These sweet and savory cookies are rich, dark, slightly chewy, and deeply flavored with rye, cocoa, molasses, flaky salt, and a touch of cayenne.
They use cocoa powder instead of chocolate, which makes them especially pantry-friendly. The recipe below is for a small quantity of small cookies (about a dozen 3-inch cookies).
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup rye flour
- 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 4 tablespoons butter
- 1/3 cup brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 1 egg yolk
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 6 tablespoons milk
- 2 tablespoons molasses
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- Pinch of salt
- Small pinch of cayenne pepper
- Flaky salt for topping
Instructions
- Melt or soften the butter and combine it with the brown sugar and granulated sugar.
- Mix in the egg yolk, vanilla, molasses, and milk.
- In a separate bowl, combine the rye flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, salt, and cayenne.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix until a thick, smooth cookie dough forms.
- Cover and chill the dough for at least 20 to 30 minutes. The dough can also be refrigerated overnight. If chilled overnight, allow it to sit at room temperature briefly if it becomes too firm to scoop.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F.
- Scoop the dough and roll into balls then flatten them slightly.
- Sprinkle the tops generously enough to notice with flaky salt. Ensure the salt is evenly distributed. The salt makes a major difference in the finished flavor (see image above).
- Bake for approximately 8 to 12 minutes, depending on the oven and cookie size. The tops should become crisp while the centers remain somewhat soft.
- Allow the cookies to cool before judging the final texture, as they will firm as they cool.
Notes for Tweaking
This recipe is very good, but could use:
- A little more sweetness. Try adding about 2 additional tablespoons of sugar.
- Slightly more chocolate flavor. Try adding 1 additional tablespoon of cocoa powder.
- Maybe more butter, or just use less flour
- A little more cayenne for a more noticeable warm finish.
- Keep the 2 tablespoons of molasses.
- Keep the flaky salt on top. Cookies baked without it were noticeably less flavorful.
For a crisper bottom, try baking directly on a metal tray instead of parchment paper. Another method is to carefully flip the cookies after about 8 minutes and bake briefly on the second side.
The goal is to keep the crisp upper crust while developing a similarly crisp bottom.