I was feeling a bit guilty after reviewing Eric Kim’s recipe for Hangover Kimchi Soup. It was kind of meh for me. I felt it lacked flavor and was one-dimensional, and I preferred the more traditional tofu soup. I can’t remember the last time I thought any recipe of his was meh, lol. 🤷🏻♀️ Then, as if to restore my confidence, an Eric Kim recipe showed up in my feed, White Chocolate Raspberry Cookies. The origin of this cookie is Dolly’s Coffee Shop in Brooklyn. After making these cookies, it’s on my bucket list to visit, and as luck would have it, I’m headed to NYC after Thanksgiving.
The Milli-Vanilli Truth
Ok, I’m not a fan of white chocolate. But these cookies are striking, golden brown, with crisp edges and a crackly surface. Highlighted by a nugget of white chocolate in the center, and a sprinkling of crushed ruby-red freeze-dried raspberries, it’s just gorgeous. Like many Eric recipes, this one is fairly simple. It only requires a mixing bowl, whisk, spatula, and some muscle-unless you use a mixer (not necessary).
Aside from the usual suspects, butter, sugar, and flour, the stars are chocolate and raspberry.
The Rundown
White Chocolate: The best advice? Use your favorite white chocolate. Reviews run the gamut. Serious Eats recommends Valrhona (yikes, $$$) while others recommend Ghirardelli or Guittard (good economical choices). A good compromise is Callebaut, a little less costly
Years ago, a friend and I conducted our own taste test. We assumed there wouldn’t be much difference between the varieties of white chocolate. Surprisingly, there was. Our favorite was El Rey, which had a creamy, slightly sweet flavor with a hint of caramel.
So, if you have pastilles or a block of white chocolate, chop the chocolate to fold into the dough and shave a nice sliver off for the cookie bling on top.
Raspberry: The recipe calls for freeze-dried raspberries. Freeze-dried fruits are AMAZING. Available for a variety of fruits, they provide flavor and color. Trader Joe’s carries quite a few, and more importantly, I’ve seen raspberry back on the shelves lately. I’ve often substituted strawberry for raspberry. Ultimately, the play between the sweetness of white chocolate and the tartness of the raspberry sets this cookie apart.
Size: Dolly’s Coffee Shop makes them BIG. I chose not to make the HUGE cookies this recipe called for; something about “cookies as big as your face” gave me pause. I weighed the dough and used a #24 ice cream scoop; a generous scoop weighed approximately 61 g and yielded 14 cookies. After scooping the dough onto a pan, slide the pan of cookie dough balls into the refrigerator and chill overnight or up to 24 hours.
Bake: Start checking the cookies at 10 minutes, to encourage cracks and ridges texture, tap the sheet on the oven rack. As soon as the cookies are removed from the oven, gently press a shard of white chocolate into the center of each cookie. Finish with a sprinkle of crushed raspberry dust on each cookie. Allow cookies to sit in the pan for a couple of minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
White Chocolate Raspberry Cookies
Ingredients
Dry Ingredients:
- 1¾ cups all-purpose flour 233 grams
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon baking powder
- ¾ teaspoon kosher salt such as Diamond Crystal or scant ½ teaspoon fine salt
Adds:
- 2 ounces white chocolate (65 grams) broken into pieces, plus 1 to 2 ounces for topping
- 1 cup freeze-dried raspberries (23 grams) whole berries broken into smaller pieces, plus more for topping
Wet Ingredients:
- 14 tbsp unsalted butter 194 grams
- 1 cup packed dark or light brown sugar 188 grams
- ½ cup granulated sugar 95 grams
- 1 large egg plus 1 egg white at room temperature
- 2 teaspoons vanilla bean paste or pure vanilla extract
Instructions
- In a medium saucepan, cook the butter over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until blondish brown, 5 to 8 minutes. Transfer to a mixing bowl and let cool to room temperature.
- In a separate mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Add the white chocolate and freeze-dried raspberries. Use a flexible spatula, stir to evenly distribute ingredients.
- To the cooled butter, add both sugars, the egg and egg white and vanilla and whisk until very smooth and pale brown, at least 1 minute.
- Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, and stir just until combined. Scoop the dough into 8 to 10 even portions (90 to 125 grams each). You also can form smaller balls. Place the dough balls onto a large plate or quarter sheet pan. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight and up to 24 hours.
- When ready to bake, bring the cookie dough to room temperature. Line 2 to 3 baking sheets with parchment paper. Place the dough balls 3 inches apart (3 to 4 per sheet) and flatten each to an inch thickness with the palm of your hand.
- Heat oven to 350 degrees, with a rack in the center.
- Bake one pan at a time, rotating halfway through, until the cookies have browned slightly at the edges and look dry in the centers, 12 to 15 minutes. While they’re still hot, press a shard of white chocolate in the center of each cookie, then sprinkle with more crumbled freeze-dried raspberries.
- Let the cookies cool slightly before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. The cooled cookies will keep fresh in an airtight container for up to 3 days.
These cookies are so good. Better than the originals from Dolly’s Diner
Thank you!
Make sure not to overbake