When I develop a recipe for cookies, moisture is a main factor in my deliberations. It’s a delicate balance: I want to include enough moisture so that the cookie is a pleasing texture and stays fresh for 7 days (when stored in a plastic container). Moisture and texture also complement flavors, making them shine.
This is especially true with chocolate cookies. My complaint with most chocolate cookies I’ve tried is that they’re too dry and bland, and that’s because those recipes often only use cocoa powder as their source of chocolate, which is drying. My goal is always to create a powerful chocolate experience. Moisture, in the form of fats, eggs, and brown sugar (which is hygroscopic, meaning it attracts water), helps to coax the flavor compounds out of the fine Guittard chocolate I use, giving a sumptuous texture and a rich chocolate flavor!
However, with moisture you also run into some problems, which I discovered over the past few weeks as I attempted to pair pretzels with my new Chocolate Brookie dough (halfway between a brownie and cookie). To date, I’ve tried three types of pretzels: pretzel shells, sourdough pretzels, and pretzel twists. And each and every one of them has fallen prey to all of the moisture within the Brookie, making them soggy and stale-tasting.
However, the Brookie must retain its moisture to best highlight the flavor of the chocolate! When it comes to recipe development, it’s important to keep your priorities in check, because every test can pull you in a new direction. For these Chocolate Pretzel cookies, I want a strong chocolate flavor and I want a salty crunch from the pretzel and I simply will not relent on either.
So what does that mean for the recipe? It means it must be shelved for next year, unfortunately! Because it’s officially fall, which means it’s cookie season! I have two big, fun events coming up and lots of preparations to make for the holiday season.
If your mind has started to drift toward the holidays and all the gifting that entails, The Bonnie Bakeshop can make gifting much, much easier. Every order from The Bonnie Bakeshop comes with a free personalized gift card and I can create gift boxes of 6, 12, or 18 cookies. Of course, trays of 24 or more cookies are great if you want to send a treat to a team or family. And delivery anywhere in my delivery zone is a flat $7.50. Gifts are my very favorite orders: let me do the baking so you can enjoy more of the season!
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