Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
Brown butter and spelt flour add a subtle nuttiness to this classic chocolate chip cookie recipe.
Introduction
My favourite cookie is – and always has been – the chocolate chip cookie. In the shop, we’ve come up with the perfect recipe for a super-gooey, rich and nutty cookie that many have declared to be ‘the best cookie I have ever eaten’. For the book, I’ve adjusted the recipe a little, making it slightly chewier by using brown butter. I rarely use brown butter in cookies since I find the nutty flavour often gets drowned out by the other ingredients. However, there are exceptions to this, including this recipe. I love the brown butter with the dark chocolate, which really brings out the nuttiness of the spelt flour. This is a cookie with a beautiful uneven crust and crispy edges.
Ingredients
| 160g (5¾oz/ ¾ cup minus 2 tsp) | butter, browned (see page 103 of Cookies and Crumbs) and left to cool for 20-30 minutes |
| 125g (4½oz/⅔ cup minus 2 tsp) | light muscovado sugar |
| 70g (2½oz/5⅔ tbsp) | caster (granulated) sugar |
| 10g (⅓oz/¾ tbsp) | dark sugar beet syrup (or molasses) |
| 1 | egg |
| 180g (6¼oz/1⅓ cups) | plain (all-purpose) flour |
| 20g (⅔oz/2⅓ tbsp) | spelt or emmer flour |
| 3g (1 tsp) | bicarbonate of soda (baking soda) |
| 2g (⅔tsp) | baking powder |
| 2g (⅔tsp) | salt |
| 150g (5½oz) | dark chocolate, roughly chopped |
| 1 tbsp | sea salt flakes |
Method
Beat the butter, muscovado sugar, caster sugar and syrup in a bowl using a balloon whisk for about 20 seconds.
Add the egg and beat until the batter is smooth.
Combine the plain flour, spelt flour, bicarbonate of soda, baking powder and salt in a separate bowl. Fold the dry ingredients into the butter mixture in two batches until they are just combined, ensuring that you scrape down the sides of the bowl between batches.
Finally, fold in the chocolate so that it is evenly distributed in the batter. Cover the bowl with a lid or cling film (plastic wrap) and leave to rest in the refrigerator for 45 minutes–1 hour.
Take out of the refrigerator and scoop 62g (2¼oz) balls of dough using an ice cream scoop, or roll balls using 2 tablespoons of dough. There should be enough to make about 12 cookies. For a more distinct flavour and taller cookies, place the dough balls in a container with a lid or on a tray that you then cover with cling film. Leave to rest in the refrigerator for at least 3 hours – preferably overnight.
Preheat the oven to 160°C fan (180°C/350°F/gas 4).
Place the dough balls approximately 5cm (2in) apart on baking trays lined with baking parchment. Bake in the middle of the oven for 11–12 minutes. Bake one sheet at a time if not using a fan oven. The cookies should have expanded, risen and begun to develop a firm but slightly glistening surface.
Remove the baking trays from the oven and sprinkle the cookies with sea salt. Leave to cool for 5 minutes, then transfer them to a cooling rack and leave to cool for at least another 10–15 minutes.
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