
I promised two months ago that I would write up my cookie technique that results in cookies that are crisp on the outside with a tender, cakey center. December and January got well away from me, haha!
I’m going to use the truly glorious recipe that Butternut Bakery has as an example, to show that this technique can be applied to most drop cookie recipes with delicious results. Thanks to our friends at Spiral House Collective for turning me onto it, I never make cookies without miso, now.
The cookies that I made that prompted the question – I had also put chopped dried cherries, chopped walnuts, two tablespoons of chia seeds, and a tablespoon of milk (because the chia seeds would absorb more liquid).

Crispy Cakey Cookies (Adapted from Butternut Bakery)
Equipment
- 1 kitchen scale
- 1 flour sifter
- 1 hand mixer or stand mixer
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup 110g unsalted butter
- 1 1/2 tbsp white miso paste
- 1/2 cup 100g granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup 100g dark brown sugar, packed
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 large egg
- 1 1/4 cup 165g all purpose flour
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 6 oz 70-80% cocoa dark chocolate chopped
- 3 tbsp white sesame seeds
Instructions
- Add the butter to a saucepan over medium heat. Melt down and heat until browned.
- Pour the brown butter into a measuring glass and add the miso paste. Whisk to combine and put aside *to cool completely* until it is solid and room temperature.
- Preheat the oven to 350F (Butternut Bakery recommends fridging the dough before baking but I can't be bothered) and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Weigh out the flour using a scale. I like to set my sifter on a plate and dispense my flour into it, as well as the baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
- In a stand mixer or large bowl with an electric whisk attachment add the butter. Beat on high for several minutes until the butter grows extremely pale and fluffy, then add the sugars and continue beating the mixture until it is thoroughly combined. It might take as much as 15-20 minutes to achieve this texture, but this is very important for trapping air in the dough for later.
- Add in the egg and vanilla and beat on high so that the mixture grows even more in volume and the egg makes it even softer and fluffy – foamier.
- Add dry ingredients in small amounts and use a rubber spatula to fold the two together. Right before the dry ingredients are fully mixed in, add in the chopped chocolate and fold to fully combine.
- Use a large 2 oz scoop or 1/4 measuring cup and scoop out the cookies.
- Add the sesame seeds to a small dish. Then press the tops of the cookie dough balls into the sesame seeds so they cover the very tops of each cookie.
- Place 4 cookies on the baking sheet spaced a few inches apart. Bake for 11-13 minutes, or until the edges are a light golden brown and the centers look barely underdone.
- Allow the cookies to rest on the baking sheet for about 5 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack and bake the remaining cookies.
- Let the cookies cool for about 20-30 minutes, then dig in! Enjoy!
Thank you for reading. Please let me know if there are any clarifications I can make or further questions I can answer either down in the comments, on LinkedIn, or hit me up on Mastodon.