What makes a chocolate chip cookie new? A little of this and a little of that usually. Milk chocolate or white instead of semisweet. Different kinds of flour might come into play or the addition of an egg yolk. One day I was musing on technique as opposed to ingredients and thought about baking them on a salt block. Salt and chocolate work so well together and I had never baked with my salt blocks so I figured this would be the best test. I decided to stick with a classic Toll-House cookie recipe so that I could assess how the process would affect the taste and texture of the cookies. As expected the cookies took on a salty accent that we liked very much. Obviously you can only bake as many cookies as the size of your salt block allows, but I brought these to the table for a small group of four as snack and they became quite the focus of conversation. These blocks are from The Salt Table and you can see them put to use with chocolate as well in our recipe for Mendiants.
- 1 batch original Toll House Chocolate Crunch Cookies, batter ready to use
- Himalayan pink salt (optional)
- Pre-heat salt block(s) as recommended. (Most distributors suggest pre-heating on top of the stove before placing in the oven).
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Place pre-heated salt block on a parchment lined baking sheet. The size of the your block(s) will determine size and number of cookies. We placed walnut sized balls of dough on our blocks, spaced apart. Sprinkle additional salt on top of cookies if desired.
- Bake until done (timing will depend). The cookies will flatten and become a little darker around the edges than the center. The center will still be a bit soft. Remember that there is residual heat to take into consideration. Remove pan from oven and cool on rack for about 5 to 10 minutes. Remove cookies from salt block while still warm and place directly on rack to cool.
- Repeat batches as needed.
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