Thursday, March 6, 2014

Brown Butter Chocolate Chunk Cookies

I came across this article "10 reasons why stress baking is actually a great way to release stress" by Bakerhi. I really like it and I thought I would share. 

Earlier this year, I shifted to my best brother's place. I thought I could live without baking for possibly few months until my place is ready. Life can get difficult. When it does, I stress-bake. Baking does take away a lot of stress from me. I become so relaxed when I'm in the kitchen by myself baking something with music playing in the background. It's one of my favourite things to do and I wish I can do it more often.

And so my macho brother carried my 35-kg litre oven from my parents' place to his kitchen. The kitchen looks complete now. 

R was telling me how good were G's chocolate cookies. Till now, he hasn't managed to get his hands on her recipe. Everyone loves good cookies, especially chocolate cookies. One that is made with browned butter, stuffed with tons of chopped dark chocolate. 



This recipe hits the spot and more! It really comes down to so many things. First, the chocolate. Do not use chocolate chips. I used Lindt's 70% cocoa dark chocolate and chopped them into smaller pieces. Texture is another important element to any chocolate chip cookies. The first batch I baked the cookies for 11 minutes or so. They are crispy on the outside and gooey on the inside. I like. The second batch I baked them for 14 minutes or so and they are crunchy! Some of my honarary tasters prefer the latter in bite-size. Oh well, to each his own. 




I sprinkled flaked sea salt on top of some cookies. Ummm... I cast my vote for the good old chocolate chunk cookies!

And another wonderful thing about staying out of my mum's kitchen ... I can bake as many cookies as I want and freeze the rest of the cookies dough balls. Now I can have home baked fresh cookies in under 30 minutes when "I-need-chocolate-NOW" cravings arise.




Brown Butter Chocolate Chunks Cookies (makes about 35 fist-sized cookies)
(adapted from Paula at Dishing the Divine)

170g unsalted butter, diced
220g all purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
200g brown sugar
100g white sugar
2 tsp vanilla
1 egg
1 egg yolk
200g chopped dark chocolate (Do not use chocolate chips. Buy a good bar of chocolate and cut it into chunks. I used Lindt 70% cocoa. I tossed all the chocolate including the shavings into the dough, but some people omit the shavings so that the dough is a more traditional pale colour.)
fine sea salt (I omitted this)


1. Place the butter in a sauce pan and heat till melted. Continue heating over low to medium heat till butter browns and has a toasted nutty smell. Remove from heat and set aside to cool. 


2. Sift the flour, salt and baking soda together and set aside.


3. Mix the sugars and butter just until thoroughly mixed. Add the egg, yolk and vanilla and stir until creamy.


4. Add the sifted ingredients and mix just until blended. Stir in the chocolate chunks.


5. Using a measuring spoon, scoop the dough and place each dough ball on a baking paper lined tray and place in the freezer for 30 minutes. 
Notes: As a gauge, you can use a tablespoon for chewy cookies and a teaspoon for crunchy ones.

6. After the cookies balls have hardened, you can store them in a freezer bag in the freezer, if not baking immediately.


7. Preheat the oven to 190C.


8. Place cookie dough balls on greased or parchment lined baking sheet. Be reminded to leave enough space around each cookie dough as it will expand during baking. I placed about 8 to 9 cookie dough balls per tray.


9. Bake for about 11 minutes or until the edges look golden brown.


10. Remove from the oven. Let rest on pan for 5 minutes and then transfer to a cooling rack. Notes: You may wish to sprinkle sea salt flakes immediately after removing the baking sheet from oven. 

11. Cool completely and store in cookie jar. 

Notes: For crunchy cookies, each cookie dough of one teaspoon size, bake for 3 to 4 minutes. Reduce the oven temperature to 170C. Open the oven and smoosh the tops of the cookies with a spoon and continue to bake for another 3 to 4 minutes or until the edges look golden brown. 



2 comments:

  1. Love the look of these cookies of yours! I am pinning this for trying!

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    Replies
    1. Hi Jeannie,
      Thank you for your compliments! The only way to show appreciation for these cookies is to bake them and savour the taste again and again. Looking forward to your trying of this recipe!

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