Wednesday, September 7, 2011

Cake of the Week: Browned Butter Oatmeal Cookies

You know those days when nothing goes right? Your boss yells at you for something that's not your fault, your run goes poorly, your coworkers get on your nerves, and all of a sudden you find yourself fighting back tears at your desk, wondering what am I even doing here???




Well, I haven't had a day like that in a while (but I've definitely had my fair share). However, one of my friends recently had an entire week of that. 

So I made her something comforting. Something that says I don’t mind if the paper’s late or if you snapped at your sister or if your job seems pointless or your workout efforts futile.


Can one bite change a person's outlook on life? Maybe not…but maybe so. Sometimes all you need is an oatmeal chocolate chip cookie to make things better.


I’ve made many an oatmeal cookie in my day, so this time I decided to experiment with a little twist on the usual favorite. Browning the butter gives these cookies an added layer of rich brown sugary flavor, and a little bit of sea salt won’t make them salty, but will make all cookie eaters go mmmmm. The salt makes these the kind of cookies that you can’t quite put your finger on why they’re so good, but they’re sooooo good!



Browned Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients:
1 cup butter (2 sticks)
1 cup light brown sugar
½ cup sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon baking soda
¾ teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon sea salt or kosher salt
3 cups old fashioned oats
1 ½ cups flour
2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips


Directions:
  1. Preheat the oven to 350*
  2. In a small saucepan, heat the butter over medium-high heat until melted. Keep cooking, swirling the pot occasionally, until it starts to turn brown and smell nutty.
  3. Remove it from the heat, pour it into a bowl (scrape out all the nice browned bits at the bottom) and stir in the sugars.
  4. Wait 5-10 minutes for the butter to cool down.
  5. Mix in eggs and vanilla.
  6. Then add the oatmeal, spices, flour, baking soda and salt and stir with a spatula until almost blended.
  7. Add the chocolate chips and stir until the dough comes together. Refrigerate for at least an hour or two, or overnight.
  8. Drop dough by rounded tablespoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets.
  9. Bake 8 to 12 minutes or until light golden brown. Cool 1 minute on cookie sheets; remove to wire rack. Cool completely. Store tightly covered.