Last week I brought you an oldie, but goodie – Summer Rolls with Chile-Lime Dipping Sauce because I was still tweaking this cookie recipe. At first you may look at the title of this post, ‘Miso Chocolate Chip Cookies’ and think it sounds a bit bizarre. But stick with me here, you’ll be glad you did – I promise!
When you think of miso, you may think of savory dishes like soups, marinades, or rubs. What you may not have considered, is that it’s really great when applied to sweet treats. Much like salted caramel or when sea salt is sprinkled on top of chocolate chip cookies, miso adds a bold and salty component to round out the sweeter profiles and add complexity. You won’t taste straight up miso in these cookies; what the miso really does, is add a wonderful rich umami profile to the cookies. It’s like chili – I always add a little chocolate to my chili. You can’t taste it, but it definitely rounds out the flavors.
My first experience with this combination of flavors was when Mr. HapaNom and I were living in the Capitol Hill neighborhood of Washington, D.C., just off of H Street. Along that corridor is a tiny and incredibly delicious ramen joint called, Toki Underground. In addition to their ridiculous ramen and dumplings, they offer chocolate chip cookies with a miso buttercream. Per the rest of the food there, these cookies were seriously amazing! Using this as an inspiration, I thought to add the miso directly to the cookie dough to add a unique, if not unidentifiable flavor profile to the cookies – a ‘secret’ ingredient quality, if you will.
A few general tips on cookie dough:
- If you have the time, it’s best to refrigerate the cookie dough overnight, but at least 30 minutes before baking. This is for several reasons.
- If you put warm dough into the oven, it will spread before it has time to set up. What you’ll be left with is very thin and fragile cookies.
- Allowing the gluten to relax will prevent to cookies from becoming tough and/or rubbery.
- Allowing it to chill produces a firmer and drier dough which creates a nicer texture and better consistency.
- Make sure you allow the baking sheet to cool in between batches. As mentioned above, this is so the dough doesn’t start spreading before it has time to set up.
- ½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- 1 cup brown sugar (I used light, but feel free to use dark if you have it)
- 1 large egg + 1 egg yolk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ cup aka miso (red miso)
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- ¾ teaspoon baking soda
- 12 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. If you're not using a non-stick baking sheet, line with parchment paper.
- In the bowl of standing mixer or other large bowl, add the butter, the sugars, eggs, vanilla, and miso. Mix just until smooth.
- Whisk the flour and baking soda in another bowl. Stir the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients - careful not to over-work the dough. Stir in the chocolate chips. (You can use the dough right away, but I highly recommend refrigerating for at least 30 minutes before baking - explanation written in the write-up).
- Scoop a heaping tablespoon of dough into the palm of your hand. Roll into a ball and place onto a baking sheet. Space the cookies 2-inches apart. Bake for 12-14 minutes, or until the edges start to turn a pale golden brown.
- Transfer to a cooling rack. (Let the baking sheet cool before loading up with cookie dough again).
- Serve and Enjoy!
Yum. Just yum! I love anything with a salty and sweet combination but I never would have thought of using miso as the salt. I think I stuffed up the butter conversion to grams, so my cookies didn’t spread at all and I had a dry dough, but they still cooked up fine and were incredibly delicious. I’ll have to make them again and next time check the measurements a bit better! What a good excuse to make more…
I’m with you, I can never pass up something with a salty/sweet combo! And yes, what a wonderful reason to make them again 😉
Wow! Miso Cookies, how creative!! These look so good! And thanks for the great tip on refrigerating the cookie dough, I hate when cookies are tough or rubbery.
Me too! Perfectly crisp on the outside and perfectly chewy on the inside is the only way to make a cookie!
as if 5,000,000,000 comments from me weren’t enough for you to deal with, your miso cookie lead made it absolutely impossible for me to wait for my scheduled return to finish walking-cooking your blog. am i going to be the rockstar of all things edible this holiday season or what?!? this went straight to my “test immediately” list. thank you thank you thank you 🙂
Omg, I LOVE all of your comments! Seriously, big hug to you! 🙂
Miso in cookies? You are a genius!
Ha! Thanks, Kristen! Though I can’t take full credit for coming up with idea – just inspired from the chocolate chip cookies smeared with miso buttercream 🙂
IMPRESSIVE! Never never would thought of adding miso to chocolate chip cookies! Sounds so wrong, but it makes sense as well. These cookies look perfect! Dying to try these!
Thanks, Lokness! It does sounds a little strange, doesn’t it? But it’s such a wonderful combo! You really don’t taste straight miso – but it adds a really nice rich balance of flavors.
MISO chocolate chip cookies?!! oh my gawd, brilliant!!!
Thanks, Alice! My husband took them to work and he said they were gone within a matter of minutes! I was glad to know everyone else seemed to love the combination too 🙂
This sounds so different but FANTASTIC! I love savory/sweet, and I’m imagining that the miso must bring the most amazing umami flavor to these cookies. Not to mention the texture looks spot on, and CHOCOLATE!!!
Thanks, Allie! That means so much coming from a baking pro, such as yourself 🙂
These totally grabbed my attention. I can totally understand how miso and chocolate would work together. On the to-do list!
The miso is a surprisingly great compliment to the chocolate chip cookies – you don’t taste straight miso, but it adds a really wonderful richness. I hope you enjoy them 🙂
I love that you used miso in these cookies. I love using it in baking too – I made a miso buttercream for some cupcakes in the past and it tasted divine. Have to try out this recipe!
Ooo… miso buttercream cupcakes sounds divine! What flavor of cake did you use?
That ramen joint sounds like my kind of place!
This is sensational. SENSATIONAL. You need to get a job at Gourmet Traveller. The creativeness of the recipes you share continues to astonish me. It’s DIFFERENT but FAMILIAR. Does that make sense? i.e. I just know the flavours WORK even though I’ve never tried it or thought to try it.
You rock! I love how much you inspire me!
Thanks, Nagi! You always have the most thoughtful comments. Though I must say, the inspiration is totally mutual.
I know exactly what you mean about different but familiar and that’s a great way to describe it! Perhaps I was channeling my inner Mr. Miyagi when he said,”same but different”. Wow, sorry about that. Sometimes I even amaze myself with how dorky my 80’s movie references are 😉
This is a really interesting combination of flavors! I’m really intrigued, and can’t wait to give it a try! Pinned 🙂
Hi Tina! Thanks so much! If you like savory and sweet desserts, I think you’ll really enjoy these cookies 🙂
What a unique twist on an American favorite! These look so good. I’ve only ever had miso in soup, so I’d be curious to see what it tastes like in cookies.
Thanks, Erin! Miso is such a wonderfully diverse ingredient and really adds a nice richness to a dish – I hope you give it a try 🙂
I am very intrigued by these cookies and really want to try them because I love miso. They look so good.
Thanks! Miso and chocolate are a surprisingly great combination! I hope you give them a try 🙂
Never had miso cookies, but I love the idea! These look perfect! Pinned and shared!
Thanks, Mira! The miso adds a nice unexpected twist 🙂
These cookies sounds like they’d be great. My tastebuds perked up when I read about miso butter cream – a seemingly odd concept. I don’t generally bake or eat cookies, but I’m saving this recipe for when I might want some chocolate chip cookies. Actually, I want some now… 🙂
Hi Susan! The miso buttercream is seriously good and worth giving a try if you have some regular chocolate or chocolate chip cookies around. But I always like to give away most of the cookies I bake, so having the miso already ‘built in’ makes them much easier to distribute 🙂 I hope you enjoy!