Nowadays, the recipes I choose to bake generally either center on new ingredients or techniques I’ve yet to master.
However, every once in a while I make something for the singular reason that I want to eat it.
That’s exactly what happened when these browned butter coconut cookies popped up in Smitten Kitchen’s Instagram feed. There I was, casually scrolling one weekday afternoon and there they were: nutty, coconutty and buttery. I’m not kidding when I say it took a herculean effort not to grab my car keys and flee my office so that I could go home and start browning butter.
Luckily for my employment status, I held off until the weekend.
They were SO worth the wait: browned butter and coconut were meant to be together. Even better than peas and carrots. I’m telling you. Cripsy on the edges but chewy through the middle, I really can’t think of a more appropriate summer picnic treat.
As if you needed further incentive, in my book, there is nothing that smells better than browning butter. Forget the potpourri or scented candle. If you want to sell your house, brown some butter before the open house.
While the original recipe only calls for coconut chips, the first time I made these I added a cup of butterscotch chips. The second time I used cinnamon chips. I have big plans for the third batch.
Coconut Brown Butter Cookies
From Smitten Kitchen who got the recipe from The City Bakery by way of The Martha Stewart Show. Adapted by The Misanthropic Hostess.
Ingredients
- 1 C (2 sticks or 225 grams) unsalted butter
- 2 TBS water
- 1/2 C plus 2 TBS (125 grams) granulated sugar
- 3/4 C (145 grams) packed light-brown sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1 1/4 C plus 3 tablespoons (175 grams) all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- Slightly heaped 1/2 tsp flaky sea salt or 1/4 teaspoon table salt
- 4 C (240 grams) dried, unsweetened coconut chips
- 1 C chocolate, butterscotch, peanut butter or cinnamon chips (optional)
Directions
- In a medium saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. It will melt, then foam, then turn clear golden and finally start to turn brown and smell nutty. Stir frequently, scraping up any bits from the bottom as you do. Once it is a deeply fragrant, almost nut-brown color, remove from heat and pour butter and all browned bits at the bottom into a measuring cup. Adding 2 tablespoons water should bring the butter amount back up to 1 cup.
- Chill browned butter in the fridge until it solidifies, about 1 to 2 hours.
- Scrape chilled browned butter and any bits into a large mixing bowl. Add both sugars and beat the mixture together until fluffy.
- Add egg and beat until combined, scraping down bowl as needed, then vanilla.
- Meanwhile, whisk flour, baking soda and salt together in a separate bowl. Pour half of flour mixture into butter mixture and mix until combined, then add remaining flour and mix again, scraping down bowl if needed. Add coconut chips in two parts as well.
- Fold-in additional chips if using.
- Scoop dough into 1 inch balls, flatten each slightly and arrange all onto a baking sheet (separating layers with parchment paper). Refrigerate for an hour up to over night.
- When you are ready to bake, heat oven to 350 degrees. Line baking sheets with parchment paper or a nonstick baking mat.
- Arrange a few with a lot of room for spreading on the baking sheets. Bake cookies until golden brown all over, about 10 minutes (rotate halfway through cooking). Repeat to bake all cookies.
- Cool cookies on baking sheets for 1 to 2 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack. Cookies keep for up to one week at room temperature. Extra dough can be stored in the fridge for several days or in the freezer for a month or more.