What are those sparkly crystals adorning those stunning chocolate cookies? Fleur de sel. Ha ha ha! When you stop laughing, consider this. A fudgey, gooey biscuit grows up and puts on a sprinkling of fine, pure salt as a study in contrasts. You've seen it on fancy chocolates. You put it on grilled fish. It's the reigning queen of salt and, yowzer, does it do wonders for this cookie! Fleur de sel is the surprise ingredient in this fine offering and I urge you to give it a go.

You may not realize this, but it is the magic of salt that gives foods the tastes we come to love. "Salt is the single most important ingredient in cooking and the single most powerful tool for improving the flavour of food" says Mark Bitterman in his book Salted - A Manifesto on the World's Most Essential Mineral, With Recipes. Think of that tomato and the heights to which salt can elevate its tomato-ness. Or pan-fried potatoes and the lingering memory of the crispy, browned bits basking in a little sea salt. Baking requires salt for maximum flavour too, as you can see in all sweet recipes. Salt rounds out flavours and makes everything taste better. So, why not celebrate it and let it shine a bit more? And, in doing so, let's bring out the gold standard, fleur de sel, harvested from the sea by hand into crunchy beds off of the coast of France. Fleur del sel is light, flaky, pure and it will anoint your food with a finishing touch that will last in your memory, a clean bright waft of sea air. In these cookies, fleur de sel sits inside the dough as well, permeating the mouth with an even more punchy chocolate experience, and then dotting the tongue with a final, pleasant reminder.

The proliferation of food writing means that cooking and baking ideas spread and mutate and morph. This cookie is a stellar example. New York baker extraordinaire Dorie Greenspan took inspiration from Parisian pastry chef Pierre Herme. I, in turn, take my lead from Dorie, trusting her inclusion of salt crystals to bring midnight dark chocolate to greater heights. But, she rolls her dough into logs and slices cookies for baking, where I add a few drops of cold coffee to moisten the dough to allow for forming balls. My result is a crispy/chewy, crackled, salted beauty, the little crevices allowing for a peak into the deep heart of this chocolate sensation. This is what it means to create in the kitchen, tweaking, thinking, adapting, following, altering, modifying, enriching. I took this devilishly delicious cookie to where I wanted it, where the dough held together for me and allowed me to form uniform, round mounds of rich decadence. Where Dorie's dough felt dry and crumbly to me, I tweaked her recipe and made it work my way. All the flavour Dorie promises is there, the salt exalting our senses in a playful surprise.

Dorie calls these World Peace Cookies because her neighbour Richard Gold, upon tasting them, claimed that a daily dose is all that is needed to ensure planetary peace and happiness. Imagine if we could really test that concept.

Fleur de Sel Chocolate Cookies
adapted from Dorie Greenspan's recipe for World Peace Cookies

1+1/4 cups all-purpose flour; 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder; 1/2 tsp. baking soda; 11 tbsp. unsalted butter, at room temperature; 2/3 cup packed light brown sugar; 1/4 cup granulated sugar; 1/2 tsp. fleur de sel or 1/4 tsp. fine sea salt; 1 tsp. pure vanilla extract; approximately 2 tbsp. cold coffee, enough to moisten the dough so that it holds together when pinched; 3/4 cup bittersweet chocolate chunks or chips.

Sift flour, cocoa and baking soda together. In a large mixing bowl beat butter on medium speed until soft and creamy. Add both sugars, salt and vanilla and beat for 2 minutes more. Add dry ingredients and pulse mixer at low speed about 5 times to prevent the flour from flying around. Mix for about 30 seconds more, just so the flour disappears. If mixture appears dry and crumbly, add coffee a teaspoon at a time until the dough holds together when pinched.

Chill dough in the fridge overnight, wrapped well in plastic wrap. When you are ready to bake the cookies, centre a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat oven to 325 F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone mats. With a tablespoon, scoop out balls of dough and roll in your hands until rounded. Place about 2 inches apart on cookie sheet and flatten balls slightly with the palm of your hand. Bake one sheet at a time for about 12 minutes or until set at the edges, puffed and crackled, but still soft. Cool on a rack and store in a covered container.

Let Dorie Greenspan be your capable and inspiring guide in the kitchen:

Sicilian Sea Salt With Dried Herbs

Salt, the single most important ingredient in imparting flavour in foods. The right usage brings foods to life in a way nothing else matches. The right amount in foods shouldn't actually taste salty. Beef should taste beefier, potatoes more potatoey, and, yes, chocolate, more chocolatey. Salt in baking is of utmost importance too, for the same reasons, livening up the flavours.

Which brings me to having some fun with salt in the kitchen, creating some unusual blends to boost your creations in unexpected ways. It's as simple as blending freshly grated lemon peel with good sea salt in a spice grinder and letting your nose and tongue enjoy the experience. Or pulsing ruby red Espelette pepper with sea salt for a sweet/hot condiment to sprinkle on salads and savoury dishes. The Sicilian sea salt blend in the photo above was a gift my parents brought home from an Italian fine foods market they tripped over while recently visiting a small town in England. My spice scouts are on task!

Intriguing salty notions were transmitted to my brain via Patricia Wells, from her new book Salad As A Meal, with plenty of goodies besides salads to salivate over. Here are some perfect examples of using simple ingredients in a new way to create something extraordinary.

Lemon Zest Salt

1 tbsp. grated lemon zest; 1 tbsp fine sea salt (or kosher salt). Combine zest and salt in a spice grinder and grind to a fine powder. Transfer to a small jar and close with the lid. Store, sealed in the jar, in the fridge, for up to one week. Try it on grilled salmon, clam chowder or sauteed asparagus.

Red Hot Salt

2 tsp. ground piment d'Espelette or other ground mild chile pepper; 1/2 tsp. smoked paprika; 1/2 tsp. sweet paprika; 1 tsp. fine sea salt. Combine all ingredients in a jar. Cover and shake to blend. Store, sealed in the jar, at room temperature for up to 1 month. Use on chicken dishes, meat or vegetables.

Fennel and Saffron Salt

Pinch of ground saffron; 3 tbsp. fine sea salt; 2 tbsp. fennel seeds. Combine ingredients in a spice grinder and grind until the fennel seeds are fairly coarse. Transfer to small jar and cover, shaking to blend. Keeps for up to 1 month. Wonderful over tomatoes or stewed beans.

Japanese Sesame Salt

1 tbsp. fine sea salt; 7 tbsp. toasted sesame seeds. Grind the sesame seeds and salt in spice grinder but do not let the mixture form a paste. Store for up to 1 month. Nice on salads or Asian noodles.

Right now may be a good time to throw out that box of iodized table salt sitting in your pantry and go for something infinitely better, kosher salt or sea salt. I used kosher salt in the place of sea salt in the recipes above and love the clean, natural taste it delivers, chemical free, uncomplicated and pure. You will find iodized salt harsh and crude in comparison and will not turn back.

Salt gets bad press because high sodium diets have been linked to high blood presesure and other illnesses. I believe that many of these health problems are associated with consuming commercially prepared foods which are heavily loaded with sodium. Moderate usage of salt in home cooking should not pose a problem to your health under most normal circumstances.

Build flavour right into your cooking with inspiration from these titles: