Salt is used in baking, and with food in general, to enhance other flavors. A pinch of salt makes plain foods taste more interesting and makes sweet foods, like watermelon, taste a little bit sweeter by comparison. In most baked goods you cannot taste the salt as a distinct flavor; it simply blends into the background. There are exceptions to this rule, however, and sometimes having a little extra salt is a good thing. The Vanilla Salt Cookies from Umami are topped with a small sprinkle of coarse pink Himalayan salt, which accentuated both the vanilla flavor and the butteriness of the cookies. The original recipe called for a sprinkling of coarse sugar, not salt, but the change made the cookies both original and even more addictive. Just imagine it with a sprinkle of both sugar and salt...
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
8-21-2006 @ 11:52AM
Vee said...
I love that salt's making a real name for itself. At the bakery where I work, our baker makes a rosemary salt bread, which is my favorite bread in the whole world. Salt is baked both within the dough along with the rosemary and coated on the crust.
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8-21-2006 @ 12:38PM
peggy said...
I have always loved the flavor of salt mixed with sweet, like honey roasted nuts. Has anyone out there tried carmels with salt? They are quite good. I, too, bake my bread with a little coarse salt sprinkled on top. It really adds to the flavor.
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8-21-2006 @ 1:01PM
MJ said...
I too like salt on my watermelon. I buy all kinds of salts. Each one has its own unique flavor. That cookies looks and sounds delicious. Salt is a wonderful thing. That and fresh cracked black pepper I could not do without!
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8-21-2006 @ 6:41PM
Kate said...
I'm the same, and with family in Hawai'i I'm fortunate to have discovered red salt ages ago. My favorite is to have it over sliced grapefruit. It cuts the sour beautifully and makes it quite sweet. I also love sweet and salty nuts and granola bars, so I'm puzzled why it never occurred to me to salt my cookies! Salted caramels are delicious. Hmmm...salted muffins and cookies. I think I have to do some baking ...
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8-21-2006 @ 7:01PM
greg cerveny said...
I love vanilla, I love salt, and I love cookies!
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8-21-2006 @ 7:54PM
calamari said...
Salted caramel cheesecake...
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8-22-2006 @ 12:26AM
Adriane said...
Salt caramels! *drools*
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8-22-2006 @ 10:07PM
C(h)ristine said...
i made these cookies just now! the cookie part is wonderful, go light on the salt (I used pink Himalayan too, but the bigger salt chunks were overpowering at times, try to use the smallest salt chunks possible). i slapped up a picture of the cookies on my flickstream here.
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