I’m on a quest to find the best chocolate chip cookie recipe and I’ll be yakking about it here. This isn’t the traditional chocolate chip cookie cause it has brown butter and as far as I’m concerned nothing wrong can come of using brown butter. This is the first time I’ve ever actually baked with brown butter and all I have to say is watch the butter cause I had to do it twice! The gorgeous golden brown bits turn into black charred bits in about .5 seconds so you really have to be quick and you’re better off pulling it from the heat early rather than late because there’s no turning back once the brown butter becomes black butter! You’ve been warned now go and brown butter because you won’t be disappointed.
This recipe is from Joy the Baker and she’s an amazing blogger and has released two baking books and she knows what she’s talking about. I have yet to try any of her book recipes but if the cover is any indication they’re sinfulness at their best!
These brown butter hazelnut chocolate chip cookies are freakin’ amazing and I had to hold myself back from eating every last one in one sitting.
- 1 cup / 226 gr. unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1 cup / 220 gr. light brown sugar, packed
- 2 tsp. vanilla bean paste/extract*
- 1 tsp. molasses
- 1/2 cup / 100 gr. granulated sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 large egg yolk
- 2 1/4 cups / 280 gr. all purpose flour
- 1 tsp. salt
- 1 tsp. baking soda
- 1 cup / 240 gr. bittersweet chocolate chips**
- 1/2 cup / 67 gr. coarsely chopped hazelnuts**
- coarse sea salt to sprinkle on top
- Line a couple of baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
- Place half of the butter (1/2 cup / 113 gr.) in a medium skillet or small saucepan. I prefer using a stainless steel pot because that way you can see the brown bits and control the colour because if you use a black non-stick pan you may not see the bits form. Melt the butter and occasionally swirl the butter around the pan and it'll crackle and sizzle. As soon as the brown bits turn a golden brown colour remove the butter from the pan and pour it into a plastic bowl and let cool for 20 minutes. The brown butter will smell absolutely nutty and make you want to drink it with a straw, but don't!
- Beat the remaining butter (1/2 cup / 113 gr.) with the brown sugar for about 3 minutes until the mixture is nice and smooth. I beat it on speed 4 of my KitchenAid mixer for 3 minutes.
- Beat in the vanilla bean paste and the molasses until incorporated.
- Pour the cooled butter into the brown sugar and butter mixture alone with the granulated sugar and beat for about 2 minutes. I beat this at speed 4 as well.
- Add the egg and egg yolk and beat until incorporated.
- Add the flour, salt, and baking soda to a bowl and mix together.
- Add the flour mix to the mixer while mixing on low just until everything is incorporated.
- Fold in the chocolate chips and hazelnuts into the mixture.
- Scoop the mixture with an ice cream scoop to form your cookies on a plate lined with plastic wrap. Slightly pat the cookie balls down and cover with another layer of plastic wrap and repeat until all your cookies are formed.
- Refrigerate the cookies for at least 30 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 350F°/180C°.
- Put your cookies on a the parchment lined cookie sheets, well spread out because these cookies spread out quite a bit.
- Dot your cookie dough with some hazelnuts and chocolate chips (this is the trick that bakeries use so that you see the cookie ingredient chunks in their cookies).
- Sprinkle the cookies with the sea salt to your taste.
- Bake for 12 to 15 minutes until just golden brown. Remove form the oven and set on a cookie rack to cool.
- * I prefer the vanilla bean paste because I find it has a more vanilla-y flavour and I love all the vanilla bean specks!
- ** Reserve some of the chocolate chips and hazelnuts so that you can stud them on the cookies for presentation.
Happy Mother’s Day to all the Momma bears out there and I’d like to make a special shout out to my momma bear who I miss dearly everyday and I can’t wait to see you tomorrow. Thanks for everything you’ve done for me and no matter how old I get (and trust me it’s old) you still manage to help me out anytime I need it. I love you Ma!
Cookies look so good but the best part of this blog is the momma bear dedication at the end. And you’re not old!!! I’m catching up on your blog!
i have a recipe like this. it’s one box of cake mix, one tub of cool whip {i use the light} and one egg. mix it toheegtr and drop onto the pan like you did. you can roll them in powdered sugar or sprinkle them then bake at 350 for about ten minutes until the tops crack . sooooooo yummy and {kind of} good for you. 🙂