Sugar Flour turns four! Loaded cookie bonus recipe!

I can’t quite believe it, but Sugar Flour is four years old today! The past two years have been crazy for everyone, and there’s been so much worry and uncertainty in the air. I feel so incredibly lucky to have such incredible customers who have supported me and my dream through all of it. 

Along with the giveaway on our Facebook and Instagram pages (Closes on Friday the 25th of February), I wanted to spread the love with a special recipe for you all- and a bonus discount code hidden at the bottom!

These loaded cookies are my take on those by the pastry king Cedric Grolet. A base of my favourite brown butter chocolate chip cookies is topped with a gooey caramel, crunchy hazelnut praline, crisp chocolate feuilletine and a sprinkle of sea salt. 

I hope you enjoy baking and eating these! They’re super delicious and heaps of fun to make. Thanks for all your love and support - use the code HAPPYBIRTHDAY4 to get $10 off your Sugar Flour class booking! 

LOADED CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES:

180g Butter (I use west gold SALTED butter, add a pinch of salt in your mix if you use unsalted)

120g Brown sugar

100g Caster sugar

1TSP vanilla essence (I use Heilala, its the best!)

2 size 7 eggs

250g Flour

8g Cornflour

3g Baking powder

3g Baking soda

200g chopped chocolate - I used Valrhona milk chocolate, you can use any chocolate you like!

To make the brown butter cook 180g butter over a medium heat, whisking constantly, until it starts to brown. Cook it a little bit longer, until the colour deepens. Most people take their butter off the heat when its very light, but for baking I like to take it further so that you can really taste the nuttiness in the final cookies. Leave the butter to cool before using. Make sure to weigh it before using, as some evaporates off and you may need to top it up with some more butter.

Whisk the brown butter and both sugars together. Add in the eggs one at a time, whisking thoroughly between each egg. Whisk in your vanilla essence. 

Switch to a spatula and stir in the dry ingredients. Once fully combined fold in the chopped chocolate.

Roll the dough into balls (if its a bit sticky, put it in the fridge for 15-20 minutes to firm up a little). I roll my cookies into 50g for large cookies or 20g for mini ones. Chill the dough for at least an hour until solid, or if you’re impatient, chuck it in the freezer for 20 minutes. 

Heat the oven to 170c and space your dough balls out over a few baking trays. Bake for 12 minutes for large cookies, and 8 for small, turning half way through. They should be a nice golden brown when finished. 

Leave to cool before decorating as below.

GOOEY CARAMEL:

150g Sugar

90g Cream

150g Butter

Make a dry caramel by cooking the sugar in a small pot over a medium high heat, stirring constantly until you have a medium amber caramel. Immediately remove from the heat and add in your cream. Allow the cream time to bubble up before stirring, being careful not to burn yourself. Once the cream is mixed in add your butter and blend with a stick blender to emulsify- this will take a while as there is a lot of butter in here!

Chill until ready to use. 

HAZELNUT PRALINE

200g Roasted skinned hazelnuts (to do this roast hazelnuts at 180c for 10-15 minutes. Leave to cool then rub them together to remove the skins)

200g sugar

20g water

Make a dry caramel using the same method as above. As soon as all your sugar has melted/you have a light amber caramel pour it onto a piece of baking paper to cool down. It will continue to darken once poured onto the paper so take it off as soon as it starts to colour. 

Once the caramel has cooled, break it up into shards and put in a blender with the hazelnuts. Blend until you have a chunky paste. This will take a while, we are waiting for the natural oils in the hazelnuts to come out which will create a paste. If your blender is struggling you can add a bit of canola or other flavourless oil to help it along. Alternatively you can use a ready made nut butter. I particularly like Fix and Fogg’s chocolate hazelnut butter. 

Reserve the praline in an airtight container until ready to use. 

FEUILLETINE CRUNCH 

100g Hazelnut praline paste

25g cocoa butter

25g milk chocolate

80g crushed cornflakes

Feuilletine is a thin, crispy, crepe like biscuit that pastry chefs use to add crunch to their desserts. It’s hard , and very expensive, to get a hold of here, and a bit of a pain to make, so were using cornflakes instead!

Melt the praline paste, cocoa butter and milk chocolate together. Stir in the cornflakes and leave at room temperature to set.

TO FINISH

Pipe 3 dots of caramel on your cookies- the caramel may be firm coming from the fridge. You can either microwave it for a few seconds at a time or leave it at room temperature for half an hour until its at a pipeable consistency.

In between your three caramel dots add a similar sized dollop of feuilletine crunch. Dont be scared to break it up with a knife or a spoon if its set solid. 

In the centre of your caramel and feuilletine, pipe some hazelnut praline and sprinkle with a touch of sea salt. Enjoy immediately or store in an airtight container for 2 days.