Flakes of salt

I have never purchased pink Himalayan sea salt.

I do not own novelty sea salt grinders.

I love a good drink but I still don't even own rim salt for margaritas.

In general I dismiss bourgey food fads and let them pass by without a second thought.

But....the most recent salt craze is one I had to drop my guns and fall for.

Although salted caramels and chocolates are by no means new flavors, they are ones that have become more common over the years and the influx of tantalizing sweet-salty recipes on my Pinterest feed overwhelmed me until I caved...



I regained consciousness in Whole Foods scrutinizing containers of $15 salts until I finally settled for an $8 "knock-off" of Maldon Sea Salt Flakes.  The only thing I have to say in regards to my behavior is sorry, not sorry.  The recipe below ended up being a huge hit with everyone who tried it, which includes the pickiest eater I know who referred to the recipe as "genius".

Here's what you need to know about salt so you can try this recipe for yourself:

• Regular table salt is salty but has very fine crystals.
• Sea salt is also salty but has coarse crystals that can be teeth-shattering-ly hard - do not put this stuff on your cookies.
• Fleur de Sel is a French salt that is only harvested by hand, is expensive, and is sold wet.  Yes, wet.  Needless to say I took a pass on it.
• Maldon Sea Salt is also salty and takes the shape of hollow, thin walled pyramids making it literally beautiful to look at but also delicate enough to sprinkle on a baked good.  The downside is that it is also expensive, its sold in relatively large packages, and some pieces in the container are larger than you would want on a cookie.
• Cyprus Sea Salt looks the same as the Maldon pyramids so I assume the difference is that it is "harvested" in a different region.  Luckily it was sold in a smaller package than the Maldon so it is the winner mentioned above.

Salted Pistachio Dark Chocolate Chunkies

(recipe adapted from the inside of a Ghiradelli bag, flavors inspired by Two Peas)

Ingredients (makes ~3 dozen)

Wet

• 1 c butter, melted
• 2 lg. eggs
• 2 t vanilla
• 1 c packed brown sugar

Dry

• 2 1/4 c flour (I used 1 1/4 c wheat, 1 c white)
• 1/2 t cardamom
• 1 t baking soda
• 1/2 t baking powder
• 1/2 t salt
• 1 c pistachios (I used raw, but roasted/unsalted would also work)
• 1 c chocolate chunks (I used 76% chocolate)

Garnish

• Sea salt flakes

Combine

1. Turn your oven on to 350 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
2. Crack your eggs into a large mixing bowl then set aside while you melt your butter over very low heat in a pan.
3. In a separate mixing bowl whisk the dry ingredients together until they are well combined.
4. Using the same whisk beat the sugar into the eggs until light in color, then mix in the vanilla followed by the butter.
5. Pour the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and fold together until well combined - note: at this point you may question my sanity because this will look more like brownie batter than cookie dough.
6. Place the mixing bowl in the freezer for a few minutes the roll a tablespoon sized amount into a ball with your hands, place on the baking sheet 2 inches apart, then flatten the top of the ball with the back of the spoon and sprinkle with a little salt.
7. Bake for 8-10 minutes or until the edges are just starting to turn brown, then transfer cookies to cooling rack.

Note: I only have one baking sheet to my name so I returned the dough to the freezer between batches.  By the last batch the dough should be firm enough that you can leave it on the counter.