Brown Butter Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Cookies

If you were given only one dessert to eat for the rest of your life, what would you choose?

I choose chocolate chip cookies.

They may not be debonair, suave, or classy. They might not buy their chocolate chips at Fendi or their brown sugar from Saks. They far too often find chalky, lame imitations of themselves in unfortunate lunchboxes across America. Some call them trite, overdone, even cliché. I call them home.

Raise your hand if you’ve ever eaten a chocolate chip cookie and it made you sad. No? No hands? Told you so.

When I was little, I didn’t think there was anything better than a Pepperidge Farm chocolate chunk cookie, microwaved on a paper towel for 18 seconds. Not on a paper plate, not on a grown up plate, those ruined everything. All I needed was a paper towel, melty cookie, and a mini glass of milk just sufficient enough for dipping and I was set for life. Well, at least for the 9 seconds it took before I was standing on a kitchen chair trying to reach the cookie bag on the waaay-too-high-up 3 foot shelf. The memories I can round up, solely in regards to chocolate chip cookies, are unbelievable.

When I first started feeling my way around the kitchen, I wouldn’t dare stray from the back-of-the-bag Nestle Tollhouse cookie recipe. Now, especially with something so ordinary as chocolate chip cookies, I like to experiment. Want to know what I’ve found? Whole wheat flour is actually better than white flour in cookies like these. I know! And it’s better for you too! Additionally, brown butter is like a secret spy ninja in a really nice peacoat who just slips into any given baked good and makes things a whooole lot better. I mean, caramelized butter? Is that a joke? Nope. Not a joke. Do it friends.

PS… Follow me on Twitter!! @flourchild17

Brown Butter Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip Cookies

Adapted from Good to the Grain

3 cups whole wheat flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
2 sticks unsalted butter
1 cup dark brown sugar
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
8 ounces chocolate, chopped into bits (I didn’t have any choppable chocolate on hand, but I would highly suggest it over chocolate chips)

Melt one of the 2 sticks of butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Watch it carefully- it will melt, foam, stop foaming, and then turn almost reddish and little brown specks will start to appear- immediately take it off the heat. It will smell nutty and golden and delicious. Place the melted butter into a small container and freeze it until solid.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment.

Whisk the whole wheat flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt together in a medium bowl. Set aside.

In the bowl of a stand mixer or with a hand mixer, beat the butter (your container of brown butter plus one stick of normal butter. The butters should be cold, but not too hard to work with) and sugars. Once they are creamy, add the eggs and vanilla. Beat to combine.

Add the dry ingredients in two batches and mix. Finally, add the chopped chocolate and just stir to incorporate.

Scoop balls of dough that are approximately 3 tablespoons worth, leaving 2 inches in between. I use a little ice cream scoop to scoop mine. Bake for 15-18 minutes, or until golden brown around the edges. Best served warm, on a paper towel, with an ice cold glass of milk.

Melted chocolate heals everything.

Jordana