Brown Sugar Cookies

*Chef's Note: I've stated before my love for all things America's Test Kitchen and that love has not yet waned, nor will it in the foreseeable future.  I've made amazing main courses and sides from their recipes but continue to find that their desserts are where they really shine.  So it is with these cookies. I have never been a huge fan of sugar cookies; more often than not they're too hard, chalky, and taste one-dimensional.  However these cookies are the antithesis of one-dimensional--they begin with browned butter and further their deep flavor with dark brown sugar.  I know these aren't terribly attractive, but in my humble estimation their taste more than makes up for their homeliness. They taste like toffee in a rich, chewy, dense, overwhelmingly decadent cookie. If you're looking for something slightly more challenging than your regular chocolate chip cookie, this is your dessert. And it doesn't require (or even benefit from) a stand mixer. So score one more for less dishes!*

Brown Sugar Cookies
from America's Test Kitchen (with parenthetical notes by Elise)

Prep: 25 minutes
Cook: 12-14 minutes
Makes: 2 dozen cookies

The most efficient way to bake these cookies is to portion and bake half of the dough. While the first batch is in the oven, the remaining dough can be prepared for baking. Avoid using a nonstick skillet to brown the butter. The dark color of the nonstick coating makes it difficult to gauge when the butter is sufficiently browned. (Or be like me and use your non-stick skillet because you don't have anyting else but check the color compulsively against your white spatula you use to stir.) Use fresh brown sugar, as older (read: harder and drier) brown sugar will make the cookies too dry.

14 tablespoons unsalted butter (1 3/4 sticks)
1/4 cup granulated sugar (about 1 3/4 ounces)
2cups packed dark brown sugar (14 ounces)
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour plus 2 tablespoons (about 10 1/2 ounces)
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon table salt
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
1 tablespoon vanilla extract (seriously, a tablespoon--and the better quality your vanilla, the better the cookies will taste)


1. Heat 10 tablespoons butter in 10-inch skillet over medium-high heat until melted, about 2 minutes. Continue to cook, swirling pan constantly until butter is dark golden brown and has nutty aroma, 1 to 3 minutes. Remove skillet from heat and transfer browned butter to large heatproof bowl. Stir remaining 4 tablespoons butter into hot butter to melt; set aside for 15 minutes.

2. Meanwhile, adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 large (18 by 12-inch) baking sheets with parchment paper. In shallow baking dish or pie plate, mix granulated sugar and 1/4 cup packed brown sugar, rubbing between fingers, until well combined; set aside. Whisk flour, baking soda, and baking powder together in medium bowl; set aside.

3. Add remaining 1 3/4 cups brown sugar and salt to bowl with cooled butter; mix until no sugar lumps remain, about 30 seconds. Scrape down sides of bowl with rubber spatula; add egg, yolk, and vanilla and mix until fully incorporated, about 30 seconds. Scrape down bowl. Add flour mixture and mix until just combined, about 1 minute. Give dough final stir with rubber spatula to ensure that no flour pockets remain and ingredients are evenly distributed.

4. Divide dough into 24 portions, each about 2 tablespoons, rolling between hands into balls about 1 1/2 inches in diameter. Working in batches, toss balls in reserved sugar mixture to coat and set on prepared baking sheet, spacing them about 2 inches apart, 12 dough balls per sheet. (Smaller baking sheets can be used, but it will take 3 batches.)

5. Bake one sheet at a time until cookies are browned and still puffy and edges have begun to set but centers are still soft (cookies will look raw between cracks and seem underdone, 12 to 14 minutes, rotating baking sheet halfway through baking. Do not overbake.

6. Cool cookies on baking sheet 5 minutes; using wide metal spatula, transfer cookies to wire rack and cool to room temperature.


Tips:
*When browning your butter, feel free to take your time and keep the heat lower if you're afraid of burning it. You will know you've arrived when it starts to smell like toffee (you'll know when this is--it's rich and amazing and you'll just want to stand there and inhale and inhale and inhale) and the milk solids are brown. Err on the side of under browning if you're anxious about charring your butter like I am. Also, once it's a deep golden brown, get it out of the skillet and into your bowl so it stops cooking.

*As much as I love daintily sized cookies, these need to be large to keep the outsides crisp and the insides chewy, so don't go any smaller with your dough balls than 1 1/2 tablespoons (the size of a medium Oxo cookie scoop--the ones in the picture are a heaping medium cookie scoop). If you don't have a cookie scoop, I would recommend using a tablespoon measure to scoop out the dough to keep the cookies the same size, since size is key to making evenly cooked cookies.

*When judging doneness, poke the very outside edge of the cookie and if it feels slightly crispy while the middle feels very soft, you're good. My oven bakes oddly and so my cookies didn't get any cracks in them. This phenomenon happens pretty consistently and, although my cookies look like wrinkly bulldog puppies, they sure taste good.

*Because these cookies are so dark to begin with, it's hard to gauge doneness by color. Unfortunately you just have to learn what works for your oven by trial and error. I found my cookies cooked much more evenly when I rotated my baking sheet half way through.

Simple and Chewy Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

*Chef's Note: 9 times out of 10 I prefer cookie dough to cookies (with a few minor exceptions) and the [fully baked] cookies I like are moist and chewy. At the insistence of Husband, we made this cookie dough on Sunday night, ate some of the dough and put it away. By the next day the dough had firmed up a little bit and the oatmeal had soaked up enough of the moisture to keep the cookies from spreading when baked. This seemed to be the ideal way to handle the dough as it was pretty solid and easy to roll into balls. As it is with most cookies, the smaller these guys are, the cuter they are. And if they're small you can justify eating 15 because, really, "they're not that big" and they have oatmeal in them. So they're basically health food.*



Prep: 30 minutes
Bake: 10 minutes
Oven: 325 degrees
makes about 4 dozen big cookies or 6 dozen small cookies

1 cup butter, softened
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract (for cookies I always use more vanilla than it calls for)
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour (more if you are going to bake them right away rather than chilling. It helps firm up the dough so the cookies don't spread)
1 tablespoon baking soda (sounds like a lot, but isn't)
1/2 teaspoon salt
3 cups quick-cooking oats (we used old fashioned and they worked fine)
1 cup chopped walnuts (any nuts work well--we used finely chopped almonds and it tasted fabulous)
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips (butterscotch chips would be fabulous too--could do half and half)

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C).The lower temperature lets the cookies bake all the way through without making them really crusty on the outside.
   
2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar, and white sugar until smooth. Beat in eggs one at a time, then stir in vanilla. Combine the flour, baking soda, and salt; stir into the creamed mixture until just blended. Mix in the quick oats, walnuts, and chocolate chips. Drop by heaping spoonfuls onto baking sheets covered with parchment paper.
3. Bake for 10 minutes in the preheated oven. Pull them out when the cookies look like they are just about to brown (they will look pretty blond but still cooked--shiny means they are underdone). Lift the parchment paper out of the pan so the cookies can cool on the counter. Once they have hardened up a little (about 4 or so minutes) transfer to a cooling rack.
   

When storing chewy cookies one way to keep them from drying out is to place a piece of bread in the container with the cookies. The bread is moist enough that it keeps them chewy, although the outside crispiness will lessen because of this. (Since no one really likes the heels of the bread around here we usually put those to good use this way.) Change the piece of bread when it gets dry and crusty if everyone hasn't eaten the cookies by then.

Aunt Phyllis’ Chocolate Chip Banana Nut Oatmeal Cookies

Prep: 30 minutes
Bake: 10-12 minutes
Oven: 375 degrees
Makes a gross of cookies, give or take a dozen

*Chef's note: You're going to need a big bowl for this. Like huge. If you're lucky enough to have a Bosch (covet covet covet), you'll need to use cookie paddles or switch the wire beaters out for a bread hook near the end. Yeah. It's that hardcore.*

2 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
2 cups mashed ripe bananas (the kind that are a little mushy and almost completely brown)
3/4 cup margarine
3/4 cup butter
2 cups sugar
3 cups flour
1 tsp baking SODA
2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
3 1/2 cups rolled oats (not quick oats)
2 cups chocolate chips (but more won’t hurt)
2 cups chopped nuts

Blend the vanilla, eggs, and bananas together until smooth but not foamy. Set aside.

Cream the butter and margarine together. Cream in sugar. Add dry ingredients and mix thoroughly. Add the banana mixture and blend again. Add oats and mix well. Add chocolate and nuts last.

Drop by teaspoonfuls about 1 1/2 inches apart on a greased cookie sheet. Bake at 375 degrees for about 10 to 12 minutes or until lightly browned.

These cookies can be baked right after they are mixed, but they’re better if you refrigerate the batter overnight. They are also very tasty when frozen. :) And you can eat about 4 in a row before you start feeling sick.