Tag: Brown Butter

Brown Butter Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

The holidays are upon us. Which means it’s time to whip out the cookie sheets, pie dishes and cake pans to get to baking. Not really sure how much baking I’ll be doing this year, but after taking last year off from sharing a few good cookie recipes I am back this year with five cookie recipes that are sure to be a welcome addition to your baking repertoire. Up first, a Brown Butter Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie.

While I do love peanut butter cookies, I find that I can only eat one or two before the peanut butter flavor becomes a bit much. With these cookies, the brown butter helps to tone down the peanut butter flavor while adding another layer of dimension. A few things to note about making brown butter. Make sure you use a large enough saucepan, bigger is better just in case it begins to bubble over. You might be tempted to raise the heat, but medium heat is ideal. Once the butter melts and begins to boil/simmer it will turn the desired amber color quite quickly and you don’t want it to burn because then you will have to toss it as it will have a burnt flavor as opposed to the nutty flavor we’re looking for. And once your brown butter is cooled and you make the cookie dough be sure to let it chill in the fridge for at least 15 minutes. These cookies are quite big, and you don’t want them to spread too much while baking. They would still be edible, but they just want have the same oomph!

Brown Butter Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

  • Servings: 18 Cookies
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Ingredients:

2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, cubed

1 1/2 cups dark brown sugar

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup creamy peanut butter

2 1/4 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon Kosher salt

1 1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions:

To make the brown butter: In a medium saucepan melt the butter over medium heat, stirring until it reaches a rich amber color. Pour into a glass measuring cup, including any brown bits in the bottom of the pan, and cool to room temperature.

Preheat the oven to 350 F and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

In a medium bowl whisk together the dry ingredients – flour, baking soda, baking powder and Kosher salt – and set aside.

In a large bowl whisk together the cooled brown butter and sugar until combined. Add the eggs, vanilla extract and peanut butter and continue to whisk until smooth.

Fold in the flour mixture until just combined and then add in the chocolate chips. Continue folding until the dough forms.

Refrigerate for 15-20 minutes so the dough can firm up.

Scoop 1/4 cup of dough onto the prepared cookie sheets 3 inches apart. Bake in the preheated oven for 11-14 minutes, until the cookies are beginning to darken around the edges and the centers are puffed and look slightly underdone. Cool the cookies on the pan for 2-3 minutes so they can set and then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Recipe first appeared on Bead Yarn & Spatula

Brown Butter Almond Cake with Chocolate Filling

With the holidays quickly approaching you may be looking for new recipes to share with your loved ones. Today I am bringing you a Brown Butter Almond Cake with Chocolate Filling that I personally wouldn’t say is ideal for dessert but better suited as a breakfast / brunch treat. Or for an afternoon watching holiday movies, decorating or wrapping gifts while enjoying your favorite warm beverage.

I started this cake by making brown butter. After letting it cool, I got to work on making the batter for the cake. I whisked the cooled brown butter with eggs, sugar and vanilla extract, until it was smooth. In another bowl I whisked together the dry ingredients – flour, almond flour and baking powder. I incorporated the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients in 3 batches alternating with buttermilk. While you can buy buttermilk, I always opt to make my own by combining whole milk and vinegar. Once the batter was ready, I poured half of it into my prepared pan and then topped it with diced almond paste and semi-sweet chocolate chips. I then topped it with the remaining batter and gently spread it with an offset spatula. Before placing it in the oven I sprinkled the top with sliced almonds. After the cake cooled I dusted it with Confectioners’ sugar before enjoying a slice.

You may be wondering why I said this cake wasn’t very dessert-y. Well, besides the fact that it wasn’t very sweet, the texture was more reminiscent of a muffin or scone to me. It did taste good, but I think the recipe title is a bit deceiving. I was really hoping the brown butter flavor would stand out more as it did in the batter – yes, I tried the batter raw – but it somehow melted away while baking. And while the title does say “Almond Cake”, adding almond flour to the batter didn’t really give the cake an almond flavor, that really came from the almond paste that was added to the filling along with the chocolate chips. The almond flour aided in making the cake extremely moist though – always a good thing when it comes to cakes. No one wants to eat a dry cake, regardless of how good it may be. It is possible that the brown butter and almond flour somehow cancelled each other out, both having a nutty flavor or that the almond past just overpowered everything. Maybe a better title for this cake would be Brown Butter Cake with Almond & Chocolate Filling. Apologies if I sound negative, as I mentioned, the cake was good just not really what I thought it would taste like based on the recipe title. I would be curious to try this recipe again by omitting the almond flour and increasing the amount of all-purpose flour. Maybe then the flavor of the brown butter would really shine through.

Brown Butter Almond Cake with Chocolate Filling

Ingredients:

1 stick unsalted butter

1 1/2 cups flour

1/2 cup almond flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

3/4 teaspoon salt

2 large eggs

1 cup sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3/4 cup buttermilk

1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

2 ounces almond paste, finely diced (about 1/3 cup)

1/2 cup sliced almonds

Confectioners’ sugar, for dusting

Directions:

Brown the butter: Place the butter in a medium saucepan and melt over low-medium heat, stirring constantly until the butter reaches a warm amber color, about 5 to 7 minutes. Transfer to large bowl to cool.

Preheat oven to 350 F. Spray an 8-inch springform pan with baking spray and set aside.

In a medium bowl whisk together the flour, almond flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside.

Add the eggs to the cooled brown butter and whisk together until smooth. Whisk in the sugar and vanilla extract until combined. Add the flour mixture in three parts alternating with the buttermilk. Whisk until the batter is smooth.

Spread half the batter into the prepared pan. Scatter the chocolate chips and diced almond paste over the batter in an even layer right to the edge. Top with remaining batter and gently spread with an offset-spatula. Sprinkle the sliced almonds over the cake in an even layer.

Bake in the preheated oven for 40 to 50 minutes, until the cake is golden brown and springs back when pressed. Transfer to a wire rack to cool for 20 minutes. Run a knife along the edges of the cake to loosen from the springform ring. Remove the springform ring and let the cake cool completely before dusting with Confectioners’ sugar.

Recipe from Food Network

Brown Butter and Maple Chewy Pumpkin Cookies

Happy Holidays! It’s the week after Thanksgiving and normally this week I share a week’s worth of cookie recipes to inspire you to bake for the holidays. Unfortunately, this year that’s not happening. Time got the best of me, and I spent the bulk of my free time crocheting. I kept thinking that I would be able to test the recipes I had written up, but I opted not to rush the process just to publish some blog posts. I believe quality over quantity is more important. I recently tried a recipe for a Brown Butter and Maple Chewy Pumpkin Cookie that was absolutely delish, so I decided to share that recipe with you this week. It would be the perfect addition to your cookie platter this holiday season.

But first, in case you are wondering what I was crocheting… Granny Hexagon Christmas Stockings, 16 to be exact (not counting the 3 I also made to sell in my Etsy shop). It was an order that needed to be completed by the end of November. And while I finished them with a week or two to spare, I was then also fulfilling custom orders for ornament ball wreaths from my Etsy shop. So, I’ve been busy. 

And now back to the cookies. While I normally don’t bake (or gravitate towards) oversized cookies I decided to try these since the flavors sounded so good. Brown butter, maple and pumpkin are the perfect combination for the season. Although with Christmas just around the corner peppermint is dominating a bit more nowadays.

If you are intimidated to make browned butter don’t be. It’s an easy process that requires a bit of patience, a watchful eye and a constant stir. Don’t be tempted to raise the heat as doing so will cause the butter to burn a lot quicker and instead of having a nutty flavor, the butter will have a burnt flavor. Once the butter has a rich amber color it’s done. Remove it from the heat and transfer it to a heat-proof container to stop the cooking process. Leaving it in the pan will continue to heat and ultimately burn the butter. While the original recipe called for placing the butter in the refrigerator to cool, I opted to cool it to room temperature on my counter for two reasons. A) I didn’t have to worry about it solidifying if I left it in the fridge for too long and B) I’m always apprehensive of putting hot items in the fridge immediately.

Once the brown butter is cool these cookies come together quickly and easily. Simply mix the dry ingredients together in one bowl, the wet ingredients in another and then fold together the two to form the dough. After refrigerating the dough for about 15 minutes – to prevent the cookies from spreading while baking – roll in a cinnamon sugar mixture and then bake. After cooling you will have the perfect cookie to enjoy with a hot cup of cocoa, tea or coffee for the cold days ahead!

Brown Butter and Maple Chewy Pumpkin Cookies

  • Servings: 11-12 large cookies
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Ingredients:

For the Cookies:

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter

1 1/2 cups dark brown sugar

1 large egg yolk

3 tablespoons maple syrup

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/3 cup pumpkin puree

2 1/4 cups flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

For the Cinnamon Sugar Coating:

2 tablespoons light brown sugar

2 tablespoons sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon

Directions:

Begin by browning the butter. In a medium saucepan melt the butter over medium heat, stirring until it reaches a rich amber color. Pour the butter into glass measuring cup, you should have just shy of 1 cup. Allow to cool to room temperature.

Preheat the oven to 350 F and line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper.

In a medium bowl whisk together the dry ingredients – flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, pumpkin pie spice and cinnamon – and set aside.

In a large bowl whisk together the brown sugar and cooled brown butter. It should resemble clumpy wet sand. Next whisk in the egg yolk, maple syrup, vanilla extract and pumpkin puree until smooth. Fold in the dry ingredients. Continue folding the two mixtures together until the dough forms.

Refrigerate the dough for 15-20 minutes so it can firm up and prevent spreading while baking.

In a small bowl whisk together the ingredients for the sugar coating.

Use a large cookie scoop (i.e. ice cream scoop) or 1/4 measuring cup to scoop out the dough and then roll in the sugar coating. Place on the prepared baking sheet about 3 inches apart.

Bake for 12-15 minutes, or until the cookies are darkened around the edges and the center are puffed and look slightly underdone.

Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 2-3 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Store in an airtight container.

Recipe slightly modified from Butternut Bakery Blog

Cookie Palooza: Brown Butter Crinkles

Crinkles are great holiday cookies. You can make them in numerous flavors or stick with a simple recipe and tint the batter red and/or green for Christmas or blue for Hanukkah. In fact, I have been sharing a crinkle cookie recipe for the past couple of years during my Cookie Palooza. Believe it or not there is a science behind crinkle cookies. The cookies get their look and name because the surface of the cookie dries out before the cookie is done spreading and rising while baking. This causes the cookie to harden, crack and pull apart, hence the name crinkles. This is all thanks to rolling the dough in granulated sugar and then confectioners’ sugar prior to baking. I’ve shared quite a few crinkle recipes here on my blog and today I am sharing my favorite thus far, a Brown Butter Crinkle.

To start, you need to make brown butter. To do so I melted a stick of unsalted butter in a saucepan over medium high heat. Once it started to boil, I reduced the heat to medium and let the melted butter simmer until foamy. I stirred it occasionally and scraped the bottom of the pan until the foam subsided and the butter turned a golden brown and had a nutty aroma. I then transferred the melted butter and the brown specks that formed to a large heatproof bowl and let it cool for about 10 minutes.

While the butter cooled I combined the dry ingredients in a medium bowl. Once the butter cooled, I mixed in granulated sugar, dark brown sugar, eggs, vanilla extract and finally the flour mixture until the dough formed. I then transferred it to a piece of plastic wrap and shaped it into a disk and refrigerated it for an hour. The dough needs to be refrigerated because it is extremely soft. Thanks to the brown butter, the dough (and ultimately the cookie itself) had a nice mocha color.

After an hour I removed the dough from the refrigerator and while the dough did firm up some, it was still soft enough to scoop with a cookie scoop. I scooped the dough and rolled it into a ball…

And then coated each with granulated sugar and then confectioners’ sugar.

And baked them in a 350 F preheated oven for about 15 minutes. After letting them cool on the baking sheets for a few minutes I then transferred them to a wire rack to cool completely.

So, why are these my favorite crinkle cookies now? Well, it’s because of the brown butter. Brown butter added a nice nutty flavor to the cookie.

Looking for more crinkle flavors, check out these recipes:

Key Lime Crinkles

PeanutButterCrinkles

Chocolate Walnut Crinkles

Chocolate Crinkles

Red Velvet Blossom

 

Brown Butter Crinkles

  • Servings: 30 Cookies
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Ingredients:

1 stick unsalted butter

2 1/4 cups unbleached flour

3/4 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

3/4 teaspoon coarse salt

1 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup dark brown sugar

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3/4 cup confectioners’ sugar, sifted

 

Directions:

Melt the stick of butter in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. When the butter begins to boil reduce the heat to medium and simmer until foamy. Continue cooking the butter, stirring occasionally and scraping the bottom of the pan, until foam subsides, and the butter has turned a golden brown with a nutty aroma and milk solids separate into brown specks that sink to the bottom of the pan, 2 to 7 minutes. Remove from the heat and transfer to a large heatproof bowl and let cool for 10 minutes.

In a medium bowl whisk together the dry ingredients – flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt – and set aside.

Once the butter has cooled, stir in 1/2 cup of the granulated sugar and the dark brown sugar into the brown butter until combined. Add in the eggs and vanilla and finally the flour mixture until the dough forms. Transfer the dough to piece of plastic wrap, shape into a disk and then wrap tightly and refrigerate for at least 1 hour and up to 2 days.

Preheat the oven to 350 F and line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Place the confectioners’ sugar in a small bowl and the remaining 1/2 cup sugar in another small bowl. Scoop 1 tablespoon of the dough and roll into a bowl. Roll the dough in the granulated sugar and then in the confectioners’ sugar. Place on the prepared on the baking sheet, spacing the cookies about 1 inch apart.

Bake in the preheated oven for 15 to 18 minutes. The cookies will be done when they spread slightly, crackle and are set at the edges. Let cool on the baking sheets for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Recipe from Martha Stewart’s Cookie Perfection

Brown Butter & Vanilla Pear Pie with a Leaf Cut-Out Crust

With Thanksgiving next week you may be on the lookout for a new or different pie to make. Today I am bringing you a Brown Butter & Vanilla Pear Pie that I saw in a recent issue of Real Simple magazine that would be a wonderful addition to your dessert table.

I began by browning the butter. To do so, I simply melted a stick of butter in a saucepan stirring it until it was golden and nutty smelling – trust me, it will get a nutty scent. Don’t leave it on the stove too long or your brown butter will turn to burnt butter.

I poured the butter in to a large bowl and added in 5 peeled and chopped Bartlett pears, 2 peeled and chopped Granny Smith apples, flour, vanilla extract, salt and sugar. After giving this a few good stirs to mix it all together I transferred the mixture to a prepared pie dish – I had placed an unbaked piecrust in the dish.

Now it was time to work on the top crust. I’ve been wanting to try a different type of decorative pie crust… A leaf cut-out pie crust. I have made cut-outs before for a pie crust, but, they have been just accent pieces. I had never completely covered the pie with cutouts. What’s nice about this… its fool-proof and looks a lot more difficult than what it is. One thing you do need though is patience! Using leaf design pie crust cutters I cut out a bunch of leaves – I had around 60.

I then arranged them on the top of my pie. I brushed the pie with a beaten egg and sprinkled sugar on it and placed it in the freezer for 15 minutes.

A side note, as I have mentioned before I normally use store bought pie crust – always the Pillsbury refrigerated pie crust. So, for this pie I needed 3 pie crusts; 1 for the bottom and I needed two in order to cut out enough leaves to cover my pie. I decided that next time I make a pie with cut-outs for the crust I am going to cut them out the day before and refrigerate them to save time the day of.

I was concerned that the leaf design wouldn’t hold-up during baking – that it would possibly burn or some of the leave would crack. Thankfully baking the pie on the lowest rack of the oven and at a lower temperature (350 F) prevented that from happening.

This pie is delicious… Not overly sweet and the combination of pears and apples is just perfect!

Brown Butter & Vanilla Pear Pie

Ingredients:

1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter

2 1/2 lbs. (5) pears, peeled, cored and chopped

1 Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored and chopped

3 tablespoons flour

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

1/4 cup sugar, plus more for sprinkling

Preferred pie crust

1 large egg, lightly beaten

Directions:

Lower a rack in the oven to the lowest position and preheat the oven to 350 F.

In a medium bowl / skillet, melt the butter over medium heat stirring until golden and nutty smelling. Pour into a large bowl and let cool for a few minutes.

Add the apples, pears, flour, vanilla, salt 1/4 cup sugar to the brown butter and toss.

Roll out your pie crust to 14 inches and line a 9-inch pie plate with it and trim the dough to a 1-inch overhang. Fill the pie crust with the pear apple filling and top the pie with your decided pie crust design. If you plan on just covering the pie with no design, roll the dough out to 12 inches and lay over the filling. Fold the top edge over and tuck under bottom edge; crimp edge as desired. Cut a few vents. Brush the crust with the beaten egg and sprinkle with sugar and freeze for 15 minutes

Bake on the bottom rack until the juices start bubbling, about 60 to 75 minutes. If you notice that the edges of the pie are browning too quickly cover them with aluminum foil for the remaining baking time.

Let the pie cool for at least 4 hours before slicing.

Recipe from Real Simple Magazine