Some salty language
A Pinch of Salt
By Donna Marie Riani
Salt. It purifies. It preserves. It seasons.
To be the salt of the earth is to enhance the lives of the people closest to you. Then there are some of my favorite people — salty people. To be salty is to be feisty, sassy and having many opinions.
As you can see, salt is about flavor and character.
Not that long ago when you went to the grocery store you didn’t have much of a salt selection. There was the blue container with the little girl holding the umbrella, you know the one I’m talking about. You put it in your cart and went on your merry way.
We don’t live in that world anymore. The spice aisle of the grocery store has a dizzying array of salts to choose from. There is everything from those flavored with coffee (yep, that’s a thing) to wonderful, briny sea salt and everything in between.
This week’s column is a love letter to my favorite salt — sea salt. The process of making sea salt is simple but takes time and attention. First, salt water is harvested, filtered to remove impurities then placed in large vats where it’s boiled. It is then dehydrated to remove the water and reveal the salt crystals. From there it is dried, making it ready for packaging. The process from beginning to end takes a few weeks.
I couldn’t possibly talk about sea salt and not mention Jacobsen Salt Co., which has been harvesting ocean water from Netarts Bay, right here on the Oregon Coast, since 2011. What was once a small boutique company is now known worldwide, and rightfully so.
Sea salt has a complexity that regular table salt does not. It’s loaded with trace minerals and it’s these minerals that give it that distinctive briny taste. It is also soft on the palate, meaning it doesn’t leave a harsh or bitter taste in your mouth.
Sea salt is a staple in my kitchen. My bamboo salt cellar sits on my counter waiting to cook with me. We add salt to enhance the flavor of our food; if it tastes salty, we have added too much.
When it comes to food, nowhere is salt more important than in sweets and baked goods. Salt and sweet play well together. They complement each other. It’s with this in mind that I came up with this cookie recipe. Many of the ingredients in this cookie are made right here in Oregon. You will also notice that there are two types of salt in this cookie — sea salt and finishing salt. The best way to explain this is that regular salt goes IN food and finishing salt goes ON food. Finishing salt is more expensive than regular and has larger crystals that are quite beautiful (they look like little pyramids), and they can retain their crunch even when exposed to heat. It provides a little salty hit on your tastebuds and also a nice little crunch. A little goes a long way!
This recipe is a celebration of the bounty here in Oregon. I hope you love it as much as I do.
Out Of This World Oregon Cookies
● 2 ¼ cups Bob’s Red Mill All Purpose Flour
● ½ tsp Bob’s Red Mill baking soda
● 1 tsp Jacobsen’s sea salt
● 1 cup (2 sticks) Tillamook butter, room temperature
● 1 cup brown sugar
● ½ cup white sugar
● 2 tsp vanilla extract
● 2 large eggs, local if you can get it, room temperature
● 2 cups semi sweet and/or milk chocolate bars, roughly chopped (use any bars made in Oregon: Moonstruck, Wood Block, Euphoria, etc.)
● ½ cup toasted Oregon hazelnuts, roughly chopped
● Jacobsen’s Finishing Salt
Preheat oven to 350. In a small bowl sift together the first three ingredients. In another bowl cream together both sugars and the butter until fluffy, using an electric mixer or by hand. Add the vanilla and eggs. Mix to combine. Add in the flour mixture and mix just until combined. If you over mix, you will develop the gluten and end up with tough chewy cookies. Stir in the chopped chocolate and hazelnuts just until combined.
Drop tablespoon-sized balls of dough on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Chill the dough in the refrigerator on the baking sheet for 30 minutes.
Remove the dough from the fridge and lightly sprinkle with finishing salt.
Bake for eight to 10 minutes until edges are golden brown and centers are still soft. Cool on the baking sheet for two minutes and then transfer to a wire rack to cool.