Browned Butter Triple Chocolate Chunk Cookies

Home from an intense blogging conference and what am I doing? Baking.

Right now it is the best way to sort through all the info crammed into my head on topics such as viral marketing, blogging curation, and advanced monetization, to name but a few.

There's also the song from the surprise flashmob that I performed in at the conference close; can't get it out of my head. Baking seems like the best thing to do at this point. At least it can help me avoid unpacking for a few more hours.

I mentioned these cookies in my holiday cookie swap recap, and promised the recipe sometime. It was a 'bake-the-best-cookie-of-your-life' swap and I made these, so that should tell you a lot about how good they are.

Browned Butter Triple Chocolate Chunk Cookies

I'm not going to get into the whole 'Best Chocolate Chip Cookie' debate, although I do think mine can compete with the best of them. Browned butter gives that extra nutty flavor, extra vanilla because I can, and three types of chocolate goes into the batter just to be sure they're deluxe. Enjoy!

Adapted from Alton Brown's chocolate chip cookie recipe.

• 2 sticks unsalted butter (1 cup, or half a pound)
  
• 2 1/4 cups bread flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 1/4 cups brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 egg yolk
• 2 tablespoons milk
• 1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips
• 3/4 cup white chocolate chunks
• 3/4 cup dark chocolate chunks (I use Scharffen Berger 62% cacao semisweet chocolate baking chunks)
  

Melt the butter in a small heavy-bottom saucepan over medium heat. Cook slowly until browned, about five minutes. Set aside and cool.

Sift together the flour, salt, and baking soda.

Pour the melted butter in the bowl of a stand mixer. Add the sugars and beat on medium speed until creamy.

Add the egg, egg yolk, milk and vanilla extract. Beat until well combined.

Slowly incorporate the flour mixture until thoroughly combined.

Stir in all of the chocolate chips and chunks and try to resist eating all of the dough.

Cover bowl with plastic wrap and chill the dough for a minimum of twelve hours, and ideally 36 hours.

To bake. Heat oven to 375 degrees F.

Using a sturdy spoon, scoop approximately 1 tablespoon of dough from the bowl and roll into a ball. Place onto parchment-lined baking sheets, about 12 cookies per sheet.

Bake for 8 minutes or until golden brown, checking the cookies after 5 minutes and rotating the baking sheet for even browning.

Cool completely on wire racks.and store in an airtight container.