Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

To make the brown butter

In a saucepan over medium heat, melt the butter. When the melted butter starts to bubble, keep an eye on it. Once there are brown specks formed in the bottom and the butter gives off a fragrant nutty aroma, pour the melted butter into a heat-proof bowl.

Add water to the brown butter to compensate for moisture lost during the process (e.g. if there is only 150g of liquid left, add 15g to the brown butter). Let the brown butter cool completely.

Cookie dough

Sift flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt into a bowl.

In a stand mixer with a paddle attachment (or using an electric mixer and a bowl), cream together cooled butter, sugars, vanilla extract and espresso powder until fluffy (speed 7 for 5 minutes).

Add the eggs into the butter-sugar mixture. Mix until the eggs are completely incorporated.

Turn the mixer down to the slowest speed. Add dry ingredients into the bowl and mix until most of the dry ingredients are incorporated, making sure that the mixture is not over-mixed. Remove the bowl from stand mixer. Use a spatula to mix the rest of the dry ingredients in by hand.

Add chopped chocolate chunks into the dough mixture. Mix by hand until the chocolate chunks are distributed evenly. You may also save some of chocolate chunks for decorating the top of the cookie dough later on.

Using an ice cream scoop, scoop the cookie dough onto a parchment paper-lined baking tray. If you have saved some chocolate chunks earlier, this is the time to add them to the surface of the cookie doughs.

From this point on, you can choose to bake the cookies immediately, or let them rest in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour.

To bake the cookies, preheat the oven to 350°F. Place the cookie doughs on a baking tray, leaving a 3" space between each dough. Optional: sprinkle some coarse salt onto the cookie dough to enhance the flavour. Bake the cookies for 11-13 minutes, or until the rim and the surface of the cookies hardens, but the centre is still soft.

Once the cookies are out of the oven, let them cool on the baking tray for 10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.