Chocolate Filled Brown Butter Cookie Cups + Video
Um. I'm kind of at a loss for words right now. The beauty of these chocolate filled brown butter cookie cups blinds me. These miniature babies are leaving me speechless.
I need a minute.
Okay, I'm ready to talk now. You'll just have to excuse me if I'm overly effusive when describing these cookie cups throughout this post.
But before I start on my speech, do you maybe want to watch this video tutorial I made for these chocolate filled cookie cups? Yes? Great. Here you are:
Or, watch it on YouTube.
Now, let the effusiveness begin:
I JUST HAD FIVE OF THESE BROWN BUTTER COOKIE CUPS AND I NEED 56 MORE.
I've said it seventeen times, and I'll say it again: brown butter is life-changing. Brown butter elevates butter and takes it to a whole new, exalted plane. Brown butter tastes like a deep, rich, caramely, butterscotchy miracle. Brown butter is the bessssssssst.
And in order to brown your butter, all you gotta do is melt your butter for an extra two minutes until amber specks start appearing on the bottom of your skillet. That's seriously all it takes to make brown butter.
But brown butter isn't the only reason these chocolate filled cookie cups are amazing.
These cookie cups are also amazing because sinking your teeth into a gooey, chocolaty, tender, soft, chewy, rich mess of cookie dough and chocolate chips and chocolate ganache is a wonderful experience, an experience you yourself will experience if you bite into one of these cookie cups.
Should I go on? Okay, fine, I will.
Here's another reason I'm obsessed with these brown butter cookie cups: THEY'RE MINI!
Small. Tiny. Not regular muffin-sized. Tiny muffin-sized. One big bite or two small bites. That size. So you'll need a mini muffin pan to make these cookie cups. Just a heads-up.
Truth is, you could always make these cookie cups in a regular muffin pan if that's all you got and you don't want to buy the mini pan. But the cups might be a bit overwhelming in the bigger size. Because we're talking A LOT of gooey cookie dough stuffed with A LOT of chocolate filling.
But if you're not one that's fazed by the sound of that, go right ahead. The full-sized cookie cups might actually be a nice plated dessert idea, come to think of it.
This may not be a one bowl recipe, but don't get intimidated - it's a two bowl recipe. Not too bad, right?
To make these chocolate cookie cups, you'll first prepare your brown butter cookie dough. It's a basic dough, if you can call a caramely, rich, flavorful, gooey, chocolate chip cookie dough basic.
Then, you'll divide the dough between your muffin cups and bake 'em. While the cookie cups are baking, you'll prepare the chocolate ganache filling, which is quick and simple: heat some milk, pour it over some chocolate chips and butter, stir in some vanilla extract, and you're done.
And then, when you remove the cookie cups from the oven, you'll use a shot glass to make an indent in the center of each cup. Keep in mind that the deeper the indent, the more room for that chocolate filling. So it's really up to you how much ganache you want in each of your cookie cups.
Soft. Tender. Rich. Gooey. Chewy. Caramely. Butterscotchy. Chocolaty. Easy. Adorable. Delicious.
May I be excused? I have some chocolate filled brown butter cookie cups to go deal with.
Chocolate Filled Brown Butter Cookie Cups
Yield: 24 mini cookie cups
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
3/4 cup dark brown sugar, packed
1 large egg
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups packed flour
2 teaspoons cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup chocolate chips (I prefer mini chips because the cups are so small)
Ganache Filling:
1/2 cup chocolate chips or finely chopped chocolate
1 tablespoon butter
1/4 cup whole milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease 24 mini muffin cups well.
1. In a light-colored (so you can observe the browning) skillet, brown the butter: chop up butter and place into skillet over a medium flame. First, the butter will melt. Once butter melts, it will foam and bubble. Make sure to stir the butter periodically with a rubber spatula. After a few minutes, the bubbling will subside and golden specks will appear on the bottom of the pan and the butter will start smelling nutty. This means your butter is browned! Warning: butter should have golden/amber specks, not completely brown ones. If the butter is too browned, your cookie cups may have a burnt/bitter taste. (See above for video tutorial.)
2. Remove skillet from flame right away and pour the browned butter into a large mixing bowl to stop the cooking. Make sure to scrape in all the browned specks from the bottom of the pan.
3. Stir the brown sugar into the browned butter. Next, whisk in the egg and vanilla extract vigorously until mixture is smooth.
4. Pour flour, cornstarch, baking soda, and salt over wet ingredients and mix everything together until just combined. Stir in chocolate chips last.
5. Round medium pieces of dough between palms and press them down into the muffin molds. Bake cookie cups for 8-9 minutes, until the edges are just golden and the centers are barely set.
6. While cookie cups are baking, prepare chocolate filling: Combine chocolate chips and butter in a small bowl. Heat the milk until just boiled. Pour hot milk over the chocolate and let mixture sit for a couple minutes before stirring until the chocolate is melted. Stir in the vanilla extract. Set aside.
7. While cookie cups are still hot, using a small shot glass, press halfway down into the center of each cookie cup, forming indent for the chocolate filling. Remove cookie cups from their molds.
8. Drop a spoonful of chocolate ganache into each cookie cup, filling to the top. After a while, the filling will thicken somewhat but will not harden fully.
