Rosemary is one of my favorite herbs to put in most things, including baked goods. It’s so versatile and such a comforting flavor. It’s the most woodsy smell of all the herbs in my opinion, which I fully gravitate towards. What I love about this recipe is that even though citrus is best in winter, you can still find all these ingredients year round. I think every seasonal food blog should have some evergreen recipes that you can make at any point of the year, and still have such a flavor packed treat. As you can probably tell by my dessert recipes, I love a balance of sweet and savory, so more often than not I use a salted cultured butter. That’s right, SALTED! I personally feel like more bakers should do this but maybe I’m just more of a “salty” kinda woman, which is fine with me. What I do know is that these cookies have become a favorite to many people in my life and I think you lovelies might really enjoy it too.
When I started developing this recipe it was around the winter holidays, so it was citrus season at its finest. I was sitting by our Yule tree, thinking about food like always. Some of my parents were flying into Portland for Christmas to celebrate with the two of us and I wanted to make a cookie everyone would really enjoy. I closed my eyes, trying to remember the nostalgia of Christmas morning. Something really stood out in my memory. In all of our stockings, we each received a chocolate orange. Anyone who has experienced one of these chocolate oranges knows how exciting they can be, especially for a child. I mean, it looked like an orange but it was made out of chocolate! And when you unwrapped it, it opened up like a flower with perfectly cut chocolate orange slices. How cool was that!? While we all opened gifts, shared smiles, excitement and giggles, we also munched away on our orange chocolaty gifts. I knew at that moment, while heading down memory lane that I wanted to reconstruct a cookie that reminded me of those lovely mornings. The one morning a year where I was able to get away with eating chocolate.
People who know me very well know how intense my sniffer can be. It’s partially due to my hormone imbalance with PCOS. We all joke that my nose is like a pregnant lady’s nose, but without being pregnant. I am very sensitive to smell which is a bummer in some ways but a gift in others. My husband Nick is lovingly jealous of this ability I have, since I am able to smell ingredients vividly and can figure out what goes together. I remember years ago we played this fun game in LA when Nick and I grew hops for beer. He would put different varieties into unlabeled bowls to see if I could tell which hop strain was which. I seemed to guess it right every time, which was always very shocking to me.
So back to the excitement of creating this perfect chocolate orange cookie. I looked in our kitchen and noticed we had some rosemary and an orange. I grabbed the rosemary and rubbed the leaves to release its aroma while simultaneously grabbing the orange, took a deep inhale and reveled in the combination of smells. It was perfect and exactly what I was hoping for. I started to think more about the chocolate orange experience, and as a kid I would get the milk chocolate orange while my parents got dark chocolate. I remember taking a bite of theirs, then a bite of mine and quickly noticing how the orange taste changed depending on the type of chocolate, which was very intriguing even as a young child. So I decided this cookie recipe would combine both milk and dark chocolate, which I hoped would enhance the wonderful citrus oils of the orange and the warm nutty notes of the rosemary browned butter. I was so excited to try it.
What are the benefits of orange peel and zest?
Orange peel can help your oral health and can help fight cavities. It’s oils are anti-inflammatory, can improve your digestion, soothes skin, lowers high blood pressure and cholesterol. It’s even a hangover cure! Just boil the whole of an orange peel for about 20 minutes and drink it to help with a hangover.
What are the Benefits of Rosemary?
Rosemary is one powerful herb. Great for your skin, “a good source of iron, calcium and vitamins A, C, and B-6, rosemary has been used for its medicinal purposes for centuries.” It can help with chronic hormone imbalances and is a stress reliever. It’s also lovely for an altar or burning in a smudge stick.
As you can see I love the recipe so much I decided to put it up on the blog. It’s definitely one of my favorite cookie creations.
Now, after reading all this I hope you enjoy the baking process and especially the finished product. We sure love them in our house. Now go have fun, and remember, bake with intention that nature is love and love is food.
Cheers everyone,
Drew Johanna Night <3
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Gooey Chocolate Chip Cookies w/ Rosemary, Orange & Brown Butter
- Yield: 12–15 cookies 1x
Ingredients
- 3–5 sprigs fresh rosemary
- 2 sticks (226g) + 2 Tbs (28g) salted butter, cubed
- 1 3/4 cups (380g) brown sugar
- 1/4 cups (52g) granulated white sugar
- 2 large eggs, room temperature
- 1 vanilla pod, split lengthwise or 1 Tbsp vanilla extract
- 3 cups (300g) all purpose flour, sifted
- zest of 1 small orange or half a large orange (about 1 tsp)
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt
- 6 oz (170g) dark chocolate, roughly chopped
- 6 oz (170g) milk chocolate chips (around 1 cup)
- flakey salt for topping (I like Jacobsen)
Instructions
- Melt cubed Butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add Rosemary Sprigs and bring to a foamy simmer, stirring and swirling constantly. The butter solids will start to turn a golden-brown and smell like nutty rosemary, 3-5 minutes. Immediately remove from heat and continue swirling off heat until butter solids stop darkening, 1-2 minutes. Let sit until cool enough to handle, 10-15 minutes. Remove crispy fried rosemary and reserve for another use. Transfer butter to stand mixer bowl, scraping up all the browned solids with a rubber spatula, and set aside.
- While your rosemary butter is cooling, grab a medium bowl and whisk together your dry ingredients: Salt, Flour and Baking soda.
- When the rosemary butter is cool, add both Sugars to mixer bowl and beat on medium-low (level 2 with your paddle attachment) until well combined.
- Beat in eggs, one at a time on medium-high for 2 minutes or so.
- Scrape in seeds from vanilla bean and orange zest until everything is mixed together.
- Add the flour mixture on low until barely combined.
- Add both chocolates (leaving any chocolate dust behind, as that will turn your batter dark brown) and pulse the mixture a couple of times until both chocolates are evenly distributed.
- Place covered dough in refrigerator for at least 3 hours or preferably overnight. You really want a firm dough.
- When you are ready, preheat oven to 350F (177C). Scoop the dough to whatever size you prefer your cookie to be (I form balls 2-3 inches in diameter) and place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, 1-2 inches apart. Place dough balls on a baking pan lined with parchment paper and slightly flatten each with the palm of your hand.
- Sprinkle your flakey salt as a topper on each cookie and bake 10-15 minutes, depending on the size of cookies and your oven.
- Your cookies are done when the edges turn golden brown. Remove from oven and rest the baking sheet on top of a cooling rack for 2 minutes. Then gently transfer cookies from the pan to the cooling rack and let them sit for 10 minutes or longer. ENJOY!!
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baking
