Diamond Crystal Salt Co.’s new Fine Kosher Baking Salt promises to be a game-changer for home bakers — a specialty ingredient that supposedly enhances the breads, cakes, cookies, pastries and other baked goods we whip up in our kitchens.

“The new salt’s finer-cut crystals dissolve, mix and blend faster and more evenly than table salt into batters and doughs, producing more satisfying results for at-home chefs,” the brand says.

The salt was developed using a special refinement process that somehow uses heat and water to change the shape of the natural salt crystal, which is supposed to provide a “quick burst of flavor” that stays consistent throughout. The finer crystals also promise to be easier to blend, and be lower in sodium by volume compared to regular granulated salt.

“We believe our new Diamond Crystal Salt Co. Fine Kosher Baking Salt is the very best salt for baking,” Sonya Roberts, president of Cargill’s salt business, says in a press release. “The salt’s finer-cut crystals will enable home chefs to up their game when it comes to making the breads, cakes and cookies they love to share with family when celebrating this holiday season – or anytime of the year.”

I decided to put the new salt to the test by baking up two batches of chocolate-chip cookies using this fabulous recipe from Food Network Kitchen, one with Diamond Crystal Salt Co. Fine Kosher Baking Salt and one with standard table salt.

So how did the new salt compare? For starters, the Fine Kosher Baking Salt looks almost like a powder. In fact, its packaging is pretty much identical to the containers I’m used to getting our baking powder in. It’s a little more granulated than baking powder, and also seemed prone to compression and clumping, requiring a little effort to break it up into its desired powdery state before measuring it out.

It blended up as easily as promised, dissolving into the dough like a dream. The cookie dough I made with the standard table salt seemed pretty light and fluffy — but the one I made with the Fine Kosher Baking Salt was even more so, and definitely smoother and less granular.

And the final result? I made the batch with standard table salt first, and it was difficult to imagine anything that could beat the chewy perfection of those cookies. The original batch struck me as having the perfect ratio of sweet to salt, and I was worried that the batch made with the new Fine Kosher Baking Salt would be too salty.

However, turns out, the test batch cookies didn’t seem saltier at all. That balance was still there. What they did seem was lighter, crisper and somehow more delicate. The finer salt turned a standard chocolate-chip cookie into something subtly smoother, a bit more refined.

There are probably those who would prefer the rough-hewn bendy bite of the chocolate-chip cookies made with the standard table salt. In the end, I thought both batches were delicious, but the crisp lightness of the batch made with the Fine Kosher Baking Salt kept us reaching for another cookie … and another … another.

Verdict: While I might not use the new Fine Kosher Baking Salt in every home baking project, I’ll definitely hang onto this specialty ingredient, which is available in stores nationwide and on Amazon, to try in other recipes this holiday season. It’s a keeper.

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