Bourbon Orange Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
Chocolate chip cookies made with bourbon, brown butter and orange zest! Crispy on the bottom and on the sides, chewy on the top, soft and gooey on the center. What’s not to love about these?!! They hit all the good things in a good chocolate chip cookie. And I know you are going to love them!
I’m super excited with these because they are my first recipe of the year. The idea of kicking off the year with something so simple yet so comforting put me in a very soothing state of mind while glancing the new year that begins. I know you have to be nodding right now, cookies are so good in any form and are welcome any time!
Now, I know there are millions of chocolate chip cookies out there and somehow we’re always craving for one more. And why not?! Cookies make us happy! Any change in technique, ratios or flavor will yield a totally different result from each other and I’m pretty sure we’re going to love every one of them. Chewy, crispy, flat, mini, bigger than your face, right out of the oven, three days over the counter after baked… I’ll take them all!
There’s only one thing I need in any good chocolate chip cookie, and that’s lots of chocolate chips. Like three chocolate chips per bite. I will work my way around to eat just the areas with chocolate, the plain dough will have to be eaten by someone else in the house. So don’t worry, these have lots of chocolate chips, and then more!
For the brown butter, I used European style butter because the fat content is higher than American butter, which has more water in it. Beware of this detail because it can slightly affect the taste and texture of the cookies. Nowadays this kind of butter is very accesible in lots of supermarkets. I used Kerrygold but other great alternatives are Plugra and Vermont Creamery.
As I mentioned, these cookies have it all! They are very easy to make and they need some prep steps and some attention to detail for total success.
Steps for cookie success
Mix orange zest and bourbon: You will want to start by zesting an orange and mixing it with the bourbon. Let’s face it, by now you probably know that the alcohol in the bourbon will mostly evaporate while baking. The idea behind this step is to infuse the orange zest with the sweet and bitter notes of the bourbon, giving the zest an extra bitter and sharpness note that will contrast very nicely with the sweetness of the cookies.
Brown the butter: you are going to brown most of it and melt in the already browned butter the remainder. Put this in the fridge while you prepare the rest of the ingredients, about 15 minutes to cool it down.
Business as usual: combine the flour, baking soda and salt in a bowl; beat the sugars with the eggs, vanilla and melted butter until fluffy and then gently combine with flour and fold in the stars of the recipe, the chocolate chips!
Scoop’em up: scoop cookies on a baking sheet. I like to use an ice cream scoop with trigger that measures a bit less than 2” to create perfectly rounded and jagged cookie dough balls, which creates the perfect cookie texture.
UPDATE: I wanted to have thinner cookies than spread more so I didn’t freeze the dough. I chill it for 10 minutes, scoop it and bake them right away. I bang the pan at the 6th. and 7th. minute but since they weren’t frozen, it only took 1 to 2 minutes more to be baked. If you prefer thicker fatter cookies, or if making ahead, continue with the steps below.
Freeze the cookies: if you’ve been following me for a while, you probably know this is my trick to prevent cookies from spreading in the oven and holding its form. Scoop the dough and freeze it for 20 to 30 minutes before baking. If not baking right away, store cookie balls in a freezer plastic bag and when ready to bake, let them out for 5 to 10 minutes before baking.
Bake them a bit longer: since these cookies are frozen you’ll need to bake them for 15 to 20 minutes, depending on your preference of crispiness and browning. Super important to let them cool down on the baking sheet to create that sturdy and crispy bottom that we all love! You will need to tap the tray two times in the last three minutes. Details in the steps below.
Be flaky: finish with a sprinkle of sea salt flakes. I sprinkled some orange zest as well but that was for the picture sake and it’s purely decorative. But the sea salt flakes, is definitely a very nice and welcomed touch!
Browning butter for chocolate chip cookies
To brown the butter for chocolate chip cookies, simply put it in a small sauce pan over medium high heat. As soon as it is half way melted you need to stir the sauce pan until the butter smells nutty and brown in color (hence the name). Once you start stirring, the butter can take from 3 to 6 minutes to brown. You need to be vigilant of the color. Once it smells nutty and looks brown it’s time to get it out of the heat.
What you need
This is my exact baking sheet and it’s been with me for years. It’s so sturdy it has hold its shape all this time.
You have been loving my large mixing bowl so much! It has a butterfly in the design, so of course I needed to have it!
These ice cream scoopers with trigger will make your life easier and less messier.
Pre-cut parchment paper, another must!
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Gosh!! How good did these chocolate chip cookies turned out. You may eat them with a very chilled glass of milk or a nice sip of bourbon. Totally up to you!
If you make these please share how much you liked them on the comments below. Or even better, take a snap and tag me when you share these with the world. Everybody will be drooling, I promise!
(Remember to leave your email when you make a comment to receive a notification as soon as I get back to you. Don’t worry, this will not add your email to my email list.)
Bourbon Orange Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
◯ Orange zest - from one large orange
◯ Bourbon - 3 TBSP
◯ Salted butter, preferably from grass-fed cows - 1 ¾ sticks (14 tablespoons)
◯ All-purpose flour, preferably unbleached - 1 ¾ cups + 1 TBSP (256g)
◯ Baking soda - ½ Tsp
◯ Fine sea salt - ½ Tsp
◯ Natural granulated sugar - ½ cup (114g)
◯ Dark brown sugar - ¾ cup (153 g)
◯ Pure vanilla extract - 2 Tsp
◯ Large eggs, cold - 2
◯ Bittersweet 60% cacao chocolate chips - 2 cups, 286g
Details
Yield:
about 12 large cookies
Total time:
About 1 hour
Prep time:
15 minutes to make the cookie dough
Freezing time:
35 minutes
Baking time:
10 to 15 minutes
Equipment:
st
and mixer or electric hand mixer, baking sheet and a second one or large pan to freeze cookies, parchment paper or silicon mat
Steps
Line two baking sheets or a tray for the freezer and a baking sheet with parchment paper.
In a small bowl combine the orange zest with 3 tablespoons of the bourbon. Set aside.
In a small saucepan melt 10 tablespoons of the butter over medium high heat. As soon as it has melted, start stirring the sauce pan constantly, until the butter smells nutty and has turned brown, between 3 to 6 minutes. As soon as it smells nutty and is deep brown, take it out of the heat.
Let the butter loose the heat one minute, then add the remaining 4 tablespoons of butter. Stir until melted. Chill it in the fridge for about 15 minutes while you gather the rest of the ingredients.
Preheat oven to 375°.
Put in a bowl the 1 ¾ cup of flour and place about a teaspoon of it in another bowl. Mix the remaining flour with the ½ teaspoon of baking soda and the teaspoon of fine sea salt. Add the chocolate chips in the second bowl and mix to coat them with the bit of flour.
When the butter has chilled, mix it with the orange zest and bourbon mixture. Pour it in the bowl of a stand mixer or in a bowl to mix with an electric mixer. Incorporate the ½ cup of granulated sugar with the ¾ cup pf dark brown sugar and the 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract. With the paddle attachment or the beaters mix in medium speed (#4 in the Kitchen Aid) until light and fluffy, about two minutes. Add eggs, one at a time and mix 1 to 2 more minutes, until mixture looks smooth and shiny and the grains of sugar are not obvious.
Stop the mixer and dump the flour mixture. Mix in the lowest speed just until barely combined (you should see thin streaks of flour). Stop the mixer and add the chocolate chips. With a wooden spoon or a rubber spatula mix chocolate chips in a folding motion. If dough feels too warm, chill it for 5 minutes before scooping.
For thin, spread cookies, bake right away or just chill the dough for 10 minutes if it’s too warm (see notes above).
For thicker, fatter cookies, use an ice cream scoop or use your hands and form cookie dough balls of approximately 1.5” wide. Place them on one of your lined baking sheets or on the lined tray that you are going to use for the freezer. Freeze for 35 minutes. (See notes above if you are going to bake the cookies later.)
Position baking rack on the lower third of the oven.
When ready to bake, arrange frozen cookie balls in your second baking sheet, leaving about 3” of space between them (for example, if using a medium sized tray you will be able to bake 6 at a time). Working as fast as you can, press one or two chocolate chips (depending on how many are on the surface) upside down right in the middle of each cookie.
Bake for 6 minutes. The bottom of the cookies should be spread but the stop should still have that high dome shape. Open the oven and carefully with oven mitts tap two times the tray over the rack. Immediately close the door. Repeat this after two minutes, around the 8th. minute of baking. Close the door and continue baking for 8 to 12 more minutes, depending if you prefer them soft and a bit cakey or if you prefer them more brownish, sturdy and crisp. Total baking time should be between 10 to 15 minutes.
Take the cookies out of the oven and let them cool down completely on the baking tray. Sprinkle some sea salt flakes before eating.
Cookies can be over the counter for a few hours or even overnight. After that, store baked cookies in an airtight container for up to a week, if they last that long!
