I've never really worked with brown butter, so I looked it up in the Professional Pastry Chef, a book I received last Christmas. In it, Bo Friberg describes brown butter, also known as buerre noisette, or "hazelnut butter", thusly: "As the butter is cooked over low heat, the milk solids caramelize, turning the butter light brown and giving it a nutter flavor and aroma -- hence the name."
I don't even know where to begin. How is it that I've never heard of this or used it a recipe? Sorry, Waistline, but it looks like you'll be seeing a lot more brown butter in the very near future.
But I digress... I went ahead and took a crack at these double fudge chocolate chip cookie dough cookies, and I am thoroughly pleased with the result.
These cookies were tender and buttery, and retained that texture for a surprisingly long time. They were definitely best the night I baked them, but I've been slowing chipping away at my stash over the past few days, and they're still quite tasty.
I also thought the construction of these double-decker cookies was fun and interesting. The recipe instructed me to split the dough in two and make one half into traditional chocolate chip, while turning the other half into a double-chocolate fudge dough. Then you roll the dough into balls, split the balls in two, and smush together two halves of different doughs to create one cookie.
But honestly, what really matters is the final product, and who can argue with this?
Here's the recipe, courtesy of Lovin from the Oven, via How Sweet it Is. As usual, I subbed out chocolate chips in favor of a hand chopped chocolate bar (the last of my 62% cacao Sharfenberger baking bar, to be precise).
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 sticks (12 tablespoons) of unsalted butter
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg + 1 egg yolk, at room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups chocolate chips
Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
Cream together butter and both sugars. Mix in the eggs and vanilla.
Divide the sugar mixture in half and separate the doughs into two different bowls. Use a scale to measure them exactly (This is the part I failed at).
In one bowl, add 1 cup of flour, 1/4 teaspoon baking soda and a pinch of salt, then mix until a dough forms. Fold in 3/4 cup of the chocolate chips. Set aside.
In the second bowl, add remaining flour and baking soda, cocoa powder and a pinch of salt, mixing until a dough forms. Fold in remaining chocolate chips.
Roll each dough into 24 balls (about an inch thick). Take one chocolate chip half and one double fudge half and merge them together by one end. Place on baking sheet at least 1 1/2 inch apart.
Bake for 10-12 minutes, or until just golden.
