A Chocolate Chip Cookie with a Hint of Holiday

The crispy-chewy ideal, with puddles of chocolate — they require no mixer, and also contain no gluten

I’m a treat-a-day kind of person; my day simply isn’t complete without one. So I believe that it’s always the right time for a cookie. Much of the internet seems to think that now is the right time for a cookie, with the holidays approaching and all. They may do as they wish. But I’ve been fiddling with this recipe for over a year, enjoying it just as much in dewy spring and swampy summer as I am right this moment, on the first day of December.

For this recipe, one of the key inspirations is a cookie at Bakeri, a cafe/bakery in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, near where I live. I’ve loved Bakeri for a while, and feel that they’re a bit of an under-appreciated, hardworking gem in this city that has so many places competing for attention. They’ve been stylishly going strong for almost 15 years! Everyone who works there wears a periwinkle jumpsuit, which is a surprisingly flattering uniform, and for what it’s worth, they make the city’s best cinnamon roll, too.

But the cookie. It’s a hefty, toffee-edged chocolate chip cookie that’s exactly the right kind of gooey in the center. Listen closely when you break it in half and you’ll hear its edges crackle, but the insides make an exciting, damp sound. (Indulge me here, I’m just trying to do it justice.) And if your timing is right, the chocolate still oozes a bit. It’s not doughy. It’s not crisp. It’s the goldilocks cookie, at least by my standards.

It also has a lot of character, being studded with crunchy, whole toasted hazelnuts and perfumed with fresh rosemary, both of which make me think of Christmas regardless of the fact that I eat it all year long. These things add to the cookie, rather than distract from it.

I don’t know their recipe, but I’ve been working their additions into my cookie recipe, which yields smaller, more homestyle ones. The key characteristics are the same, though: buttery-centered, crispy-edged, chocolate-strata’ed. It’s worth noting that my cookie is gluten free (using almond flour in place of all-purpose). There’s also browned butter, and a good amount of salt. It requires no mixer — just a saucepan and a mixing bowl. Use a digital scale and you’ll barely have any dishes to wash.

Perhaps the more appropriate holiday cookie is more decorative, keeps longer, and has a higher yield for cookie boxes and the like. If those are what you’re after, I hope you’re paying attention to what Susan Spungen is doing with her delicious works of art. But these are works of pleasure. Santa will love them, and you will, too — either right now or next June.

---

Chocolate Chip Cookies with Rosemary & Hazelnuts (GF)

• Nix the rosemary and hazelnuts if you prefer more of a classic, but gluten-free, chocolate chip cookie. I’d add ½ cup more chocolate if you go that route.

• Baking these even a few minutes longer than suggested will yield a crisp cookie, if that’s your preference. Otherwise they tend to be optimally crisp-chewy on the day they’re made, and then soften a bit over the next few days.

• You can omit the arrowroot/cornstarch, but it helps the dough bake out a bit more smoothly than with only almond flour.

• The dough can be portioned and frozen, for baking off in smaller batches or gifting to your friends so that they can enjoy freshly baked cookies on their own time.

Yield About 2 dozen cookies | Prep time 15 minutes, plus resting time | Cook time 11-14 minutes

½ cup (1 stick, 112g) unsalted butter 
2 tablespoons finely minced fresh rosemary
¾ cup (165g) brown sugar or 130g coconut sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 large egg
2 cups (200g) superfine almond flour, spooned and leveled 
2 tablespoons (18g) arrowroot or cornstarch
1 teaspoon baking powder
¾ teaspoon fine salt
½ teaspoon baking soda
1 cup (150g) chopped dark chocolate (70%) or chunks
1 cup (135g) toasted, skinned hazelnuts, very coarsely chopped
Coarse or flaky salt, such as Maldon, for sprinkling

1. In a medium saucepan over medium heat, brown the butter, allowing it to first melt and then bubble away, swirling often, until it smells nutty and you can see little flecks of reddish-brown milk solids clinging to sides of the pan, 4 to 6 minutes. Off the heat, add the minced rosemary, and cool for 10 to 15 minutes. Whisk in the sugar and vanilla, then beat in the egg, until incorporated.

2. In a mixing bowl, whisk together the almond flour, arrowroot or cornstarch, baking powder, salt, and baking soda, breaking up any clumps of almond flour. Scrape the butter-sugar mixture into the dry ingredients and use a wooden spoon or sturdy spatula to combine. Stir in the chocolate and hazelnuts. Scrape the batter into an airtight container and chill for at least 2 hours or up to 3 days.

3. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper — you can bake 8 cookies per baking sheet, which may mean doing it in batches if you want to bake them all at once.

4. Spoon 1 ½-tablespoon sized portions of dough — a spring-loaded cookie scoop works great — onto the baking sheets, 8 per pan. Sprinkle each one with a little pinch of coarse salt. Bake for 11 to 14 minutes, until evenly browned and the cookies have puffed all the way to the edges. Cool for at least 10 minutes before eating. Once cool, they’ll keep in an airtight container for up to 3 days.

Recipe: Chocolate Chip Cookies with Rosemary & Hazelnuts (GF)

74.9KB ∙ PDF file

Download

Download