Dark Chocolate, Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies with Browned Butter

I had a really hard time coming up with a name for these cookies.  Can you tell?

There’s dark chocolate chips, melted dark chocolate, nuts, craisins, coconut oil and browned butter…

mmmmm browned butter.

I want to write sonnets about browned butter.

It’s that amazing.

I’ve seen recipes with browned butter floating around the web, but I never tried it until I stumbled across Elise’s recipe for Awesome Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies. I’m now an official browned butter convert.

Browned butter is wonderful; it’s nutty and aromatic and delicious.  It’s very possible that I’m a smidge obsessed with it.

If you need a step by step picture on how to brown butter, Jessica from How Sweet Eats has a great How to Brown Butter post on her blog.

The ingredients and ideas for these cookies were already whirling around in my head when I stumbled across Elise’s recipe, and it was then that I decided because of some wild hair to attempt adding browned butter to the mix.

Elise never leads me astray.

She’s amazing.

Everyone should say Thank you to Elise.

“Thank you to Elise”

Browned butter not only makes your kitchen smell wonderfully homey and nutty, but it adds a fantastic depth to these cookies.

A couple of weeks ago I was absolutely craving oatmeal cookies, and chocolate cookies, and craisin cookies, and something chock full of nuts.

I really go all out with my cravings 🙂

I was so nervous to brown butter for the first time – WHAT IF I BURN IT!?!

I don’t know what exactly I thought would happen, but I watched that butter like my life depended on it.  I swished, I stirred, I watched it froth, and I waited and waited for the browned bits to start appearing under the froth.

When I saw the browned bits appear, I immediately pulled the butter off the stove and poured it into my giant glass measuring cup that was once my Granny’s – I think about her every time I use it.  Every scratch and mark is a piece of my family history, a meal eaten and shared, a dessert made for a loved one or a friend in need.

It wasn’t until the butter started to cool that I began to smell the nutty smell that people rave about.   It’s that good y’all, it smells THAT wonderful – it’s rich, aromatic, nutty, it smells like comfort and home and the promise of something delicious.

When the browned butter combines with sugars, vanilla, dark chocolate, oats, dried cranberries, walnuts and melted dark chocolate – something magical happens.

Cookie magic happens.

Rich, dark, chocolatey, chewy, oatmeal cookie goodness happens.

I’ve made these several times to ensure that I had the recipe exactly as I wanted it – the right balance of dark chocolate, roasted cinnamon, nuts, dried cranberries, vanilla –  let me tell ya, my poor neighbors and family – they have such hard lives with me and my recipe testing.

I really, really want y’all to make these cookies.  Seriously, make them for Teacher’s Appreciation Week – you will jump to the head of the class.   Make them for your favorite mom for Mother’s Day, for your favorite Dad for Father’s Day, make them for your favorite kids because every kid should have a yummy, rich cookie with a cold glass of milk to go with their homework.

Honestly, y’all don’t need a reason to make these, but I’m trying to help y’all out by giving you an excuse 🙂

OH! I know!  You’ve never browned butter before, or it’s your favorite thing to do with butter!  There’s your reason to make these right there.

See – browned butter is a wonderful thing.

Amazing Chocolate, Oatmeal, Cranberry, Browned Butter, Chock-Full-of-Awesome-Cookies

Deliciously rich chocolate-y chocolate chip oatmeal cookies chock full of nuts and dried cranberries

Print Recipe

Prep Time:20 minutes mins

Cook Time:10 minutes mins

Total Time:30 minutes mins

Ingredients

• Inspired by the browned butter in Elise's Awesome Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
• 1 C 2 sticks unsalted butter
• 1 1/2 C unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 1/2 tsp roasted cinnamon
• 1 C packed dark brown sugar
• 1/2 C white granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract I prefer vanilla bean paste or madagascar bourbon for their deeper flavor
• 2 Tbsp water
• 2 1/2 C dark chocolate chips divided 1 1/2 C and 1 C
• 1 C chopped walnuts
• 1 C dried cranberries
• 1/2 Tbsp coconut oil
• 3 C old fashioned oats

Instructions

How to Brown Butter: Jessica from How Sweet Eats has a great step by step tutorial on How to Brown Butter

• Put your butter in a thick bottomed medium sized stainless steel saucepan. Melt over medium heat, stirring frequently. Once the butter melts, it will continue to cook and foam up. This is when you want to stir constantly so that you can see beneath the foam. That's where the browning occurs. This whole process takes about 10 minutes, so be patient and watch carefully! Once you see the brown bits start to appear, remove the pan from the heat and move the butter to another container to cool while you prep the rest of the ingredients.

Cookies

• Pre-heat the oven to 350°F
• Whisk together flour, salt, roasted cinnamon, baking soda together and set aside.
• Pour all the browned butter (don't leave out the browned bits!!) into your favorite mixing bowl.
• Add in the sugars and beat on medium high until smooth.
• Add in the eggs and vanilla and beat until smooth
• Remove the bowl from the mixer and use a wooden spoon to mix the flour and spice mixture into the browned butter and sugar mixture.
• Add in the water and the 1 1/2 C of dark chocolate chips, walnuts, and the dried cranberries and stir until thoroughly mixed
• Over medium heat melt the 1 C dark chocolate chips with 1/2 Tbsp coconut oil - stirring until most of the chips are melted. Remove from heat and pour into the batter, mixing well.
• At this point, I abandon all pretense of using a spoon and just use my hands.
• Add in the oats and squish and mix until completely blended.

To cook

• Place parchment paper on cookie sheets
• You could use a cookie scoop, but I just form about 1 1/2 " balls with my hands, flatten them out a bit and place them on the cookie sheet spacing them about 2" away from each other.
• I like my oatmeal cookies a bit chewy so I only bake mine for 10 minutes.
• Always test a couple of cookies in your oven to check for temperature and done-ness.
• Let cool for a couple of minutes on your cookie sheet then remove to a wire rack to cool completely.

Author: Rachel

Don’t forget to check out Elise’s Awesome Oatmeal Chocolate Chip cookie recipe

Next up for me and my new Browned Butter fascination:

• Browned Butter Salty Sugar Cookies by Bake or Break
• Brown Butter Salted Caramel Snickerdoodles by Two Peas and Their Pod

Do you have a recipe using browned butter that you’re absolutely gaga over?  Please share in the comments!

linking this to What’s Cooking Wednesday on Buns In My Oven