I got the recipe for these cookies from my beloved book, Tartine number 3. I’m trying to find more ways to use grains like rye, buckwheat, oat and old varieties of wheat (einkorn, spelt, kamut, emmer) and this book is a real treasure in that regard, showing me the ways to use some of these grains that I would have never come up on my own.
This particular recipe uses only rye, which is one of my favorite grains, which can be a quite tricky to work with. I find it amazing that I was able to make one of the best chocolate cookies I’ve ever had with rye flour only. Soft and slightly moist inside, they remind me of brownies without the denseness and over-the-top sweetness. I’m sure I will try other chocolate cookie recipes but this one is taking a permanent spot in my dessert rotation…
HOW TO MAKE SALTED CHOCOLATE RYE COOKIES
Ingredients
2 cups chopped bittersweet chocolate
4 tablespoons butter
3/4 cup whole-grain rye flour (I just grind whole rye berries)
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
4 large eggs, at room temperature
1 cup sugar, brown or muscovado
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
Good quality sea salt for topping, such as flaky fleur de sel, or Maldon
Instructions
Melt chocolate and butter in a water bath or a heat-proof bowl over a pot of water. Once melted, remove from heat and cool slightly.
In a small bowl, whisk flour, baking soda and salt.
Whip the eggs on medium-high speed of a stand mixer with a whisk attachment. Add sugar, a little at a time, until all is incorporated.
Turn the mixer to high, and whip the eggs until almost tripled in size, 6-8 minutes.
Reduce the mixer speed to low, and add the melted chocolate-butter mixture and vanilla.
Mix to combine, scraping the sides of the bowl as needed.
Mix in the flour until just combined, don’t over mix. The dough will be runny.
Refrigerate the dough for 30-40 minutes, until it’s just firm to the touch.
Preheat the oven to 350ºF, and line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.
Scoop the dough onto the baking sheets with a teaspoon or a small cookie scoop. Make sure to leave 2 inches between each cookie, the dough will spread quite a bit.
Top each cookie with flakes of sea salt.
Bake for 8-10 minutes, until the cookies are puffed up.
Cool on a wire rack.
- 2 cups chopped bittersweet chocolate
- 4 tablespoons butter
- 3/4 cup whole-grain rye flour (I just grind whole rye berries)
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 4 large eggs, at room temperature
- 1 cup sugar, brown or muscovado
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- Good quality sea salt for topping, such as flaky fleur de sel, or Maldon
- Melt chocolate and butter in a water bath or a heat-proof bowl over a pot of water. Once melted, remove from heat and cool slightly.
- In a small bowl, whisk flour, baking soda and salt.
- Whip the eggs on medium-high speed of a stand mixer with a whisk attachment. Add sugar, a little at a time, until all is incorporated.
- Turn the mixer to high, and whip the eggs until almost tripled in size, 6-8 minutes.
- Reduce the mixer speed to low, and add the melted chocolate-butter mixture and vanilla.
- Mix to combine, scraping the sides of the bowl as needed.
- Mix in the flour until just combined, don’t over mix. The dough will be runny.
- Refrigerate the dough for 30-40 minutes, until it’s just firm to the touch.
- Preheat the oven to 350ºF, and line two cookie sheets with parchment paper.
- Scoop the dough onto the baking sheets with a teaspoon or a small cookie scoop. Make sure to leave 2 inches between each cookie, the dough will spread quite a bit.
- Top each cookie with flakes of sea salt.
- Bake for 8-10 minutes, until the cookies are puffed up.
- Cool on a wire rack.
SALTED CHOCOLATE RYE COOKIES
3 comments
Hello Valeria, thanks for sharing this recipe, it sounds enticing. How many cookies does it yield? Also, I would like to reduce the amount of sugar (we are pretty much low sugar family) – what in your opinion would be the limit to not affect the final result? I do not have much experience with rye flour.
Oh my goodness, these cookies are SO GOOD!!! I am surprised this post doesn’t have tons of comments of praise. It’s like I’m having a chocolate cookie from some luxurious fancy cafe/restaurant — right in my kitchen! 🙂 They really do taste like brownies, so nice and light! I used only 1/2 cup of sugar, and used white sugar, but it came out great. I only needed to bake them for 15-16 minutes, as after 10 min the first tray cookies stuck to the parchment paper , even after cooling down (all those cookies are marked by a ripped off bottom:) . I tested the second tray at 12 min. and it was only slightly better, then the third and fourth tray at 15-16 min. finally didn’t stick. Valeria, I love a lot of your recipes and the precise details you give (in instructions or to describe the taste) so that I always know very well and exactly what to expect. I just would love if you gave the serving size or yield amount for your recipes! Thanks anyway and thank you for sharing this yummy cookie recipe!! 🙂
Also, to everyone reading this, I highly recommend making these cookies just for the magical baking process they undergo. The initial batter was -like Valeria described- “just firm to the touch”, although to me it was still too gooey (nevertheless, it was workable). In the oven, after about 6 minutes, that gooey soft mess turned into a nice looking shape which then (like Valeria wrote) puffed up. It was such a surprise for me to see that. But it wasn’t the end of the magic – when out of the oven, I was sad to see the puff deflated, but then I noticed it actually caused those great looking cracks. My husband commented these cookies look like “something you see in a cafe, just teasing you to get them”. Amazing baking experience!!