Rosemary choc-chip cookies

December 17-18, 2013

Back in September I thought I'd hit on a convenient choc-chip cookie recipe to end all other choc-chip cookie recipes in my repertoire. Then, to publicise her latest cookbook Isa Does It, Isa Chandra Moskowitz released a recipe and video for rosemary chocolate chip cookies. They're a similar bowl-and-fork job to my previous recipe except for, ya know, adding rosemary.

It is a game-changing ingredient. It infuses the cookies with a subtle yet unmistakable flavour - green, piney, almost minty. I love it! I was able to use rosemary plucked from our burgeoning balcony garden and the leaves were especially fresh, noticeably more bright and plump than the ones I've bought from the supermarket. When incorporating this savoury element into the dough, I'd suggest that it's extra-important to add that generous pinch of salt to the mix.

Unable to acquire coconut oil in time, I used margarine in my batch. My cookies were golden and tender, and didn't spread much while baking. (By contrast, veganopoulous' coconut oil batch melted out into conjoined pancake cookies!) They weren't quite the chewy caramel nirvana of my other cookies, and I'd like to play around with hybridising these two excellent recipes.

Rosemary choc-chip cookies
(very slightly adapted from from Isa Chandra Moskowitz's
Isa Does It, also posted on The PPK blog)

1/2 cup margarine
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh rosemary
1/4 cup castor sugar
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup soymilk
1 tablespoon flax seeds, ground
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 1/3 cups plain flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1/2 cup dark chocolate chips
spray oil

Preheat an oven to 180°C and line one or two baking trays with paper.

In a large mixing bowl, beat together the margarine and rosemary with a fork. Thoroughly beat in the sugars. Whisk in the soymilk, ground flaxseeds and vanilla until well combined.

Sift in half the flour and all of the salt and soda and combine them into the mixture with a fork; continue with the remaining flour. Fold in the choc chips.

Spray the baking trays lightly with oil and use two teaspoons to drop tablespoons of the mixture onto the trays. My cookies didn't flatten or spread much, so you could try flattening them a little with the back of a spoon.

Bake the cookies for 10-12 minutes, until just golden brown, and allow them to cool for 5 minutes on the tray before shifting them to a rack.