Brown Butter Bakery Style Chocolate Chunk Cookies

These cookies are next-level good. With brown butter and milk powder in the mix, they turn out like those bakery cookies you can't resist. These chocolate chunk cookies take a bit more effort, but they’re so worth it if you’re craving something special. They’re crispy on the edges, chewy in the middle, and absolutely irresistible.

makes about 20 cookies (60g each)

Ingredients:

• 200g butter + 10g water (approx 2 tsp)

• 1 cup brown sugar

• 1/2 cup white sugar

• 1 tsp vanilla

• 2 eggs

• 1 tsp baking soda

• 2 cups flour + 2 tbsp

• 3 tbsp powdered milk

• 1/2 tsp salt

• 1 tsp flakey sea salt (optional but recommended)

• 1 cup of roughly chopped semi-sweet chocolate

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 160°C.

2. Add the butter to a small saucepan and place it over medium heat. Let the butter melt completely, then continue cooking, stirring or swirling the pan frequently. The butter will begin to foam and sizzle as the water cooks off. After a few minutes, you’ll start to see golden-brown bits forming at the bottom of the pan and the butter will smell toasted and caramel-like.

3. Stop the cooking. As soon as the milk solids are golden brown, immediately pour the butter, making sure to get all those brown bits, into a heatproof bowl. Don’t leave it in the hot pan, as the residual heat can quickly burn the butter.

4. Add back some moisture. You should have around 165g of butter after browning. Stir in 2 tsp (10g) water to bring the mixture to approximately 175g. Be careful when adding the water, as the warm butter may bubble or splatter slightly.

5. Let the brown butter cool completely at room temperature before making the dough. It should no longer feel warm to the touch. Using it while it’s still hot can cause the cookies to spread too much in the oven.

6. In a stand mixer, cream together the brown butter, brown sugar and white sugar until light and fluffy.

7. Add the eggs and vanilla and mix until just combined.

8. In another bowl, mix the flour, milk powder, baking soda and salt, then add them to the butter-sugar mix until a dough forms (make sure not to over-mix the dough)

9. Stir in the chocolate chunks.

10. Grab a few tablespoons of the cookie dough and shape the cookie dough into a ball. (I use about 60g of cookie dough for each cookie)

11. Place your cookies on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, placing them about 6 cm apart to make sure they don’t stick to each other.

12. Bake the cookies for 10-12 minutes on the middle rack. (the cookies will still look soft but they will harden as they cool down)

13. Sprinkle the cookies with sea salt and allow them to cool on the baking sheet for at least 10 minutes before removing them.
    

14. Bon Appétit!