I’m turning the big 24 this Saturday. Do you think it’s normal to celebrate by eating cookies for the ENTIRE WEEK?Â
Of course… because you know the world is supposed to end Friday or whatever. So I’m suggesting we all eat cookies this week (good excuse, right?).
But seriously, these cookies are essentially a mini, delicious birthday present to myself.
It occurred to me that this really couldn’t be just ANY cookie though; it had to be incredible. Kinda like those Nutella-stuffed cookies. Wait, what about the Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip cookies?  Or those sensational Brown Butter Snickerdoodles? Clearly if a man wants to know the way to my heart, it’s through cookies made with brown butter.
What? Baking your way to love is TOTALLY a thing you know.
Okay, enough about brown butter and man bait and such. Let’s talk cookies because that’s why you are really here.Â
These cookies! Ugh I think I want to live in them. Do you think it’s possible for me to make a house out of cookies and snuggle next to chocolate chips every night? A girl can dream.
And alright, I’ll admit that I claim every cookie on this blog is fantastic, and they are or I wouldn’t give you the recipe! BUT Â you’re probably wondering what’s so special about these cookies…
Well of course there’s that brown butter (best thing ever), but there’s also the addition of brown sugar toasted almonds. These are almonds that have been toasted on the stovetop then caramelized with brown sugar and sprinkled with a tiny bit of sea salt. The almonds end up coated with the perfect sweet and salty crunch. I know, I know… how good does that sound right now?
The second part that’s a bit different in regard to these cookies is the brown sugar ratio. There’s more dark brown sugar in these cookies, which provides a lovely caramel flavor that makes me want to eat about seventeen at once. No big deal… except it’s kind of a big deal because I like fitting in my pants.
Lastly the cookies are simply perfect with dark chocolate; it gives each bite an intense,deep velvet flavor. Imagine dark chocolate and almonds, then add a buttery, chewy rich cookie topped with sea salt. Just try to wrap your brain around how delicious these are. I should note that these cookies are baked at a lower temperature of 325 degrees so that they develop a perfect crisp edge and a chewy, soft middle. The dough also needs to be chilled for two hours, so plan ahead!
I devoured them straight out of the oven, and I suggest you do the same. Hey the end of the world may be Friday, but at least we’ll have these End-of-the-World Insanely-Good Chocolate Chip Cookies.
P.S. I love you!
Brown Butter & Toasted Almond Dark Chocolate Chip Cookies with Sea Salt
Ingredients
- For toasted brown sugar almonds:
- 3-4 tablespoons brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon butter
- 1 1/2 cups sliced almonds
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- For the cookie dough:
- 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
- 1 1/2 cups dark brown sugar
- 1/3 cup granulated sugar
- 1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 1 egg plus 1 egg yolk
- 2 teaspoons milk
- 1 1/4 cups dark chocolate chips (I used Hershey's, otherwise used chopped dark chocolate)
- Sea salt, for sprinkling
Instructions
- Place almond slices and butter in a large pan or skillet over medium-high heat. Shake the pan a bit while nuts are heated and begin to toast. After a few minutes, sprinkle brown sugar over the nuts and continue to stir with a wooden spoon. You will notice the sugar will begin to melt and caramelize. Keep stirring to coat the nuts and reduce heat to medium low.
- Once you notice the almonds turning a golden brown and the sugar caramelizing, turn off the heat, sprinkle with sea salt and place almonds spread out on parchment paper to cool. There will be clumps of almonds but that is fine and will provide a good crunch for the cookies.
- Whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl and set aside.
- Melt butter in a saucepan over medium-high heat. The butter will begin to foam. Make sure you whisk consistently during this process. After a couple of minutes, the butter will begin to brown on the bottom of the saucepan; continue to whisk and remove from heat as soon as the butter begins to brown and give off a nutty aroma. Immediately transfer the butter to a bowl to prevent burning. Set aside to cool for about 5 minutes.
- With an electric mixer, mix the butter and sugars until thoroughly blended. Beat in the egg, yolk, vanilla, and milk until combined.
- Add the dry ingredients slowly and beat on low-speed just until combined. Gently fold in all of the dark chocolate chips and add the almonds. You may need to use your hands to help incorporate the almonds into the dough.
- Wrap your dough in plastic wrap and chill for 2 hours in the refrigerator, or place in freezer for 30 minutes if you are super eager, although I cannot promise the same results if you do this. Seriously, it's crucial to cool the dough.
- Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Once dough is chilled measure about 1 1/2 tablespoons of dough and roll into a ball. Place dough balls on cookie sheet, 2 inches apart and flatten the top a very tiny bit with your hand. (Seriously, only a tiny bit!!)
- Bake the cookies 10-13 minutes or until the edges of the cookies begin to turn golden brown. They will look a bit underdone in the middle, but will continue to cook once out of the oven.
- Cool the cookies on the sheets at least 2 minutes and sprinkle with a little sea salt. Remove the cooled cookies from the baking sheets and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Repeat with remaining dough.
20 comments
Possibly the most sensual photography..(.as well as text!) of a chocolate chip cookie…nay…ANY cookie I have ever beheld….Bravo …and this looks to be the MUST make of the year….My family will go insane over these..I am certain…and they consider themselves to be THE experts on chocolate chip cookie perfection…Cannot wait to try these out on them…Swoon-time guaranteed.
P.S. You’re amazing!
Seems incredibly delicious!
I honestly think you make some of the best cookies I’ve ever seen, made and eaten in my life! These look like the perfect way to celebrate your birthday – happy birthday by the way 🙂
End-of-the-world cookies…that has a nice ring to it! And yeah…I could totally see these being the perfect birthday indulgence.
Happy (early) Birthday! You deserve at least a dozen to celebrate. Damn these cookies look good!
Thanks Lauren! 🙂 You know I love my sweets.
My husband’s bday was yesterday! Happy Bday to you! And you did it again – created a cookie that I didn’t think could top your others, but you did. Amazing, gorgeous, and I want!
Thanks Averie!
# 1 Happy Birthday! Mine is right after Christmas, I hate it. #2, I have GOT to get on this brown butter cookie thing!! Looks SO good!!
I made these yesterday….and they were…FANTASTIC….the toasted, “praliné” almonds and browned butter (thanks for the amazing tutorial…I’m no longer fearful of “doing” beurre noisette!!)…really take these to chocolate chip cookie perfection…truly the BEST ever…
I DO have one deception, however, nothing to do with the recipe or your excellent, well-explained instructions…My cookies turned out with a COLOR that was darker than I would have liked…and darker than those in your beautiful photographs…I live in Europe..and dark brown sugar is REALLY dark.(an English brand..soft dark brown sugar)..and I think this is what did it…I was careful to keep the oven temp at 325° and the baking time to 10 minutes…the texture was perfect…but I feel that next time I should probably go with a light brown sugar or perhaps change the ratio of dark brown sugar to regular sugar?…Any thoughts/suggestions?..I just wanted to give my heartfelt thank you for my new go-to chocolate chip cookie recipe…It was a resounding success in our family…a very discerning one when it comes to the topic of the “perfect” chocolate chip cookie…THIS IS IT!!
These cookies were AMAZING!! My whole family loved them. Will definitely make them again! I am so glad that I found you blog.
Awesome 🙂
I have made all of your cookies and the bread and upsidedown apple cake and they were all loved. Will try the almond ones now and I’m sure they’ll be delicious.However I must say on the savory side.(the only recipe I have tried) the lemon asparagus pasta was not so good and a confusion for flavors. I will stick to what is delicious and that is the best cookies/desserts ever!!!!
Hmmmm I loved the lemon spaghetti, so perhaps it’s a taste preference thing. Glad you enjoyed the cookies!
if I wanted to add some oats to make these a little heartier, how much flour should I sub for?
How much flour could I sub with oats to make these cookies a little heartier?
YUM! Yum! Yum! I don’t know why I waited so long to make these. They are totally worth it. I made them for my neighbor because he let our dog out when we went to a Tool concert. I hope he likes them as much as I do. The brown butter makes them awesome as well as the candied almonds. I left out the white sugar and they turned out just great. I also mashed a hole in the center of the dough and only refrigerated for an hour. It still worked out great. I’m totally making these again. I wonder how they would be with pecans?
Pecans are the love of my life. Sounds like a perfect combo to me.
These look spectacular. And fun fact, dark chocolate helps prevent hearing loss, so by eating these cookies, we’re making a healthy decision. Here’s a dark chocolate brownie recipe that you might want to check out bit.ly/1LRluEp