Update: I won a blue ribbon for these cookies at the 2011 Kansas State Fair!

Cookies are my favorite food group and I’ve never met a cookie I didn’t like, but never had a favorite until fairly recently.

And the winner is… [drumroll]

chocolate chip cookies {insert sheepish grin here}

But these aren’t just any chocolate chip cookies, people.  These are chocolate chip cookies made with brown butter, toasted & ground-up oatmeal, toasted nuts and just enough vinegar to make an extremely tender cookie without adding any flavor.

I suppose I always knew that chocolate chip cookies would eventually beat out all the rest for me, because I have made countless batches of them in an effort to find the perfect recipe.  I’ve never done this with anything else. All were good, but none left me with the feeling that I’d found the best.  Until I found this one.

Allow me to introduce you to the creator of this recipe, Laura Flowers: culinary genius and food blogger extraordinaire.  (If you use that to title your autobiography, Laura, I want 10% of your profits!)  Every week she posts new recipes–most of them her own–for everything from cookies to pizza (those are my favorite) to salads & pasta dishes.  I have tried several and have yet to be disappointed.  And I’m eternally grateful to her for bringing the torture of my endless search for the perfect chocolate chip cookie to an end!

Today I made them for Laura’s “Project Cookie” and mailed them to her friend Ted & his platoon in Iraq.  Well, I mailed most of them (minus the usual dozen I can’t keep from eating every time I make them!)

Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

Printable recipe
Printable recipe with picture

1/2 cup old-fashioned oatmeal
1 cup (2 sticks) softened butter
3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 Tablespoon real vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon white vinegar (You won’t taste it, I promise.)
2 large eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans (optional, but add 1/4 cup more flour if omitting)
1 (12-oz) bag semi-sweet chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.

2. In a nonstick skillet, melt 1 stick of the butter over medium heat until foamy and golden brown. You’ll know it’s ready when the solids have separated and the bottom has lots of brown specks and it starts to smell so wonderful that you get light-headed when you catch a whiff. Pour into a bowl to cool and wipe out the skillet.

3. In the skillet over medium heat, toast the oatmeal, stirring often, until fragrant and some of the oatmeal is light golden in color. About 3 minutes. Transfer the oatmeal to a food processer and grind until fine and powdery. I usually just turn it on and leave it alone for a full minute. Set aside.

4. If using, spread the nuts onto a plate and microwave in 30 second increments 2 or 3 times until toasted, stirring in-between. Set aside to cool.

5. In a stand mixer, beat the softened butter, browned butter, brown sugar, granulated sugar, salt, vanilla extract, and vinegar low to combine, and then on high speed until fluffy and lighter in color. I beat mine about five minutes so that there’s plenty of time for all those sugar crystals to force air into the butter. (Alton Brown has convinced me this is crucial to making good cookies and since I do this and my cookies are always good, you should believe us both.)

6. Add the eggs and mix until combined. Add the oatmeal and baking soda and beat for another minute. Next, add the flour half at a time and mix on low speed just until incorporated.

7. Add the chocolate chips and toasted nuts. Mix on low until incorporated.

8. With a size 50 cookie scoop or a generous tablespoon, drop the dough onto parchment paper 3 inches apart.

9. Bake for 11 minutes or until golden around the edges. I use an airbake pan and usually bake mine about 10 minutes, but oven temps vary so just keep an eye on the first pan to judge the time yours needs. Remove from oven and let set on the cookie sheet for 3 minutes before moving to a cooling rack. *I prefer to take my cookies out of the oven when they are puffy & still a little raw looking because the residual heat from the pan continues to bake them and this yields a cookie that is slightly crisp on the outside and very soft & chewy on the inside.

Makes about 45 cookies.

Note:   These cookies are best baked shortly after mixing the batter together. There is no need to refrigerate the dough.

Recipe source: The Cooking Photographer, with some slight modifications by me

Now it’s time for some fun! If your favorite cookie isn’t listed below, feel free to leave it in a comment.  You can also leave links–I can never have enough cookie recipes.  Like I said, cookies are my favorite food group. :)