Salted BROWN BUTTER CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES
So, my friend + amazing (cannabis) chef, Shannon (@chef.shan), is the one who made me aware of this game changing component: browned butter. ((I’m sure it’s been around for awhile, but I must’ve been living under a rock before seeing her post about it.)) Given the fact that I love desserts, especially a classic chocolate chip cookie, (and just eating in general), I knew I had to try and make these. I made a few batches of these because they didn’t turn out exactly how I wanted them to on the first few tries. Don’t get me wrong, they were still delicious, and Greg + I devoured them in a matter of days, but they weren’t quite perfect, and I needed them to be for you guys! …if you haven’t come to the conclusion yet since I’m writing this post and sharing my recipe, I HAVE PERFECTED IT PEOPLE! These are soo stinking good. They last a max of like 2 days in our house… it is what it is, no shame.
Now, these definitely aren’t the healthiest cookies I’ve ever made, but THEY TASTE AMAZING + they’re totally worth it. Again, they are the classic chocolate chip cookie (who doesn’t love those??) but taken to the next level. If you’ve never made cookies with browned butter, you are seriously missing out.. I know I’ve been for the last 27 years of my life. But no more!! I’ll probably always make cookies with browned butter from now on.
They are however gluten-free (but can be made with regular flour if you don’t care about that), and let’s just say healthy-ish.
Ok… let’s get to it!
- Browning your butter -
I feel like I was pretty intimidated by this at first. I’ve never browned butter before… lol and I didn’t know what to expect. I mean, it’s the key component to these cookies, I surely didn’t want to mess it up. But, let me just reassure you, it’s definitely way easier than you may think.
So, take your stick(s) of butter and start melting it in a pan over medium-low heat.
PRO TIP: use a light colored pan so that you can more easily see the butter change color (brown). Dark pans are fine if that’s all you have, they just make it slightly harder. [thank shannon for this tip!]
Once the butter is melted, you will want to stir it almost constantly. The butter will start to bubble and foam at the top. Keep stirring often for about 5-7 minutes. The butter will start to have a nutty aroma (sometimes hard to tell) and it will start to turn an amber/brown color. AKA you’re doing it – browning your butter! Keep stirring until all of the butter is browned, then remove from heat and pour into a bowl so that the butter doesn’t continue to cook. You don’t want to burn the butter! I then like to put the bowl in the freezer for 5-10 minutes to cool it down but not solidify it.
Good job! You’re now a butter browning master. Continue on to complete the mission!
For the main ingredients:
- Butter –
- Duh. I use unsalted grass-fed butter. You can also use vegan butter, however, I’ve never tried to brown it… and honestly I don’t know how well that would work. I suppose you could also just skip the browning part (not recommended) and use the vegan butter regularly. AKA regular chocolate chip cookies without the browned butter.. ugh boring. jk do whatever makes you happy!!
- Gluten-free all purpose flour –
- You can also just use regular! I do better with limited gluten so I prefer gluten-free.
- Lakanto Monk Fruit Sweetener –
- Bakes just like sugar but without the actual sugar. It’s zero glycemic and zero calorie. It tastes just like sugar and is a 1:1 sugar substitute. I prefer this over regular sugar (no sugar rush/crash), but again, you can use whatever sugar is on hand. White granulated sugar or coconut sugar would probably work best in place of this.
- Brown Sugar –
- This is the only added refined sugar that I use in this recipe. Not a lot is used but just the right amount to give the cookies a richer, fresh-from-the-local-bakery taste.
- Chocolate Chips –
- I like to use either Lily’s Sweets or Enjoy Life. For this recipe I used Lily’s dark chocolate chips, and I also added in an extra 1/3 sea salt dark chocolate bar, chopped up, to the cookie dough. It was the perfect addition! I love the extra sweet + salty affect. Again, optional, as any chocolate will do!
If you do use any substitutes, let me and everyone else know! You can leave a comment on this post or let me know and I can make a special note! It helps everyone out. 🙂
! R e c i p e b e l o w !
Salted Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies!
Taking the classic chocolate chip cookies up a million notches!
- Prep Time20 min
- Cook Time12 min
- Total Time32 min
- Yield~18 cookies
Ingredients:
- 1 egg
- 1/2 cup Lakanto sugar
- 1/4 cup brown sugar, lightly packed
- 1 stick grass-fed butter, browned*
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 1/4 cup gluten-free flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup chocolate chips
Directions:
Start with browning butter in saucepan (full directions are above in post). Once butter is browned, remove from heat, pour in bowl and place in fridge or freezer to cool down.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line baking sheet with parchment paper.
While butter is cooling, combine egg, sugars and vanilla extract in large bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda and salt. Once butter is cooled down, add to wet mixture and then cream together – I use an electric hand mixer for a couple of minutes. Once fully combined, add dry ingredients and mix well. Fold in chocolate chips.
Place cookie dough in freezer for about 5-10 minutes or in fridge for slightly longer. Remove dough from fridge/freezer and use scooper to scoop dough onto baking sheets. I like to top with more chocolate chips. Bake in oven for 12-15 minutes or until edges are golden brown. Remove from oven and let cool for a few minutes before moving to cookie rack. Top with sea salt if desired. Enjoy!!
*The directions for browning the butter are laid out above in this post! I stated that you can sub for vegan butter, but do so at your own risk as I haven’t tried it!
I hope you enjoy these as much as greg + I do! I literally have to limit him to a certain amount per day, otherwise they wouldn’t last more than a few hours.. #piggy
Xx, Alyssa