For Your Weekend Baking Needs

I made the best. cookies. ever. all thanks to this lady who had the genius idea to morph the famed Neiman Marcus cookie recipe with one from Thomas Keller's Ad Hoc cookbook to essentially create, well...as I said, the best cookies ever.

The secret (I think) is the brown butter, which maybe the world's most tastiness-inducing (I know, I know) ingredient. Ever since I read Jeffrey Steingarten's article in Vogue about brown butter I've been drying to try it, and now I'm hooked.

the brown butter in all its glory...

So a couple of things about the recipe that threw me off a bit...When I poured my brown butter over my softened butter, it totally melted it. As a result, the butter wasn't creamy when I whipped it, rather it was just liquefied, which in turn made the batter was very soft and greasy. This worried me a bit as Shayna said it would be dry (so my guess is that she let her melted butter cool a bit) but never fear, it didn't effect the sheer amazingness of the cookies at all. Also the batter is dark (due to the brown butter, natch) so the cookies might look done before they're actually done. Don't take them out too soon (I cooked my in a convection oven for about 16 minutes...)

Ok that's all. Now to the important part, the recipe. Happy baking, and be sure you have someone around that will take some of these off your hands, otherwise you will eat every single one by yourself. I'm just sayin.

Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies (adapted from the lovely Shayna)

Makes 2 dozen cookies

• 1 stick unsalted butter, divided
• 1 cup brown sugar, packed
• 3 tablespoons granulated sugar
• 1 egg
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 1 3/4 cup flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 teaspoon instant espresso powder
• 1 cup of chocolate chips (I didn't have chocolate chips, so I busted a bittersweet chocolate bar into shards)
• 1 cup chopped walnuts

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees. Line a baking sheet with a baking mat or parchment paper.

Set aside one half (4 tablespoons) stick of butter and let soften. Cut the other half in chunks and melt over a medium flame, swirling often, until it's light brown in color and has a nutty aroma.

Pour the melted butter over the softened butter and beat on high for about 30 seconds until the butter has a creamy texture.

Beat in both sugars until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Add the egg and vanilla and beat until completely mixed.

In a separate bowl sift together the flour, baking soda and baking powder. Add this to the butter mixture and beat on low until just combined. Stir in the espresso powder, chocolate chips and walnuts and finish mixing by hand.

Drop the dough on to the cookie sheet about 3 inches apart. Lightly press down to flatten. Bake about 16 minutes or until lightly browned around the edges.