving a good 2" between them (they'll spread)... I ended up putting just 6 per baking sheet. Sprinkle with flaky salt. Bake until the cookies have flattened considerably and look evenly baked across the surface and a little wrinkly, 6-8 minutes. Let cool a bit before moving to cooling rack.
NYT said this made 24 cookies, but I got 36 (and I made what I thought were honest "quarter-sized blobs")... with TJ's chocolate & Droste cocoa, that comes out to about 10 g net carb/cookie! :-)
BAKING NOTES:
My first pan was the tastiest, in my opinion. There were several variables and I don't know which contributed to the superiority... BUT they stuck to the Silpat and had to be *very* carefully extracted.
Changes between first and second pans:
(1) Swapped Silpat for parchment (hoping they'd stick less... which they did)
(2) Added chopped pecans
(3) Took a break for lunch, so the dough cooled down significantly. The second pan spread a lot less for the same 7 minutes in the oven - I think that was probably because the dough was cooler/stiffer. Also the same bake time gave me not fully cooked centers. My fault for not looking closely before pulling them from the oven.
Changes between second and third pan:
(4) Slightly warmed dough in microwave... softened it just a bit. This pan baked through in 7 minutes as the first did... but didn't spread as much as the first, maybe due to the pecans.
-----------------
Notes on second batch:
(1) No nuts. Used 2 c powdered sugar. I stand by both of these changes.
(2) Went straight for parchment... first two pans I let cool 5-10 minutes and they stuck to the parchment pretty badly. I was able to get them off, but it wasn't pretty. If they were for an engineering class I think I would have gotten a D. ;-)
(3) Third pan went better... I added nonstick spray on new parchment. Also looked at reader comments at NYTCooking and let the cookies cool *completely* before trying to remove them from the parchment. Removed them by curling the parchment away from the cookie instead of using a spatula. Not perfect, but so, so much better!
|
