Gochujang Chocolate Chip Cookies

These gochujang choc chip cookies are seriously addictive.

We're using a brown butter style cookies that makes it rich and chewy. Browning takes the butter past the point of just melting to where the milk solids caramelise and develop a nutty, toasty depth. It’s called beurre noisette, and it changes the flavour profile of the cookie significantly. The browned butter is then chilled over ice and whipped until light before the sugar goes in, which reintroduces aeration you’d normally get from creaming cold butter.

The gochujang gets mixed into only one third of the dough, which is then folded back through the rest in a marble pattern. The uneven distribution means some bites carry more heat than others.

Resting the dough overnight in the fridge is not optional. The extended chill allows the flour to fully hydrate and the sugars to draw out some moisture from the dough, which deepens the flavour and produces a chewier, more complex result. Cold dough also spreads more slowly in the oven, giving the cookies a better rise and a chewy centre rather than a flat, crisp one. Two types of chocolate are used: chopped 70% dark chocolate, which melts into irregular pockets, and dark chocolate chips, which hold their shape and give more defined chocolate pieces in every bite.

Ingredient Notes

Gochujang: A Korean fermented chilli paste made from red chillies, glutinous rice, fermented soybean powder, and salt. It has a deep red colour, a moderate heat level, and a complex savoury sweetness from the fermentation that works well against the bitterness of dark chocolate. Available at major supermarkets in the Asian foods aisle or at Asian grocery stores. Brands vary in heat level, so taste yours before adding.

Brown butter: Browning the butter is what drives most of the flavour complexity in these cookies. As the butter heats, the water evaporates and the milk solids toast to a golden brown, producing nutty, caramel-like compounds called melanoidins. The process takes about 10 minutes over medium heat. Watch it carefully once it starts foaming, as it can go from browned to burnt quickly. The butter should smell nutty and look golden with dark specks on the bottom of the pan.

Chocolate: I use two types here: 70% dark chocolate chopped into irregular pieces, and dark chocolate chips. The chopped chocolate melts into uneven pockets that spread through the cookie as it bakes, while the chips hold their shape and give you distinct chocolate pieces in every bite. Using both gives you more interesting texture and chocolate distribution than either alone. A higher cocoa percentage (70%) keeps the chocolate flavour clean and not too sweet against the gochujang.

Equipment

• Medium saucepan
• Large bowl and bowl of iced water (for cooling butter)
• Electric hand mixer or stand mixer
• Mixing bowls (at least 2)
• Sieve
• 2 large baking trays
• Baking paper