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Sunday, April 6, 2014

Bittersweet Chocolate Chip Cookies with Sea Salt: Maki Morris

Today I welcome Maki Morris. I just love when my two worlds of mystery and chocolate collide again.

Maki Morris is the author of the Daughters of Amaterasu Series, as well as a new YA Paranomal Romance series. She is co-owner of Two Rock Media, Inc. (tworockmedia.com), a marketing company that offers services to Fortune 100 corporations, the publishing industry, and small companies. Maki is also a certified wine specialist. She lives with her family in Sacramento, California.

MAKI MORRIS

About the recipe: 
My love for chocolate has evolved with time. In my younger years, I used to love chocolate that was super sweet with big flavors. But only in the last ten years or so, my taste have shifted toward more subtle yet complex flavored chocolates. So when I saw this recipe for chocolate chip cookies that incorporates bittersweet chocolate, I heard an angel choir sing.

These cookies are crispy around the edges and still chewy on the inside. When you bite into them, the bittersweet chocolate release its smoky cocoa flavor and coat your taste buds with silky, rich texture.
A hint of bitterness from the chocolate compliments nicely with the sugar and vanilla from the rest of the cookie. The experience is simply decadent and satisfying.

When making these cookies, I’ve skipped fleur de sel as I want to keep my sodium intake low. But, I think it would be fun to experiment by adding other ingredients to the dough, such as candied ginger, macadamia nuts, or dried pomegranates.

Chocolate source: I highly recommend visiting chocosphere.com for all your chocolate needs.
Suggested beverage paring: Ice Cold Whole Milk, Latte, Green Tea Latte, Tea, White Russian, Tawny Port.


Bittersweet Chocolate Chip Cookies with Sea Salt
Recipe and photo via topwithcinnamon.com 
(Recipe inspired by Delancey and Maury Rubin of City Bakery)

Ingredients
10 Tbsp (5 oz) butter, softened
1 Tbsp vanilla extract
1 3/4 Cup all purpose flour (I used half whole wheat and half all purpose)
3/4 Tsp baking powder
3/4 Tsp baking soda
1/2 Cup granulated sugar
1/2 Cup + 3 tTbsp light brown sugar, packed
1/2 Tsp kosher salt / fleur de sel* (plus more for sprinkling)
1 Egg
7 oz bittersweet chocolate, roughly chopped (I LOVE 70% - it's hard to find 60% in the UK, but you can use that or semi-sweet)

Baking Directions
1. In a small saucepan, melt the butter. Continue to heat it on medium-low on the stove until it foams up and smells nutty then stir in the vanilla extract. Leave to cool for 10 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, either in a stand mixer or a large bowl combine the next 6 ingredients (flour through to salt). Pour in the butter and mix until it looks like moist clumpy sand with no floury patches. Add the egg and mix in for a few seconds, then the chopped chocolate and mix until well distributed - but not for too long!

3. Using a 1/4 cup cookie scoop**, scoop up some of the dough and smoosh it into the scoop until it's just full. Turn out onto a lined cookie tray, spacing each mound 3" apart (I managed 4 per tray). Repeat with all of the cookie dough. Cover with cling film and refrigerate for anywhere between 1 - 72 hours (the longer you wait, the better the texture and flavor!).

4. When ready to bake preheat your oven to 400 degrees F. When ready, sprinkle the cold cookie dough with fleur de sel and into the oven immediately! Bake for 8-11 minutes, until browned, with set edges, and a puffy, soft center. Let cool on the baking tray for a minute before transferring to a wire rack.

*You can sub the fancy salt for a scant 1/2 tsp of table salt in the dough, however you can't use table salt for sprinkling so either use the fancy salt for sprinkling or just don't sprinkle at all.

** You can just use a 1/4 cup measure (which equals 4 tbsp), then roll the dough into a ball with your hands and slightly flatten into a “hemi-sphere” on the baking tray.

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