Chocolate Chip Cookies and a Test

A friend I work with asked me the other day what the difference was between using kosher salt, sea salt and table salt. Being the seasoned expert I am at baking....I had NO idea! So it was time for a little science experiment, with cookies!

I started by making some slightly healthier chocolate chip cookies from 101 Cookbooks. These cookies were tasty. Very moist and chewy. Definitely not my go-to chocolate chip cookie recipe, but they do the trick for a slightly healthier dose of sugar! In half the dough I used sea salt and the other half I used kosher. Was there a difference?

NO! I really could not tell the difference between the two cookies. That being said, there may have been one my taste buds were not able to pick out. But I sure couldn't tell the difference! Case in point, use whatever salt you want! I think I'll still use kosher as my go-to salt, but its nice to know I have options!

Chocolate Chip Cookies
101 Cookbooks

5 ounces good-quality semi-sweet chocolate bar (I used mini chocolate chips)
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
scant 1 cup natural cane sugar (or brown sugar)
scant 1 tablespoon organic unsulphured molasses (blackstrap)
1 large egg
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup large-grain sugar (for ex: turbinado)

Preheat oven to 350F degrees. Line a couple baking sheets with parchment paper.

Finely chop the chocolate bar into 1/8-inch pieces. Try to avoid big lumps and chunks, which make flattening out the cookie dough later more difficult.

In a mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, oats, walnuts, and shaved chocolate. Set aside.

Beat the butter until fluffy. Beat in the sugar and mix until it is also light and fluffy. Scrape down the sides of the bowl once or twice. Beat in the molasses, then the egg, mixing until both are well incorporated, scrape down the sides of the bowl once or twice. Beat in the vanilla. Add the flour mix and stir by hand until the ingredients barely come together into a uniform dough.

I made these a bit bigger than they are on the website, but choose your poison. Gently flatten each dough ball into a thin, round patty with two fingers and then sprinkle the top of each cookie with a pinch of large-grain sugar. Bake for about 10 minutes (for larger cookies) or until cookies are golden and fragrant. Remove from oven, and cool on a wire rack.