Browned Butter Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

Hey Chitlins! Sorry I’ve been MIA. It’s been hella rough ’round the office these days. But the good news is, we made it through our busy season and put up some pretty good numbers, and I {hopefully} won’t be working weekends again any time soon. Let’s double cross our fingers on that one shall we?

So if you can, drag your mind alllll the way back to two weeks ago when I said I had a story for you, cuz it’s story-time ladies and germs.

Ever since I moved to New York. Wait… scratch that. Ever since I saw that episode from Sex and the City (or was it the movie?) where Miranda meets Steve in the middle of the Brooklyn Bridge to reconcile, I have wanted to walk the Brooklyn Bridge. Add to that list my desire to also visit the Brooklyn Flea (which some could argue is in the general vicinity of the bridge) AND the sheer luck that the Doughnut Plant is within walking distance of the bridge, I managed to convince The BF that we needed to walk it. Like now. Immediately. I’ve already blocked off the weekend and put it in our calendar so DON’T MAKE PLANS.

Lucky for me, he also wanted to walk the bridge and hadn’t done so in the {gasp!} 10 years he’d lived in the city. With 15 years of city-livin’ between the two of us, it was high time we high-tailed it down to the dreaded BKLYN from our beloved Queens.

The day started out cheery enough. The weather was gorgeous, The BF didn’t oversleep OR complain about “getting up early” (aka before noon) to go do something, and I was pumped up and ready to go. Except that none of the subways were running out of Queens. No bigs, we just hopped a $40 cab down to the flea. Oomph.

After roaming the flea, we then decide that we’re hearty souls and we’re going to walk aaallll the way from the Flea to the Brooklyn bridge. It’s maybe two miles. Nothing terrible, and the weather was nice, and I’d already blocked off the calendar so it’s not like we had plans for later. We mosey for awhile, with only, like, three detours through parks/wrong turns because I can’t read a map too well/the signage SUCKS in Brooklyn. We arrive at what looks like it might possibly be the world’s longest on-ramp to the bridge but spy a sign that seems to indicate it’s around the next block.

We start following said sign, which simply read “To Bridge” only discover around the next corner that it was for the MANHATTAN bridge. Woops. Backtrack all the way around the largest city block in history to discover that where we turned initially was exactly where we were supposed to walk onto the bridge. Oops.

We’re not more than 100 yards onto the ON RAMP of the bridge when we notice there is no traffic flowing off the bridge into Brooklyn and all the traffic in the direction of Manhattan is stopped. In fact, there’s a cop turning cars around at the end of the line. I had read that there was construction on the bridge and attributed it to that.

Then, a HOSTAGE NEGOTIATIONS TRUCK comes screamin’ down, against traffic, towards the bridge and squeals onto the bridge, again going in the wrong direction. The BF and I look at it, a little perplexed and The BF then jokes, “Maybe there’s a jumper. He’s holding himself hostage.” Har har har…..except there was a jumper. And he was holding himself hostage, and by that point he had been for an hour. But at the time we were oblivious to this fact and kept working our way across the bridge.

Empty Bridge

We get about halfway over and hear rumors that the bridge is closed and something about a jumper. But I refused to believe it and kept going. And then it became glaringly apparent that we’d made the wrong decision and should have turned around but at that point we could SEE Manhattan and it was such a long walk back. Maybe we could out wait him. I mean, how long do potentially suicidal people last on top of a bridge anyway?

I’ll answer that for you: a long time. We arrived at the scene of the potential crime about an hour and change after he had climbed up there. We stuck around for 30 minutes, heard some wild cheering, searched the twitosphere to find they had him in custody and decided we’d stick it out longer. Except that longer turned out to be another hour and change, apparently while they wrangled with him in custody. So all told, we got to spend a little under two hours in the near center of the Brooklyn Bridge. I’d like to say it was romantic, but it’s a little hard to be romantic when a suicidal man is the reason for your dallying (for the record we never actually saw the guy, only the cops from the hostage negotiations unit on top of the bridge).

By this point The BF had actually fallen asleep on the bridge, complete with snoring, and I managed to add approximately forty new people to my Instagram feed out of sheer boredom.

Anyway, we made it across the bridge and rewarded ourselves with some delicious donuts from The Doughnut Plant (one of the first episodes of Bobby Flay Throwdown I ever saw!) and made it home only three hours later than we initially planned.

This has absolutely nothing to do with these cookies except that they’re amazing and delicious and you should make them. Plus, they’ll cheer you right up after a day like that. Trust. The BF and I probably ate a half dozen or more between us that evening.

*Just a Note: Browning butter is really easy, but you have to keep an eye on it because it can quickly go from browned to burnt before you even know what’s happening. As excruciating as it can be, brown it slowly and whisk frequently. You won’t regret it. As per the usual I followed the weight measurements but I’ve listed the volume measurements as well. 

Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

Recipe adapted from Baking Illustrated

3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) butter

3.5 oz (1/2 cup packed) light brown sugar

3.5 oz (1/2 cup packed) dark brown sugar

3.5 oz (1/2 cup) white sugar

1 large egg plus 1 yolk

3 5/8 oz (2/3 cup plus 2 tbsp) whole wheat flour

7 oz (1 1/3 cup) all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

2 tsp vanilla

1 cup mini chocolate chips

sea salt for sprinkling

Heat oven to 350º F and line two baking sheets with parchment or a Silpat.

In a large heavy bottomed but shiny sauce pan melt the butter over medium heat whisking frequently. Let mixture boil and bubble until it turns an amber color and brown flecks appear on the bottom of the pan, about 10-15 minutes. The mixture will smell like caramel. Immediately remove from heat and whisk constantly for two minutes, or until mixture had cooled slightly and the brown particles have been scraped off the bottom of the pan. Set aside and let cool to room temperature.

Meanwhile, in a separate bowl, whisk together the flours, baking soda and salt. Set aside. When butter mixture has cooled, pour in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. Add the sugars and beat until fully incorporated. This won’t cream in the same way as room temperature butter and sugar but should look like very wet sand. Add the egg and yolk, one by one and beat until thoroughly mixed. Add the vanilla and beat until thoroughly incorporated.

With mixer running on low, gradually add the flour, beating just until no streaks remain. Then add the chocolate chips. I found that I had to mix the dough with my hands to incorporate the chips fully.

Using a small cookie scoop or a tablespoon roll golf ball sized balls of dough. Then rip the balls in half and sandwich the rounded ends together leaving the outsides jagged. Place with one jagged edge on the baking sheet and the other jagged edge facing up. Sprinkle the tops with sea salt. Space cookies about an inch apart. This will make roughly 3 dozen large cookies. You don’t have to rip your dough balls in two to bake, but be sure to flatten the tops of your cookies once on the pan or they’ll bake up looking like dried out ice cream scoops.

Bake for 10-12 minutes or until the edges are golden brown and the middles are just set. Let cool for 2 minutes on the pan before moving to a wire rack to cool completely. These will keep on the counter for a few days uncovered and still remain chewy, or alternately keep in an airtight container at room temperature for up to two weeks.