Ritual-inspired brown butter and toffee chocolate chip cookies
Original recipe from Bon Appétit
During September 2018, I spent two weeks interning with the incredible ladies at HerCanberra at their office in the heart of Barton.
HC had recently published their Taste edition, featuring a bucket list for Canberra foodies. Number 100: Ritual’s Rolo Cookies. As fate would have it, the café in question was situated just across the road.
Hearing tales of these fabled cookies, I made it my mission to sink my teeth into one. Where in the morning I was too early and by the afternoon they were sold out, my hopes had been dashed. That is, until one fateful day when the production manager surprised me with one upon return from a mid-morning coffee run.
So, did they live up to the hype? Absolutely. The next week I whisked my partner Ben into Ritual, desperate for him to share the same dance of flavours and I’ve since recommended the cookie as a must-try to every colleague venturing to the nation’s capital.
With its perfect size, perpetually gooey chocolate and pockets of caramel, this was the cookie to beat and I needed to find a replicate recipe stat.
When I eventually found Bon Appetit’s brown butter and toffee chocolate chip cookies, I was immediately hooked. I couldn’t get this recipe off my mind, I had to try it.
Finally finding a weekend that wasn’t far too hot to crank the oven, it was time.
An American-based publication, I was first faced with the challenge of translating the original recipe into metric measurements and reviewing the ingredient list to account for geographical limitations.
The resulting recipe is largely measured in grams and substitutes Skor for IKEA-stocked Daim bars. I used Cadbury baking dark chocolate melts (42% cocoa), which struck the perfect balance between milk chocolate’s sweetness and dark’s bitterness.
So, what sets these cookies apart? Well for starters, the melts, don’t skimp on these. In place of chips, the melts’ larger surface area makes for perpetually soft pockets of chocolate in the final product. The brown butter is also a game changer, adding a nuttiness and depth of flavour that amps up the sophistication of the humble chocolate chip cookie.
Ingredients:
226 grams unsalted butter
280 grams all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
¾ tsp kosher salt
200 grams dark brown sugar
66 grams white sugar
2 large eggs, room temperature
2 tsp vanilla extract
84 grams (3 bars) Daim bar
225 grams Cadbury baking dark chocolate melts
Flaky sea salt
Method:
Brown butter by cooking in a medium saucepan over medium heat, stirring often until it foams and then begins to brown. When the butter turns golden in colour, remove from heat and scrape into a heatproof bowl to cool slightly*.
While the brown butter is cooling, whisk together flour, baking soda and kosher salt in a medium bowl.
Chop the Daim bars into chunks.
Add brown sugar and granulated sugar to browned butter in the bowl of an electric mixer and beat on medium speed until incorporated.
Add eggs and vanilla and increase the mixer speed to medium-high. Beat until mixture lighten and begins to thicken**.
Add the dry ingredients and pulse until just combined.
Add the chocolate melts and pulse until just combined.
Use a rubber spatula to fold through the Daim bar chunks.
Leave dough to sit at room temperature for at least 30 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 190C and place a rack in the middle of the oven.
Form ping pong-sized balls with your hands and place on a baking paper-lined baking sheet, spacing about 7 cm apart. Do not flatten as the cookies will spread as they bake.
Sprinkle with sea salt and bake cookies for 11 minutes or until the edges are golden brown and firm but the centres are still soft.
Remove from oven and allow cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
Repeat with remaining dough and a fresh baking paper-lined sheet****.
Notes:
* If you don’t allow your butter to cool, the eggs will scramble upon contact.
** If you allow your butter to cool quite a bit, mix on medium high speed for 5 minutes. It won’t cause the mixture to go light and fluffy like in Bon Appétit’s video but it did prevent my cookies from falling flat.
*** This step might seem unnecessary but it isn’t! The dough is quite loose to begin with but by allowing the flour to hydrate the dough will eventually thicken.
**** By baking your cookies one sheet at a time, you ensure that the heat is even and the cookies will bake uniformly.