If you’re bored with your usual chocolate chip cookies, try these! They are made with rye flour, packed with chocolate, and flavored with bourbon and cinnamon. They are super chewy and it’s definitely a treat if you like bourbon or whiskey!
Ingredients:
Rye flour
This recipe was specifically designed to be made with rye flour that I had left from making żurek (Polish sour rye soup) so please do not substitute it with wheat flour (I do have regular chocolate chip cookies with pecans on my site, so you can make this recipe!).
Rye flour has a nutty flavor that distinguishes it from wheat flour. Use medium or dark rye flour for this recipe (I used medium rye flour). Different rye flours are determined by how much of the rye kernel is present. The more rye kernel there is, the darker the flour – this also means a more intense rye flavor in your cookies. In white rye flour, the bran and germ are completely removed, so its flavor is milder.
Chocolate vs chocolate chips
I used dark and milk chocolate for these cookies. I love when you bite into a cookie and there are some bites with rich, cocoa-loaded dark chocolate and you take another bite and you have a sweet milky chocolate – it’s best of both worlds and your cookies are not overly sweet! You can also use bittersweet chocolate instead. Instead of chocolate bars, you can use chocolate chips. I prefer to use chopped chocolate for my cookies, I just love these puddles of melted chocolate! Also, chocolate bars just taste better than chocolate chips, even those good-quality chips. Chocolate chips are coated in substances that ensure they are holding their shape, so they just don’t taste as good as a good-quality pure chocolate bar. I like to use Lindt chocolate for my cookies (this is not sponsored). This is just a matter of personal preference, so choose what you have on hand!
If you use chocolate chips, your cookies will be thicker.
Bourbon
I love the addition of bourbon in these cookies. I added 2 tablespoons, so you can really taste it. If you’d like that their taste is more subtle, substitute 1 tablespoon of bourbon for vanilla extract.
Instead of bourbon, you could also use rye whiskey to accent the rye flavor of these cookies even more. Rye whiskey has a stronger flavor than bourbon, so use it in these cookies only if you really like its flavor.
Butter
Use softened unsalted butter, 82% fat is best. You could add even more flavor to these cookies by using brown butter. How to make brown butter: cook the butter slowly over low heat until it changes its color from yellow to a golden brown. Take the butter off the heat and put it in the fridge until it’s set. It shouldn’t be cold, just set and soft! Use it just like regular butter. Brown butter has a nutty, rich, complex taste. Keep an eye on your brown butter as it can burn quickly and be bitter.
Flaky sea salt
Absolutely necessary for the best flavor. Salt enhances the sweet flavor, without it the cookies can taste ‘flat’, just sweet and rich. Salt in the dough and flaky/crunchy salt on top of the cookies cut through this richness, making these cookies taste so much better.
How to measure flour:
How to measure flour: if you will use a kitchen scale to measure out all the ingredients, it all goes easy breezy! But if you’re using measuring cups, remember that you can get a different amount of flour, depending on how you’re filling your cup. Don’t scoop the flour directly into the measuring cup, which can compact it! 1 cup of rye flour weighs 110g. To correctly measure the flour, you need to:
- Fluff the flour by stirring it in the bag/flour container with a spoon.
- Spoon the flour and sprinkle it into your measuring cup.
- Sweep off the excess flour with the back of a knife.
How to make rye chocolate chip cookies step by step:
STEP 1: Cream butter and both types of sugar. This should take a couple of minutes in a stand mixer (you can also use a hand-held mixer). This means they should be well-combined and fluffy.
STEP 2: Add egg and egg yolk. Mix until fluffy and well-combined (scrape the sides of the bowl with a spatula from time to time).
STEP 3: Combine flour with cinnamon, baking soda, and salt. Add to the bowl.
STEP 4: Mix until partially combined.
STEP 5: Add the bourbon and roughly chopped chocolate to the bowl.
STEP 6: Mix until combined.
Chill the dough for 40 minutes or longer (you can bake the cookies right away, but they will be quite flat).
Scoop the dough with a 3-tablespoon ice cream scoop and place apart on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
Bake for about 13 minutes at 350°F/180°C. The edges of the cookies should be golden but the tops pale and soft (they will finish cooking on the baking sheet). Sprinkle hot cookies with flaky sea salt. Leave the cookies on the baking sheet to cool slightly, then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.
How to make them pretty: press small chunks of chopped chocolate into hot cookies (straight out of the oven). If using chocolate chips, press them into the dough balls BEFORE baking them.
Enjoy!
Storage and freezing:
- How to store cookie dough: You can store unbaked cookie dough in the fridge for about 2 days. You may need to bake them a little bit longer (about a minute longer).
- How to store baked cookies: Store them in a tightly-closed container (preferably in a cookie tin) for about 1-2 weeks. They will soften with time. They taste best on the day of baking them but they are also very good the next couple of days.
- How to freeze cookie dough: scoop the dough with a cookie scoop on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, the cookies shouldn’t touch each other. Freeze until solid (about 2 hours), then transfer to zip-lock bags or containers. Bake for 1-2 minutes longer (just keep an eye on the cookies and check their color). Freeze them for about 3 months.
- Baked cookies can’t be frozen.
Did you make this recipe? RATE THE RECIPE or tell me in the COMMENTS how you liked it! You can also add a photo of your dish. It would make me very happy and will help other readers. Thank you!!
Rye chocolate chip cookies
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup (115g) soft butter
- 3/4 cup (150g) light brown sugar
- 1/2 cup (100g) granulated sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 egg yolk can be omitted
- 1 3/4 cup (190g) medium or dark rye flour
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 2 tablespoons bourbon or rye whiskey
- 6 oz (170g) chocolate 1 cup chocolate chips* (see notes)
- 1.5 oz (40g) chocolate, to put on top of the cookies (optional), or 1/4 cup chips
- flaky sea salt to sprinkle
Instructions
- Roughly chop the chocolate and set aside.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F / 180°C / Gas Mark 4, no fan (if you have a convection oven reduce the temperature by about 20° or follow the manufacturer's instructions).
- Add the softened butter to the mixing bowl and both types of sugar. Mix over medium-low speed for about 3 minutes, until light, fluffy, and well-combined.
- Add the egg and egg yolk, mix over medium-low speed for another 2-3 minutes, until well-combined. Scrape the sides of the bowl from time to time with a spatula.
- Stir the flour with cinnamon, baking soda, and salt. Add the flour mixture to the mixing bowl. Mix over low speed until half combined (you should still see flour here and there and the dough will be rather clumpy).
- Add the bourbon and chopped chocolate to the bowl. Mix until the chocolate is evenly distributed and the flour fully incorporated (but don’t mix for too long).
- Chill the dough in the fridge for about 40 minutes or longer (you can bake them straight away but they will be quite flat).
- Scoop the dough with a 3-tablespoons-ice cream scoop or just with your hands/spoon (optionally, you could weigh your dough, each ball of dough should weigh 47g). Place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper about 2 inches (5 cm) apart, don’t flatten the cookies. If using chocolate chips, press a couple of chips into the dough balls (this is optional, just to make them more ‘pretty’).
- Bake the cookies in batches for about 13-14 minutes. The baking time may slightly vary depending on the oven. The cookies should have golden edges but will be completely soft. While the cookies are still soft and hot, put 2-3 chunks of chocolate on top of each cookie, and press them slightly in (optional). Sprinkle the cookies with flaky sea salt.
- Take the baking tray out of the oven and let the cookies slightly cool on the baking sheet (they will continue to set up from the residual heat on the pan after they come out of the oven). Transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely. Always use a cold baking sheet for the next batch of cookies.
- Enjoy!
Notes
- Chocolate: I used 3 oz milk chocolate and 3 oz dark chocolate. You also use just bittersweet chocolate. Instead of chocolate bars, use 1 cup of your preferred chocolate chips (1/2 cup milk and 1/2 cup dark/bittersweet)
- Bourbon: You can swap 1 tablespoon of bourbon for 2-3 teaspoons of vanilla extract.
How to make them pretty: press small chunks of chopped chocolate into hot cookies (straight out of the oven). - How to properly measure flour: Fluff the flour by stirring it in the bag/flour container with a spoon. Spoon the flour and sprinkle it into your measuring cup. Sweep off the excess flour with the back of a knife. (It’s best to use a scale, though!)
- Storage:
- How to store cookie dough: You can store unbaked cookie dough in the fridge for about 2 days. You may need to bake them a little bit longer (about a minute longer).
- How to store baked cookies: Store them in a tightly-closed container (preferably in a cookie tin) for about 1-2 weeks. They will soften with time. They taste best on the day of baking them but they are also very good the next couple of days.
- How to freeze cookie dough: scoop the dough with a cookie scoop on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, the cookies shouldn’t touch each other. Freeze until solid (about 2 hours), then transfer to zip-lock bags or containers. Bake for 1-2 minutes longer (just keep an eye on the cookies and check their color). Freeze them for about 3 months.
- Baked cookies can’t be frozen.
- Calories = 1 cookie (1/19 of the recipe). This is only an estimate!
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