Mini Browned Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie Cups.

Guess who got off work two hours earlier than planned? This girl. Thus, a celebratory blog post. This one’s been sitting in my drafts for a while – now, voila.

I’ve noticed I do a lot of things in life “just because”. My lips don’t need a reason to be coated in red lipstick. Why am I driving barefoot? Because I can. I’ll go through chapters of a book reading upside down; I’ve been known to buy random gifts for people months away from their birthday or any holidays simply because.

That’s how most of my baking seems to be – just because. Because it’s Tuesday. Because the sun is shining. Because I need to use up this bag of coconut coconut. Because I have a few hours to kill.

So on & so forth.

When I was browning the butter for these, my father walked in the kitchen and asked what I was doing.

“Browning butter,” I replied. Obviously.

He paused for a minute, looking into my pan, and said, “Oh, you mean, burning it. Cool.”

Burning butter? I guess so.

Hypothetical conversation:

“What are these?”

“Burned butter cookie cups! Here, try one!”

“Ohh…um…no thanks. I’m allergic to…um…burned things.”

“No, they’re good, I swear!”

Right. There’s a reason it’s called browned butter.

This was my first time browning butter. I’ve heard a lot of fuss about it but never got around to doing it, mostly for fear of ruining it. Yet, for as many times I’ve used the stove, I’ve never burned down a building, so I tried it. Goodness, browning the butter makes these cookie cups sing! Photographing them was horrendous; with my face hovering directly over the cups, it took all my self-control (what little I possess) to not stuff every single one of them into my mouth.

It’s smooth sailing after the butter is browned. Don’t be intimidated by this “browned butter” talk, by the way (isn’t that fun to say? Browned butter, browned butter, browned butter!). Browning butter is nothing more than leaving the butter in the pan on the stove longer than you usually would if you were merely melting it, which causes it to turn brown and smell nutty and fragrant. And beautiful.

Hey, you don’t even need to tablespoon out the dough! Muffin pans really are convenient.

The final product is thick & ooey-gooey-chewy-delicious. Ridiculously delicious. Never-ending summer delicious. 12-hour-hard-sleep-after-a-long-week delicious. Brand-new-hardcover-book delicious. Melt-your-face-off-delicious.

You can’t tell from the photos, but the wrappers have pictures of muffins on them. And “muffins” is scrawled all over them, multiple times.

See? Cookie cups in muffin tins in muffin wrappers declaring their contents to be muffins, just because I can.

Make these. Make them because it’s Tuesday and Tuesdays are neither popular nor hated. Make them because you want the satisfaction of burning something that ends up tasting really, really good. Make them because you are fearless and have really fabulous hair.

Make them because you deserve to be good to yourself.

Mini Browned Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie Cups (printable recipe here!)
from Averie Cooks
makes 36 mini cookie cups or 12 normal-sized cookie cups

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, browned (see directions)
• 1 large egg
• 3/4 brown sugar, packed
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/4 cups chocolate chips (milk, semi-sweet, or dark)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour a mini-muffin pan, or line with mini muffin liners. Set aside.
2. In a skillet or sauce pan, melt butter over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, until the butter turns brown and fragrant (butter will melt and foam, then turn from clear to golden to brown). Remove pan from burner and continue to stir for about one minute.
3. Poor butter into large mixing bowl and allow to cool momentarily to prevent the egg from scrambling. Stir in egg, sugars, and vanilla.
4. Add flour, baking soda, and salt; stir until just combined (a few flour streaks is okay). Fold in chocolate chips.
5. Spoon dough equally into mini-muffin cavities. Bake for about 6-8 minutes.
6. Allow cookies to cool in the pan for 20 minutes. Devour. (They will keep for about a week at room temperature or 3 months in the freezer.)

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars.

My blog felt a little empty without the combination of peanut butter + chocolate chip. Thankfully, these bars have remedied that.

I’d wager that the best things in life are the simplest, like feeling cool grass beneath your toes, having a guy hold the door open for you, sitting in silence with the people you love, waking up to the sound of rain. And strangely enough, the things that are worth it are the most difficult, the most heartwrenching, the most frustrating.

Lucky for us, these bars are both simple and worth it. Why? Here’s a list.

• chocolate
• peanut butter
• one bowl
• one bowl
• peanut butter
• one bowl
• chocolate
• one bowl
• peanut butter + chocolate

And here’s a picture, too.

Observe the texture. Observe the chocolate chips. Observe the lovely aroma. (Whoops, you can’t do that, can you?)

The peanut butter and chocolate combination sold me right off the bat. No star-crossed food-lovin’ here – peanut butter and chocolate were clearly made for each other. Food soul mates. Then I saw the tablespoon of vanilla extract and very nearly swooned. Vanilla makes me weak-kneed.

Speaking of weak knees, I’ll be honest: initially, these were made for a boy (what I lack in charm I make up with baked goods) BUT, most unfortunately, my plans were foiled when my parents informed me that, instead, we’d be taking them to my cousin’s birthday party. “What? No, of course I didn’t have plans for these, I was just…baking stuff. Because I actually have time to. All right, we can take them to the party…”

Regardless of how my plans were thwarted, these did not disappoint. After 22 minutes of baking, the toothpick came out clean, and although I freaked out a little because I still thought they were underbaked, they weren’t. The edges puffed up while the middle remained miraculously soft and gooey. Peanut buttery, chocolate chippy, buttery, deliciousy.

Have I mentioned they’re made in one bowl? All the goodness of cookies without the fuss. Perfect if you’re lazy (like me) or in a hurry (like most of humanity). Not too much chocolate (let’s be honest, is that ever possible?), just enough peanut butter (although adding another tablespoon or two wouldn’t hurt too much), and more than enough sweetness. And CRAZY GOOD.

Clearly my cousins thought so, considering all of them were gone within an hour.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars (printable recipe here!)
from Averie Cooks

[Note: Honestly, I laughed out loud when I saw you could scramble the egg if you mix it in while the butter is still too hot. But apparently it can really happen – make sure the butter is cooled!
Baking time will also depend on how gooey you want your center. I’d wager they could be baked up to 30 minutes if you want a more-set center. Just keep an eye on them.]

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, melted
• 1 egg
• 3/4 cup brown sugar, packed
• 1/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• heaping 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt, to taste
• 6 – 7 ounces (about 3/4 cup) semi-sweet or dark chocolate (chips or chopped)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line an 8 x 8 inch baking pan with aluminum foil and spray with cooking spray; set aside.
2. In a microwave-safe bowl, melt the butter (about 2 30-second intervals). Transfer to a mixing bowl and allow to cool before adding the egg (to prevent it from scrambling).
3. Stir in egg, sugars, and vanilla extract until well combined. Stir in peanut butter.
4. Add flour, baking soda, and salt; mix until just incorporated. Stir in chocolate.
5. Scoop batter into prepared pan, smoothing the top with a rubber spatula. Bake for 20-24 minutes, or until center is set and golden (or toothpick inserted into center comes out clean).
6. Allow bars to cool in the pan for at least 30 minutes. Cut into slices and devour.

Egg-free Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Truffle Balls.

[FYI: this post has been in my drafts for about a week. It’s taken a while to get ahold of the pictures I took, since I took them on someone else’s camera. They’re kind of shoddy, due to the fact I took the pictures during quiet hours when all the lights were off in the dorm lobby. Anyways, here you go.]

Happy finals week!

HA. That’s a contradiction if I’ve ever heard one.

Finals, oddly enough, have been known to cause stress. Lots of stress.

And stress can only be remedied by stress-eating.

Particularly by eating no-risk-of-salmonella cookie dough.

If you’re patient, these become neatly chocolate-coated and refrigerated truffles. If patience is not one of the traits included in your gene pool, you can eat the dough straight out of the bowl. Straight. Out. Of. The. Bowl.

This recipe is simple to whip up, especially if you’re pressed for time or need want something sweet in a hurry. Sweetened condensed milk takes the place of where the egg would be in a normal chocolate chip cookie recipe, and the salt and baking soda give the balls that special cookie dough flavor.

Deliciousness completely devoid of turning on the oven. Or your mother yelling at you for eating raw dough.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Truffle Balls
Slightly adapted from this recipe
Makes about 48 (depending on the size you roll the balls)

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
• 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips (preferably miniature; coarsely chopped chocolate works too)
• additional chocolate for melting & dipping

Directions

1. Beat butter and brown sugar together in a mixing bowl until smooth.
2. Beat in vanilla extract.
3. In a separate bowl, combine flour, salt, and baking soda. Add flour, alternately with sweetened condensed milk, to the sugar and butter, mixing well after each addition.
4. Fold in chocolate chips.
5. Roll the dough into balls and place onto baking sheets lined with waxed paper. Refrigerate until firm, about 1 hour.
6. Melt chocolate in microwave or saucepan over medium heat. Dip dough balls in chocolate, place back on baking sheets, and refrigerate again until firm, about 15-30 minutes. Store in the refrigerator until all are devoured.