Ancho Chile & Magic Salt Chocolate Cookies

Makes about 2 dozen cookies.

We love these cookies with their salty, spicy kick from our cult favorite Magic Salt.

We’ve included ancho chile in the dough to deepen the chocolate flavor and added buckwheat flour for its nutty, earthy notes. We use raw cacao powder, but you can substitute any non-Dutched cocoa powder (Raw cacao or cocoa powder is acidic and will activate the baking soda leavening.)

1 cup (120g) all-purpose flour
⅓ cup (50g) buckwheat flour
¼ cup (20g) raw cacao powder
1 teaspoon ancho chile powder, optional but recommended
1 teaspoon espresso powder, optional
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon sea salt
½ cup neutral oil, such as avocado or canola
¾ cup (150g) sugar
1 egg, room temperature
½ teaspoon vanilla extract

For rolling:
2 teaspoons Magic Salt
2 tablespoons sugar

Put both flours, cacao powder, ancho, espresso powder (if using), baking soda, and salt into a bowl and whisk to combine.

Put the oil, sugar, egg, and vanilla extract into a separate mixing bowl and beat briskly until the mixture is creamy and the color lightens a bit, 1–2 minutes.

Add the flour mixture to the egg mixture. Use a spatula and strong strokes to fold them together, forming a dough. Be sure to get all the flour mixed in — at first, it will seem like there’s not enough liquid for the task, but there is, just keep going.

Chill the dough for 15–30 minutes.

While the dough chills, preheat the oven to 375° F and line two cookie sheets with baking parchment. Mix the Magic Salt and 2 tablespoons of sugar in a small bowl. Set the cookie sheets and Magic Salt mixture aside.

Scoop out about a tablespoon of dough and roll it into a ball; roll the ball in the Magic Salt mixture. Set the ball on one of the prepared cookie sheets. Repeat until you’ve used all the dough. The balls should be 1–2 inches apart on the cookie sheet.

Bake until the tops are deeply cracked but the cookies look slightly under-baked, 8–9 minutes. Don’t over bake! Let the cookies cool on the sheet for 10 minutes before transferring them to a rack to cool completely. Store in an airtight container for up to a week.