Mokonuts Multigrain Chocolate Chip Cookies

From Mokonuts bakery in Paris

Perhaps you aren’t coming to Paris to have a chocolate chip cookie. But hear me out.

The first time I walked by Mokonuts, I was curious. I’d heard rumblings about a new, very small restaurant not far from the Marché d’Aligre, which I frequent, but I didn’t think about walking over there. All I knew was that it was owned by a couple, Moko and Omar, and the food was supposed to be very good. I was having dinner in the neighborhood one night and happened to walk by. I noticed someone inside and poked my head in.

“David!!!!” the woman behind the counter screamed.

So (of course) I screamed back, “Moko!!!!!”

Since then we’ve become friends and I daresay, almost family. I’ve seen their kids grow up, their restaurant flourish, their sandwich shop transform into the pop-up venue, and the opening of their bento box lunch place just down the street, called Mokochaya, serving breakfast and lunch items, and doesn’t take reservations. Which is great news since their original restaurant, which is tiny, books up quickly.

I often use this 5-cereal mix of oat, wheat, rye, barley, and rice flakes in place of old-fashioned rolled oats in recipes. The flavors are a bit more complex, so feel free to use a blend like this in the cookie recipe.

Even if you can’t make it there, Moko and Omar have come out with their own cookbook, Mokonuts, and it’s a beauty. I was honored to be asked to write the introduction to the book with Dorie Greenspan, who’s also in the “friends and family” camp of the restaurant. I went to the friends and family book launch party and their circle of friends and family has widened quite a bit, but they thought enough of Dorie and me to ask us to write the intro to their book.

And the book captures everything that makes Mokonuts special, including Omar’s savory recipes that rely on ultra-fresh ingredients and are often accented by his Lebanese heritage and Levant cooking, which doesn’t relegate vegetables to the side of the plate. I recently had a bowl of the most amazing mushrooms I’ve had in a while. When I asked Omar what he did to make them taste so good, he shrugged and replied, “I just sautéed them.”

The tagline of Mokonuts is “café & bakery” and Moko is still turning out her famous cookies, which you can get to-go at their other place, Mokochaya, up the street. And since the recipe for the various cookies she makes are in the book, I decided to bake two different batches of cookies.

Fortunately, I had all the ingredients for both the multigrain and the sesame-miso cookies (the recipes are side by side in the book) on hand. (Don’t you love that?) So I made them both.

It also gave me the chance to open the jar of miso from My miso that’s made in Paris from Jerusalem artichokes.

When I arrived in Paris, circa 2003, the idea of a shop dedicated to fermentations and making miso was unheard of. But the city continues to add more delicious things to make it the melting pot that it is, every year. There are even cookie shops with lines out the door here now. Most of their cookies are oversized (I don’t like cookies with blobs of ganache and all sorts of other stuff piled on top) and underwhelming; the ones at Mokonuts are just right. And now, you can prepare them at home.

Both cookies were a big hit around here, but when offered the choice, I’ll always choose cookies that have chocolate in them. Add with seeds and grains? I’m all in. The sesame-miso ones have also been on rotation here. With Moko and Omar’s book, I’m in Mokonuts cookie heaven.

Mokonuts Multigrain Cookies

Makes 15 cookies

Adapted from Mokonuts by Moko Hirayama and Omar Koreitem

This is one version of the famous cookies Moko bakes up at Mokonuts. Others in the book include sesame-miso, tahini-black sesame, and chocochunk. But I love anything with lots of grains and chunks of melting chocolate in them, so they were first on my docket.

The original recipe calls for baking the cookies on cold baking sheets. I couldn’t fit a nickel into my freezer, let alone a baking sheet, so I lowered the temperature to 375ºF (190ºC). When baking cookies, rely on the look and feel of the cookies to test when they’re done, rather than adhering strictly to the baking time. When in doubt, go for slightly underbaked cookies rather than overbaked.

Moko has a few tricks, such as baking the cookies on a cold baking sheet, which may explain the higher baking temperature, but I didn’t do that, with my packed freezer. And mine came out fine.

Note that Moko advises that the dough for these cookies should rest at least 4 hours, or overnight, before baking. So plan accordingly.

1 cup (125g) all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder (preferably aluminum-free)

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 teaspoon kosher or sea salt, or 1/2 teaspoon table salt

4 1/2 ounces (130g) unsalted butter, at room temperature

1/2 cup (100g) granulated sugar

1/3 cup (65g) packed dark brown sugar

1 large egg, at room temperature

1 cup (100g) old-fashioned rolled oats

1/3 cup (50g) sunflower seeds

1/4 cup (30g) pumpkin seeds

2 tablespoons flax or sesame seeds

5 ounces (140g) coarsely chopped dark chocolate, preferably 70% cocoa solids

Flaky sea salt, for finishing the cookies

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and kosher or sea salt.

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or by hand, beat the butter with the granulated and brown sugar for 1 minute on medium speed. Stop the mixer, scrape down the sides of the bowl, then add the egg and mix on medium speed until combined. With the mixer on low speed, stir in the dry ingredients, then the oats and seeds until they’re almost completely incorporated, then add the chocolate chunks and mix until well combined, but don’t overmix. Cover the dough and refrigerate at least 4 hours, or overnight.

Before baking the cookies, remove the dough from the refrigerator 20-30 minutes before shaping the cookies to give it time to soften.

Preheat the oven to 375ºF (190ºC).

Line one or two baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. (I prefer to bake one sheet at a time, but you can do two if you wish. If you do two, be sure to rotate the baking sheets in the oven, and switch the racks they are on, midway during baking so they bake evenly.)

Roll the dough into fifteen 1 3/4-inch (45-50g) rounds and place them 2 inches (5cm) apart on the prepared baking sheets. Sprinkle each cookie with a tiny bit of flaky sea salt. Bake the cookies until they’re medium brown across the top, about 10 minutes, but check them a minute or so before. They should feel slightly set around the edges but still soft in the center when they’re done.

Remove the cookies from the oven and tap the center of each cookie with the bottom of the bowl of a soupspoon once or twice to compress the dough and make a slight crater in the center. Let the cookies cool for 3 minutes, then transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely.

Tip: If your cookies come out a little lopsided, you can neaten them up by placing a round cookie cutter around them, one that’s a bit bigger than the cookie, and rotating the cutter around and around the cookies shortly after they come out of the oven, to make them rounder. You can do this to most cookies, including these.

Storage: The cookies are best the day they are made but can be kept in an airtight container at room temperature for 2-3 days. You can also chill the unbaked rounds of dough for up to 5 days or freeze them for 2-3 months, letting them come to room temperature before baking.

Mokonuts Multigrain Cookies

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