Rosemary Brown Butter Dark Chocolate Cookies with Smoked Salt
 
As this recipe makes a good three dozen cookies, you may want to scale down the recipe to a third of its volume for a normal batch of cookies, or keep the large quantity if baking for Christmas gifts or even just to stash some dough in the freezer for biscuit emergencies.
Ingredients
  • 3 sprigs fresh rosemary, washed and patted dry
  • 420g unsalted butter
  • 1 tsp vanilla paste
  • 300g caster sugar
  • 420g soft light brown sugar
  • 345g plain flour
  • 345g spelt flour
  • 2 + ¼ tsp bicarbonate of soda
  • 2 + ¼ tsp baking powder
  • 1 + ½ tsp smoked salt flakes, crushed between your fingers (plus extra for sprinkling)
  • 3 eggs, room temperature
  • 600g 70% dark chocolate, chopped
Instructions
  1. To make the brown butter, place the rosemary sprigs and butter in a saucepan and melt over a low to medium heat. Once melted, keep a close eye on the butter - it will start to crackle as the fats and liquid separate, going foamy on top. keep a spoon handy and lift out a spoonful of butter as it cooks to check - its done once the butter turns a golden brown colour and butter smells nutty and fragrant. Place a sieve over a glass jug or bowl and pour through the butter catching the rosemary sprigs. Scrape out the brown butter stuck to the bottom of the pan and pull out any rough sprigs of rosemary and add to the jug or bowl. Leave the butter to cool to room temperature and discard the rosemary.
  2. In the bowl of a stand mixer, combine the two sugars together on a low speed to crush any lumps. Stop and feed the sugar blend through your fingers to ensure there are no lumps remaining then add the two flours, bicarbonate of soda, baking powder and salt and mix again. Pour in the cooled butter and mix to the texture of clumpy sand. With the mixer still running, add the eggs one at a time until thoroughly incorporated then stir through the dark chocolate. Divide the dough between two sheets of clingfilm and press together to form two large discs then wrap tightly in clingfilm and refrigerate for at least 24 hours.
  3. Once ready to bake, preheat the oven to 200oc/180oc fan and line a large baking tray with baking parchment. Remove the cookie dough from the oven and bring up to room temperature. Pull or slice off around 50g of cookie dough and roll into a ball. Place on the baking tray, flattening slightly and sprinkle over some of the smoked salt. Bake the cookies for around 7-8 minutes in the oven until they start to brown then remove and cool on a wire rack. Repeat with the rest of the cookie dough or you could freeze one disc for baking at a later date. Simply wrap tightly in more clingfilm then defrost the dough before baking as normal.
Recipe by Victoria Sponge Pease Pudding at http://victoriaspongepeasepudding.com/baking/rosemary-brown-butter-dark-chocolate-cookies-with-smoked-salt/