Miso Chocolate Chip Cookies

There’s something special about a perfectly baked cookie: crisp edges, a chewy centre, and pools of melting chocolate and these Miso Chocolate Chip Cookies take this experience to another level. How? By adding an unexpected yet delightful ingredient – miso. 

The savoury depth of white miso paste enhances the buttery richness of the cookie, making the sweetness more pronounced without being overpowering. If you haven’t tried miso in baking before, this is the perfect recipe to start with.

Table of Contents

• Ingredient Breakdown
• Miso in Baking
• The Science Behind a Chewy Cookie
• Why Chilling the Dough is Essential
• How to Achieve Perfectly Golden Edges
• Storage Tips
• More Cookie Recipes

Ingredient Breakdown

• Unsalted butter: Adds richness and moisture while ensuring a chewy texture. Using melted butter instead of softened butter changes the cookie’s structure, helping it spread slightly while keeping the centre soft and dense.
• White miso paste: Brings a subtle umami depth that balances the sweetness of the sugar. Its natural fermentation process contributes a rich, savoury note without being overpowering.
• Light brown sugar: Contributes caramel notes and helps to keep the cookies soft and chewy. The molasses content in brown sugar adds moisture, while creating a deep, slightly toffee-like flavour.
• White granulated sugar: Helps create a golden, crispy edge while balancing moisture levels. It also encourages spread, allowing for the perfect combination of a crisp exterior and a chewy centre.
• Egg: Helps to bind the ingredients and provides structure. The proteins in the egg give the cookies stability, while the fat contributes to tenderness.
• Vanilla extract: Enhances the flavour and complements the chocolate. Vanilla acts as a flavour enhancer, deepening the sweetness of the sugars and creating a more aromatic cookie.
• Plain flour: Forms the base of the cookie, helping create the perfect structure. The amount of flour determines the texture. The right balance ensures a chewy, slightly dense bite.
• Baking soda: Provides lift and helps create a soft, chewy texture. When combined with the acidity in brown sugar, baking soda creates carbon dioxide, which helps the cookies rise slightly while keeping them tender.
• Chocolate chips: A mix of dark and milk chocolate creates a complex, rich flavour. Dark chocolate adds bitterness that contrasts beautifully with the sweetness, while milk chocolate brings a creamy, mellow note.

Miso in Baking

Miso and chocolate might seem like an unlikely combination, but together they create a beautifully balanced flavour profile. Chocolate, especially dark varieties, has natural bitterness and depth, while miso brings a salty, umami complexity that enhances its richness. The contrast between sweet and savoury is what makes these cookies stand out.

White miso paste, used in this recipe, has a mild and slightly sweet flavour, which means it doesn’t overpower the chocolate. Instead, it highlights the caramel notes of brown sugar and deepens the cocoa flavour. Much like adding a pinch of salt to chocolate desserts, miso enhances the natural sweetness without making the cookies taste salty.

The fermentation process behind miso also plays a role in its unique ability to boost other flavours. The savoury compounds intensify the buttery richness of the cookie dough, creating an experience that lingers on the palate. Once you try miso in baking, you’ll want to experiment with it in everything from brownies to cakes.

The Science Behind a Chewy Cookie

Achieving the perfect chew in a cookie requires understanding a bit of food science. The texture of Miso Chocolate Chip Cookies depends on moisture content, fat ratios, and the balance between sugar types. Here’s how each component contributes:

• Butter: Provides a soft texture and rich flavour. Melting the butter before mixing helps achieve a chewier texture rather than a cakey one.
• Sugars: The combination of white and brown sugar creates the perfect texture. Brown sugar retains moisture due to its molasses content, while white sugar encourages crisp edges.
• Flour: Using the right amount is key. Too much flour results in dense cookies, while too little makes them overly thin and crisp.
• Baking soda: Helps the cookies spread slightly while keeping them soft and chewy.
• Egg: Acts as a binding agent and contributes to chewiness.
• Chocolate Chips: The key to getting gooey pockets of chocolate is to use chopped chocolate instead of pre-packaged chips. Chocolate bars melt more evenly, creating pools of molten chocolate within each cookie.

Why Chilling the Dough is Essential

Many cookie recipes suggest chilling the dough before baking, and Miso Chocolate Chip Cookies are no exception. This step is crucial for several reasons. First, chilling allows the flour to hydrate fully, which enhances the final texture. A well-hydrated dough produces chewier cookies with a more developed flavour.

Secondly, resting the dough allows the miso and sugar to meld into the butter, resulting in a richer, more caramelised taste. If you bake the cookies immediately, they will spread more and lack the depth of flavour that comes from proper resting. The ideal resting period is at least one hour, but leaving the dough for a few hours or overnight will yield even better results.

How to Achieve Perfectly Golden Edges

Timing is everything when baking cookies. Overbaking leads to a dry texture, while underbaking results in cookies that fall apart. The trick is to remove them from the oven when the edges are lightly golden, but the centres still appear soft. As they cool on the baking tray, they will continue to set, achieving the ideal chewy texture.

Another tip for picture-perfect cookies: halfway through baking, remove the tray from the oven and give it a firm tap on the counter. This encourages the cookies to spread slightly, creating an appealing crinkled effect.

Storage Tips

To keep these cookies fresh, store them in an airtight container at room temperature for up to five days. If you prefer warm, gooey cookies, reheat them in a low oven for a few minutes before serving.

For longer storage, freeze the cookie dough instead of baking it all at once. Simply shape the dough into balls, place them on a tray, and freeze until firm. Transfer the frozen dough balls to a sealed container and store for up to three months. When ready to bake, place them directly on a baking sheet and add an extra minute or two to the baking time.

More Cookie Recipes

If you love these Miso Chocolate Chip Cookies, why not try some of my other cookie recipes?

• Snickers Chocolate Chip Cookies: Chewy chocolate chip cookies loaded with Snickers and dark chocolate. Need I say anything else?
• Double Chocolate Chip Tahini Cookies: Chewy cookies that are slightly nutty and loaded with chocolate! The addition of tahini adds a wonderful salty, nutty twist to the classic chocolate chip cookie.

See how I make these recipes and more over on my Instagram!