Saltolate Chip Cookies

Saltolate chip cookies

Salt. Everything tastes better with a little salt right? What about sweet chocolate chip cookies? I have been wondering why you put in 1tsp of salt in 5 cups of cookie dough. It doesn’t come through in the flavor, so what is the purpose? There may be a baking purpose, but one person’s answer to the question was - “salt makes it taste better.” So I began seeking out a recipe where salt would be a lead ingredient and came across this recipe on epicurious.
While making the cookies, I realized the recipe had a significantly lower amount of sugar and actually no brown sugar. I had assumed I would mix in a ton of salt with the dough, but that isn’t the case. The salt comes into play on top of the cookie. As with all my other cookies, I chilled the dough and then made small balls of dough on the cookie sheet. Lastly, I sprinkled flaky kosher salt over all the dough balls and baked.

The cookies came out almost white due to the lack of brown sugar. They are very fragile right out of the oven, so I let them cool on the cookie sheet for a couple of minutes before moving them to the cooling rack. My first taste was great. The salt is right there, yet then you taste the cookie and chocolate and boom, a flavor explosion. Well, not really, but it is pretty darn good. Another nugget of discovery - the cookies have a biscuit quality. Is that due to not having the brown sugar? I must learn more.

Saltolate Chip Cookies

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp baking soda
About 2 1/2 teaspoons sea salt, divided
5 oz Tillamook unsalted butter
1/2 cup sugar (the recipe called for vanilla sugar, I did not have it)
1 large egg
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 bag Ghirardelli 60% Cacao Chocolate Chips

Mix the butter, sugar and vanilla in a bowl. Add egg and whisk (I don’t have a blender.) Add remaining ingredients and mix well. Chill in fridge for about 30 minutes to firm up. Take the dough and roll into a ball and place on cookie sheet. Take kosher salt and sprinkle somewhat generously over dough balls. Bake at 375 for 8-10 minutes. Cool on rack before storing.