Brown Butter Miso Chocolate Chip Cookies
Let me just start by saying that browning the butter is optional and only works if you have a specific type of vegan butter. So if you’re like “I don’t want to brown the butter,” then skip that step. Because I agree that some recipes are too damn complicated and take too damn long. Not that this recipe is long. I just think some recipes have steps that I’m like “why would I ever want to do that.” Also yeah the browned butter adds a slightly different flavor but it’s not crazy different. It just makes the cookies a little extra fancy. You get to show up to the party and say “hey thanks for having me I made you these BROWN BUTTER miso dark chocolate chip cookies.”
Anyways these cookies are very yummy and have a great salty sweet balance. I make these a lot because I always have white miso in my fridge because I swear I add it to almost every savory dish I make. You should try it. A little miso mixed in with some red pasta sauce? Delicious. Trust me!!!
Brown Butter Miso Chocolate Chip Cookies
-Adapted from Takestwoeggs
Notes and Tips
-If you are browning the butter you need to use Country Crock vegan sticks. If you are not browning the butter, then any vegan butter will work and you will only need 8 tablespoons.
-Aquafaba is canned chickpea liquid. Only use this egg replacer for this recipe otherwise it will not work. Crack open a can of chickpeas and pour the liquid into a jar to save. Now you have some chickpeas! I have a recipe to make a yummy little salad slaw thing that’s really good, or you could make yourself hummus! I use aquafaba a lot so my fridge is always packed full of chickpea dishes. You’ll probably have a lot of Aquafaba left after this recipe so I recommend you use it for sauces and soups! It’s a really great emulsifier/thickener.
Ingredients
9 TBSP (128 g) butter vegan butter. Just saying again that if you are browning the butter buy Country Crock sticks. If you are not browning the butter, then any vegan butter will work and you will only need 8 tablespoons.
¾ cup (150 g) brown sugar
¼ cup (50 g) granulated sugar
2 tablespoon (50 g) white miso
3 TBSP of Aquafaba (do not use any other egg replacer). Make sure it’s room temperature.
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
1 ½ cup (200 g) all purpose flour
½ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon salt
1 ½ cup semi sweet or dark chocolate chips or chopped chocolate bars.
Optional-Flaky salt for topping
Directions
1-Brown the butter but only if you are using the Country Crock vegan butter sticks. If you are not using Country Crock, just melt your 8 tablespoons of butter in the microwave until fully melted. For those of you browning the butter, put the 9 tablespoons of Country Crock butter into any frying pan or sauce pan that you have on medium heat. It won’t take long before the butter starts to brown and smell kinda nutty and bubble. About 5 min. There should be brown bits on the bottom. The reason we add 9 tablespoons because when you brown butter some liquid evaporates so we add a little more to make up for the lost liquid.
2-Let the browned/melted butter cool just a little bit in a mixing bowl then add both sugars and whisk until there are no lumps left. Then add in your aquafaba, miso, and vanilla. You’ll want to risk really hard here as we are trying to emulsify everything together. The oil from the butter will try to separate from the other ingredients, but if you mix fast enough everything will combine and become smooth and glossy.
3-Mix the flour, baking soda, and salt together in a bowl and then add the dry ingredients into the wet ones. Gently use your wisk or a spatula to combine them. Not to stress you out but the moment you add the dry to the wet gluten will start to develop and too much gluten will ruin your cookies!! Basically you want to make sure there are no dry spots in the batter while being careful not to mix too much or too hard. When the dry mix is about half way incorporated you’ll want to add in your chocolate and keep folding everything together.
4-You’re gonna hate me for this but you haaaaaaaave to chill your dough. I know I know but this recipe really needs it. Let the dough sit in your fridge for 30 min (or a few hours if you want to prep the dough a head of time). You can do some dishes or something while it’s resting yay! Also preheat your oven to 350.
5-Preheat your oven to 350 if you didn’t do it in the last step. Take the dough out of the fridge and roll into standard cookie ball size (like an inch or two in diameter ball I think?) and bake for 11-12 minutes until the edges are brown. Take them out of the oven when done and immediately top with sea salt. I know you’ll want to eat one right away but I’m begging you to please let them rest for like 5 minutes to firm up. If you eat one directly out of the oven it will fall apart when you try to pick it up off the cookie sheet. Just wait a few minutes and it’ll be worth it. The cookies will also be puffy when you take them out of the oven, and this time to rest will allow them to settle and get that nice crinkle on the top. Enjoy!