Tallow Salted Choc Chunk Cookies.

Tallow Salted Choc Chunk Cookies

Crispy edges, chewy centres, rich dark chocolate, and a hit of flaky sea salt. These are next freakin’ level.

Instead of butter, I used Harmony organic tallow, made right here in New Zealand – an ancestral cooking fat.
It gives the cookies crisper edges, a deeper flavour, a richer mouthfeel, and that melt-in-the-mouth texture. Usually I’d make these with butter, which is where this recipe started originally, but honestly… the tallow is more elite.

Tallow isn’t just for frying. It’s incredible in baking too, adding a subtle savoury depth that makes the sweetness of the chocolate pop. Paired with flaky, melt-on-the-tongue sea salt, every bite is perfectly balanced in flavour and texture. 

Ancestral fats like tallow are nutrient dense, stable at high heat, and full of the goodness that kept our ancestors thriving. These cookies are proof that traditional fats don’t just nourish — they have the capacity to make food taste better.

A little side note: tallow has a much stronger scent raw than butter, but once baked, the smell disappears completely. All of the flavour, all of the goodness, none of the scent.

Honestly, these might just be a 10/10, all-time favourite cookie.

The Harmony Tallow can be found at most of our main retailers, including New World, farro Fresh, Pack N save, Four Square, Fresh Choice, Moore Wilsons and some independent retailers too.

Makes 12 rather large cookies – in this case, bigger is better in my opinion

Ingredients

• 150g Harmony organic tallow
• 80g soft brown sugar
• 80g golden caster sugar
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 large egg
• 225g plain flour
• ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
• ¼ tsp salt
• 250g dark chocolate (70%), chopped into chunks
• ½ tsp flaky sea salt, for finishing

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 190°C (170°C fan) / gas 5. Line two baking sheets with non-stick baking paper.
   
2. Cream the tallow and sugars: In a mixing bowl, beat together the tallow, soft brown sugar, and golden caster sugar until light and creamy.
   
3. Add wet ingredients: Beat in the vanilla extract and egg until fully combined.
   
4. Mix dry ingredients: Sift in the flour, bicarbonate of soda, and salt. Stir gently with a wooden spoon until just combined.
   
5. Fold in chocolate: Add the dark chocolate chunks and mix through evenly.
   
6. Shape the cookies: Using an ice cream scoop or tablespoon and a teaspoon to manoeuvre the scooped balls out of the ice cream scoop, portion the dough into scoops and place onto the baking trays, leaving space for spreading. Makes around 12 cookies. Don’t flatten them and don’t put them too close together.
   
7. Salt the cookies: Sprinkle with flaky sea salt before baking. 
   
8. Bake for 12–14 minutes, until golden at the edges but still soft in the centre.
   
9. Cool and finish: Leave to firm up on the tray for 2 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack. While still warm. They are still very soft when they come out of the oven and will harden up as they cool.

Enjoy warm for gooey centres, or cooled for a perfectly chewy, crisp-edged cookie.