Oh my, these cookies. Brown butter, caramel-y brown sugar, melty dark chocolate and white miso paste take these miso chocolate chip cookies to the next level. Miso is the special ingredient in these cookies that give them a deep, earthy, umami flavor that make these cookies insanely delicious.
Don't let the miso scare you. While it is primarily used in savory Asian cooking, it's becoming more popular in baking and can be added to peanut butter cookies, oatmeal cookies, brownies, ice cream bases and more. The combination of sweet with salty miso is truly magical.
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Why You Will Love This Recipe
- These cookies are thick and chewy with deep flavors of brown butter, brown sugar and earthy, umami miso with pockets of melty dark chocolate and topped with toasty sesame seeds.
- The dough can be made in advance, stored in the refrigerator for a few days or in the freezer for a few months and baked when a craving hits.
- Easy to follow recipe with step by step photos for successful and delicious cookies every time.
Ingredient Notes
These are some of the key ingredients for this recipe. For a full list of ingredients and quantities, check out the recipe card below.
Unsalted butter - Browning the butter gives baked goods a nutty, toasty flavor.
White miso paste - also known as shiromiso, or yellow miso paste
Chocolate - semisweet or bittersweet, chips or coarsely chopped bars
Sesame seeds - optional, used as a garnish
Recipe Instructions
Before beginning the recipe, preheat the oven to 350F and line two cookie sheets with parchment paper. For this recipe, you will need a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, or an electric hand mixer, and a 1 oz/2 tablespoon cookie scoop.
- Brown half of the butter, until golden amber in color and the milk solids are toasty.
- Whisk together the dry ingredients, flour and baking soda. No salt is needed in this recipe because the miso is salty enough.
- Beat together the remaining butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy, 3-5 minutes. Beating the butter and brown sugar helps lighten and leaven the cookies.
- Beat in the miso paste and vanilla.
- Beat in the cooled brown butter and granulated sugar. Beat until light and creamy, about 2 minutes.
- Beat in the egg and egg yolk.
- Beat in the dry ingredients, until just combined.
- Beat in the chocolate.
- Scoop the cookie dough into portions with a 1oz/medium/2 tablespoon cookie scoop. Refrigerate for one hour.
- Place the chilled cookie dough balls on the lined cookie sheets, leaving 2" of space between the cookies. Sprinkle with sesame seeds, optional.
- Bake the cookies for 13-15 minutes, until the edges are lightly browned and the tops look just set. Enjoy warm or room temperature.
Baking Tips
- Chill the dough. While I try to write recipes that don't requiring chilling, this one does, and for good reason. Chilling the dough allows the cookies to meld flavors, allowing the ingredients to fully emulsify, and helps them firm up a bit so you don't end up with flat, sad cookies.
- Use all of the brown butter, including the toasty milk solids on the bottom of the pan. Always use the milk solids because they have so much flavor.
- For perfectly round cookies, scoot a round cookie cutter, slightly larger than the cookie around the perimeter of the cookie. Do this immediately after they come out of the oven.
Storage and Freezing
These cookies can be stored at room temperature in an airtight container for up to three days.
Cookie dough can be stored in an airtight container, or zip top bag in the fridge for up to three days. Cookie dough can also be frozen for up to 3 months. They can be baked off directly from the freezer, no defrosting needed.
Substitutions and Variations
- Use white chocolate, peanut butter or butterscotch chips in place of dark chocolate chips.
- Mix in ½ cup of toasted almonds, walnuts or hazelnuts.
FAQs
Brown butter is essentially toasted butter. The butter cooks to a golden amber color and the milk solids in the butter darken and get toasty and settle at the bottom of the pan. Brown butter lends complex (deep, toasty, nutty and caramel) and concentrated flavors to baked goods. It's perfection.
Miso is an ingredient primarily used in Asian savory cooking, in items such as soups, stews, sauces, dressings and more. It's a fermented paste made out of rice, barley and soybeans. White miso, particularly, is the mildest type of miso, not being fermented as long as other types. White miso is sweeter and more mild. White miso is earthy, salty and almost malty in flavor. It adds a depth of flavor and umami saltiness thats not overbearing, but just enough to notice. It's fairly inexpensive and found in most grocery stores.
I definitely encourage you to try these cookies with the miso. They're so delicious. But, the miso can be omitted if necessary.
More Cookie Recipes to Try
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Recipe
Miso Chocolate Chip Cookies
Equipment
- Electric Stand Mixer (or hand mixer)
Ingredients
- 1 cup (divided) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 2 ½ cups all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 cup light brown sugar
- 3 tablespoons white miso paste
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 1 large egg
- 1 large egg yolk
- 1 ½ cups semi sweet or bittersweet chocolate chips I used chocolate bars, coarsely chopped.
- sesame seeds (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Place ½ cup (1 stick) of butter into a medium saucepan over medium heat. Let the butter cook while occasionally stirring to ensure the butter is cooking evenly.
- Cook the butter until it is a deep golden brown color and smells nutty and toasted, about 5 -7 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat. Let the butter cool to room temperature.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, and baking soda. Set aside2 ½ cups all purpose flour, 1 teaspoon baking soda
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, combine the remaining ½ cup (1 stick) of butter and brown sugar. Beat on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 3-5 minutes.1 cup light brown sugar
- Beat in the miso paste and vanilla, until well combined, about 1 minute.3 tablespoons white miso paste, 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- Beat in the granulated sugar and the cooled brown butter and beat until light and creamy about 2 minutes.½ cup granulated sugar
- Scrape down the sides of the bowl, then add the egg and egg yolk and mix on medium speed for an additional minute.1 large egg, 1 large egg yolk
- On low speed, beat in the flour mixture until just combined.
- Add the chocolate chips and mix to combine.1 ½ cups semi sweet or bittersweet chocolate chips
- Scoop the dough with a medium size/2 tablespoon/1oz ice cream scoop onto prepared baking sheets, placing the dough balls 2" apart on the baking sheets.
- Chill the cookies in the refrigerator for 1 hour.
- Sprinkle with sesame seeds if using. Bake for 13-15 minutes or until the bottom edges are lightly brown and the tops look just set.sesame seeds (optional)
- Remove from the oven and allow cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
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