Beurre Noisette Brownies

Beurre Noisette Brownies

This recipe for brown butter brownies, which I love to make in late spring and pair with homemade ice cream and fresh berries, is one of my all time greatest hits. It is my Paleo adaptation of a Cooks Country recipe for skillet chocolate chip cookies. It has the texture of a soft and fudgy brownie with the flavor profile of an old fashioned chocolate chip cookie. It is universally adored, by Paleo converts and normal humans alike. Perhaps because it is simply scrumptious. Should you deny yourself this deliciousness, you do so at your own peril.

Ingredients:

·      16 tbsp butter (1 stick)

·      1 1/4 cup coconut sugar

·      1/4 cup maple syrup

·      1 egg plus 1 egg yolk

·      1 tsp vanilla extract

·      1 3/4 cups almond flour

·      3/4 tsp sea salt

·      1/2 tsp baking soda

·      1 1/2 cups chocolate chips

·      1 pinch fleur de sel

·      Optional: Homemade paleo ice cream 

·      Optional: Berries for garnish

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

Toast the almond flour in a flat, wide pan over medium low heat until it begins to give off a nutty aroma and develop a golden, toasted hue.

In a medium sized bowl, mix together the toasted almond flour, sea salt, and baking soda.

Then brown 12 tablespoons of butter in a cast iron circular pan over medium heat, whisking continuously for roughly 5 minutes until it turns a caramel-brown color and develops a nutty smell. Then immediately remove the butter from the heat to avoid burning the milk solids.

Pour the browned butter into a large mixing bowl (that can be used in a stand mixer, if available) and add the remaining 4 tablespoons of room temperature softened butter to the bowl to stop the browned butter from carryover cooking. Then add 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract and 1/4 cup of maple syrup. Wait 5 minutes for the mixture to cool before adding 1 egg and 1 egg yolk. Then, place bowl on stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment (or otherwise use a whisk to incorporate), and whisk the wet ingredients together until combined.

Next add the 1 1/4 cup coconut sugar to the wet ingredients, whisking in gradually until fully incorporated. Then change the stand mixer attachment to the paddle attachment.

Now slowly incorporate the dry ingredients into the bowl with the wet ingredients on the stand mixer, using the paddle attachment, and mix until the dough comes together.

Then add 1 1/2 cups chocolate chips and mix 30 seconds longer, until they are interspersed throughout the dough.

Pour the dough into one large oblong or two medium sized circular cast iron baking dishes. Sprinkle the top with fleur de sel.

Place the baking dishes in the oven and bake for 35-40 minutes, until the cookie cake begins to pull away from the edge of the pan but the center is still soft, with the slightest wobble.

Once it has cooled slightly, cut with a pizza cutter into wedges and serve warm with ice cream (my vanilla rooibos ice cream pairs super well--recipe coming soon) and fresh berries.