I have so much I want to say and tell you about what is going on here at Keep It Sweet Desserts, but my thoughts are coming through in a pretty chaotic stream of consciousness so I’ll hold off until things calm down a bit!
For now, though, I can say, I am SO happy I planned ahead and sent out my Food Blogger Cookie Swap packages early this year. If I had waited, my cookies would have been who knows what and my photos rushed and blah. I took these photos a few weeks ago when I was enamored with the wonderful chew in the cookie and fragrant aroma coming out of my kitchen. For the swap, I wanted to make something that combined some of my favorite elements of a cookie, chew and salt. While the brown butter flavor was only slightly apparent in the final product, the texture of these cookies and overall taste more than made up for that. I sent my cookies to Angie, Crystal, and Michelle, I just hope they agreed!
And of course I enjoyed receiving cookies in the mail for myself (such a nice change of pace!) from some wonderful bloggers. Caroline (who I already adore) made wonderful florentines. I was so impressed that she packaged them without them breaking at all! Felice sent great Rosemary Lemon Shortbread cookies, the smell was amazing! And finally, I got some terrific Cherry Chocolate Pecan Oatmeal Cookies from Cher. What better way to find new blogs than by exchanging cookies?!
- ½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
- 1⅞ ounces (1/4 cup) granulated sugar
- 5½ ounces (2/3 cup) packed light brown sugar
- 1 x-large egg at room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 7 ounces (1½ cups) all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoons baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup M&Ms
- Sea salt for sprinkling
- Brown the butter: Heat butter in a small heavy saucepan over medium heat, stirring constantly, when butter turns to an amber/light brown color, remove from heat immediately (You should be able to smell the deeper more caramel flavor of the butter) pour browned butter immediately into a small bowl and set aside to cool
- Once butter has cooled, place in the large bowl of an electric mixer with sugars; beat on high speed until well combined
- Add egg and vanilla, mix on medium speed until well mixed
- In a separate medium-sized bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda and salt; slowly add to wet ingredients with mixer on low speed; do not over mix
- Slowly stir in M*Ms
- Chill dough for 24 hours for best results (minimum of 2 hours) before baking
- When ready to bake,pre-heat oven to 350 degrees; line baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside
- Scoop cookie dough with a medium (~2 tablespoons) or large (~4 tablespoons) cookie dough scoop on to prepared baking sheets
- Bake cookies until firm: 7-8 minutes for medium and 9-10 minutes for large
- Allow to cool before serving
Oh, and want to know what’s keeping me busy lately? Mostly this, a ton of this, and quite a bit of this. Yes, I may or may not be turning into an actual baked good.
Make something from the blog? Be sure to share it on Instagram with the tag #KeepItSweetDesserts.
You might also like:
Peanut Butter Cup Heath Bar Brown Butter Cookies
Gluten-Free Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
Brown Butter Chocolate Chunk Cookie Cake
I don’t know what it is, but I’m on an M&M’s cookie kick right now. I never really liked them until now and with the brown butter added to the mix, these sound like heaven to me. your photos are just beautiful and I love the color of those M&M’s! Excited to hear your news. :)
For some reason I’ve started liking M&Ms in baked goods more and more… and I also love the different seasonal colors:-)
I bet the lucky bloggers who you sent these too couldn’t believe their luck! I have such a soft spot for cookies with M&Ms and the combination with brown butter just makes these even more amazing!
I was one of the lucky bloggers and I can tell you – these are delicious!! I normally am not a fan of M+M cookies but the browned butter changed my mind. YUM!
Pinned! These look like my perfect kind of cookie – thick with just the right amount of crispiness and lots of chocolate! Plus brown butter makes everything better.
Perfect combination of salty and sweet! There’s no way I’d be able to eat just one.
Yum! You are the queen of cookies, so those were some lucky bloggers to receive these!
These look seriously incredible!! I wish I had a handful to get me through the day.
Hey Lauren! These look scrumptious, beautiful job!
These were very much enjoyed – and quickly gone! Thanks for the great cookies from The Kid Can Cook and Happy Holidays!
Thank you so much, Michelle! Happy Holidays to you and your family:-)
these sound unbelievable! Somehow I missed the cookie swap this year, but will definitely keep it in mind for next year!
When you’re able to combine sweet, salty and chewy in one place – I am totally there!! And these look so festive :) I love them!
So awesome that you were still a swapper with all your crazy KISD endeavors this year. These look so yummy!
Oh my word these look amazing!!! Love them!
Oh my gosh, these look like they would just melt in your mouth!! They’re the best looking cookies I’ve seen in a while!
Thank you so much, Ari!
Would you believe I’ve only made browned butter ONCE before? And it was two weeks ago. Seriously need to jump on the bandwagon. these cookies look awesome! i would have LOVED to receive them.
I LOVE working with browned butter. It makes the perfect cookie.
You teased us on instagram a while ago with this. So glad you posted it :)
These look yummy! I made and sent my cookies early too and am so glad I did.
These look fantastic! Would have loved to receive a dozen of these in the mail :)
I need these NOW!
why does the butter need to be softened before you brown it?
I find that it browns better than if you start with cold butter!