Be Not Afraid, Ye Who Wish to Bake

Plus a wickedly good butterscotch chocolate chip cookie recipe

My guest on the podcast this week is Anushay Hossain, a scholar of women’s health, best-selling author of The Pain Gap: How Sexism and Racism in Healthcare Kills Women, host of the Spilling Chai podcast and author of a brand new substack newsletter, which I enthusiastically recommend.

In short, she’s a brilliant, accomplished human.

But Anushay is anxious about baking. Not cooking. Just baking. I hear this all the time from people. They like to off-road from a recipe when cooking. Maybe bump the spice up. Add more garlic. OK, definitely add more garlic. And more cheese. Whatever these cooks do, they do with joie and definitely no fear.

Baking, however, we’re told is a science. Chemistry! And if you had the chemistry teacher I did in high school, that word alone could make you never want to set foot in the kitchen.

And yes, ratios of butter to sugar, methods of creaming ingredients, baking soda versus baking powder all make important differences. But (shh) the likelihood is, you will end up with something edible. In fact, my carefully tested recipe this week was upended by my guest who had no brown sugar—and the recipe called for ONLY brown sugar. She (with my blessing) used all white sugar instead. And guess what? Were they just the right amount of chewy and cakey I had planned? No. They were still delicious. See for yourself:

Anushay Hossain @AnushayHossain

I blame @MarissaRothkopf a thousand percent. Check us out on her podcast #TheSecretLifeofCookies 🍪🎙️🍪🎙️

My advice? Follow a recipe the first time you make a cookie recipe. Then little by little try to tweak a recipe to suit your tastes.

If you’re on for it, in the weeks and months ahead, I will break down all the elements of cookie baking, and explain the impact of each method and ingredient, so you don’t need to worry when you bake. I want you to have the confidence to freewheel it more when baking. Let me know your questions and thoughts in the comments. I’m thinking we might even need to set up a live chat or three.

Anushay Hossain rocks an apron on this week’s podcast.

Anushay Hossain, my brilliant guest on this week’s Secret Life of Cookies podcast asked for butterscotch chocolate chip cookies, so I packed this recipe with chips and it’s a butterscotch lovers dream. If you prefer to dream of other things, go ahead and use fewer butterscotch chips, or substitute milk or white chocolate chips. Or, just leave out the butterscotch chips altogether and up the chocolate quotient, which would make my husband happy.

This easy recipe comes together in max 10 minutes, and all by hand. No mixer needed. The cookie itself is soft and cakey with a crunchy edge and chocka-block with chips. It uses only light brown sugar and honey (or golden syrup) as sweetener.

Butterscotch Chocolate Chip Cookies

Makes about 3 dozen 2-inch cookies

What You’ll Need:

2  cups (240 grams) all-purpose flour (or 1 cup all-purpose plus 1 cup whole wheat)

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

3/4 cup butter (169 grams or 12 tablespoons), cut into pieces

3/4 cup (165 grams) light brown sugar (packed)

1 egg plus 1 egg yolk

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

3 tablespoons honey or golden syrup

1 10-ounce bag butterscotch chips (more or less to taste)

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips (or more to taste. No judgements)

What You’ll Do:

1.     Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease or line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

2.     In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. Set aside.

3.     In a large, microwave-safe bowl, melt the butter. Use 30 second bursts of power.

4.     Add the brown sugar to the butter and stir with gusto to blend.

5.     Add in the egg, egg yolk, golden syrup (or honey) and vanilla extract. Stir, stir, stir until the once greasy (ew) looking mixture becomes uniform and slightly less shiny (niiiice!).

6.     Stir in the flour mixture until combined.  Incorporate the butterscotch and chocolate chips.

7.     Roll the dough into 2” balls and place them on the baking sheet with 2 inches between each dough ball. Bake until light golden and set, about 12-14 minutes.

Alternatively you can make big, monster-sized cookies as Anushay did and drop about 1/3 cup dough onto the baking sheets, about 4 cookies per sheet. Extend the baking time by about 5 minutes.

Tell me your thoughts! Do you want to learn the ins and outs and technicalities of cookie baking? Do you like butterscotch chips like Anushay and my daughter or think they are an intrusive aberration like my husband? Would you like to start a bet who were the people who allegedly perjured themselves in front of the Grand Jury in Georgia? Let me know!

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