Coconut Brown Butter Cookies

I found some Bob's Red Mill Shredded Coconut in the freezer & just had to use it up! I know the recipe calls for coconut chips - but I couldn't find any & I did have the shredded - but they came out amazing anyway ...

From Smitten Kitchen

1 cup (2 sticks or 225 grams) unsalted butter
2 tablespoons water
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons (125 grams) granulated sugar
3/4 cup (145 grams) packed light-brown sugar
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/4 cup plus 3 tablespoons (175 grams) all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon table salt
4 cups (240 grams) dried, unsweetened coconut chips 

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. Don’t take your eyes off the pot as it seems to take forever (more than 5 minutes) but then turns dark very quickly. 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. You can hurry this along in the freezer, but check back and stir often so it doesn’t freeze unevenly solid. ( I did this the night before)

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Line baking sheets with parchment paper or a nonstick baking mat.

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. 

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.

Scoop dough into 1, 2 or more (Rubin recommends a 2-inch wide scoop for bakery-sized cookies) balls and arrange a few with a lot of room for spreading on first baking sheet; use the back of a spoon or your fingers to flatten the dough slightly. Bake first tray of cookies; 1 tablespoon scoops will take 10 to 11 minutes (Mine only took 8 mins - so check early) ; 2 tablespoon scoops, 12 to 14 minutes, the 2-inch scoop used at the bakery, 14 to 16 minutes; take the cookies out when they’re deeply golden all over. If cookies have not spread much, stir 2 teaspoons more water into cookie dough, mixing thoroughly, before baking off another tray. This should do the trick, but if it does not, repeat the same with your next batch. Once you’ve confirmed that you have the water level correct, bake remaining cookies. (I didn't need any more water - just the 2 tablespoons)

Cool cookies on baking sheet 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.

Nutmeg Maple Butter Cookies

These are really good simple & kinda plain butter cookies with just enough maple flavor to be different - I had just enough maple syrup hiding in the back of the fridge to make them ... 

From Gourmet via Smitten Kitchen

INGREDIENTS

1. •  2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, softened
   •  1 cup sugar
   •  1/2 cup Grade B maple syrup (or Grade A maple syrup flavored with 3 drops maple extract, or to taste)
   •  1 large egg yolk
   •  1 teaspoon salt
   •  3 cups all-purpose flour
   • 1/4 tsp nutmeg

PREPARATION

1. 1. In a standing electric mixer cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy and beat in maple syrup and egg yolk until mixture is combined well. Sift together salt and flour over mixture and fold in thoroughly. Chill dough, wrapped in plastic wrap, until firm, about 2 hours. Dough may be made 4 days ahead and chilled.
   2. Preheat oven to 350°F.
   3. Divide dough in half. Keeping one half chilled, lightly flour other half and on a lightly floured surface gently pound with a rolling pin to soften. Roll out dough 1/8 inch thick and with a 3-inch floured maple-leaf cookie cutter cut out cookies, chilling scraps. Arrange cookies on buttered baking sheets and if desired, with back of a knife, mark cookies decoratively. Make more cookies in same manner with remaining dough and with all the scraps pressed together. Chill about 10/15 minutes before baking. I glazed these with an egg wash.
   4. Bake cookies in batches in middle of oven until edges are golden, about 8 - 10 minutes.

Chocolate Crinkle Cookies

These are kinda like brownie bites! I added Kahlua instead of vanilla because it sounded good & I had some left over ...

Ingredients

• 1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 1/2 cups white granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 4 eggs
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon espresso powder (optional, but not really - this makes a difference)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup confectioners’ sugar
• 
  

Method

1 Beat together cocoa powder, white sugar, vegetable oil: In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or beat by hand with a wooden spoon) beat together the cocoa powder, white sugar, and vegetable oil until it comes together into a shiny, gritty, black dough of sorts.

2 Add eggs, one at a time, add vanilla/Kahlua: Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing for 30 seconds each. Add the vanilla and beat in thoroughly.

3 Whisk together flour, baking powder, salt, espresso powder: In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, and espresso powder.

4 Beat dry ingredients into cocoa oil mix: Mix into the chocolate mixture on low speed until just combined.

5 Cover and chill: Cover the dough with plastic wrap and chill the dough for four hours or overnight.

6 Roll dough into balls, roll into powdered sugar, place on cookie sheet: Preheat the oven to 350°F and line two baking sheets with parchment paper or non stick foil. Place the confectioner's sugar in a wide bowl.

Using a rounded teaspoon get clumps of the chilled dough and roll them into 1-inch (2.5 cm) sized balls using your hands.

Roll the balls in the confectioner's sugar and place on the cookie sheets (you should be able to get 12-16 on each sheet). You can roll them in granulated sugar first - this makes them a bit more crispy on the outside.

I cool them again for about 10/15 minutes before baking as they get a bit soft during rolling.

7 Bake: Bake at 350°F for 10-12 minutes. Allow to cool a minute or two on the sheets before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Read more: http://www.simplyrecipes.com/recipes/chocolate_crinkles/#ixzz4SXAtsmUi