Food

Miso Chocolate Chip Cookies: 3 Tips for Making Miso Cookies

Written by MasterClass

Last updated: Sep 10, 2023 • 2 min read

Miso is a staple ingredient throughout Japanese cuisine in mostly savory applications. Miso chocolate chip cookies showcase the dynamism of miso as a general ingredient.

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What Are Miso Cookies?

Miso cookies consist of miso paste, flour, white and brown sugar, and butter. Miso is a fermented paste made from soybeans, sea salt, and rice koji—cooked rice inoculated with the mold Aspergillus oryzae—that provides a subtle tang and saltiness to a standard chocolate chip cookie.

You can add an array of ingredients to any miso cookie recipe, including peanut butter, chocolate chips, tahini (sesame paste), or brown butter.

The Role of Miso in Baking

Miso has an umami profile: The perfect balance of savory and sweet, laced with a funky, earthy saltiness. The paste lends the same balance to a chocolate chip cookie as a garnish of flaky sea salt, with an added complexity of flavor.

3 Tips for Making Miso Cookies

Miso cookies are as easy to make as a regular chocolate chip cookie. Here’s how to make them your own:

  1. 1. Choosing the miso: Thanks to its mild, sweet taste, white miso—a commonly produced fermented soybean paste also known as shiro miso—is a popular choice for chocolate chip cookies. Red miso, or aka miso, ferments for longer, giving it a deeper hue and more intense saltiness. Awase miso, or mixed miso, combines the mild sweetness of white miso with the richness of red miso.
  2. 2. Choosing the chocolate: You can make miso chocolate chip cookies with different kinds of chocolate for different effects: Try sweet, creamy white chocolate, rich dark chocolate, or semi-sweet chocolate.
  3. 3. Finding the right texture: Brown sugar and a shorter baking time are the main keys to achieving a cookie with crispy edges and chewy centers. In this case, miso paste adds additional moisture, guaranteeing a chewy texture instead of a cakey one. For a crunchy cookie, increase the amount of white sugar and decrease the brown sugar.

Miso Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe

13 Ratings | Rate Now

makes

30 cookies

prep time

10 min

total time

24 min

cook time

14 min

Ingredients

  1. 1

    Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

  2. 2

    In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.

  3. 3

    Cream the butter, white sugar, brown sugar, and miso in the stand mixer bowl fitted with the paddle attachment (or in a large mixing bowl with an electric mixer) until the ingredients become light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary, followed by the vanilla extract. Mix well to combine.

  4. 4

    Add the dry ingredients, and mix just until incorporated. Fold in the chocolate chunks with a rubber spatula.

  5. 5

    Use a cookie scoop or two spoons to portion the cookie dough onto prepared baking sheets. Bake the cookies until they become golden brown around the edges, 10–14 minutes.

  6. 6

    Let the cookies cool slightly, then transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely. Repeat with any remaining dough.

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