Wednesday, February 14, 2018

Recipe Notes: Brown Sugar Cookies

18 January 2018

Recipe from The Perfect Cookie, America's Test Kitchen, 2017, p. 39; also available online


For Christmas I got two America's Test Kitchen cookbooks, including The Perfect Cookie  with 250 recipes. Where to start? A Facebook group for ATK fans had a series of posts extolling the virtues of Brown Sugar Cookies, so that seemed as good a place as any to start. 


The cookies are easy to make requiring less than 90 minutes to make and bake 22 cookies. (I should note that I made these cookies twice. The first time I did something wrong, I don't know what, and they were inedible. So I tried again and got it right.) All of the mixing is done by hand. Butter is melted and then browned to create toffee/caramel flavors. This is set aside after adding some additional, cold, butter to help cool the butter off and to add some water. While the butter cools the remaining ingredients can be measured. Flour is whisked with baking soda and baking powder. Dark brown sugar and salt are stirred into the cooled butter then an eggs and vanilla extract (a whole tablespoon) are added. The flour mixture is stirred in until the ingredients are just combined. The dough is portioned using a #30 scoop, rolled in a mixture of  brown sugar and white sugar, then baked for about 16 minutes.


I agree with most of the people in the ATK Facebook group who enjoy these cookies. They have a wonderful brown-sugar flavor that is enhanced by the vanilla and brown butter. They are chewy on the inside with a crisp exterior. The texture and flavor hold up well for cookies that are stored at room temperature and those that have been frozen. I will probably make these again, maybe even before trying the remaining 249 recipes in the book.

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