these cookies look humble enough. don't be fooled. they are the cookie equivalent of discovering your unassuming date has a garter belt on. those dark little flecks are not vanilla beans or nuts, but precious hits of caramelized butter. six ingredients, all of which are kitchen staples, come together and out of the oven in less than twenty minutes. even better, culinary prowess is not required. all you need are eyes like a hawk. personally, i like watching butter achieve its awakened form and pulling it from the flame at that precise moment. the aroma alone warms everything in its vicinity.
brown butter cookies*
(makes 24 sandy, rich cookies)
16 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup granulated sugar
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
set oven racks in the upper and lower third of the oven. preheat the oven to 350. line two insulated cookie sheets with parchment paper or a silpat baking mat.
whisk the flour, salt, and baking soda together in a medium bowl.
melt the butter in a small saucepan over medium-high heat. let it brown, stirring constantly. do not take your attention away from the butter; you want the milk solids to turn nutty brown, not black. remove it from the heat as soon as it has browned and pour it in a large mixing bowl, scraping the saucepan with a spatula to get all of the browned bits. whisk in the sugar and vanilla. add the flour mixture to the butter mixture in 3 additions, stirring to incorporate after each addition. using about 1 1/2 - 2 teaspoons of dough, roll into balls. place on the baking sheets, leaving about 2 inches between each cookie.
bake for 13 - 15 minutes, until the bottoms are golden and the tops crack a bit. rotate the sheets halfway through.
let cool on the cookie sheets for five minutes, and then remove to a rack to cool completely. they will store in a cookie tin for up to 2 weeks, if they make it that long.
notes:
*there are only six ingredients, so use the best of everything that you can find
**this recipe was barely adapted from nancy kux's in the san francisco chronicle
***perfect as they are, but try substituting a 1/2 cup of ground pine nuts for 1/2 cup of flour and adding 1 teaspoon of finely grated orange zest. you will not be disappointed.