Never, ever, ever, let me buy my trick-or-treating candy ahead of time again. Because it’s half-way gone. And it’s only been three days. I can see the way the scales are turning this week. So, I’ve surrendered to the inevitable. It’s better just to finish the bag off quickly, right? The faster you eat, the fewer the calories?
Well, as long as we’re stuck inside waiting for this big storm to come and go, I thought I’d get rid of some of the candy by baking and sharing these monster cookies. They are really just a fabulously rich and chewy recipe for brown butter chocolate chip cookies, one of my new favorites! (Brown butter should be added to the ranks of chocolate and bacon, it can make almost anything better.) So, throw in some Kraft caramels and some orange m&ms and you’ve got a real, bona fide Halloween treat!
Brown Butter Monster Cookies
a combination of Martha Stewart’s Chewy Caramel Mystery Cookie and Ambitious Kitchen’s Brown Butter & Sea Salt Cookie
2 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon of salt
2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter
1 1/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg plus 1 egg yolk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 tablespoon plain greek yogurt
1 cup chocolate chips
1 cup caramels, such as Kraft (about 20), halved
3/4 cup m&m’s, for decorating
(If you’d just like to make chocolate chip cookies, try 3/4 cup semi-sweet and 3/4 cup milk chocolate chips, then omit the caramel and m&ms.)
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt in a bowl and set aside. Melt butter in a saucepan over medium 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 a few minutes.
With an electric mixer, mix the butter and sugars until thoroughly blended. Beat in the egg, yolk, vanilla, and yogurt until combined. Add the dry ingredients slowly and beat on low-speed just until combined. Fold in caramels and chocolate chips.
Chill your dough for 2 hours in the refrigerator, or place in freezer for 30 minutes if you are super eager.
Using a 1/3-cup spring-loaded scoop, drop dough, 2 inches apart, on parchment-lined baking sheets. Bake 8 minutes. Remove from oven; immediately press candies onto cookies, then rotate sheets and bake until golden around edges, about 5 minutes. They will look a bit underdone in the middle, but will continue to cook once out of the oven. Remove the cooled cookies from the baking sheets after a few minutes and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
