Every place in the world deserves a good chocolate chip cookie. Am I right?
These Chocolate Chip Cookies With Ras el Hanout are right out of the Middle East. The recipe comes from New York Times Food Writer Nargisse Benkabbou and can be found on the NYT Food site here.
According to Benkabbou, Ras el Hanout is a common Moroccan spice blend. Benkabbou says the term translates to “top of the shop” in Arabic, meaning that the spice is a blend of the best available spices available at the time. Ras el Hanout, then,is infinitely variable.
I bought my jar of Ras el Hanout at Trader Joe’s (Trader has everything!) and it is a blend of coriander, cayenne, cinnamon, cumin seeds, caraway seeds, spearmint, chili, ginger, allspice, long pepper (what’s that?), black peppercorns, cardamom pods, cloves, mace, and (wait for it) rose petals .
Here’s the recipe as I prepared it in my kitchen. I’m eating cookies as I type this post and the cookies are spicy and delicious.
Chocolate-Chip Oatmeal Cookies With Ras el Hanout
Ingredients
- 2/3 C. packed light brown sugar
- 1/2 C. unsalted butter (melted and cooled to room temperature)
- 1 large egg
- 2 t. vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 C. rolled oats
- 1 C. all-purpose flour
- 1 t. ras el hanout
- 1/2 t. baking soda
- 1 t. fine sea salt
- 1 C. semisweet chocolate chips
Directions
- Step 1 Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Step 2 Line a large baking sheet with parchment.
- Step 3 Combine sugar, butter, egg and vanilla in a large bowl. I used my stand-mixer with the paddle attachment. Mix the ingredients at a slow speed until thoroughly mixed and smooth.
- Step 4 Measure oats, flour, ras el hanout, baking soda and salt. Mix with a whisk. Add the dry mixture to your butter mixture, mixing at a low speed for about a minute. You want all the ingredients to be incorporated but you don’t want to overmix.
- Step 5 Fold in the chocolate chips.
- Step 6 Scoop the cookie dough into large tablespoon-sized balls. (I used a small ice cream scoop for this.) Arrange the dough balls on the baking sheet you lined with parchment. Space the dough balls about 2 inches apart.
- Step 7 Bake for approximately 12 minutes at 350 degrees F. When done, your cookies should be very lightly brown on the edges and bottom and a bit soft in the center. Cool and enjoy.
