Laurel Kona Goodhart

Adapted from ‘In Vegetables We Trust’

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup soft dark brown sugar
• 1/2 cup unrefined golden granulated sugar (notes)
• 1/2 cup rapeseed oil (notes)
• sriracha
  • 3 tbsp → standard spiciness
  • 3.5 tbsp → a bit of a kick
  • 4 tbsp → quite spicy
• 1.1/3 cup plain white flour
• 1/3 cup cocoa powder
• 1 tbsp corn starch (notes)
• 1 tbsp corn meal (optional)(notes)
• 1 tsp baking soda
• pinch of salt
• 1/2 cup dark chocolate chips
• 1 to 3 tbsp almond, soy, or dairy milk

Notes

• Unrefined Sugar: I recommend 'Sugar in the Raw.'
• Rapeseed oil: I have generally found 1/2 cup rapeseed (or canola) oil is too much in combination with the oil in sriracha (especially if you use 4 tbsp instead of 3). Instead, I recommend using:
  • 1/4 cup oil and 1/4 cup applesauce
  OR
  • 1/4 cup oil and 1/4 cup yogurt (plain or vanilla)
  These are both pretty standard fat-reducing substitutions, so you can also apply this tip to other recipes.
• Corn starch and corn flour: the original recipe uses the term 'corn flour,' which is not a widely-used term in the US. I interpreted this as meaning 'corn meal' the first time I made it, but it actually means 'corn starch.' I found that the corn meal added a nice grittiness that went will with the unrefined sugar; now I add both when I make the cookies. All this is to say that the corn starch is not strictly necessary, but the dough will be more crumbly (possibly requiring more milk) without it.

Adaptations

• Gluten free adaptation: This only requires a substitution of the plain white flour. I recommend King Arthur's gluten free flour.
• Vegan adaptations:
  • Sugars and chocolates can be tricky for when it comes to avoiding animal products. Though the ingredients list may not list any animal products, some brands use bone char to process sugar (including the sugar in dark chocolate). With a quick search you can find lists of companies that do not use bone char. Not all of these will explicitly mark their product as vegan.
  • Keep an eye on the sriracha sauce you choose; some brands use shrimp paste. Huy Fong ("rooster sauce"/"cock sauce") does not contain shrimp paste, but I do not know whether the sugar used in it is vegan.
  • Obviously, don't use dairy milk or yogurt.

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 180°C/350°F and line cookie sheet with parchment paper.
2. Combine unrefined golden sugar and dark brown sugar. Add in your desired amount of sriracha, and any oil substitutions. Incrementally add in oil, creaming together with sugars while making sure there is not too much oil; you will probably not end up wanting the full 1/2 cup.
3. In a larger or equal-sized bowl, sift together flour, cocoa powder, salt, corn starch, corn meal, and baking soda.
4. Stir the wet sugar mixture into the dry mixture, then fold in chocolate chips. If mixture is crumbly, add in milk 1 tbsp at a time.
5. (optional/time permitting) Chill the dough. This will help with shaping it into nice spherical balls, and keep it from sticking to your hands too much.
6. Scoop balls of dough and flatten on sheet. The oilier the dough, the smaller and/or more spread out the cookies should be (and the flatter they will end up).
7. Bake 10-12 minutes until the tops have started to crack.
8. Transfer to wire rack to cool.