A Recipe Blog?

In all my years of blogging, I don't think I've ever shared a recipe.  And there's a good reason for that.  Generally nothing I make is noteworthy.  I mean, I have some dishes that are family favorites but it just seems so braggadocios to post a picture of what I cook and then expect someone else to want to imitate me.

But these cookies are the exception.  One of Patrick's co-workers made some and they were quite the rage at Care Net.  I didn't bother asking for the recipe...really...how different can a chocolate chip cookie be from the recipe on the Toll House bag?

Then I ate one.  And I admit it was superior to any other chocolate chip cookie I'd ever eaten, however I still wasn't motivated enough to ask for the recipe.  But when a friend who lives half a world away posted the recipe on her blog, I knew I had to try these delicacies for myself.

These seem the perfect follow-up to our toffee filled holiday.  Oh...I forgot to tell you about that because I wasn't blogging then.  The girls and I perfected toffee making...and nearly made ourselves sick, on occasion, eating one too many pieces.  Because of the brown butter and brown sugar, these have a definite hint of toffee in every bite.  Perfect...absolutely perfect.

My warning: If you have children who are inclined to snatch bites of dough, DO NOT make these while said children are present.

This is copied directly from my friend's blog.  She made a couple of modifications from the original that she found here.  I didn't have walnuts on hand, so mine are sans nuts.

Brown Butter, Brown Sugar and Sea Salt Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients:
4 1/2 cups flour
3 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon sea salt (fine)
2 cups unsalted butter
3 cups brown sugar
2 large eggs plus 2 egg yolks
2 Tablespoon full-fat yogurt (but I'm sure lowfat would work fine, too.)
2 teaspoons vanill extract
1 12 oz. package of dark semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 to 11/2 cups chopped walnuts
coarse sea salt for sprinkling

--Preheat oven to 350 degrees F, 175 C.
--Melt butter in a heavy bottom saucepan over medium. Once the butter begins to foam, continue whisking the butter just until it begins to brown  and gives off a nutty aroma. Remove it from the heat and transfer to a mixing bowl right away so that the butter doesn't continue to cook. This extra step of browning the butter is very worth the effort! Think toffee-flavored cookies. Monique provides a great pictorial tutorial for this step. Let the browned butter cool for a few minutes before continuing...
--Mix butter and sugar with an electric mixer until well blended--I use my Bosch. Beat in eggs, yolks, vanilla, and yogurt.
--Add the dry flour, baking powder, salt. When all is well blended, stir (or mix) in chocolate chips and walnuts.
--Chill dough in the refrigerator for 1-2 hours.
--We used a small cookie scoop to size our cookies, but you could roll them into balls. Place dough on a cookie sheet and press down slightly to flatten. I use the back of a flat spatula. Sprinkle the cookies with just a little bit of sea salt.
--Bake the cookies about 10 minutes--our gas oven isn't well regulated so we check them regularly. The edges of the cookies will be firm and the cookies will be golden brown when they are done. Since the recipe calls for all brown sugar, the cookies will be a little but darker (see picture above), but they are chewy, rather than crisp.
--Cool cookies on a wire rack.