This is my new recipe for Crunchy Brown Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies. They're not quite Chips Ahoy or Famous Amos clones, but they come pretty close. They are crunchy, dark brown, medium to small size cookies with mini size chocolate chips. Mini chips are key. Along with the mini chips the other key ingredients are store bought oat flour (Quaker brand) and browned butter.
Brown Butter Weight Loss
For this recipe you only need 1 stick of butter. 1 stick of unsalted butter weighs 114 grams. A stick of butter loses about 22% of its weight after being melted and browned, so you'll be left with 89 grams. Getting rid of that extra moisture is part of what helps make these cookies crunchy, so don't skip the butter browning (and re-setting) step. And be sure you are using a full 89 grams once the butter is set and ready to mix.
Lots of Whipping
The other steps I incorporated were lots of creaming with my whisk attachment, and I did a lazy move of adding the egg, vanilla, baking soda and salt all in one take rather than mix the leavening agents with the flour. But I didn't do it only out of laziness. Beating the baking soda with the creamed mixture and eggs (as opposed to mixing it with the flour) creates more air bubbles which get trapped in the creamed mixture. To keep those bubbles, add the flour & oat flour gently.
Use a Small Cookie Scoop
When I first started baking I didn't even own a cookie scoop. Now I can't live without one. The scoop not only helps with uniformity and correct portioning (though I still struggle with that), it gives the cookies a shape more like commercial cookies. I have a tendency to make all my cookies too large, but I was able to use some restraint today and make the cookies small with a fairly level 1 tablespoon size small cookie scoop.
Of course when I compared mine to Famous Amos, they were still to large! Wally's cookies were only about 8 grams each. Here's a picture of mine along with some Famous Amos I pulled from the freezer. They were still good, btw. So if you want them to be closer to Wally Amos cookies, make them smaller.
Chips Ahoy or Famous Amos
Whether or not your cookies will be like Chips Ahoy! or Famous Amos depends on a few more things. A key ingredient in these cookies is the mini chocolate chips. Their smallness works well with the size of the cookie and they distribute a little bit of chocolate in every bite. Chips Ahoy and original Famous Amos didn't have nuts, though Famous Amos did come along with nut versions later. Famous Amos type cookies, use pecans. I actually added walnuts to this batch plus a little orange, but next round I'll add the pecans.
Here's the new recipe, and I hope you have as much fun making it as I did.
Recipe
Brown Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
- ½ cup unsalted butter, cut into chunks
- ½ cup light brown sugar, packed (110 grams)
- ¼ cup granulated sugar (50 grams)
- 1 large egg
- ¾ teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¾ cup all purpose flour (I used 100 grams, so volume is an estimate) (100 grams)
- ½ cup oat flour (Quaker) (60 grams)
- ¼ teaspoon orange zest (optional)
- 3 ½ oz mini chocolate chips (½ cup)
- ½ cup toasted walnuts, chopped (optional)
Instructions
- In a small saucepan, brown the butter. Scrape browned butter and all its bits into a small bowl. Let cool slightly then refrigerate until it is soft set.
- Preheat oven to 375°F. For crunchier cookies or cookies that bake more evenly throughout, preheat to 325°F.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer with the whisk attached, combine your set browned butter (89 grams) and both sugars and beat for 2 minutes. It will smell really good!
- Remove the bowl from the stand and add the egg, vanilla, baking soda and salt. Return to mixer stand and beat for another two-three minutes, scraping sides of the bowl often.
- Add the oat flour and flour and stir until fully blended.
- Add chocolate chips, walnuts and orange zest (if using).
- Using a small cookie scoop (1 tablespoon) scoop out balls of dough. You should get about 28. For smaller Famous Amos size cookies, make the dough balls a little over half that size or about 10 grams each.
- Arrange the dough balls 2 inches apart on an ungreased baking sheet. For the larger cookies, bake for 8 minutes at 375. Rap the pan on the counter and bake for another 2-4 minutes or until the edges are lightly browned.
- Alternatively, you can bake the cookies at 325 for 14-18 minutes. The cookies should spread a little without you having to press them down, but if you want a more even crunchy bake, press the rounded tops flat.
- Let the cookies cool completely before serving. They should crisp as they cool.
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