Brown Butter Sea Salted Cookies

As much as I would have loved to host the Thanksgiving family dinner this year, I have always longed to be able to run the Turkey Trot in the town where I live. Not that running a 5k was going to mitigate all of the holiday meal calories consumed (more than likely it would take an Ironman Triathlon for that), but a fresh air, running for a good cause start to the day felt good. Really, really good. Not even having to navigate around all of the strollers, walkers, dogs on leashes, groups walking 5 across, or the threat of an overcast, waiting to rain sky could spoil this Thanksgiving first. Already I am thinking ahead to next year, trying to figure out how to manage the possibility of hosting my favorite holiday meal and running this race. Because of course, I don't want to have to choose between the two.

And for the first time in years or I should say decades, I didn't succumb to the lure of all of those Black Friday sales or the endless number of emails offering all of those savings over the Thanksgiving weekend. That too felt good, surprisingly good actually. Over the years, but even more so recently, I have come to realize there is something to be said for savoring all of the sentiments of Thanksgiving for as long as possible. At least for a couple of days more.

Earlier this fall one of my best friends texted to tell me she had just tasted the ultimate, absolute best, most incredible cookie ever. The discovery of 'the' cookies sold by the Brown Butter Cookie Company occurred while she was on vacation in California. While she was savoring every bite of these cookies, I was left wondering 'so what does such a cookie taste like?' Not that I doubted her (okay maybe I did just a teeny tiny bit), but this was a rather significant claim. Fast forward to this past week when an unexpected, most generous gift of these cookies arrived. It took me all of ten seconds to tear open the box and taste one of these cookies. In a single bite, I learned what the ultimate, absolute best, most incredible ever cookie tasted like. After devouring one of the brown butter sea salted shortbread cookies, I thought 'okay now I need to find the recipe for cookies thousands are willing to drive hours to buy and many more thousands are willing to pay $1.00 per cookie for'. So I embarked on the search for this buttery, sweet, salty shortbread cookie. The looming holiday cookie season was an added incentive.

What I found on this search were a myriad of recipes all claiming to taste just like the ones sold at the Brown Butter Cookie Company. Ha! Like most shortbread cookie recipes the most significant difference amongst them is in the flour to butter ratio. These copycat recipes were no different. To make this slightly more challenging, this cookie had a tenderness to it I didn't think could be achieved by simply using only the recommended all-purpose flour. So I had a few decisions to make before attempting to replicate them. Or rather to get as close to them as possible.

For some unscientific, unable to explain from a culinary perspective reason, 6 ounces of unsalted butter and 12 ounces of flour made sense to me. Less butter or more flour just didn't seem right. But the browning of the unsalted butter would be key to the success of this cookie. Too light and the browning flavor would get lost, too dark and it would overpower the sweetness of the cookie. After listening to the which flour to use debate going on in my head, I decided to use a whole wheat pastry flour. If it didn't work, I would have wasted a stick and half of unsalted butter, 1/2 cup of light brown sugar, a teaspoon and a half of vanilla, some sea salt, some fine red Hawaiian sea salt, and 1 1/2 cups of the whole wheat pastry flour. Hardly the end of the world in terms of ingredient cost. Culinary ego and self-esteem were a completely different matter. Okay, yes I know, this is only a cookie.

This is a two bowl cookie recipe. The flour (the whole wheat pastry flour), the sea salt, and the baking soda are mixed together in one bowl. The browned butter, light brown sugar, and vanilla are mixed in another. And then the still warm browned butter mixture is stirred into the flour mixture just until combined. At this point you want the cookie to rest for anywhere from 15 to 30 minutes (I waited 20 minutes but a 30 minute wait would not be too long) to enable the flour to fully absorb into the butter as well as to allow the dough to cool slightly. As a side note, whole wheat pastry flour is not as fine as all-purpose flour, thus it is slower to absorb the liquid (the browned butter/brown sugar mixture) due primarily to the fiber it contains.

There are two benefits to using an ice cream scoop to form the cookies. In addition to creating uniformed sized cookies, it prevents the dough from being overworked and toughened. After removing the dough from the ice cream scoop, it is quickly rolled into a ball, placed on the baking sheet, and pressed down ever so slightly before being dusted with a very light sprinkling of fine Hawaiian red sea salt. Hint: A little of this salt goes a long way.

On a silpat or parchment paper lined baking sheet, the cookies are baked fro 13-15 minutes in a preheated 325 degree (F) oven (my baking time was 15 minutes). After transferring the baked cookies to a cooling rack, allow to completely cool before eating and/or packaging. Remember wait time is all relative. 

The cookie baking stars were aligned on the day I made these Brown Butter Sea Salted Cookies. These were definitely the dense, buttery, salty, melt in your mouth balls of deliciousness I hoped they would be. If the brown butter sea salted cookies from the Brown Butter Cookie Company can sell for $1.00 a cookie, these would be worthy of a 95 cents each price tag. Seriously.

These Brown Butter Sea Salted Cookies will definitely be making an appearance on all of my Christmas cookie platters. However, don't think of them as just another holiday cookie. No, these are kind of cookie you will want to bake year round. Once you taste them you will understand why they shouldn't be relegated to a single month a year. When the cookie connoisseurs in your circle of family and friends first see this rather simple, unassuming cookie, they may look at you and wonder what all of the fuss is about. But trust me, one bite and they will find them hard to resist. This is one incredibly delectable, decadent shortbread cookie. If you haven't noticed, browned butter is one of my favorite things. Fine red Hawaiian sea salt is now added to that list.

Recipe
Brown Butter Sea Salted Cookies (inspired by a recipe shared by Jason Hill)
Makes 15 cookies

Ingredients
12 Tablespoons (6 ounces) unsalted butter
1/2 cup light brown sugar, firmly packed 
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
1 1/2 cups whole wheat pastry flour (recommend Bob's Red Mill Whole Wheat Pastry Flour)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon sea salt
Hawaiian red sea salt, finely ground

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees (F). Line a 12"x18" baking pan with silpat or parchment paper.
2. In a small saucepan, melt butter over low-medium heat. Continue cooking, stirring frequently until the melted butter is a deep golden color (approximately 8-10 minutes).  Remove from stove and pour into small-medium sized bowl.
3. Add light brown sugar and vanilla, stirring until brown sugar dissolves and is fully incorporated into the browned butter. Set aside.
4. In a medium sized bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, and sea salt.
5. Pour butter/brown sugar mixture into the dry ingredients. Fold until combined, being careful not to overmix. 
6. Allow the dough to cool slightly and rest for 15-30 minutes before shaping into balls.
7. Using an ice cream scoop first and then your hands to make one inch bowls. Place on prepared baking sheet. Press down on each cookie ever so slightly. Very lightly sprinkle with red Hawaiian sea salt.
8. Bake for 13-15 minutes. Be careful not to over bake.
8. Transfer cookies to cooling rack. Allow to cool completely before eating or packaging.