Food & Wine (February 2013)
We took one look at the February Food & Wine and knew that we absolutely had to make this recipe.
First, chocolate chip cookies with icing?
You have our attention.
Second, chocolate + miso?
Go on....
Third, the recipe is from Chef Erik Bruner-Yang, whose D.C.-based restaurant we have visited and enjoyed.
We put on our game faces and got to baking.
Let's chat first about Chef Bruner-Yang's restaurant, Toki Underground. It's in D.C.'s H Street corridor, also referred to (although mostly only by real estate agents) as the "Atlas District."
H Street is a neighborhood on the move, and dozens of bars and restaurants have popped up there over the last few years. Toki was among the first buzzy restaurants to open there, back in 2011. We don't make it to the neighborhood very frequently (without a car, it just isn't very convenient, and don't get us started on the disastrous and much-delayed H St. streetcar project).
Anyway, he have gotten the chance to eat at Toki, and we loved their ramen. We had the classic ramen and added the soft egg, which was delicious. We'd go back in a heartbeat, and we were glad to see Toki featured along with a lot of other D.C. restaurants in this issue of the magazine.
But the other reason we'd go back to Toki in a heartbeat? Because we're huge fools and didn't order these Chocolate Chip Cookies with Red Miso Cream.
Holy Moses, these cookies are good!
The actual cookies themselves are pretty standard chocolate chip cookies. That's not a complaint: If it ain't broke ... well, you know. Ours came out a bit thicker than the ones pictures in the magazine. Perhaps we didn't roll them into small enough balls. Regardless, it's a very delicious chocolate chip cookie. Take it from two cookie fans: These will not disappoint.
While the cookies bake, you can whip up the Red Miso Buttercream, a simple concoction of butter, sugar, vanilla and red miso. We purchased the miso at an Asian market near our house -- you should be able to get it easily at a Whole Foods. The buttercream also includes lemon verbana, an herbal plant that we're familiar with from our CSA. We weren't able to find any lemon verbana this time of year, so we chose to omit it from the buttercream. With the buttercream made and the cookies baked and cooled, we set about icing the cookies.
The final combo? It's decadent. It's amazing. It's transformational. The buttercream is packed with the salty flavor of miso. We're salt (and miso) addicts, and probably could stand even more miso in the buttercream, but we love this salty, umami-filled taste when contrasted against the sweet cookies.
These Chocolate-Chip Cookies with Red Miso Buttercream are enough to make these two boys swoon.
Chocolate-Chip Cookies with Red Miso Buttercream
Food & Wine (February 2013); recipe by Erik Bruner-Yang
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(This photo: Marcus Nilsson for Food & Wine)
Active time: 30 minutes
Time Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
Yield: 3 1/2 dozen cookies
INGREDIENTS
2 sticks unsalted butter, softened
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup light brown sugar
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons hot water
3 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups chopped bittersweet chocolate
Red Miso Buttercream (recipe below)
METHOD
Preheat the oven to 350° and line 3 baking sheets with parchment paper. In a standing electric mixer fitted with the paddle, beat the butter until creamy, 1 minute. Add the granulated sugar and brown sugar and beat at medium speed until light and fluffy, 3 minutes. Beat in the eggs and vanilla. In a bowl, dissolve the baking soda in the hot water and stir into the batter. At low speed, beat in the flour and salt until incorporated. Add the chocolate and beat just to distribute evenly.
Scoop 1 1/2-inch balls of dough onto the lined baking sheets, spacing them 1 1/2 inches apart. Bake in the center of the oven, one baking sheet at a time, for 16 minutes, until golden; shift the baking sheet from front to back halfway through. Let the cookies cool. Serve with the Red Miso Buttercream.
The cookies can be stored in an airtight container for up to 5 days.
Red Miso Buttercream
Food & Wine (February 2013); recipe by Erik Bruner-Yang
Total time: 15 minutes
Yield: 1 1/2 cups
INGREDIENTS
1 stick unsalted butter, softened
1 tablespoon red miso
1/4 cup confectioners’ sugar
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 teaspoon very finely chopped fresh lemon verbena
METHOD
In a medium bowl, using a handheld electric mixer, beat the butter with the red miso at medium speed until smooth. Beat in the confectioners’ sugar and vanilla extract. Then stir in the lemon verbena and serve.
The miso buttercream can be refrigerated for up to 5 days; allow to soften at room temperature before serving.
