An extraordinary recipe for chocolate chip cookies
Just when I thought I had tried nearly all the recipes for chocolate chip cookies, along comes this recipe from celebrity chef Anna Olson for— drum roll—salted-caramel chocolate chip cookies. Now, this recipe is really extraordinary. Just imagine semisweet chocolate chips accented with salted caramel! What an exciting possibility. What a brilliant combination. What a double treat.
I often watch Olson’s shows on the Asian Food Network and YouTube because she makes baking look so effortless, and the results always seem so delicious. Her Devil’s Food cake with thick, fudgy frosting is so divine it can turn any misbehaving imp into an angel. Her golden braided egg buns sprinkled with sesame seeds and poppy seeds may be laborious, but she makes every step look manageable. Even her Halloween cakes, with all their complex procedures and decorative frostings, seem doable for the home cook.
And now this: cookies that not only have chocolate chips but caramel sauce and caramel chips as well. There’s cornstarch in the mixture to make the cookies crispy on the outside yet soft and chewy in the center. The rolled oats give the cookies a rugged, homemade texture.
To make the cookies even more appealing, they have a sprinkling of flaked sea salt on top, balancing the sweetness and giving the cookies an added crunch. It’s enough to make diabetics forget their glucose count.
As soon as I had assembled all the ingredients, I tested Olson’s recipe. And when I took the cookies out of the oven, I knew I had stumbled on something truly special. The cookies had everything chocoholics could hope for: texture, a rich flavor, and crispness. They make all other chocolate chip cookies look like poor country cousins.
But enough said. On to the kitchen, baking warriors, and bake the most delicious chocolate chip cookies this side of YouTube.
Salted Caramel Chocolate Chip Cookies
(Recipe by Anna Olson)
- 3/4 cup unsalted butter
- 1 cup packed light brown sugar
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 2 tablespoons caramel sauce or dulce de leche
- 1 large egg, at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/4 cup regular rolled oats
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 cup flaked sea salt, plus extra for sprinkling
- 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips (or more, if desired)
- 1/2 cup salted caramel chips (if available)
Preheat the oven to 375ºF (180ºC). Line two baking trays with parchment paper.
Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat until the foaming subsides and brown bits form at the bottom of the pan, about four minutes.
Into a large mixing bowl, combine the brown sugar and granulated sugar then pour in the melted butter (including the brown bits). Whisk to combine. Whisk in the caramel sauce (or the dulce de leche). The mixture may not look smooth, but it will once you add the dry ingredients.
Using a spatula, stir in the egg and vanilla, then the flour, oats, cornstarch, baking soda, and one-half teaspoon salt. Stir until well combined. Add the chocolate chips and the salted caramel chips (if not available, just use additional chocolate chips). The mixture will be very dense.
Using an ice cream scoop, scoop the batter onto the baking trays, about two inches apart. Flatten them with your palm or with the bottom of a bottle or a measuring cup. Sprinkle the top of the cookies lightly with sea salt.
Bake in the preheated oven for about 10 minutes. Remove the trays from the oven and smack them on the kitchen counter so the cookies flatten further. Set on racks to cool. The cookies will keep up to four days in an airtight container.
