Brown Butter Cacao Cookies

American · Year-round · 45 min · Serves 18 · By Daniel Owens

The brown butter and the single-origin cacao do all the heavy lifting. Cool the dough overnight if you can. The flavor sharpens, the edges crisp, and the centers stay chewy.

Ingredients

  • 230g Fattoria Rossi cultured butter, salted
  • 180g light brown sugar
  • 100g granulated sugar
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 280g all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • Pinch of fine salt
  • 200g Cacao de Oaxaca 70% bar, hand-chopped
  • Aeolian flake salt, for finishing

Method

  1. Melt the butter in a wide pan over medium heat. Swirl until the milk solids turn the color of toast and smell nutty. Pour into a heatproof bowl and cool 10 minutes.
  2. Whisk in both sugars, then the eggs and vanilla, until the batter is glossy.
  3. Stir in the flour, baking soda, and fine salt with a spatula. Fold through the chopped chocolate.
  4. Scoop two-tablespoon mounds onto a tray, cover, and chill at least 1 hour. Overnight is better.
  5. Heat the oven to 190°C. Space the dough on lined trays. Bake 11 to 13 minutes, until the edges are set and the centers still look slightly underdone.
  6. Sprinkle with flake salt while warm. Let them set on the tray for five minutes before moving.