Believe me when I say these are the some of the best chocolate chip cookies I’ve ever had. They have the texture, chewiness, and brown sugar taste chocolate chip cookie lovers crave. The secret ingredients are Demerara sugar, dark muscovado (MUSK-A-VEY-DOH) sugar, and toasted oats.

These sugars may be unique and unheard of to most people. But they are slowly becoming more common and available as home bakers continue to seek them out for their superior taste and qualities because they are made from unrefined sugar. 

Regular brown sugar is made from adding molasses to refined white sugar. Muscovado sugar, however, gets its flavor and dark appearance naturally from the sugarcane juice when it is boiled. This gives it a much more spicy and distinctive molasses taste, as well as a slightly stickier texture than your regular brown sugar. The richer molasses boost accents chocolate and coffee flavors exceptionally, but it can also up the taste factor in gingerbread and other recipes calling for brown sugar- like chocolate chip cookies, for example.

From what I’ve read, Demerara sugar is practically the same thing as turbinado sugar and “sugar in the raw” sugar, but turbinado sugar’s flavor has a hint of honey. Demerara also is an unrefined sugar, and has a coarse crystal shape. It tastes like regular sugar but with just the slightest molasses taste. Its shape adds great texture to baked items, as it can add crunch or create larger air pockets when creamed with butter.

This recipe comes from pastry chef Elizabeth Faulkner, creator and owner of Citizen Cake in San Francisco. You may have seen her on Food Network’s Iron Chef.  In my opinion, this recipe makes her a genius.

Chocolate Chip Cookies Version XS (Extreme Sugars) (from Demolition Desserts by Elizabeth Faulkner)

• 1 1/4 cups (4 ounces) old-fashioned rolled oats
• 16 tablespoons (8 ounces) unsalted butter, softened
• 1 cup (about 8 1/2 ounces) firmly packed dark muscovado sugar
• 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons (8 ounces) Demerara sugar
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 large egg
• 1 1/2 cups plus 2 tablespoons (8 ounces) all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 8 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped the size of chocolate chips, or bittersweet chocolate chips (about 1 1/2 cups)

In a food processor, pulse the oats for 15 to 20 seconds to refine the texture. Most the oats will look like coarse sawdust, but you should have some recognizable flakes when you are done.

In a saute pan, melt 4 tablespoons (2 ounces) of the butter over medium heat and allow it to cook for about 3 minutes, or until it browns slightly. Add the oats and cook, stirring constantly, for about 2 minutes, or until you can smell a toasty fragrance. Don’t overdo it. You want to take the pan off the heat as soon as you detect a hint of toast. Spoon the oats onto a baking sheet or a sheet of parchment paper, spread them out with a spoon, and set aside to cool.

In a large bowl, using a wooden spoon, cream together the remaining 12 tablespoons (6 ounces) butter and muscovado sugar until smooth but not overmixed. Add the Demerara sugar and vanilla and stir briefly, just to mix. Add the egg and stir just until combined.

Transfer the cooled oats to a medium bowl. Sift together the flour and baking soda onto the oats. Add the salt and stir to combine. Add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture and stir just until combined. Add the chocolate and stir just until evenly distributed throughout the dough. Cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes (This allows the cookies to achieve the perfect size during baking since the butter is chilled. They won’t spread out too much this way).

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Scoop up 1-inch balls of dough with a spoon and set them two inches apart on the prepared pans.

Bake the cookies, rotating the pans after 4 minutes for 7-9 minutes, or until they are puffed up but still soft, or until done to your liking (At 7 minutes the cookies are still rounded and so soft they are hard to lift with a spatula. At 9 minutes the cookies are still slightly rounded and are soft when cooled. At 10 minutes the cooled cookies are flatter but still chewy. At 12 minutes the cookies are flatter and crisp). Transfer to racks and let cool.

Yield: 4 dozen