Zaynab Makes Dark Chocolate Chip Cookies With Dates

[laughing]

Okay, so we got 14 cookies.

That's pretty impressive.

[bright upbeat music]

Hey, I'm Zaynab and today we're gonna be making

my chewy date and dark chocolate cookies.

These cookies are cross between an oatmeal raisin cookie

and a Reese's Peanut Butter Cup and an olive oil cake.

There's no butter in the recipe.

Instead, the fat in the cookie is tahini and olive oil.

Dark chocolate pairs really well

with the super sweet and chewy dates.

It's just a bougie chocolate chip cookie

at the end of the day.

Whereas we're gonna start by making the dough

for the cookies.

[upbeat music]

So I'm using 70% cocoa dark chocolate.

This is guittard bittersweet chocolate.

I'm using dark chocolate

because it's a little bit more bitter

than semisweet or milk.

So it's gonna balance out the sweetness

in the cookies, really well.

So you see these little shards of chocolate,

they're gonna melt straight into the dough.

And then these larger pieces are gonna be those pools

of melty chocolate.

This is a date and usually there'd be a pit

in the center of it.

So you'd tear it open,

remove the pit.

So they're a little bit fibrous on the inside.

They're sticky when you eat them whole they're very chewy.

Most people think dates are dried fruit

but they're actually not, they're harvested.

And they look something like this.

And because of that,

they have a much more exciting texture than a dried fruit.

There's a little bit more moisture

and that gives it a lot of really nice chew.

So I'm gonna quarter four of them.

And these are gonna go on top of the cookie at the end.

And then for the rest of them,

I'm gonna chop them up into little quarter inch pieces.

They're gonna sort of melt into the dough,

create that chewy texture that we really want.

I'm gonna prep the dry ingredients.

So I'm gonna with all purpose flour.

I'm measuring this using a scale.

I'm looking for two and a quarter cups

which is equal to 280 grams.

Now I'm gonna add one teaspoon of baking soda.

This is not only going to help the cookie spread

but also promote browning in the oven.

And then I'm going in with one teaspoon of kosher salt

and you always need salt in baked goods.

It just helps bounce out all the sweetness

and enhance all the other flavors.

And then this is Cornstarch.

Cornstarch is one of those secret ingredients

in these cookies.

It's softens the dough because it's going to compete

with the flour for moisture in the dough.

Basically weaken the protein strands in the gluten.

It's just an insurance policy.

I'm just gonna whisk that together

to distribute the lavener*

and the salt and the Cornstarch.

Okay, and then I can set that aside.

I'm also gonna weigh out the wet ingredients.

So I'm gonna start with the olive oil.

So I tested the recipe with this brand.

It's California Olive Ranch.

It's great for all purpose cooking.

It's got a nice flavor.

I really like the Mighty Sesame Co Tahini

because I can just shake the bottle

to make sure everything is nice and homogenous,

and then easily just measure it out.

I'm gonna go in with 80 grams of this.

It's definitely more straightforward to work with butter

but I think these fats provide way more flavor.

And then I'm gonna go in with two eggs

and then to keep things pretty classic,

I'm gonna go in with some vanilla extract,

two teaspoons is plenty.

So we're gonna whip this mixture

until it's really nice and premium.

The texture that we're going for

is like a soft whipped cream.

Right now, we're just emulsifying the eggs and the fat.

I think this texture looks perfect.

It's nice and thick and glossy.

We definitely got some volume from beating the eggs as well.

We're gonna add the sugars now.

So I'm using both equal parts, granulated sugar

and light brown sugar.

You could totally use dark brown sugar too.

Brown sugar has molasses in it,

that's going to react with the baking soda

and also add moisture.

And then granulated sugar is going to contribute

to that nice crisp exterior.

You just wanna mix this until it's combined.

You wanna work out any lumps

that the brown sugar might have had.

So once it's nice and smooth

and the sugar is all incorporated,

we're gonna add the dry ingredients

and then mix it using a rubber spatula

until it's like 70% incorporated.

So it's thickening up,

the moisture from the wedding ingredients

is a absorbing the flour.

And now that we have like almost

all of the flour incorporated,

it's the right time to add the dates and the dark chocolate.

This was five dates or a hundred grams of dates.

And then I'm gonna go in with most of the chocolate

saving about two ounces or a quarter cup of chocolate

for the top.

So we know the dough is ready now

because all the flour has been incorporated

and the dates and the dark chocolate

are evenly dispersed throughout.

[soft upbeat music]

So now I'm going to cover and chill the dough

for around three hours, ideally overnight

and even up to 72 hours is fine.

This is gonna allow the flavors to come together,

the olive oil to solidify a bit as well

and just really improve the overall texture of the cookie.

Okay, so we have the dough that I made yesterday,

that's chilled overnight and then we have the dough

that we just made just now.

Because I know it's so annoying to chill dough,

I really wanna prove to you guys that it makes a difference.

So I'm gonna bake off two of these

to compare with the chilled dough.

You can see that the chilled dough is much darker

and that's literally because everything just got a chance

to hang out and the flavors have come together.

I'm super excited 'cause this looks right.

So I'm using a 3 ounce ice cream scoop

to portion out the dough.

Using an ice cream scoop is the easiest way

to get nice and round cookies.

Now, I'm gonna scoop the chilled dough

onto two parchment line baking sheets.

So you wanna put them about three inches apart

and staggered on the baking sheet

so that when they spread they don't touch each other.

The goal is crispy edges and exterior and super chewy,

almost molten interior.

Right before baking,

I like to top each cookie with a piece of date

and you can just like press it on to adhere it.

In the oven,

the dates get nice and chewy and caramelized,

which adds a really nice bite to the final cookie.

Now, I'm gonna go in with that reserved chocolate

and put like a piece or two on top of each cookie.

Putting chocolate and dates on top of the cookie

will not only let people know what they're eating,

but it's also gonna make the cookies

look a little bit more interesting.

And then the last and most important thing

going on these cookies is flaky salt.

I know flaky salt always feels super extra

but I'm not just doing it for aesthetic purposes.

The salt is going to balance out

all the those super sweet flavors happening.

If you can't get your hands on flaky salt,

I would highly recommend

adding another 3/4 teaspoon of salt

or even a teaspoon of salt into the dough.

If you skip out on the salt,

they could just be like overwhelmingly sweet.

And they'll lack that balance

that makes me love these cookies so much.

So these are ready to go into a 375 degree oven

for like 15 minutes.

That's pretty high for a cookie,

but it's only because we want the crust to set

before the fats get a chance to melt

so that they get a nice lift to them too.

And that's gonna create a really chewy interior.

[bright upbeat music]

[phone rings]

The camera's off.

So we're ready to take the cookies out of the oven.

They should be nice and deeply golden brown

and a little bit lighter in the center.

Ooh, they're perfect.

I'm gonna put them here to rest.

You wanna let them cool on the baking sheet

for around five minutes,

just so that the center gets a chance to set.

I love cookies straight out of a hot oven

but these are gonna burn your taste buds off,

if you eat them now.

So as you can see,

they're nice and dark golden brown around the edges

and paler in the center.

The dates caramelized,

the chocolate has melted.

So I grabbed the two cookies that we baked

from the dough that was not chilled.

And they look pretty freaking different if you ask me.

They're a lot puffier,

there just isn't any of that gorgeous rigging.

They're gonna be good,

but are not gonna have nearly as much flavor

and as chewy of a texture as those.

So I'm just gonna transfer the cookies

to a wire rack to cool completely.

This step is highly recommended but nobody's gonna listen.

The wire rack is gonna allow for some airflow on the bottom

of the cookie so they don't get soggy.

So you can see the bottom is nice and crisp.

The inside is super soft and fudgy

and the top is also nice and crisp.

And we have these layers of chocolate

and dates can see it on the corner there.

Guys, come. Right now?

There ready?

Yes, okay.

They look so cute.

Is this the one you didn't refrigerate?

Yeah, you can see the difference, right?

You really can.

It just doesn't have any of those little bridges.

They don't look nearly as good.

Okay, pick one and go for it here.

Here, I broke it.

[laughs]

I love that you can see the date on top.

[mumbles]

Whole chunk of it.

They're just a better chocolate chip cookie.

Ooh, she said it.

[laughs]

Should see this.

They're literally just bougie chocolate chip cookie.

Yeah, very bougie.

Probably like $10 a piece.

It's crispy on the outside.

And it's very tender on the inside,

which is like you want both of those things.

And I feel like cookies are usually one or the other,

like, either a crunchy crispy cookie

or like a soft and pillowy cookie.

But this really gives you both.

Satisfies everyone, no matter your cookie preference.

Thanks Zay. Thank you.

Thank you.

Thanks for trying them.

Is this the first time this many people

have tasted on camera?

Yeah. I think I'm blushing.

[laughs]

Good job.

Thank you. Yay, amazing.