TINY, SALTY, CHOCOLATY COOKIES

Tiny, Salty, Chocolaty Cookies image

Provided by Alison Roman

Time 20m

Yield 24 cookies

Number Of Ingredients 9

6 tablespoons unsalted butter (3/4 stick)
2 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (it's worth investing in high-quality cocoa powder, since that's mostly what you'll be tasting here)
1 teaspoon kosher salt
2 large egg whites
1 large egg
8 ounces bittersweet chocolate (at least 67 percent cacao), chopped
1/2 cup finely chopped hazelnuts, almonds, pistachios, pecans or walnuts (optional)
Flaky sea salt, such as Maldon or Jacobsen

Steps:

Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
Melt the butter in a small pot over medium heat, swirling, until it's starting to foam and brown, 3 to 4 minutes. (Whisk the butter from time to time so that the solids don't stick to the bottom of the pot.) Let cool.
Whisk the confectioners' sugar, cocoa powder and salt in a medium bowl, ridding it of as many lumps as possible. (If you really want to, feel free to sift everything.)
Using a spatula, mix in the egg whites, whole egg and browned butter, stirring until you've got a good, smoothish mixture (any small lumps will take care of themselves), followed by the chocolate and any nuts you may want to add.
Using a spoon, drop quarter-size blobs of dough (the texture is really somewhere between a dough and a batter) onto the baking sheet, spacing them about 2 inches apart (they spread a lot). Sprinkle with flaky salt and bake until the cookies have flattened considerably and look baked through and a little wrinkled, 6 to 8 minutes. Let cool before eating so they can firm up.