Brown butter is nothing fancy. It is simply butter that left home but was taken off the train before it reached the ghee station. After watching so many cooks and bakers talk and write about it, I thought I’d give it a shot. Using my old chocolate chip cookie recipe, I halved the butter and made brown butter. Another thing I altered was the brown sugar content. Instead of 1/2 cup white sugar and 1/4 cup brown sugar, I switched the quantities of the two sugars for a more dark and caramel flavour.
Another thing I discovered (I’m sure it’s nothing new), is that there’s a clear difference in the result of cookies when the dough is chilled compared to when it goes straight into the oven. The chilled dough cookies turned out puffier and with more body so to speak. Cookie dough that went straight into the oven yielded in flatter cookies. I love the flatter ones so it’s all good.
Yield:
12 large cookies
Prep time:
15-18 mins
Baking time:
20 mins
Ingredients:
Flour – 1 cup
Butter – 1/2 cup at room temperature
Brown sugar – 1/2 cup
Granulated white sugar – 1/4 cup
Egg – 1/2 (whisk one in a small bowl and use half of it)
Vanilla – 1 tsp
Baking soda – 1 tsp
Chocolate – 1 cup roughly chopped
Method:
Heat 1/4 cup of the butter in a nonstick pan till you see it foaming up.
Lower the heat and let it turn brown in colour. Once the foaming stops, take it off the heat and transfer it into a small bowl. Let it cool completely.
Now preheat your oven at 180 degrees while you make the dough.
Beat the rest of the butter and brown sugar till they’re mixed well. It didn’t turn fluffy for me at this point so it’s alright.
Add the cooled brown butter and the regular sugar. Whisk for another minute.
In goes the egg and vanilla. Beat for another minute. Now it does turn fluffy.
Add the dry ingredients and the chocolate. Using a spatula bring them all together into a dough.
Scoop out spoonfuls on to a parchment sheet lined baking tray and bake for 20 mins at 180 degrees. Less time if you have a larger oven.
Take them out once done and let them cool completely. As they cool they set properly on the outside yet leaving the inside nice and chewy.
