Chocolate Chile Cookie
120 Min

Chocolate Chile Cookie

Some of the best recipes happen by accident. One morning while preparing for Sunday brunch service at Indika, our ingenious pastry chef Michael Michel, upon discovering that we were out of toasted walnuts for the chocolate oatmeal cookies, substituted the spiced walnuts we used to make for a dinner appetizer. These walnuts were coated in red chile powder, cinnamon, and salt. Our regular customers were so thrilled with these cookies that they demanded we never go back to the plain one. And the chocolate chile cookie was born.

Almost ten years later, despite a multitude of other cookies, the chocolate chile remains the number-one-selling cookie at the Bake Lab. If using a mild chile powder, feel free to increase the amount. One of the best-kept professional secrets about cookie making is to freeze cookie dough balls and bake cookies straight from the freezer to oven. This simple hack can contain the “spread” of the cookie resulting in a moister cookie that keeps its shape.

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Cook Time

120 minutes + freezing time

Serves

12

Step 1
Preheat the oven to 350°F.
Step 2
In a large bowl, mix the flour, oats, cardamom seeds, red chile powder, baking powder, baking soda, and salt and set aside.
Step 3
To toast the walnuts, spread them on a small baking sheet, place in the oven, and toast for 3 to 4 minutes, until golden brown. Let them cool for 20 to 30 minutes to finish crisping up before adding to the dough.
Step 4
In the bowl of a stand mixer using the paddle, mix the butter with the sugar for 2 to 3 minutes, just until it comes together (do not cream it—too much air in the cookies will make them fluffy, not chewy and gooey). Add the eggs one at a time and mix until combined. Add the dry ingredients and mix just the mixture is evenly distributed. Add the chocolate chunks and toasted walnuts.
Step 5
Scoop cookie dough balls into 3-ounce ball-shaped chunks. Freeze in a freezer bag for at least 3 hours or, preferably, overnight.
Step 6
Preheat the oven to 325°F.
Step 7
Spread the dough balls on a baking sheet 2 inches apart and bake for 12 minutes. Press each cookie down with the back of a ladle, lid, or bowl and bake for another 2 minutes, or until cooked on the outside but a little gooey on the inside. The cookies need to rest on the baking sheet for about 30 minutes and are best warm the day they are made but can be frozen for later use. Store in an airtight container.

1 1⁄2 cups all-purpose flour

1 3⁄4 cups rolled quick oats

1⁄2 teaspoon ground green cardamom seeds

1 teaspoon red chile powder

1 teaspoon baking powder

1⁄2 teaspoon baking soda

1⁄4 teaspoon sea salt

1⁄2 cup walnut pieces

3⁄4 cup (11⁄2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened

1 1⁄2 cups sugar

2 small eggs

10 ounces dark chocolate

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120 Min

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A handmade spice box containing chai masala, fennel seeds, coriander seeds, whole black peppercorns, whole green cardamom pods with a few black cardamom pods, garam masala, mace pods and nutmeg.
Essential Masala Dabba
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A handmade spice box containing red chile, turmeric, black pepper, cumin seeds, mustard seeds, amchur and garam masala.

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