I made the famous salted chocolate chunk shortbread chocolate chip shortbread cookies and here’s how they turned out

Instagram | alisoneroman

It’s time to forget everything you think you know about chocolate chip cookies. Why? Because the best chocolate chip cookie recipe out there might actually be a recipe for shortbread.

Home bakers are obsessed with this recipe for salted chocolate chunk shortbread cookies right now, and for good reason. These bad boys got a write-up in the New York Times cooking section, which is pretty impressive.

So what is so obsessively delicious and exciting about the recipe?

I had to bake them and find out firsthand! The recipe comes to us from Alison Roman, a former Bon Appetit editor and author of the new cookbook “Dining In: Highly Cookable Recipes.” (Um, I need a copy of this, stat!)

https://www.instagram.com/p/BeV5uqWASBP/?taken-by=alisoneroman

I followed the recipe by starting out with some salted butter (alright, A LOT of salted butter — two-and-a-quarter sticks) and some brown and white sugar. I didn’t soften the butter beforehand, as it is meant to be cold when cut into one-inch chunks. I was scared at first while using my decrepit, cheap electric mixer because I thought the sugar-butter combo was never going to cream. Instead, sugar was just flying everywhere while the cold butter put up a serious fight. But after five-plus minutes of blending, I had a gorgeous creamy mixture.

Here’s where you’re meant to add vanilla — that is, if you didn’t spill an entire bottle of vanilla all over the counter because you were distracted while eating part of a chocolate baking bar. Hmph.

So, instead, I used half a teaspoon of almond extract and half a teaspoon of maple syrup. (Did you know you could also sub vanilla with liquor?)

Next, I added flour and six ounces of the aforementioned chocolate baking bar. I used part bittersweet and part semisweet.

Bridget Sharkey

Then I rolled the dough into logs and let it chill in the fridge for a couple of hours (it can keep up to five days, if you want to make this ahead of time).

Eventually I took out the logs of dough and brushed them with a light egg wash. Here is where you’re meant to roll the logs in demerera sugar, which is a partially refined light brown cane sugar. I was really excited to try this sugar, but my Whole Foods didn’t carry it.

Bummer! But turbinado sugar, which is a partially refined light brown cane sugar similar to demerara but with larger crystals, is a good substitute and I already had it in my pantry. So, after sprinkling turbindao sugar all over the logs, I then cut them into slices about one inch thick. I lay them a pan prepared with parchment paper, and sprinkled lightly with sea salt.

Yep, sea salt — the marriage of saltiness and sweetness is what this recipe is all about!

Bridget Sharkey

Finally, I baked them in the oven at 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Mine took about 15 minutes before I was confident they were done and ready to eat.

And the result? So delicious! I loved the texture of these cookies (they are indeed more like shortbread than regular choc-chip cookies) and the salty flakes on top. Plus, they looked so pretty. They are like a “grown up” chocolate chip cookie that would be perfect for a book club or a hostess gift.

Bridget Sharkey

That is, if you can keep yourself from eating them all!

[H/t: Bon Appétit]

Desserts, Food
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About the Author
Bridget Sharkey
Bridget Sharkey is a freelance writer covering pop culture, beauty, food, health and nature.

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