Smashed and Salted Chocolate Cookies
I love a good choc chip cookie, and I have made a fair few over the years. I’m happy with my current incarnation, as it combines lots of chocolate, a really buttery base, sea salt, and to make these cookies extra special, they are “smashed” during baking to make them soft and a bit gooey!
The recipe is inspired by the wonderful Emelia Jackson’s chocolate-chip cookie recipe in her book First, Cream the Butter and Sugar.
280g plain flour
1/2 teaspoon bi-carb soda
1/2 baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
150g softened butter
150g brown sugar
125g caster sugar
1 free-range egg
1.5 teaspoons vanilla bean paste
125g dark chocolate chunky pieces*
125g milk chocolate chunky pieces*
1 teaspoon sea salt flakes
*My recipe uses chocolate pieces rather than choc chips. Take the required amount of a block of chocolate and chop or smash into small pieces.
Place the flour, bi-carb baking powder and salt in a bowl and whisk together to combine.
Using an electric mixer cream the butter, sugars, eggs and vanilla until light and creamy.
Put the sifted dry ingredients and 3/4 of the chocolate pieces into the bowl and mix carefully, being careful not to overmix as you don’t want the cookies to be tough.
Form the dough into a roll, to make it easier to shape cookies for baking. Wrap in cling wrap and place in the fridge for 12 hours minimum or up to a couple of days. This helps with flavour development.
Preheat the oven to 180°C. Remove the dough roll from the fridge. Line a baking tray with baking paper. Cut the dough into slices and roll into golf ball sized balls. Place on the baking tray without flattening.
Bake for 12-15 minutes until brown. After 9 minutes open the oven and remove the tray. Using a mallet or the back of a large spoon, smash the cookies to flatten them. Sprinkle with the sea salt flakes.
Return the cookies to the oven and finish baking. Once cooked, take out of the oven. Sprinkle with the remaining chocolate pieces, pushing them into the top of each cookie. Leave to cool for 10 minutes.
Remove the cookies onto a wire rack to cool. Eat at once or store in an airtight jar. They also freeze well.