I don’t have much of a sweet tooth, I’ve never been a fan of cake, and I’m not too crazy about ice-cream either, but chocolate chip cookies are a whole other story. Over the holidays I made a batch of chocolate chip cookies with a little sea salt in the batter and they were a hit so this weekend I decided to really go for it, sprinkling coarse sea salt over the cookies before baking and the surprise bursts of salt perfectly complimented the chocolate, especially for someone who’s not overly crazy for sweets. I never really follow a recipe, but rather look to them as guides, so while I didn’t follow this Smitten Kitchen salted chocolate chunk cookie recipe to a tee, I didn’t deviate too far off course. I doubled the recipe, used a combination of dark and light brown sugar instead of granulated sugar, stuck with regular semi-sweet chocolate chips, and subbed olive oil for the butter. We brought half the cookies to a party, and I’d planned to freeze most of the other half, but someone in our house (hint, not me) had just about finished them off by the second day, so I’d say they were a hit!
Doubled Recipe (makes about 5 dozen cookies, depending on size)
• 3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 3/4 cup plus 6 tablespoons dark brown sugar
• 3/4 cup plus 6 tablespoons light brown sugar
• 2 eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
• 1/2 heaping teaspoons sea salt
• 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 bags (about 450 grams) semi-sweet chocolate chips
• coarse sea salt for sprinkling on cookies before baking
The remainder of the recipe mostly follows the Smitten Kitchen recipe, with a few improvisations.
Pre-heat oven to 360º and line cookie sheets with parchment paper or silicon baking mat.
Mix olive oil and sugars until mixed. Add eggs and vanilla until well blended, then beat in sea salt and baking soda. Add flour and mix until dough is crumbly, and finally mix in chocolate chips.
At this point, the dough may seem a bit dry and may fall apart a bit as you try to roll it into cookie balls, but don’t worry, that’s normal. Evenly space out each cookie ball (keep in mind they won’t spread/flatten as much as “normal” chocolate chip cookies) and sprinkle them with salt before popping into the oven. Bake for 10 minutes until just golden outside. Let them cool a bit before transferring to a cooling rack and enjoy!
