Roasted White Chocolate, Toasted Honey and Tahini Cookie
Aka Complete And Utter Heaven
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Sometimes you just need a good cookie. That is a feeling I have most weeks, when nothing else will do other than a delicious cookie. Preferably that cookie will still be a touch warm from the oven, so that the chocolate, because of course it includes chocolate, is still a little melted and the textures of the cookie are perfect. I was in that mood earlier this week, so I set about making a cookie perfect for those moments when all you want is a warm comforting hug, like only a great cookie can provide.
For the cookie I wanted to incorporate toasted honey, a favourite technique that adds a really toasted bittersweet flavour to the caramel (if you made this recipe you’ll understand my love for the technique) and that led me down a patch of similarly roasty toasty flavours. The perfect match for the honey is tahini, the roasted sesame flavour is nothing short of a perfect pairing to the toasted honey. And because of course the cookie needed chocolate what better variety for those flavours than roasted white chocolate. All of those roasted and toasted flavours together were bound to make something delicious and oh boy did they. As you may know, I have written a new book called Small Batch Cookies which is out this autumn and I love this recipe so much I wish I was able to put a version of it in the book, but sadly it went to print a couple weeks ago and despite my begging, my editor didn't think it wise to stop the print run and re-edit the book. The books loss is your gain!
For the roasted/caramelised white chocolate, you can happily use a version you’ve bought (such as Valrhona’s Dulcey, you can even get bars of it made by Waitrose these days) or you can very easily make your own, find out how in this weeks free newsletter.
As we are talking cookies, what better time to remind you that, later this year, my new book Small Batch Cookies is released and it’s currently available to pre-order everywhere books are sold. As we get nearer to the launch I will also be announcing some fun pre-order competitions so if you’ve already ordered a copy keep your eyes out! Because there is still issues with global shipping the US release has slipped slightly, the new release date is Sept 17th. Excitingly I am also just starting to plan a book tour in the US so if you want me to visit your city give me a shout!
Ok, back to cookies!
Roasted White Chocolate, Toasted Honey and Tahini Cookies
Makes 14
75g clear honey
150g unsalted butter, diced
100g light brown sugar
100g caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla bean paste
100g tahini
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
285g plain flour
1/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1/2 tsp fine sea salt
250g caramelised white chocolate, roughly chopped
White sesame seeds, to coat
To make the cookies, we first need to toast the honey. The process is very easy but you need to watch over the pan, no stepping away to watch TikTok videos, this needs your full attention, so that the honey doesn’t accidentally burn. Scrape the honey into a small saucepan and then place over medium/high heat. Once at a boil you need to continue cooking it, until the mixture smells toasty and the colour has deepened, for this amount of honey this should only take 2-3 minutes. Once toasted add the butter and cook just until the butter has fully melted.
Add the two sugars to a large mixing bowl and pour over the honey and butter mixture, stirring to combine. Add the vanilla and tahini and mix to combine. Don’t worry if, at this stage, the mixture looks separated or split that is to be expected. Add the egg and yolks and mix until everything is emulsified and the mixture is smooth and shiny.
In a separate bowl whisk together the flour, bicarbonate of soda and the salt. Add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and stir together until a soft, almost batter like, cookie dough is formed. Before adding the chocolate, use your finger to test the temperature of the dough, if it feels at all warm set it aside for the moment to cool slightly. When you add the chocolate you don’t want the chocolate to melt. With all of the cool ingredients mixed into the butter and honey mixture the dough should be cool enough but, when making a chocolate chip cookie with melted butter, it is always worth checking. Add the chocolate, reserving a little for the garnish, and stir together, just until evenly distributed. Cover the bowl and refrigerate for about an hour.
Line two large baking trays with parchment paper. Using a 60ml cookie scoop divide the dough into 14 evenly sized portions and roll into balls. If, like me you like you chocolate cookies to be very visual with lots of chocolate showing on the surface of the cookies, add a couple chunks of the reserved chocolate to the top of each ball of cookie dough. Cover a small plate with sesame seeds. Roll each cookie in the sesame seeds and then place onto one of the trays and refrigerate for another hour or until the cookie dough is thoroughly chilled and firm.
Preheat the oven to 180ºC (160ºC Fan). Remove the cookies from the fridge and divide them between the two prepared baking trays.
Tip: I use American-style ‘half sheet trays’ which are rimmed baking trays, which are on the larger size, so if you’re worried about these spreading into each other, stick to six cookies per tray
Bake the cookies in the preheated oven for about 15-16 minutes, just until the edges are golden but the centres are set but still a little pale. Remove from the oven and sprinkle with a little flaked sea salt. Allow the cookies to cool on the baking trays for 10 minutes before carefully transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
Kept in a sealed container these will keep for up to 3-4 days.
Do you have a recipe for the toasted white chocolate?
These are delicious!!