Crisp edges, tender centre, chockful of bittersweet chocolate chunks and occasionally accompanied with a tiny burst of salty fleur de sel delight, these brown butter chocolate chip cookies are a new level of deliciousness!
Place butter in a light-coloured saucepan. Place over low heat and swirl occasionally (not stirring), until butter has melted.
170 grams unsalted butter
Turn up the heat to medium and let butter come to a simmer. It will start to sizzle and sputter as the water comes to a boil. Stir constantly and gently with a silicone spatula to allow water to evaporate from the butter.
Once the sizzling sound becomes softer, the butter will now start to foam (and you may detect a whiff of nuttiness). Remove from heat at this point. Stir constantly and gently to allow the residual heat toast the milk solids. Stir until you see brown specks dotting throughout the foam. Return to heat as needed if the butter has cooled down too much or you are unable to see the brown specks forming.
Once the brown specks are dotting throughout the foam, immediately pour the butter into a mixing bowl, scrapping all the browned bits out. Add in the ice cube and stir until ice cube has melted. Let cool for 15 minutes.
10 grams ice cube
Mix the Dry Ingredients
While butter is cooling, whisk flour, baking powder and baking soda in a separate mixing bowl for a full 1 minute to evenly disperse the raising agents. Set aside.
Add the sugars, vanilla and salt into the browned butter and whisk until incorporated , about 1 minute.
100 grams caster sugar, 100 grams light brown sugar, 2 teaspoons vanilla, 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
Add in egg and egg yolk and whisk for 1 minute. Let the batter rest for 3 minutes, then whisk again for another 30 seconds.
1 large egg, 1 egg yolk
Add in the flour mixture and use a rubber spatula and fold until no dry specks of flour is left. Add in the chopped chocolate and fold with a rubber spatula until chocolate is evenly mixed in. The cookie dough will be quite thick yet shiny.
200 grams chocolate
Using an ice cream scoop, divide the cookie dough into 60 to 62 grams each. Roll each dough portion into a ball and place on a lined baking sheet. Cover with clingfilm and chill for at least 1 hour, up to 48 hours, for the flavours to develop.
Baking the Cookies
Preheat oven to 180°C (conventional) / 170°C (convectional). Line baking sheets with parchment paper or Silpat. Get ready 2 wire racks to cool the cookies.
If the dough has been chilled for more than 1 hour and is very firm, let the dough come to room temperature slightly for 5 to 10 minutes. Otherwise, space each cookie dough 5-cm apart from one another on the lined baking sheet. Flatten into a 1-cm thick disc with the palm of your hand. Press a few more chocolate chips / chunks onto the cookie dough if desired.
Bake for 8 minutes. Rotate the baking sheet 180 and bake for another 7 minutes, until the cookies are browned at the edges. (If the cookies are too firm to your liking, reduce baking time by 1-2 minutes.)
To make uneven and ragged cookies, break the cookie dough into half and position them such that the halves overlap one another. Press the dough gently to "fuse" them together.
Cooling the Cookies
Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet on a wire rack for 3 minutes, then sprinkle with sea salt flakes, if desired. Let cool for another 5 minutes. Slide a thin spatula underneath the cookies and carefully transfer them to the other wire rack to cool completely. Store the cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for 5 days.
Serve
The cookies are best eaten warm (baker's perk!), but they taste awesome at room temperature too.
NOTES
If you don't plan to sprinkle sea salt flakes on the cookies, you can increase the amount of sea salt in the batter to 3/4 teaspoon.
Do use good quality chocolate here. I like using dark chocolate so that the overall cookie is not too sweet - I use half 70% Valrhona chocolate (chopped) and half 53.7% Callebaut chocolate callets.
These cookies are huge, you can make smaller ones, but do remember to reduce the baking time as well.