The best cookies ever + a great giveaway! This is a good Wednesday.
Loving food is a weird thing. I get giddy over things like really great cinnamon or an incredible salt. So when I had the opportunity to share with you guys about The Spice House, it was a no-brainer. Perusing their website is like letting a kid loose in a candy store.
The Spice House opened its
doors back in 1957, and today has both a robust online business as well as 5
locations throughout Chicago & Milwaukee. They
carry over 600 products from at least 50 different countries, including pure
spices and herbs, spice blends, salts, and extracts and have caught the
admiration of many home cooks across the country as well as some heavy hitters
in the food world, including Alton Brown (who actually has special blends made for him) & Julia Child, who proclaimed The Spice House a "national
treasure."
Patty from The Spice House remembers Julia’s visit to their
Milwaukee shop:
We had cinnamon that came from Vietnam, a long
log, real thick, and as hard as a baseball bat! The trade doors had just opened
from Vietnam when she visited, and we couldn't wait to show her this bark, and then give her a
taste in powder form. Julia took the bark right out of my hand and took
a giant bite right out of it! My whole family was there and we all
collectively sucked in our breath, and asked, "Do you want to spit that
out?" But she kept right on chewing and chewing and chewing,
and 10 minutes later she had chewed it enough to swallow it. Julia was just so
gracious, and she said something like, "Oh my dear, you're absolutely
right, this is a delightful cinnamon, thank you for sharing
this with me!" She signed the rest of that bark and today that bark is one
of Patty’s prized possessions.
Tom & Patty Erd took over Patty’s parents
business back in 1993 and have built The Spice House into a resource for incredible spices and seasonings, as fresh as you
can get them at an affordable price. They
scour the world for the best ingredients and spices, and they grind and blend their spices and seasonings in small batches
right in their stores in order to offer the freshest possible product.
Many of their spices come in pretty glass jars, however you can
also order many varieties in bags (as well as in salt-free versions). I'm personally impressed with their pricing, but also their crazy fast shipping. Their gift boxes are
both gorgeous and well thought out. Take a few minutes and peruse their offerings!
These cookies are inspired by the most incredible chocolate I had when we were in Vancouver. With the nutty flavor from brown butter and sunflower seeds and the salty topping from The Spice House's fabulous grey sea salt, these are just about as good as it gets. Miles declared these the best cookies I have ever made... win!
yields about 3 dozen cookies
you'll need:
1 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup brown sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 teaspoon molasses
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg + 1 egg yolk
2 1/4 cups AP flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup good dark chocolate, chopped into chunks
1/2 cup roasted & salted sunflower seeds
grey sea salt, for sprinkling
Melt 8 tablespoons of butter in a medium skillet over medium heat, swirling it in the pan. It will become foamy as it cooks and make a crackling noise. Continue to swirl as the butter starts to smell nutty and brown bits form at the bottom of the pan. Once the bits are amber, remove the butter from the burner and pour into a small bowl (including the brown bits... the best part!) to cool for about 20 minutes.
In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the remaining 1/2 cup butter with the brown sugar for 3-5 minutes, until smooth and fluffy. Beat in the vanilla extract and molasses.
Pour the cooled brown butter into the bowl, along with the granulated sugar. Beat for 2 minutes, until smooth; the mixture will be light and fluffy.
Add the egg and egg yolk, and beat for 1 more minute.
Add the flour, salt, and baking soda, beating on low speed just until everything is incorporated.
Remove the bowl from the stand mixer and use a spatula to fold in the dark chocolate and sunflower seeds. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes or up to overnight.
About 15 minutes before you’re ready to begin baking, preheat your oven to 350°F.
Scoop the dough in 2 tablespoon-sized balls onto the prepared baking sheets. Leave about 2 inches between the cookies. Sprinkle the cookies with grey sea salt.
Bake the cookies for 13-15 minutes, until they’re golden brown. Remove them from the oven, and allow them to rest on the baking sheet for at least 5 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to cool.
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To help you make some cookies (and because they're awesome), The Spice House is offering two seriously great giveaways!
1st Prize - $250.00 in spices, which includes
Grill & BBQ Deluxe Gift Box Set, Bakers Spices Gift Box Set, Vanilla Bean
Sugar, Chicago Old Town Premium Sugar, Vulcan's Fire Salt, Chai Spices with
Vanilla, Pumpkin Pie Spice, Dutched Cocoa Powder, Aleppo Pepper, AND a $100.00
gift card to The Spice House to find your favorites not on this list or try
some new ones!
2nd Prize - The Signature Selection Gift Box
Set, Chicago Old Town Premium Sugar, Fancy Onion Salt, Fancy Garlic Salt,
Vanilla Bean Sugar, Tellicherry Black Peppercorns and a $50.00 gift card to The
Spice House to find your favorites not on this list or try some new ones!
Enter by simply using the Rafflecopter below. Good luck!
a Rafflecopter giveaway
Check out the other fabulous recipes inspired by The Spice House from some of my food blogging friends!
Disclosure: I was given a gift card to
order spices as compensation for this post, however as always all thoughts and
opinions are my own.
