I saw this recipe in the most recent issue of bon appetit and knew I had to make it. When I opened up the magazine and saw these cookies and the words salty and chocolate in the title, they had me. I’m one of those gals that loves salty and sweet combinations. Chocolate covered pretzels are my weakness. I will admit that I was a bit hesitant to try a new chocolate chip cookie recipe, because I have my absolute FAVORITE chocolate chip cookie recipe already on this blog. If you haven’t tried those chocolate chip cookies, you must!
OK, so lets move onto these cookies. I quickly made up a batch of these cookies one Sunday afternoon and posted a photo of them on Facebook and Instagram. My readers saw the photo and asked me to post this recipe ASAP. I didn’t take any pictures the first time around (besides that one quick shot) because I was just making them up for the family. I made them up a second time so that I could take photographs and get the recipe down for you all. I followed the directions given in the magazine perfectly, and to tell you the truth, I didn’t like the cookies very much. They were almost meringue-like in texture and very crispy. I was stressed because I had promised these cookies to you all and I wasn’t feeling to great about them. I wondered what had happened between the first time I had made then up and the second time to make them taste so differently. I decided to make them up the way I did the first time, (by not following the directions too much) and they turned out perfectly The original recipe called for whipping the batter for 4-5 minutes and by doing this, the texture of the cookies changed and became something entirely different. I’m sure that people like their cookies that way, but we like ours to be a bit chewy and not so crisp and dry tasting. So after baking 3 batches of these cookies, I’m literally cookied out.
With all that being said, if you like or crave sweet and salty snacks, then you will love these cookies. The sea salt really brings out the flavors of the chocolate, and the chocolate is cut up into random sized chunks so you may get some bites that are just chock-full of chocolate. My kids love that part. The cookies are chewy and full of salty chocolate bites. Topping off the cookies with sea salt is just another fun and tasty way to jazz up your basic chocolate chip cookie.
chocolate chunk cookies with sea salt:
recipe adapted from bon appetit
makes 16 cookies
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour – I use King Arthur’s unbleached all-purpose
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 3/4 cups packed dark brown sugar (dark brown sugar adds more flavor) – Use fresh, moist brown sugar instead of hardened brown sugar, which will make the cookies dry. The original recipe called for light brown sugar, but I really prefer dark brown sugar.
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup powdered/confectioners sugar
- 2 large egg yolks
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 8-ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped – I used two 4-ounce bars of Ghirardelli 60% bittersweet chocolate
- Maldon or flaky sea salt crystals- I used Baleine coarse sea salt crystals
Honestly, I find that baking cookies one tray at a time works best. Whenever I have baked two batches up at the same time, one tray comes out better than the other, even when I rotate them. SO, I would recommend baking up 1 tray at time if you have one oven. Pre-heat your oven or ovens to 375 degrees. Line 2 rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper.
Let’s prep your ingredients. Get out your chocolate bars and using a serrated knife, chop up your chocolate. I like to chop up my chocolate on a piece of parchment paper set over a cutting board, as it makes easy clean-up and also lets me pour the chopped chocolate easily into the batter. I literally press down on the chocolate with a serrated knife and cut the chocolate into thin strips and then cut those strips into chunks. The chocolate chunks do not have to be uniform in size, and it’s actually sort of cool to have some bigger chunks in there.
Crack the eggs one at a time over a small bowl using an egg separator or your hand to separate the egg yolk. Put the egg yolks into a small bowl and set aside.
In a small bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt and baking soda; set aside.
Place the butter, dark brown sugar, granulated sugar and confectioners sugar in the bowl of a standing mixer or a large bowl.
Using either a hand-held mixer or a standing mixer with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugars together on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes.
Add in the two egg yolks, the egg and the 1 teaspoon vanilla and beat until everything is mixed together.
Reduce mixer speed to low and slowly add in the dry ingredients, mixing just to blend. One the dry ingredients are added, I always finish the mixing process with a spatula, so I don’t over mix the batter with the mixer.
Pour the chopped chocolate into the batter. Using a spatula, fold in the chocolate.
I use my handy-dandy ice-cream scooper to make the cookie balls. The ice-cream scooper I use is my 1 3/4-inch. Scoop out an oversized batch of dough and arrange cookies 2-inches apart on the prepared baking sheets.
You will have 8 balls per cookie sheet. Top the cookie balls with some maldon or sea salt.
Bake cookies, one tray at time, (or both trays if you have a double oven) until just golden brown around the edges and a bit puffy in the middle, 10-12 minutes. My cookies were done perfectly at 11 minutes. The cookies may look a bit underdone in the middle as they come out, but they will firm up as they cool. See my photo below of the cookies when they come out of the oven, you can see how light and puffy they are.
Note: Most of the sea salt will sink into the cookies, so they may not look super salty, but you will definitely taste the salt.
Let them cool slightly on the baking sheets, then transfer to wire racks to cool completely. Serve these up immediately with a tall glass of milk.
- 1½ cups all-purpose flour - I use King Arthur's unbleached all-purpose
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, at room temperature
- ¾ cups packed dark brown sugar (dark brown sugar adds more flavor) - Use fresh, moist brown sugar instead of hardened brown sugar, which will make the cookies dry. The original recipe called for light brown sugar, but I really prefer dark brown sugar.
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- ¼ cup powdered/confectioners sugar
- 2 large egg yolks
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 8-ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped - I used two 4-ounce bars of Ghirardelli 60% bittersweet chocolate
- Maldon or flaky sea salt crystals- I used Baleine coarse sea salt crystals
- Honestly, I find that baking cookies one tray at a time works best. Whenever I have baked two batches up at the same time, one tray comes out better than the other, even when I rotate them. SO, I would recommend baking up 1 tray at time if you have one oven. Pre-heat your oven or ovens to 375 degrees. Line 2 rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Let's prep your ingredients. Get out your chocolate bars and using a serrated knife, chop up your chocolate. I like to chop up my chocolate on a piece of parchment paper set over a cutting board, as it makes easy clean-up and also lets me pour the chopped chocolate easily into the batter. I literally press down on the chocolate with a serrated knife and cut the chocolate into thin strips and then cut those strips into chunks. The chocolate chunks do not have to be uniform in size, and it's actually sort of cool to have some bigger chunks in there.
- Crack the eggs one at a time over a small bowl using an egg separator or your hand to separate the egg yolk. Put the egg yolks into a small bowl and set aside.
- In a small bowl whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt and baking soda; set aside.
- Place the butter, dark brown sugar, granulated sugar, and confectioners sugar in the bowl of a standing mixer or a large bowl.
- Using either a hand held mixer or a standing mixer with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugars together on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes.
- Add in the two egg yolks, the egg and the 1 teaspoon vanilla and beat until everything is mixed together.
- Reduce mixer speed to low and slowly add in the dry ingredients, mixing just to blend. One the dry ingredients are added, I always finish the mixing process with a spatula, so I don't over mix the batter with the mixer.
- Pour the chopped chocolate into the batter. Using a spatula, fold in the chocolate.
- I use my handy dandy ice-cream scooper to make the cookie balls. The ice-cream scooper I use is my 1¾-inch. Scoop out an oversized batch of dough and arrange cookies 2-inches apart on the prepared baking sheets.
- You will have 8 balls per cookie sheet.
- Top the cookie balls with some maldon or sea salt.
- Bake cookies, one tray at time, (or both trays if you have a double oven) until just golden brown around the edges and a bit puffy in the middle, 10-12 minutes. My cookies were done perfectly at 11 minutes. The cookies may look a bit underdone in the middle as they come out, but they will firm up as they cool.
- Note: Most of the sea salt will sink into the cookies, so they may not look super salty, but you will definitely taste the salt.
- Let them cool slightly on the baking sheets, then transfer to wire racks to cool completely.
Ok…these are AWESOME. I’ve made these twice in 3 days. Thank you for posting!!!
Hi Stacie! Yaay! I’m so glad you made and love these cookies! I also love that you made them twice in three days! You go girl! Thanks for stopping by and letting me know! xoxo, Jackie
Sweet and salty is so good, isn’t it. great pictures – do you take them yourself?
Thanks for the compliment regarding the pictures! Yes, I do take them all myself and sometimes I get a good one in a few shots and other times it takes me 100 shots till I find one I like. It can be very tedious, but it’s always rewarding when you get that one photo that you were envisioning 🙂
These look wonderful, love the combination of sweet and salt!
Thanks Joy 🙂
Yum Yum Yum! That is so weird how different they turned out. And It is so kind of you to make so many batches just for all of us. Now, it’s too bad we couldn’t get the real thing!! They look AWESOME in your photos and my mouth waters every time I see them.
Thanks Danielle! It was weird, but I’m glad that I tried them again after that failure, because the first and the last batch were so good. I wish you lived closer so I could just deliver a bunch over to you. I seriously don’t want to eat another chocolate chip cookie for at least a month as I had way too many. xoxo, Jackie
These cookies are so pretty, I was just wondering that some vanilla sea salt would be great on these too! Happy weekend 🙂
Vanilla sea salt would be great I’m sure. You should give it a try. 🙂
These cookies look amazing! They have been on my list to try and I think I will tackle them tomorrow when the snow comes! Love your site!
Thanks Lisa! Snow tomorrow, yuck! Well, at least it’s a good day to stay in and make cookies, right? Thanks for stopping by and I love your site as well. 🙂
I’m coming over! ha…wish I could…these would be worth the drive if I were still in Southern California. I guess i will just have to make them. Your photos are gorgeous..as always jackie!
xo
annie
Hi Annie! I wish you lived in Southern California as well. The family and I are heading down there in April and it would have been great to meet up with you. 🙂
I love salty sweet also! Chocolate covered pretzels are the death of me. I’m so tempted to make these – I have everything in my pantry except chocolate chips.
I know salty and sweet are the perfect combination. You don’t need chips girlfriend, you just need 8oz of chocolate! I can’t wait to make up your cauliflower pizza.
That shower of glowing white sea salt just got my mouth to watering! These look scrumptious!
Thanks Sue 🙂
funny how the quickie version ended up being the best…sometimes those throw-together recipes ARE the best and to try to duplicate them, ever again, is so hard! but you persisted and they look great!
Hi Averie. I know its so funny how you can make a recipe one time and have it be great and then the next time, not so much I learned that I just have to sit back and follow my natural baking intuition more. 🙂
Hi pretty Mama!!! I’m back and was greeted by these cookies this afternoon. Yum! I love the sweet and salty thing too and feel the same way about cookies as you do – I prefer chocolate chip cookies to be chewy and softer, not crispy. I’d much rather have your version!
Did you have a nice week? I had a good time on the trip but so glad to be back. Missed my boys! I’m back at work today and catching up. I’ll write a post soon about the trip with some pictures.
Looking back up at the pictures, I really wish I had a cookie right about now. WOuld be a great afternoon treat. 🙂 Okay Jackie, I’ll talk to you soon. Take care! xoxo, Sharon
*Looking back at your blog post pictures made me want a cookie, not my Cabo pics. That looked sort of funny when I just read that back. 🙂 I really ought to proofread before submitting. 🙂
Welcome back Sharon! I missed hearing from my Seattle buddy! I’m glad you had a great getaway, but I get how it’s nice to get back to the fam. I’m sure the boys missed you tons and couldn’t wait for you to get back.
I had a great week but took a break from the computer for 4 days and it was so nice! I needed some time away from social media as well as the internet.
I leave spelling errors all the time on your blog, so no worries, I know what you’re saying girlfriend! xoxo, Jackie
I do feel like you get me. 🙂 Happy Thursday! I’m off to a couple work meetings and then back into the zumba swing of things tonight. Need to work off the guacamole and margaritas. 🙂 xoxo, Sharon
You go and Zumba it out! I just got back from the gym. I have to work off all those cookies I baked 🙂
I love salt in sweets, sometimes I think if I ever make cookies, I would add less sugar and more salt! My kids have to remind me to bake them some. Now they learned to cook and don’t have to ask me to bake them anymore (I am not a sweet eater, never had been) 🙂
It’s funny how some people are not into sweets while others, like me, can’t get enough of them. My hubby use to not be into sweets, but then he married me and now he needs his nightly dessert fix! I guess my baking grew on him.