Crisp or chewy. Brown sugar or granulated. Softened butter or browned. Chips or chopped chocolate. Baked immediately or from chilled dough.
Chocolate-chip cookies come in all sizes and manners, and we love each and every one.
Get ready to add another fabulous one to your repertoire — this one with miso.
As in miso-glazed walnuts.
“Miso Walnut Double-Thick Chocolate-Chip Cookies” is from “Sift: The Elements of Great Baking” (Clarkson Potter, 2024), of which I received a review copy.
It was written by Nicola Lamb, a London-based recipe developer and pastry chef, who has trained with superstar chefs Dominique Ansel and Yotam Ottolenghi.
The first 100 or so pages are perfect for bakers who like to nerd out. They’re devoted to the science behind flour, sugar, eggs, and fat — and how they affect different types of dessert recipes.
The section on “How Do I Know It’s Ready?” is particular helpful for all those times you’ve peered at a cake or custard in the oven and wondered just that. Lamb not only gives you a list of visual and tactile clues, but internal temperatures for when various baked goods are done. For instance, cakes are ready when they reach 201° to 208°F; baked custards at 171° to 180°F; and cheesecakes at 145° to 165°F.
The rest of the book comprises 100 recipes, both sweet and savory that are labeled by those you can make in an afternoon, a day or a weekend. No doubt you’ll be salivating over everything from “Chamomile and Toasted Flour Chiffon Cake,” “Brown Sugar Custard Tart,” and “Chicken Pie with Rich Pastry” to “Panna Cotta with Burnt White Chocolate and Soy” and “Chocolate Peanut Ice Cream Bars.”
Making the miso walnuts is a simple process. Simply heat rice wine, sugar and white miso in a small saucepan on the stovetop. Stir in toasted walnuts until coated, then let cool. The recipe didn’t state whether to chop them beforehand so I left mine in halves.
Next, make the dough that’s a mixture of softened butter, light brown sugar, granulated sugar, flour, and an egg. Stir in the miso walnuts, along with chopped dark chocolate.
Lamb likes to make these cookies huge, but gives the option to make them smaller, which I took. So, instead of merely five mega cookies, I formed the dough into a dozen dough balls — each about the size of a golf ball — that I placed on two baking sheets.
After the cookies emerge from the oven, sprinkle on a pinch of sea salt, if you like.
As their “double-thick” name implies, these cookies bake up hefty with crispy edges and fluffy-soft interiors.
If you prefer them a little flatter, you can employ the popular pan-banging method in which you remove the cookie tray from the oven half-way through baking, bang it on your counter to flatten and split the still gooey cookies, then return to the oven to finish baking. I tried that with one of the trays of cookies. The results were subtle, with the tray-banging cookies just a bit flatter with a slightly more chewy-soft interior.
Either way you bake them, these cookies are full of chocolate. The miso is more understated than you would guess. It adds a touch of savoriness to round out the cookie’s sweetness.
Who can resist a warm cookie fresh out of the oven? Just prepare to get chocolate smears all over your fingers with these babies. After all, that’s the marker of a great chocolate-chip cookie.
Miso Walnut Double-Thick Chocolate-Chip Cookies
(Makes 5 huge cookies or about 12 smaller ones)
For the miso walnuts:
50 grams (3 tablespoons) mirin rice wine
40 grams (3 tablespoons) granulated sugar
50 grams (3 tablespoons) white miso
100 grams (1 cup) walnuts, toasted
For the cookie dough:
90 grams (6 tablespoons) butter, softened
80 grams (6 tablespoons) light brown sugar
80 grams (6 tablespoons) granulated sugar
50 grams (1) whole egg
220 grams (1 3/4 cups) all-purpose flour
3 grams (1/2 teaspoon) baking soda
4 grams (1 1/4 teaspoons) flaky sea salt, plus a sprinkle on top
260 grams (9 1/4 ounces) dark chocolate, chopped
To make the miso walnuts, heat together the rice wine, granulated sugar, and white miso over medium heat. When boiling, add the toasted walnuts and mix together, cooking for 2 minutes more over low heat, until thickened. Remove from the pan and let cool completely before using.
To make the cookies, cream the butter with the sugars until well combined but not aerated — it should look a little fluffy.
Add in the egg, scraping down as needed to make sure it’s evenly combined. Sift the dry ingredients together, then fold them into the emulsified butter/egg mixture. Add the walnuts and stir to break them up a bit before mixing in the chocolate.
Form into loose, 180-gram (6 1/3-ounce) balls, keeping them looking airy!
At this stage you can chill or freeze the dough overnight for extra-tall cookies if you like, or you can bake them right away. I didn’t notice a super significant difference to the final baked texture.
Preheat the oven to 375°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Spread the balls of dough on the baking sheet. Bake for 18 minutes (though you can do 16 minutes or up to 20 minutes to suit your taste!). Sprinkle a little extra salt on top, if desired, then let them cool completely on a cooling rack. Ideally enjoy while still a little bit warm, but they are just as good completely cooled! The texture will change from gooey to more firm.
Note: You can, of course, make these into smaller portions! Just adjust the baking time accordingly — I suggest 9 to 12 minutes for half portions.
Adapted from “Sift” by Nicola Lamb
More Unexpected Miso Recipes to Enjoy: Miso & Nutmeg Custard Pie
