“Well, these are a disaster,” I told Joey, pulling my baking sheet out of the oven. “I guess they won’t be going in the column.”
Earlier in the week, I was excited to try a recipe I ran across that used soy sauce in chocolate chip cookies. It sounded just weird enough that I had to see what they tasted like.
But then, catastrophe struck. I’m assuming I softened my butter a bit too much, because these cookies spread out like crazy, and I was bummed that the recipe was a total fail.
But then I tried one. And another one. And, dear reader, I must admit, several more, and they were, well…good.
They were thin, yes, and the chocolate chips kind of just hung out in the middles instead of spreading throughout the cookies, but they were tasty, and the texture was soft and chewy.
I was also delighted to find that they didn’t taste like soy sauce at all.
This recipe, aptly enough, comes from the Kikkoman website. You can find the original at https://kikkomanusa.com/homecooks/recipes/soy-sauce-chocolate-chip-cookies/. I doubled the vanilla in my version and increased the chocolate chips a bit.
Soy Sauce Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup butter
- 2/3 cup sugar
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce I used low-sodium
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 12 ounces semisweet chocolate chips
- 1/4-1/2 teaspoon coarse or flaky salt
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
- Prepare two baking sheets by lining them with parchment paper, and set them aside.
- In a mixing bowl, beat the butter and sugar until it is light and fluffy.
- Beat in the soy sauce, vanilla and eggs. Finally, beat in the flour and baking soda.
- When everything is well combined, fold in the chocolate chips.
- Place the bowl in the freezer for 15 minutes.
- Spoon out the dough onto the prepared baking sheets in rounded tablespoon scoops, leaving about two inches between them.
- Bake for 12 minutes or until the edges of the cookies are browned. While they are still hot, sprinkle the cookies lightly with salt. Let them cool before transferring them to an airtight container.
Like I said, despite the weird secret ingredient, these were just darn good chocolate cookies. Honestly, I’m not sure why they spread out so badly for me—especially since I chilled my dough as directed.
But it ended up being a happy accident. Honestly, the fact that the cookies were thinner probably helped with the chewy texture.
“These are going into the column after all,” I told Joey through a large bite of cookie.
He just nodded.
He’s used to my strange kitchen shenanigans. Besides, he’s too polite to talk with his mouth full.
This piece first appeared in print on Aug. 31, 2023.
Spice Up Your Life is a weekly newspaper column written by Lindsey Young in south central Kansas. If you are interested in sponsoring this column, please contact us through the “Contact Lindsey” link at the top of the page.