Tired of your usual chocolate chunk cookies? How about starting 2019 with some Cranberry Rye Chocolate Chunk Cookies! The recipe is from from Dorie Greenspan who got it from Mokonuts, a little cafe in Paris. Dorie discovered the cookies while strolling through the city and peeking in bakery windows. As the story goes, she sees the cookies on a back counter and is intrigued by their appearance. Naturally, she buys some cookies, falls in love with them and manages to get the recipe from the cafe owner, Moko Hirayama.
Cranberry Rye Chocolate Chunk
The cookies have such an impressive appearance -- or at least in The New York Times. The Times Cranberry Rye Chocolate Chunk Cookies are thick and brown with flat tops. I love big fat cookies and had to try them even if it meant dealing with the teeth-sticking issues that come with poppy seeds, cranberries and sometimes rye. And speaking of rye, I used Bob's Red Mill Dark Rye, but I think Mokonuts and Dorie may use a medium or lighter rye. I can attest that the dark rye worked very well.
Inspired by Mokonuts Cookies
I don't enjoy chopping cranberries and splurged on a bag of baking cranberries which are julienne cut. This was my first time using pre-cut cranberries and I'll reserve judgement until I use them in more cranberry things. They did the job.
The chocolate is chopped bittersweet Ghirardelli, and I couldn't resist throwing in a little vanilla, so feel free to leave it out if you want yours to be more like the original.
As unique as Cranberry Rye Chocolate Chunk Cookies are with the poppy seeds, I think I'm going to make the next batch with finely chopped pecans in place of the seeds. The seeds add texture, but not much flavor, and dealing with the aftermath of eating anything with that many poppy seeds is kind of a drag. I'll update when I try the cookies with pecans, but if you love poppy seeds this version is perfect.
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Recipe
Giant Rye Flour Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup plus 1 ½ tablespoons rye flour (130 grams) (I used Bob's Dark Rye)
- ½ cup plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour (85 grams)
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ¾ teaspoon fine sea salt I used a scant amount of Morton kosher
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 10 tablespoons unsalted butter at cool room temperature (140 grams)
- ½ cup sugar (100 grams)
- ½ cup light brown sugar (100 grams)
- ¾ teaspoon vanilla optional
- 1 large large egg
- ⅓ cup poppy seeds (50 grams)
- ⅔ cup plump dried cranberries (80 grams)
- 4 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped into chunks (113 grams)
- Flake salt such as Maldon, for sprinkling
Instructions
- Whisk or just thoroughly stir together the rye flour, all-purpose flour, baking powder, sea salt and baking soda; set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter and both sugars together on medium speed for 4 minutes, scraping the bowl occasionally. Beat in vanilla (if using).
- Add the egg, and beat 2 minutes more. Turn off the mixer and add the dry ingredients all at once, then stir on low speed, pulsing so that you don't overbeat, until flour is almost fully blended.
- Add poppyseeds, cranberries and chocolate and stir until blended. At this point, I liked to dump the dough onto a pastry mat and just push it all together, but you can do it whichever way feels comfortable to you.
- Divide the dough into 15 pieces and roll each piece into a ball. Cover and refrigerate the dough overnight or for up to 3 days.
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Arrange the cookies on the sheet, leaving 2 inches between each cookie. Sprinkle tops with a little Maldon salt (if using).
- Bake the cookies one sheet at a time on the center rack for 10 minutes. Pull the baking sheet from the oven and using something flat like a spatula, tap the tops so they are flat. This is supposed to keep the cookies chewy ( a trick Moko learned from David Lebovitz).
- Let the cookies rest on the sheet for 3 minutes, then carefully transfer them to a rack.
- Bake remaining dough. Allow the cookies to cool for at least 10 minutes before serving.
Anna says
Hi Ruth,
Thank you for that tip! I think the lower sugar ones might taste a little better as well.
Ruth says
If you buy the lower sugar cranberries they seem to have been chopped. I use them because I’m diabetic.
Anna says
Lynne, I rarely chop the cranberries. Sometimes I'll get a cookie where someone has chopped them and I'll admire them for being so diligent, but I usually just use whole berries. Sometimes I'll cut them in half. I bought a bag of the pre-chopped dried cranberries one time and they were terrible.
Lynne B. says
I didn’t see anything in the recipe about cutting or chopping the cranberries. I soaked dried cranberries for a minute or 2 but used them whole. Worked fine. Might try chopping them a bit next time. Friends raved about them!
Anna says
You can taste it. It's kind of a wheat-y, sweet flavor. I used dark rye, but I recommend sticking with light or medium.
Karen b says
What does the rye flour taste like in this recipe? Is it a “nutty” flavor? I’ve had rye bread before but cannot imagine that taste in a cookie. Please describe.
Does the rye flour really make a difference from using regular flour?
Karen b says
Would Pulse on a food processor chop the dried cranberries? I’ve done this with raisins & it worked fine. Just need to watch so you don’t grind them.
Sue says
What I’m thinking of is pre Pampered Chef but may very well be the same thing.
Anna says
I'm having fun using it in a few things, but the reason I buy it is mainly to make Russian Black Bread. For some reason my family likes that better than almost any bread.
Is the chopper you are thinking of the old Pampered Chef chopper?
Sue says
That sounds interesting! Rye isn’t my favorite flavor but there’s enough going on here to make the rye play nicely.
Long long ago there used to be a tool that was essentially a glass jar with a lid fitted with a chopper. I haven’t seen one in years but it might make chopping cranberries less tedious if such a tool still exists. They were great for chopping nuts.