High Altitude Nutty Brown Butter Cookies
Thick and chewy, nutty brown butter cookies, loaded with crunchy walnuts, pecans, hazelnuts and macadamia nuts.
All recipes on Curly Girl Kitchen are developed for high altitude at 5,280 feet. See FAQs for adjusting to higher or lower elevations.
Equipment
- Large Cookie Scoop with Release Lever (3 tbsp capacity)
Ingredients
- 9 tbsp unsalted butter
- ⅓ cup granulated sugar
- ½ cup dark brown sugar, lightly packed
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 large egg
- 1 large egg yolk (save the extra white for another use)
- 1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour, fluffed, spooned and leveled
- 1 tsp corn starch
- 1 tsp coarse Kosher salt (if using table salt, use half the amount)
- ½ tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp ground cardamom
- 1 ½ cups chopped assorted nuts (unsalted)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 F and position a rack in the center of the oven. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Continue to cook the butter for about 4-5 minutes, swirling the pan occasionally, until the butter stops spattering, a layer of foam appears on top of the butter, and nutty brown solids have formed at the bottom of the pan. The butter should be very fragrant. Pour the browned butter, including the browned bits, into a bowl.
- Let the butter cool for two minutes, then add the granulated sugar, brown sugar, vanilla, egg, and egg yolk, and whisk vigorously for two minutes until smooth and lightened in color.
- In a separate bowl, combine the flour, corn starch, salt, baking soda and cardamom. Add the flour mixture and the chopped nuts to the liquid ingredients, and stir into a thick dough.
- Divide the dough into 13 portions (each the size of an ice cream/cupcake scoop). Flatten the dough balls into thick disks with the palm of your hand.
- Space the cookies three inches apart on the baking sheet. Bake the cookies on the center oven rack for about 10-11 minutes, until the edges are set, but the centers are still slightly underdone.(I have a 15x20 baking sheet which can accommodate all 13 cookies at a time. If your baking sheet is the more standard size of 13x18 inches, then you'll need to bake the cookies in two batches so they have enough room to spread.)
- For perfectly round cookies, use a round cookie cutter with a circumference that's larger than the baked cookies, and "scoot" it around the hot cookies, immediately after taking them out of the oven. Cool the cookies on the baking sheet for 2 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.
Notes
- Salted vs Unsalted Nuts. I used unsalted nuts, but if you use salted nuts, you should decrease the salt in the recipe from 1 teaspoon to 3/4 teaspoon.
- Types of Nuts to Use. A combination of nuts is great in these cookies. Pecans, walnuts, almonds, hazelnuts and macadamia nuts are my favorites to use.
- Storage. Cool cookies completely, then store in an airtight container for up to 3 days, or wrap well and freeze for 3-6 months.
- Chocolate Chips. You can add 1/2 cup of any type of chocolate chips you like - white, dark, semi-sweet, or butterscotch.
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