Brown Butter Cookies

I am just starting to think about a little project I'll be starting soon involving brown butter, so to dip my toe in the water I decided to see what would happen if I made my regular chocolate chip cookie dough with brown butter instead of plain old melted butter. Just for fun, I baked the dough in mini muffin tins. And to emphasize the haute-ness of this project I sprinkled each one with French sea salt just before baking. I was pretty surprised at the difference in flavor. These cookies had a distinct and delicious nuttiness that you don't get when you use melted or softened butter. Try it and let me know what you think.

Brown butter is not at all difficult to make. Basically, just let the butter sit in the pan for a few minutes longer than you usually would when melting it, until you see the browned milk solids separating and falling to the bottom. Watch out, because as the butter cooks it will splatter a little. It will begin to burn shortly after it browns, so don't leave it unattended to chat with the mailman or walk the dog. When scraping it into a bowl to cool, use a rubber spatula to get all of the flavorful brown bits.

Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

Makes about 24 cookies

You can just drop these onto ungreased or parchment-lined cookie sheets instead of baking them in muffin tins, if you’d like.

½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons unbleached all-purpose flour

½ teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon salt

½ cup firmly packed light brown sugar

1 large egg

½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract

3/4 cup mini semisweet chocolate chips

1/2 cup finely chopped pecans or walnuts

Fleur de sel for sprinkling (optional)

1. Heat the butter in a small heavy skillet over medium heat until the milk solids on the bottom are a dark chocolate brown. Transfer the butter and solids to a shallow bowl and chill in the freezer until just congealed, about 15 minutes.

2. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Spray a mini muffin tin with nonstick cooking spray. Combine the flour, baking soda, and salt in a medium-size bowl.

3. Use a wooden spoon to mix together the brown butter and light brown sugar in a large bowl. Add the egg and vanilla and stir until smooth. Add the flour mixture and stir until just incorporated. Stir in the chocolate chips and nuts.

4. Spoon some cookie dough into each muffin cup, so the dough comes just to the tops of the cups (the cookies won’t rise much). Sprinkle each cookie with a little bit of sea salt if desired (just a little—it goes a long way).

5. Bake until the cookies are golden around the edges and just set in the centers, 8 to 10 minutes. Remove the tin to a wire rack and let stand 5 minutes before overturning, re-inverting, and letting cookies cool completely on the rack. Wipe out the tin, spray again with cooking spray, and repeat until you’ve used all the batter.

Midsummer Night's Dream Bars

Last night I saw this stellar Pierson production, and today I'm returning for the matinee. I'll bring these bars for the kids to eat backstage.

Midsummer Night’s Dream Bars

Makes 16 bars

4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
8 whole graham crackers crushed
1 cup whole almonds, finely chopped

1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup milk chocolate chips

1 ½ cups sweetened flaked coconut

One 7-ounce can sweetened condensed milk

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Line an 8-inch square baking pan with heavy-duty aluminum foil, making sure that the foil is tucked into all the corners and that there is at least 1 inch overhanging the top of the pan on all sides.

2. Combine the melted butter and graham cracker crumbs in a medium mixing bowl and stir until all the crumbs are moistened. Sprinkle the mixture across the bottom of the pan and press with your fingertips into an even layer.

3. Sprinkle the chopped almonds evenly over the crumbs. Sprinkle both kinds of chocolate chips over the almonds. Sprinkle the coconut over the chocolate chips and press on it with the back of a large spoon to compact the ingredients. Drizzle the sweetened condensed milk over the coconut.

4. Bake until the coconut is golden, 25 to 30 minutes. Let the pan cool completely on a wire rack. Remove the bars from the pan by grasping the overhanging foil and pulling it up. Place the bars, still on the foil, on a cutting board, and cut into 16 pieces.

Adventures in Publicity

My husband spent the week in L.A. and Seattle, promoting the new book from America’s Test Kitchen, Cook's Country Best Lost Suppers. He is so good at his job that not only did he manage to sell the book to L.A. Times food writer Rene Lynch, but he even got her to take a look at Sag Harbor Days and provide a link by describing how I freeze balls of cookie dough and bake them off two at a time every morning for the childrens’ lunch boxes. Doesn’t everybody in Sag Harbor do this?

It actually is a very convenient thing, and will prevent you from eating an entire batch of freshly baked cookies in one night, if you have that tendency. Not that I do. Just saying. I make the dough, scoop it out onto a cookie sheet, and then freeze it for about 30 minutes. I place the frozen cookie dough balls in a zipper-lock bag and keep them frozen until I need them. Frozen cookie dough can be baked straight from the freezer if you add a minute or two to the baking time. Homemade cookies become something you can take for granted. In fact, every once in a while one of the children will ask for a bag of chips for the lunchbox instead. When this happens, I try not to lash out at the little ingrate. I just save the dough for her friends, who are truly grateful when they come to my house for afterschool snacks.

A Reason to Root for the Yankees

If you know me at all you know I couldn't care less about baseball. When I watch this game on tv I might as well be watching a Japanese movie without subtitles. That is how uncomprehending I am of baseball's rules or its appeal. But a while back when I was working on a book about cookie swaps (to be published in the Fall, don't worry, I will alert you!), I came upon a wonderful source for handmade copper cookie cutters, a family business based in Kansas called Copper Gifts. Browsing the incredible online selection, I was immediately taken by the state-shaped cookie cutters. Decorating suggestions are given along with the specs for most cutters, and the New York State cutter showed cookies with this Yankees design. I had to order one immediately. Piping the stripes and letters was so simple and fun. Finally, I have a reason to care about the World Series. It will give me an excuse to make these cute cookies again.

Oatmael Cookies with Chocolate Chips and Crystallized Ginger

If you invite me to dinner, I will bring the cookies. Here are a few I set aside for the children. I'm bringing the rest to a friend's house tonight:

Oatmeal Cookies with Chocolate Chips and Crystallized Ginger
Makes 32 large cookies

I like to bake with sweet-and-spicy crystallized ginger at this time of year. Provisions (7 Main Street; 725-3636) sells the best ginger, moist cubes that they keep in a bin with the other bulk foods in the back of the store. I drive to Citarella's or King Kullen to buy Ghirardelli 60% Cacao chocolate chips.

1 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled
1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
3 cups old-fashioned rolled oats (not instant)
1 1/2 cups semisweet or bittersweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup crystallized ginger, coarsely chopped

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Combine the flour, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl.
2. Cream the melted butter and sugars together in a large mixing bowl with an electric mixer on medium speed until smooth. Add the eggs and vanilla and beat until smooth. Stir in the flour mixture until just combined. Stir in the oats, chocolate chips, and ginger. Place the bowl in the refrigerator for 10 minutes (or up to 6 hours) to let the dough firm up.
3. Drop the batter by heaping tablespoonfuls onto parchment-lined baking sheets, leaving about 3 inches between each cookie. Bake until the cookies are golden around the edges but still soft on top, 13 to 15 minutes. Let them stand on the baking sheet for 5 minutes, then remove them with a metal spatula to a wire rack to cool completely.

Better Than Peanut Butter Kiss Cookies

Still working my way through that bag of blanched hazelnuts, so when I went to bake some cookies for a party yesterday, instead of making peanut butter cookies topped with Hershey kisses, I made these: Hazelnut thumbprints filled with Nutella, piped with a pastry bag to look just like Hershey Kisses. Here's the recipe:


1 ½ cups skinned hazelnuts
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
½ cup firmly packed light brown sugar
6 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
3/4 cup Nutella

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.
2. Place the nuts in a food processor and chop fine. Don’t over-process. Combine the flour, salt, and ground nuts in a medium mixing bowl.
3. Cream the butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar together in a large mixing bowl with an electric mixer on medium-high speed until fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes. Add the egg and vanilla and beat until smooth. Stir in the flour and nut mixture until just combined.
4. Scoop up a scant tablespoonful of dough and roll it between your palms to form a ball. Place the balls on a parchment-lined baking sheet, leaving about 2 inches between each cookie. Press each cookie with the back of a small measuring spoon to make a thumbprint.
5. Bake the cookies until they are lightly colored, 15 to 18 minutes. Let them stand on the baking sheet for 5 minutes and then carefully slide the entire parchment with the cookies from the pan to a wire rack and let them cool completely.
6. Fill each cookie indentation with a scant teaspoon of Nutella.

Black and White

Last night we attended a delightful piano recital at Ellen Johansen's Music Studio in East Hampton. Ellen is one of the most inspired and inspiring teachers I've ever met, and her students play with sensitivity and amazing skill. After enjoying a well-rounded program that included a Haydn Quadrille, a Persichetti March, a Beethoven Sonatina, and a Chopin Waltz, we enjoyed dessert in Ellen's dining room. What to bring to such an occasion? These Mini Black and White Cookies were just the thing.

Mini Black and White Cookies
Makes about 30 cookies

For the cookies:
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 cup sour cream

For the white icing:
1 1/3 cups confectioners sugar
5 tablespoons heavy cream
1 tablespoon lemon juice

For the black icing:
1/4 cup heavy cream
4 ounces semisweet chocolate chips
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon light corn syrup

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
2. Combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium-size bowl.
3. Combine the butter and sugar in a large mixing bowl and cream with an electric mixer on medium speed until well combined, scraping down the sides of the bowl once or twice as necessary.
4. Add the egg and vanilla and beat at medium speed until combined. Beginning and ending with the flour mixture, add the flour in 2 additions and the sour cream in 1 addition at low speed until combined.
5. Drop heaping teaspoons of the dough onto the prepared baking sheets, leaving about 2 inches between each cookie. With a moistened palm, slightly flatten each mound. Bake until the cookies are dry and just golden on the bottom, 10 to 12 minutes. Cool for 5 minutes on the baking sheets, and then transfer with a spatula to a wire rack to cool completely.
6. Make the white icing: Whisk together the confectioners' sugar, cream, and lemon juice until smooth. Use a small metal spatula to spread the icing on one half of the top of each cookie. Let the cookies stand for 15 minutes to allow the icing to firm up.
7. Make the black icing: Place the heavy cream in a c in a microwave-safe bowl and microwave on high until it just comes to a boil. Add the chocolate chips and corn syrup and whisk until smooth. Spread the icing on the other half of each cookie. Let the cookies stand until the icing is set, about 1 hour.

New Bookstore Reminds Me of Cookies

On Sunday I took a stroll over to the new Rizzoli bookstore at the Empire Gallery (197 Madison Street). It was wonderful to page through sumptuous art books in the sunny space. After using the Japanese vintage photo generator and visiting the Whaling museum last week, I am seeing Victoriana wherever I go. At Rizzoli, I went straight for the silhouettes in the Kara Walker catalog, After the Deluge. Of course I was struck by the artist’s use of old-fashioned silhouettes to explore the politics of race and gender. But more than this, I was struck by the coincidence that just the day before I had bookmarked these silhouette cookies, determined to figure out a way to link to them on my blog because they are so extraordinarily beautiful.

IGA Item of the Week

It was Sunday night, I didn’t have a lot of time or a lot of ingredients on hand, and I had promised to bake cookies for a class party. So I turned to this IGA Item of the Week, which you can find right next to the Smuckers Grape Jelly at Schiavoni’s, to make some simple bar cookies. Unlike a lot of jams, Sarabeth’s jams really taste like fruit. That’s important when it’s the jam that’s going to give your cookies character and flavor. I used strawberry-rhubarb, but I also like orange-apricot, plum-cherry, and pineapple mango.

Jam and Shortbread Squares
Makes 16 squares

1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
½ cup sugar
1 large egg
½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
6 tablespoons best-quality jam

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Place an oven rack in the bottom third and the top third of the oven. Line an 8-inch-square baking pan with heavy-duty aluminum foil, tucking the foil into the corners and leaving about 1 inch overhanging the top of the pan. Spray the bottom and sides with nonstick cooking spray.
2. Combine the flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl.
3. Cream together the butter and sugar in a mixing bowl with an electric mixer until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Stir in the egg and vanilla. Use a small metal spatula to spread half of the dough evenly over the bottom of the pan. Place the pan and the remaining dough, still in the mixing bowl, in the freezer for 20 minutes to firm up.
4. Spread the jam on top of the dough in the pan. Drop pea-size pieces of the remaining dough evenly over the jam.
5. Place the pan on the bottom rack of the preheated oven and bake for 20 minutes. Transfer the pan to the top rack and continue to bake until the top is golden, another 10 minutes.
6. Transfer the pan to a wire rack and cool completely.
7. Grasp the overhanging foil on either side of the pan, lift out the squares and place them on a cutting board. Cut into 16 squares. Jam and Shortbread Squares will keep at room temperature in an airtight container for 2 to 3 days.

Photo credit: Eve Bishop

Pass-the-Budget Macaroons

Here are the cookies I'm bringing over to my friend Barb's house tonight. She's hosting a group of parents and other concerned citizens who will be working the phones to get the school budget passed and to get pro-budget school board candidates elected. Fingers crossed and enjoy.

Coconut Macaroons
Makes 24 cookies

These not-too-sweet macaroons are made with unsweetened coconut, available at natural foods stores including Provisions (7 Main Street, 631-725-3636). You don't have to shape them into pyramids after dropping the batter onto the baking sheets, but it's easy and makes the cookies so pretty. Leave them plain, or dip some of them in melted chocolate like I did.

3/4 cup sugar
2 1/2 cups unsweetened shredded coconut
2 large egg whites
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon salt
4 ounces bittersweet chocolate, melted and cooled (optional, and enough to cover all of the cookies)

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
Combine the sugar, coconut, egg white, vanilla, and salt in a medium mixing bowl and mix until moistened.
2. Drop the batter by heaping tablespoonfuls onto the prepared baking sheets, leaving about 1 1/2 inches between each cookie. Shape each one into a pyramid with your fingers.
3. Bake until golden, 10 to 12 minutes. Slide the parchment paper onto a wire rack and let the cookies cool completely.
4. Dip the top half of each cookie into the melted chocolate, letting any excess drip back into the bowl, if desired. Place back on one of the pieces of parchment paper. Slide the parchment, with the cookies, back onto one of the cooled baking sheets and place the sheet in the refrigerator until the chocolate is set, about 5 minutes. Store Coconut Macaroons in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 week.

Meet the Candidates, Eat the Cookies

The school budget vote is coming up as is the board of education election. My friend Mary Anne asked me to bake some cookies for a meet-the-candidates forum tomorrow at 7p.m. in the High School library. Since I just picked up a giant container of chocolate sprinkles at B.J.'s in Riverhead on Monday, I went with chocolate sprinkle cookies. These are the cookies that inspired the Facebook page, "Fans of Rose's Mom's Cookies." That group is limited to 8th grade girls who sit at the same cafeteria table as my daughter, but you may become an unofficial fan if you act quickly at tomorrow night's forum. Here is the recipe (adapted from Mom's Big Book of Baking), if you can't make it but you'd like to bake some cookies.

1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
6 tablespoon unsweetened Dutch process cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
10 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1 cup sugar
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup chocolate sprinkles

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Combine teh flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl.
2. Cream the butter and sugar together in a large mixing bowl with an electric mixer on medium-high speed until fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes. Add the egg and vanilla and beat until smooth. Stir in the flour mixture until just combined.
3. Place the sprinkles in a small bowl. Scoop up a tablespoon of dough and roll it between your palms to form a ball. Roll the balls in the sprinkles. Place them on parchment-lined baking sheets, laving 3 inches between each cookie. Bake until the cookies are dry on top, about 10 minutes. Let them stand for 5 minutes on the baking sheets before sliding the entire sheet of parchment from the pan to a wire rack. Let the cookies cool completely.