Kitty Coles introduces us to Cissy Difford’s delicious crunchy, crispy and gooey cookies. Try her recipe now …
“I include here a recipe from Cissy Difford, whom I have worked with on and off for seven-ish years. She worked at Scéal bakery in Greystones for many years and is undoubtedly one of the best bakers I know. Nothing compares to her brown butter cookie recipe below.” @kittycoles
Cissy Difford’s crunchy, crispy and gooey brown butter cookies
“When you’re as indecisive as me, it’s hard to find a cookie recipe that matches your requirements. Some days I want something cakey and fudgy, some days I want something thin and crisp. That’s why making these cookies has been a real evolution. I started by making a gooey brown butter vanilla cookie (think American style snickerdoodle-esque) rolled in demerara sugar. It was light and fluffy but still with a slight exterior crunch. Then, not quite satisfied, I moved on to making a brown butter chocolate chip cookie with only baking powder as the raising agent. This made a tighter and cakier cookie. Combining these two mixtures, I landed on my ideal cookie! Crispy, crunchy, thin and still slightly gooey in the middle. For this cookie you want the edges to be almost too coloured; we want it dark and caramelised so that we get a deeper flavour. I even think these would be delicious without the chocolate as the brown butter is so nutty and inviting.” @cissydifford
Makes 10 cookies
The dough will need to set overnight
Ingredients
• 130g brown butter, soft room temperature (or 150g unsalted butter)
• 20g ice cold water
• 90g light muscovado sugar
• 60g golden caster sugar
• 50g egg (1 egg)
• 2 tsp vanilla bean extract
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 170g plain flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 75g dark chocolate, chopped (or buttons)
• Demerara sugar for coating
• Flaky sea salt for sprinkling
Method
1. If using brown butter from the fridge: Temper the butter until it is very soft.
2. For browning the butter: Place the butter in a large saucepan over a medium heat. Whisk until the butter starts to smell nutty, it foams and changes to a caramel colour. Immediately take off it the heat and pour into a large heatproof bowl set over a bowl of ice. Whisk the brown butter until it begins to resolidify. Once cool, remove the bowl from the ice bath.
3. Next: Add the ice cold water and both sugars to the butter. Whisk until homogenised or blended together.
4. Beat in the egg and vanilla.
5. Fold in the baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, plain flour and salt until a dough forms.
6. Finally, fold in the chocolate.
7. Cover the surface of the dough with cling film and refrigerate overnight.
8. Preheat the oven to 180ºC.
9. Form the cookies into approximately 50g balls. You can use a cookie scoop or roll them between your hands.
10. Once shaped, lightly roll each ball in demerara sugar and place on two lined baking sheets, making sure to leave a gap between each cookie as they will spread in the oven.
11. Bake the cookies for 10 mins.
12. Carefully remove the trays from the oven and give them a big tap on the counter. This will help the cookies spread evenly.
13. Return to the oven and bake for an additional 1-2 minutes. We want the outside to look crisp and caramelised, and the middle to still be slightly gooey. The cookies will wrinkle when you tap them, this is normal!
13. Carefully remove the trays from the oven and again, give them a big tap on the counter.
14. Sprinkle the cookies with flaky sea salt.
15. Allow them to cool for 5-10 minutes.