Browning the butter is a common term when it comes to the baking world, as for cookie making, it is not unheard of. But first, what does melted vs chilled vs browned butter do to a cookie? Melted butter gives your cookies more spread, making them chewier and denser, as is the case in most chocolate chip cookies. Using butter straight from the fridge yields softer and cake-like, chewy cookies. As for the browned butter, they are a lot similar to melted butter but not exactly the same. It helps the cookies develop a more complex flavor profile, a little caramel-like and as chewy as the melted butter cookies.
Brown butter is what you get when you carefully cook regular butter until the milk solids in the butter toast and turn golden. This gives the butter a nutty, caramelized flavor and a rich aroma. It’s the same ingredient, just transformed — and it makes your cookies taste more complex, warmer, and just plain better.
When you mix browned butter with brown sugar and vanilla, you're artfully creating layers in your dough that just gets amplified as the cookies bake and then you get to experience them on your tongue. These toasty nature and deep flavor pairs quite perfectly with additions like chocolate chunks and toasted cashews, both of which hold their own flavor quite well without the need of an enhancer, adding chunky bits to the smooth cookie, contrasting well with it.
When you want to take your cashew cookies from decent to unforgettable, don’t add more sugar, or chocolate, or even fancier ingredients. Learn to brown your butter. That’s it. When butter melts and continues to cook beyond the melting point, the milk solids begin to toast and take on a rich amber hue. This is browning – not burning – and it imparts a nutty, caramelized flavor as well as an irresistible aroma that becomes the soul of your cookie dough. However, it is a delicate process, and the risk of the butter burning is quite high here. Make sure to keep the butter pan on medium heat, stirring continuously, and pulling the pan off the heat at just the right moment. Let the butter cool slightly before mixing it into the cookie dough, so that it integrates smoothly and doesn’t scramble the eggs later on.
If you’re using cashews in your cookies, or any other nut, for instance almonds, pistachios or pecans, all will complement that browned butter flavour. Just make sure to take 1 minute out to toast them separately, to amplify their flavors so that they add to the cookie. You don’t need any oil, ghee or even butter, just dry roast them in a dry pan or kadhai or the oven. This one step will intensify their nuttiness, making them a perfect match for the flavour promoted by the browned butter. Chop them up roughly afterwards, to give your cookies a rustic, generous mouthfeel in every bite.
Time might be short, if that is the case we highly recommend refrigerating the cookie dough once you have made it or just chalking out a little time so your dough can rest. Resting the dough in the fridge allows all the flavors — especially from the browned butter, sugar, vanilla, and spices — to fuse and deepen in this time. Even just 30 minutes of chilling time can make your cookies more flavorful and give them a better structure once baked.
Scoop your dough onto a lined tray and give the cookies room to spread, about two inches apart, then press a few extra chocolate chunks into the tops before baking. Bake at 180°C for 11-12 minutes, not more, not less. Watch for the cookies to develop golden edges and a slightly soft center. You don’t have to wait for the middle to look fully done otherwise you will end up with dry and brittle cookies. Keep in mind that the cookies will finish baking on the tray too, after you pull them out of the oven. You can be a little extra and sprinkle a little flaky salt, the likes of sea salt while they’re still warm to make the flavors pop.