Lately I have had a bit of an obsession with Browned Butter so I have been experimenting with substituting it in some of my favourite recipes. This cookie recipe for Brown Butter Pecan Cookies turned out divine if I do say so myself. The spices the butter is simmered in lend a dept of flavour to the dough plus the crunch of the pecans and toffee bits combines to make a really good cookie.
The other great thing about this cookie is that the dough keeps for at least a week in the fridge and in fact the flavour only deepens and gets better after a few days. Now I used pecans, but I think any nut like a walnut would work just as well. The addition of some white chocolate chips would be wonderful as well.
Now back to the Browned Butter – all it takes is salted butter, a vanilla bean, some cinnamon sticks and some freshly grated nutmeg and after a little heat and time you end up with this wonderful aromatic liquid gold. Believe me you will be substituting it in everything. You really need to give it a try.
I hope you take the little extra time to make the Browned Butter and then whip up a batch of these Brown Butter Pecan Cookies – you won’t be disappointed!
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- ⅔ cup bread flour
- 1¼ tsp baking soda
- 1½ tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp salt
- ¾ cup browned butter cooled to room temp (see note)
- ½ cup butter, room temp
- 1¼ cup lightly packed brown sugar
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 2 eggs, room temp
- ½ tsp vanilla
- 1 cup pecan pieces
- ½ cup toffee bits
- Preheat oven to 350℉. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
- In a medium sized bowl whisk together the flours, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer cream together the browned butter and regular butter. Add in both sugars and beat until fluffy. Add in the eggs one at a time and then the vanilla. Beat until well incorporated.
- Add in the flour mixture and mix on low speed. Add in the pecans and toffee pieces and mix just until blended.
- Drop by spoonfuls onto baking sheet. Bake 15-18 minutes until tops are browned. Remove from oven and let stand on sheet for 10 minutes until firmed up, then remove to cooling rack to cool completely.
- Makes 4 dozen cookies.
- * Note* Browned Butter
- In a small saucepan combine 1 cup of butter, 2 crushed cinnamon sticks, ¼ tsp freshly grated nutmeg, 1 vanilla bean split and scraped.
- Bring to a boil and continue boiling until butter starts to brown (about 5-10 minutes).
- Immediately remove from heat, cover pan and let steep for 15 minutes.
- Then strain through a fine sieve into a glass measure. Discard strained spices.