Brown Butter choco chunk shortbread

Upon my discovery of brown butter this past summer I have been eager to try it once again in another chocolate chunk cookie. These brown butter salted chocolate chunk shortbread cookies are absolutely delicious. It was a bit of a struggle at first because I almost forgot to account for the loss in volume when you brown butter but after my second batch and a few tweeks it’s a winner.

Just to be clear, I love the aroma of brown butter, it is warm, nutty and so divine. If you want a more detailed description of brown butter take a look at my post from August. Let me know if you would like me to create a special post just on brown butter because this stuff is magical.

Now, let’s get down to the nitty gritty, i.e. the recipe!

Brown Butter Chocolate Chunk shortbread

Ingredients

Butter, unsalted (room temp) 1 cup or 2 sticks plus 2 tbs

Confectioners sugar 1/2 cup

Granulated sugar 1/8 cup

Brown sugar 1/8 cup

Kosher salt 1/2 tsp

Vanilla Extract 2 tsp

Egg yolks, (reserve whites) 2 each

Dark chocolate chunks, roughly chopped 1/3 cup

AP Flour 2 cups

Flake Sea Salt, for garnish

Directions

Directions

Before beginning to mix the cookies you must first brown your butter and allow it to fully cool (Tip: do this the day before so the day of you can allow brown butter to be at room temp).

With a mixer on low speed, beat the brown butter plus 2 tablespoons of room temp butter, sugars, and salt together until smooth but, not creamy . Add the yolks one at a time ensuring that the yolk is fully incorporated before adding the next. Then add the vanilla. Scrape the bowl and add the flour all at once along with your chocolate chunks. Mix only until the flour is incorporated.

Divide the dough in half, shape into a log, and place each log on its own sheet of parchment or wax paper. Roll the log up in the paper tightening as you go. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours or if your like me and in a hurry freeze for at least 1 hour.

Center the oven rack and preheat the oven to 350°F (177°C).

Remove dough from refrigerator or freezer and use a serrated knife to cut 1” slices of the log to place on prepared sheet pans for baking. (Tip: using a serrated knife is best in case you hit a large chunk of chocolate and need to gently saw through.)

Sprinkle the cookies with flake salt such as Maldon and bake for 12 - 15 minutes, until the cookies are golden brown on their bottoms and around their edges. Cool for 10 minutes on the baking sheet, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.