Chocolate chip cookies, two ways

I bought a box of Chocolove dark chocolate chips not long ago and used them on two different chocolate chip cookie recipes. These chips are harder to find (I think I got them at Whole Foods, but can’t be certain) and slightly more expensive, but I must say that they tasted much better than the ones I normally get. They were also a bit bigger, perhaps halfway between a chip and a fève, which made for a wonderful ratio of chocolate-to-dough in a single bite. It just goes to show that your cooking is only as good as your ingredients, I guess!

Anyway, the first recipe I made is from Cannelle & Vanille: they get their flavor from muscovado and fleur de sel. Perhaps because they are gluten-free, the methodology is different from most chocolate chip cookies: these are rolled into a log and sliced before being baked. They were really good! I didn’t have amaranth flour, though, so I did some googling and used quinoa flour instead – things turned out fine. The recipe makes about 24 cookies.

8 Tbsp. (110 g) unsalted butter, at room temperature (I used cold margarine)
½ cup (100 g) packed light muscovado or light brown sugar
¼ cup (50 g) natural cane sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 egg, at room temperature
1 cup (140 g) brown rice flour
½ cup (60 g) amaranth flour (I used quinoa flour)
¼ cup (30 g) tapioca starch
½ tsp. fleur de sel, plus more for topping
¼ tsp. baking soda
1 cup (170 g) chocolate chunks or chips

In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the butter, muscovado sugar, natural cane sugar and vanilla extract. Mix with the paddle attachment on medium speed for 2 minutes. Scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl. Add the egg and mix until combined.

In a small bowl, whisk together the brown rice flour, amaranth flour, tapioca starch, fleur de sel, and baking soda. Add the dry ingredients into the butter mixture and mix on medium speed until the dough comes together.

Add the chocolate chunks and mix until thoroughly incorporated.

Scoop the dough onto a piece of parchment paper. With the help of the parchment, roll the dough into a log that is approximately 2 inches in diameter and 12 inches long. Wrap the log with the parchment and refrigerate for 1 hour.

Preheat the oven to 350 °F. Cut the log into ½-inch disks. Place them on baking sheets lined with parchment paper or silicone mats leaving 2 inches in between the cookies. Sprinkle the tops with a bit of fleur de sel. Bake for 11 to 12 minutes or until edges set and start to turn golden. They might look a bit underdone, but this is normal – they will harden as they cool, and slightly under-baking them will keep them chewy and moist. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before trying to lift them. Store them in an airtight container for up to 3 days.


The other recipe I tried is mapled chocolate chip cookies from Sprouted Kitchen. These use two kinds of sugar, though what stood out most was the addition of ground almonds and, of course, maple extract. I must admit that I didn’t like the almonds here and wished I had just used my regular flour (with or without oats, but I’d favor oat flour instead of oat flakes next time). I LOVED the maple, though, and would consider adding that to my regular chocolate chip cookies on occasion! The Engineer really liked these. Note that if I had been in Quebec, I definitely would have used the maple flakes, but they are too hard to come by at a reasonable price in Texas, so I omitted them.

1 stick/ ½ cup unsalted butter, room temperature (I used cold margarine)
½ cup muscavado sugar
½ cup turbinado sugar
1 egg, room temperature
½ tsp. sea salt
¼ tsp. vanilla extract
1 ½ tsp. maple extract
3 Tbsp. maple flakes (optional)
2/3 cup almond meal
heaping ½ cup old fashioned oats
2/3 cup white whole wheat flour
1 pinch of cinnamon
¾ tsp. baking soda
1 cup dark chocolate chips/chopped chocolate

Cream the butter and both sugars until light and fluffy. Add the egg, sea salt, vanilla and maple extracts and mix again to combine well.

In another bowl, mix the almond meal, oats, white whole wheat flour, pinch of cinnamon and baking soda together. Add the dry to the wet mixture and stir until almost combined, being careful not to overmix. Add the chopped chocolate and give it one more stir to combine. Allow the mixture to chill for at least 20 minutes, or covered overnight.

Preheat oven to 350 °F. Place your cookies on a parchment lined baking sheet or silpat, leaving space between for them to spread. Bake for 10-12 minutes, rotating pan halfway through, until the centers are barely set. They will appear underdone – this is good (I know I keep repeating this, but I find that often, people forget and then complain that their cookies are too hard, so there you go). Allow them to cool and enjoy.