1tspcoarse Kosher salt(if using table salt, use half the amount)
½tspbaking soda
¼tspfreshly grated nutmeg
½cupwhite chocolate chips
½cupbutterscotch chips
1cupchopped assorted nuts (unsalted)
Instructions
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.
Add the granulated sugar and brown sugar to the browned butter and whisk vigorously for 2 minutes. The mixture will seem grainy at this point, which is normal.
Add the vanilla and egg, and whisk until smooth and ribbony.
In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, corn starch, salt, baking soda and nutmeg. Use a wooden spoon to stir the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients, stirring just until no more flour remains. Let the dough sit at room temperature to cool for 10 minutes.
Stir the chocolate chips and chopped nuts into the cooled dough. The dough will be thicker now than it was before cooling.
Divide the dough into 15 portions (each the size of an ice cream/cupcake scoop) for medium-sized cookies and 30 portions for small cookies. Shape into balls, and flatten into thick disks with the palm of your hand. Refrigerate the dough balls for 25 minutes – no more, no less.Note, if you don't flatten the dough balls, they won't spread enough while baking.
Preheat the oven to 350 F and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
Place the chilled dough 2 inches apart on the baking sheet. Bake the cookies on the center oven rack for 9 minutes (for medium cookies) or for 6 1/2 – 7 minutes (for small cookies). The cookies should still be very pale, with the edges set and the centers still underdone.
Cool the cookies on the baking sheet for 2 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.
Notes
Brown Butter. Browning the butter will evaporate some of the water, and will reduce the butter from 9 tablespoons to 8 tablespoons. If you want to skip the step of browning the butter, simply melt 8 tablespoons (1/2 cup) butter.
Chocolate Chips. Instead of the white chocolate chips and butterscotch chips, use regular chocolate chips (milk, semi-sweet and dark are all wonderful with the nuts).
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. I've used more than 1 cup, all the way up to almost 2 cups, but if you add that much, it's harder to get the dough to stick together when shaping the dough balls, so no more than 1 cup is best.
Storage. Cool cookies completely, then store in an airtight container for up to 3 days, or wrap well and freeze for 3-6 months.
Keyword Butterscotch, Chocolate Chip Cookies, High Altitude, Nutty, White Chocolate