Brown Butter Cinnamon Cookies with White Chocolate Chips

I'd like to introduce you to your new favorite cookie: 

Sometimes you meet a cookie, fall in love with the dough, and before it even makes it way into the oven you know it's going to be epic. 

Brown butter and I go way back, and it never ceases to amaze me. It's a sure-fire ingredient to make cookies and most desserts even more amazing. What a sneaky, but incredible, way it can completely transform something from tasting wonderful to tasting... 

INSANELY RIDICULOUS. 

But I believe browning butter is a complete art. If you under brown it for even a second, it's not going to to have the full effect. If you let it brown a second longer that it should, it burns almost immediately. Sometimes it works out perfectly without any effort at all, and sometimes you feel like you've effortlessly wasted yet another half pound of butter within seconds. It can be a pain that way, but aren't most things that are kind of a pain completely worth it in the end? If you've ever tried it, you know what I'm talking about. If you haven't tried browning butter before, it's about time you welcome yourself into the club. This recipe is the perfect way to jump on the bandwagon. 

As I look outside my window right now in almost-mid March, it's a complete white-out blizzard. Miserable at the least. This is why I dread the snow when it innocently starts to fall in November/December - because I know darned well it's going to stay past April in Utah. It's a beast, I tell you! Snow is the worst. Driving in it is just bad. Bad. BAD. 

Fortunately, it provides the perfect afternoon and evening for baking something sweet your family can enjoy together. Don't say you haven't been warned, though. These cookies have been the hardest cookies to resist taking just one more little bite. The taste lingers in the most devilish way possible, and it'll take everything inside you to not grab a couple more cookies to feed the sugar beast! 

- - - 

Brown Butter Cinnamon Cookies with White Chocolate Chips

makes 2 dozen

ingredients:

2 1/4 C all-purpose flour

1 T cinnamon

1 1/4 t baking soda

1/4 t teaspoons salt

2 sticks (1 C) unsalted butter

1/4 C granulated sugar

1 1/4 C dark brown sugar

1 large egg + 1 egg yolk

1 1/2 t vanilla extract

1 T greek yogurt or sour cream

1 1/2 C white chocolate chips

method:

1. Don't preheat oven (the dough will have to chill for 2 hours before any of that nonsense - just getting you ready :). Whisk together the dry ingredients (flour, cinnamon, baking soda, salt) in a medium bowl and set aside. 

2. Melt butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Have a separate bowl ready on the side. After the butter melts completely, whisk constantly. It will  begin to foam. Watch it closely so it doesn't burn, and keep whisking. When the butter begins to brown (dark amber) and gives of a nutty-like aroma immediately transfer melted butter to the bowl. There should be little browned bits on the bottom of the pan - make sure to scrape those right into the melted browned butter. Place in the fridge for 10 minutes or until it reaches room temperature. 

3. With your stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, mix the butter and sugars until thoroughly combined. Beat in egg, yolk, vanilla, and yogurt or sour cream until blended. Slowly add in the dry ingredients and beat on low-speed until just combined. Toss in chocolate chips and mix for 10 seconds until folded in completely. 

4. Transfer dough to a container with a tight-fitting lid, or wrap dough in plastic wrap. Chill for 2 hours. It's torture, but worth it - I promise!

5. Before your dough is finished chilling, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Scoop balls of dough (2 T's worth) into a ball and place on a greased/lined baking sheet about 1 1/2 inches apart. Bake for 9 minutes. They will look underdone in the middle, but take them out anyway. Let cookies sit on baking sheet for a minute, then transfer them to a wire rack to cool. Repeat with remaining dough. Store in an airtight container with a slice of bread for up to a week. 

recipe adapted from: whipperberry - "brown butter white chocolate chip & cinnamon chip cookies"