Baking with Diamond Crystal® salt? Try our chef’s favorite recipe.

 

Diamond Crystal Kosher Salt has long been a fan favorite for restaurant professionals, home chefs and foodies.

And as baking continues to grow in popularity, our historic Diamond Crystal Salt Co. brand has launched a new product for baking enthusiasts: Fine Kosher Baking Salt™.

“It’s our finest-crafted cut of salt yet,” says Sonya Roberts, president of Cargill’s salt business,
“and will enable home chefs to up their game when it comes to making the breads, cakes and cookies they love to share with family.”

One of those enthusiasts is our very own Cargill Chef Janet Bourbon.

"Diamond Crystal's new salt variety is perfect for baking,” Janet says. "It dissolves, mixes and blends faster and more evenly into batters and doughs than table salt. I highly recommend it." 

Chef Janet Bourbon (left) started at Cargill in 2009. “The reason I stay?” she says. I love the people, and I love my work.”

You can try it for yourself. Have your recipe cards handy and follow along as Chef Janet teaches you how to use the new baking salt to make one of her favorite recipes: brown sugar shortbread cookies.

 

Step 1: Gather your ingredients

A tablespoon of generic granulated salt equals 1.5 tablespoons of the Fine Kosher Baking Salt.

Let’s start with the ingredients. You will need:

• 16 ounces of unsalted butter, room temperature
• ¾ teaspoon of Diamond Crystal Fine Kosher Baking Salt™
• 8 ounces of light brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract
• 18 ounces of all-purpose flour
• As needed, demerara, turbinado or other coarse sugar
• As needed, Diamond Crystal Salt Co.™ Kosher

Pro tip: For convenience, the Fine Kosher Baking Salt includes a conversion table to correctly measure how much salt you need. The size and shape of each salt variety can change the resulting flavor or texture.

 

Step 2: Mix it up

Fine Kosher Baking Salt™ helps bring out the flavor in Chef Janet’s shortbread.

In a stand mixer, blend butter and Diamond Crystal Fine Kosher Baking Salt for 90 seconds on medium speed.

“I put salt in every dessert,” Chef Janet shares. “The amount depends on the recipe, but it brings up the flavors. It’s really helpful that the baking salt has a conversion table to help you stay on track with any recipe.”

 

Step 3: Bring on the flavor

Salt plays a critical role in baking, including balancing flavors, especially sweetness. 

Add light brown sugar and vanilla. Increase the speed to high. Beat the mix for 3-to-4 minutes until it is light and fluffy. Then, add flour and mix on low speed until it’s combined.

The right texture is important to Chef Janet — in fact, it’s one of the reasons she uses Diamond Crystal. “The fineness of this salt is important in baking,” she says. “It can dissolve quickly and easily — distributing throughout the batter so you don’t get salty spots.”

 

Step 4: Divide your dough

Diamond Crystal Fine Kosher Baking Salt dissolves 2-3 times faster than traditional table salt. Scrape half of your dough onto a sheet of parchment paper and shape it into a log about 2 inches (5 centimeters) in diameter. Tightly roll up the parchment paper around the dough. Repeat with remaining dough. Chill completely.

 

Step 5: Sweeten things up

Chef Janet likes to sweeten her shortbread with granulated sugar in the final few steps of her recipe.

Remove dough from parchment and slice into rounds about ½-inch thick. Press each slice into turbinado sugar and place on parchment-lined sheet pan, sugar side up.

 

Step 6: Add a pinch of salt

Chef Janet adds a pinch of Diamond Crystal Kosher Salt on top of the shortbread as her final touch.

Sprinkle each cookie with a pinch of Diamond Crystal Salt Co. Kosher Salt for extra flavor and bake at 350°F (176°C) for 10-to-12 minutes or until done.

Remove, admire your work and enjoy!

 

‘The reason I stay? I love the people.’

Hear more from Chef Janet in this short clip on her experience at Cargill.

 

 

More stories