Is it necessary to add Flaky salt on cookies or is it just for the photo?
Half the cookie recipes online now end with “finish with flaky salt”.
And I get the idea. A few crunchy flakes on top of something sweet, so you get a little salty hit before the chocolate. Brownies, salted caramel, chocolate chip, even shortbread. People put fleur de sel on everything now, the Celtic sea salt one, and Maldon seem to be the two names that come up most.
But then there’s the other side. A lot of people say you can’t really taste it once baked, it mostly falls off when you pick the cookie up, and it’s basically there so the cookie looks good on Instagram.
So which is it?
Does it actually change how the cookie tastes, or would nobody notice in a blind test?
Does it matter if it goes on before baking or right after they come out? And is there anything it genuinely doesn’t work on?