“Dorie Greenspan” has become synonymous with the word “cookies.” And not just any cookies: Her double-chocolate “World Peace cookies” are legendary. Her make-ahead, freeze-and-cut sablés are divine. And don’t get us started on her are-we-in-Paris canelés, rum-soaked, crisp-edged, and an utter delight.
Dorie celebrates 30 years of writing cookbooks with her most recent tome: Baking With Dorie: Sweet, Salty and Simple. It’s yet another master class in sweets and baking.
We love that this stylish, Paris-and-Connecticut-based baker has a secret up her sleeve that isn’t a copper canelé mold or a vintage French Silpat. It’s something downright American in its ease and accessibility: a muffin pan. She stocks up on these for a number of her cookies, including the newest entry in her hits, a riff on the chocolate chip cookie she calls a “caramel crunch-chocolate chunklet cookie.” The key to its elegance and deliciousness? That pan. Though the dough is a slice-and-bake dough (typical of Dorie), the pucks of dough slip into the muffin pan. As they cook, they caramelize not just on their bottoms, but on their sides. “The butter and sugar brown so completely that they produce the full, nutty, edgily sweet flavor of caramel,” writes Dorie. Yum! (Pro tip: A mini muffin pan is key to her financiers, but you’ll have to buy the book to find out how.)
Caramel Crunch–Chocolate Chunklet Cookies
Equipment
- 12-cup muffin tin
- Stand mixer with paddle attachment or hand mixer
- Silicone spatula
- Chefs knife
Ingredients
- 2 sticks (8 ounces; 226 grams) unsalted butter, cut into chunks, at room temperature
- ½ cup (100 grams) granulated sugar
- ½ cup (60 grams) confectioners’ sugar
- ½ tsp. fine sea salt
- 1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
- 2 cups (272 grams) all-purpose flour
- 3 ounces (85 grams) dark or milk chocolate chopped into small chunks
- About ½ cup (60 grams) coarsely chopped walnuts, toasted or not (or more chocolate chunks)
Instructions
- Working in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. or in a large bowl with a hand mixer, beat the butter, both sugars and the salt together on medium speed until creamy, about 2 minutes. Beat in the vanilla.
- Turn off the mixer, scrape down the bowl and add the flour all at once. Pulse the mixer a few times, just until the risk of flying flour has passed, and then, working on low speed, beat until the flour is almost completely incorporated, a couple of minutes. Don’t beat too much—you want the mixture to be more clumpy than smooth. Still working on low speed, mix in the chocolate and nuts. Then finish incorporating the chunky ingredients with a flexible spatula.
- Turn the dough out onto the work surface and knead it to bring it together. Divide the dough in half and shape each hunk into a 6-inch-long log (the rolls will be a scant 2 inches in diameter). Wrap each log well and refrigerate until firm, at least 2 hours. (You can refrigerate the logs for up to 3 days. Or you can freeze them, wrapped airtight, for up to 2 months; let stand at room temperature for about an hour before slicing and baking, or defrost in the fridge overnight.
WHEN YOU’RE READY TO BAKE:
- Center a rack in the oven and preheat it to 350 degrees F. (If you can’t fit two muffin tins on one rack in your oven, position the racks to divide the oven into thirds.) Butter two regular-size muffin tins—you can use bakers’ spray, but butter is really nicer for these.
- One at a time, mark each log at ½-inch intervals and, working with a chef’s knife, cut into rounds. Place each puck in a muffin cup.
- Bake for 20 to 22 minutes, rotating the pans if necessary, or until the cookies are golden on top, browned around the edges and slightly soft in the center; they’ll firm as they cool. Transfer the pans to racks and let rest for 3 minutes, then gently pry each cookie out with the tip of a table knife and place on the racks to cool. You can serve the cookies warm, but their texture shines brighter at room temperature.STORING: Kept in an airtight container at room temperature, the cookies will be good for at least 5 days. Excerpted from BAKING WITH DORIE: Sweet, Salty, & Simple © 2021 by Dorie Greenspan. Photography © 2021 by Mark Weinberg. Reproduced by permission of Mariner Books, an imprint of HarperCollins Publishers. All rights reserved.
1 comment
Tasty little shortbread cookies that are easy to make. As you can imagine, each bite is buttery bliss with a sprinkle of chocolate. I really do love these and would try again without the walnut. I baked mine closer to 25 minutes in order to achieve a golden color on top.