Barley

Rose Wilde’s Barley Miso Chocolate Chunk Cookies

by:
March 12, 2024
4
2 Ratings
Photo by Rebecca Stumpf
  • Prep time 20 minutes
  • Cook time 16 minutes
  • makes 24 to 30 large cookies
Author Notes

Rose Wilde, who runs the L.A. cafe Red Bread, pushes bakers to reach for more than just all-purpose flour. Her cookbook Bread and Roses—a Food52 Baking Club pick—goes deep on the history, provenance, and flavors of grains around the world, from the familiar (amaranth) to the obscure (sonora?!). These chocolate chip cookies come from the first section on rice, barley, and buckwheat.

Writes Wilde, “I first made these cookies for a pop-up in Los Angeles in partnership with a small, curated grocery shop in Chinatown called Sesame LA. I wanted to create a signature chocolate chunk cookie that honored the shop in some way. Sesame and barley are both nutty, a natural match. Miso is a ferment of soybeans, sometimes combined with rice or barley, and used extensively in savory cooking, but is fantastic in desserts—like salt but with tons of umami. You can use any color miso you like, but my favorite is red, for its intense flavor. I make my own, but store-bought is fine! The addition of miso to these cookies makes them instantly craveable. I like to dip the cookies halfway in seeds to achieve a two-toned look, but if you are a seed lover, feel free to roll the entire cookie in sesame seeds; it will add extra crunch. The cookie dough lasts for 2 weeks in the fridge or 3 months in the freezer. Baked cookies keep for 2 weeks at room temperature in an airtight container.” —Food52

Test Kitchen Notes

Excerpted from "Bread and Roses: 100+ Grain Forward Recipes featuring Global Ingredients and Botanicals" by Rose Wilde copyright © 2023, photography copyright © 2023 by Rebecca Stumpf, reprinted by permission of Countryman Press, an imprint of W. W. Norton & Co., Inc. All rights reserved.
—The Editors

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Ingredients
  • 550 grams unsalted butter, at room temperature
  • 150 grams red miso
  • 500 grams dark brown sugar
  • 8 grams salt
  • 150 grams barley flour
  • 650 grams all-purpose flour
  • 350 grams granulated sugar
  • 12 grams baking powder
  • 8 grams baking soda
  • 3 large eggs
  • 200 grams dark chocolate discs
  • 350 grams milk chocolate discs
  • 300 grams or more sesame seeds for rolling
Directions
  1. Preheat the oven to 325°F. Line two sheet trays with parchment paper. Set aside.
  2. In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter, miso, brown sugar, and salt on medium speed until light and fluffy. You’ll see the color lighten as well; this process will take 5 to 7 minutes.
  3. Meanwhile, in a separate bowl, whisk together the flours, granulated sugar, baking powder, and baking soda. Set aside.
  4. Add the eggs, one at a time, to the butter mixture, beating on medium until completely incorporated. Scrape down the sides completely between each addition.
  5. Add the dry mixture to the wet mixture and mix on low until combined.
  6. Add the dark and milk chocolate and mix for another minute on medium. Place the sesame seeds in a bowl.
  7. Scoop about 2-ounce portions to form cookies. Roll half of each cookie in sesame seeds. Place the seed-covered balls 3 inches apart on the prepared sheet tray, about six total on each pan. Bake for 10 minutes, then open the oven and quickly lift each sheet tray 1 inch off its rack and let it drop back down. Bake for another 5 to 6 minutes, until golden brown.

See what other Food52ers are saying.

3 Reviews

Joan M. September 23, 2024
I made the recipe as written. It’s A LOT of cookie dough. I ended up with 43 3-inch cookies. I had to use almost 3 full boxes of unsalted butter. It is an arduous, time-intensive cookie recipe. The end result was pretty good, but a lot of work for the cookie. Not sure I would make it again; maybe for a very special occasion.
pistolwink August 25, 2024
These are great! I've made them twice and look forward to making many more down the road. I could tell that, as written, this would make a huge portion. So, I made a 1/3 batch and that ended up producing a standard 18–20 good-sized cookies.
Linsey S. March 18, 2024
These were FABULOUS! Very rich, but wow. Probably the most interesting cookie recipe I have made in a long time. It makes a MASSIVE batch- and despite having a LARGE mixer, my bowl was starting to overflow. Be warned! You could easily sub in chopped chocolate from a baking bar, or chips for the disks used here!