Ever wonder what a cross between rye bread and a chocolate chip cookie with a slice of orange would taste like? Here’s your chance…. (If you’d rather have cookies without orange zest, try this version.)
- 2 teaspoons caraway seeds
- 1.25 cups rye flour
- 1 cup all-purpose unbleached flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 2 sticks (16 tablespoons) butter
- 1.5 cups demerara sugar
- 2 teaspoons kosher salt
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- one orange for zesting
- 2 large eggs at room temperature
- 12 ounces semi-sweet chocolate bits
Heat your oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.
Using a mortar and pestle, aggressively grind the caraway seeds, one teaspoon at a time, to open them up a bit and release their flavor. You won’t be able to turn them into powder, but you should grind them for several minutes to maximize the caraway flavor.
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, combine the flours, baking soda and ground caraway seeds. Turn the mixer to its lowest setting and stir these ingredients until combined, at least one minute.
In a sturdy saucepan, melt the butter over low heat. Once melted, turn off the heat and stir in the demerara sugar, salt and vanilla extract. Using a fork or a hand whisk, whisk this mixture until the combination of butter and demerara sugar resembles dark applesauce. It will take a while for the coarse crystals of the demerara sugar to dissolve. Place a microplane over the saucepan and zest the orange into the mixture. Be sure to remove only the zest and not the pith. Stir until evenly distributed. Pour into the stand mixer’s bowl.
Turn the mixer to its lowest setting and stir until all of the flour is coated with the melted butter mixture. Add the eggs, one at a time, making sure they are fully incorporated after each addition. Pour in the semi-sweet chocolate bits and continue stirring until evenly distributed in the dough. This will be a wet dough.
Using a small ice cream scoop, drop even amounts of dough on ungreased cookie sheets. Bake in the 375 degree oven. Begin checking them after 8 minutes and bake until the sides and bottoms are browned, but not burned. Remove from the oven and allow to cool on the baking pan for a couple of minutes before using a metal spatula to scrape underneath each cookie and transfer them to a wire rack to cool to room temperature.