Holiday Brown Butter Chocolate Cookies

Best enjoyed warm with a cold glass of milk

There’s an art to pulling out a fresh-baked batch of cookies. A feeling that can only be described through the decadent sounds of rippled pure chocolate folded through brown-buttered dough. The warmth of a pure wool sweater touching your skin. Divine. A cold-to-the-touch glass of milk. The holiday spirit seeping through your veins as you reach for that first full bite. Sinatra is spinning on your vinyl. Not a phone is in sight. Your family is on the way for a home-cooked dinner. You sneak in that second bite. A smile of pure joy. These are the cookies everyone will rave about. All is well. All is as it should be.

This holiday brown butter chocolate cookies recipe yields eighteen to nineteen cookies. It takes 30 minutes of active cooking time and an hour of cooling.

Ingredients

• 2 sticks (225g / 1 cup) salted butter

• 2½ cups (315g) all-purpose flour

• 1½ cups (300g) coconut palm sugar

• 1 cup (200g) cane sugar

• 2 large eggs

• 2 tablespoons condensed milk

• 1 tablespoon date syrup

• ½ tablespoon vanilla extract

• 1 teaspoon Celtic sea salt

• 1 teaspoon baking soda

• 1 bar (100g / 3.5 oz) dark chocolate, roughly chopped

• 1 bar (100g / 3.5 oz) milk chocolate, roughly chopped

• 4 candy canes, lightly crushed

• Small handful flaky sea salt

1. Brown Butter

In a medium pot over low heat, melt butter while stirring continuously. Once butter begins to bubble and brown speckles appear in the center, remove from heat. Transfer to a bowl and let cool for about 1 hour until room temperature.

2. Prepare Oven

Preheat oven to 350°F (175°C). Line baking sheets with parchment paper.

3. Make Dough

In a large bowl, combine both sugars and cooled brown butter. Add baking soda, date syrup, condensed milk, vanilla, salt, and eggs. Fold completely until mixture reaches an even consistency. Sift in flour and fold until just combined. Do not overmix. Fold in chopped chocolate pieces and any shavings.

4. Shape Cookies

Using an ice cream scoop, loosely form dough into balls with some dough coming off the sides. Do not pack too tightly or cookies won’t spread while baking. Place 8 cookies per tray, spacing them evenly.

5. Bake

Bake for 10 minutes until edges are golden but centers still look slightly underdone.

6. Finish

While cookies bake, lightly crush candy canes using a mortar and pestle. Remove cookies from oven and let rest on the baking sheet for 2-3 minutes. Transfer to a cooling rack with a spatula. While still warm, sprinkle each cookie with crushed candy cane (both chunks and peppermint dust) and a pinch of flaky salt.

7. Serve

Enjoy warm with a cold glass of milk.

This recipe was written by Abigail and Kathleen Gomez.

This piece was first published in Issue 40 of the WARKITCHEN, a Christmas special. Explore the full WARKITCHEN archive here. Enjoy the experience 🥂