Brown butter Chocolate Chunk Cookies – Pihikete Pata Parauri Me Te Tiakarete
Who doesn’t love fresh Brown butter Chocolate Chunk Cookies straight from the oven? If anything is going to brighten your day, cookies with melty chocolate all through them definitely will. These beauties have a base of pata parauri (brown butter) which gives the cookie dough a deep, nutty flavour that is hard to beat. Yes, there is a little more work but the process is beautiful and is worth every moment.
More about this recipe:
The trick with brown butter is to slowly do it over medium heat, don’t be tempted to crank up the heat! You want to slowly brown the butter so the flavour develops and the milk solids slowly deepen in colour. This creates a nutty flavour in your cookies. I have added a mix-in of spiced pecan nuts which I love but hey, feel free to skip that part or swap the nuts for your favourite kind. Nā reira e hoa mā (and therefore my friends), go forth and make pihikete (biscuits)!
These Gooey Cookie Pies are also amazing and use the same base recipe as this one.
More cookies to check out:
These White Chocolate Raspberry Biscuits are another delicious brown butter cookie. If you want a similar cookie but with salted caramel chocolate and pihitāhio (pistachios), make my Pistachio and Salted Carmel Chocolate Cookies. Or, make my Pistachio, Coconut and Chocolate Cookie Slice for a simpler option of the same recipe.
Do you want a cookie that celebrates pata pīnati (peanut butter) and tiakarete (chocolate)? Look no further than my Ultimate Peanut Butter Cookies. Or do you prefer hānati (hazelnuts) because I have another idea. My Forerro Rocher Cookies make the perfect entertaining cookie. Check out more pihikete (biscuit) ideas here.
Videography and photography by Sarah Henderson.
Brown Butter Choc Chip Chocolate Cookies – Pihikete Pata Parauri Me Te Titipi Tiakarete
Ingredients
The Brown Butter – Te Pata Parauri
- 210 g pata (butter, cut in to cubes)
Spiced Pecan Nuts – Nati Pēkani (optional add ins, skip if you want to)
- ⅓ C (50 g) nati pēkani (pecan nuts)
- 2 tbsp marahihi māpere (maple syrup)
- 1 tsp hinamona (cinnamon)
Te Pokenga – The Dough
- ½ tsp tote (salt, fine)
- ¾ C (150 g) huka hāura (brown sugar)
- ⅓ C (65 g) huka one (caster sugar)
- 2 tsp (10 ml) iho hūperei (vanilla essence)
- 2 C (300 g) puehu parāoa noa (plain flour)
- 2 hēki (eggs, size 6)
- ½ tsp pēkana paura (baking powder)
- ¼ tsp pēkana houra (baking soda)
- 150 g tiakarete parauri (dark chocolate). Use whatever mix of chocolate you want – this is a guide.
- 100 g tiakarete miraka (milk chocolate)
Instructions
The Brown Butter – Te Pata Parauri
- Pre-heat the oven to 165 °C.
- Add the chopped pata (butter) in to a medium sized pot or pan. Set over medium heat. It is time to brown the butter which goes through a series of stages. First it will melt, then the milk fats will start to separate – these are the white, floaty bits. Stir occasionally here so nothing sticks to the bottom of the pot. Keep it on the heat and eventually the butter will start to foam. Stir it a little bit and allow the brown bits to float to the top. It should smell nutty. (Use the pictures and video as a guide). From here, stir it a little for another 30 seconds or so so the butter browns further.
- Remove from the heat and pour straight in to a bowl. (Don't use a glass bowl like I did in the video)! Leave to cool for 10 minutes.
Spiced Pecan Nuts – Nati Pēkani (optional add ins, skip this part if you want to)
- Chop the nati pēkani (pecan nuts) in to small pieces. Add them in to the same pan as the brown butter (no need to clean it). Toast them over medium heat.
- Add the marahihi māpere (maple syrup) and hinamona (cinnamon) in to the hot pan. Stir for 30 seconds on the heat and watch it sizzle. Remove from the heat and set aside.
Te Pokenga – The Dough
- Add the tote (salt), huka hāura (brown sugar), huka one (caster sugar) and iho hūperei (vanilla) in to the slightly cooled brown butter.
- Mix together with a whisk for a minute. Don't worry if the mixture looks a little separated, the eggs will fix that.
- Add one hēki (egg) and whisk for 20 seconds. The mixture will start to come together. Add the second hēki (egg) and whisk again for 20 seconds.
- Add the puehu parāoa (flour), pēkana paura (baking powder) and pēkana houra (baking soda). Stir to combine.
- Add the tiakarete to a papa tapatapahi (chopping board) and chop in to chunks. Reserve a handful on chocolate to add to the tops of the cookies. Add the rest to the mixture with the nati pēkani (pecan nuts), if you are using them.
- Stir everything together. Put the bowl of mixture in the fridge or leave it on the bench for five minutes to thicken.
- Take tablespoons of dough and roll each one in to 25 balls and place on 2 trays. Add the reserved tiakarete (chocolate) on top. Don't squash the dough down and make sure they have around 4cm space between each one.
- Bake a tray at a time for 12 minutes. You can shape them with a cookie cutter straight from the oven if you want or just leave them as they are! These would be delicious with a sprinkle of flaky sea salt too! Note: The cookies in the images are slightly different as I have altered this recipe slightly since then!
A delicious nice, easy recipe that my 2.5yr old son and I love making, almost every week!
I absolutely love that you and your son make this together – that makes me so happy!
These are my go to pihikete at the moment. Super addicting and the pata parauri makes them taste even better than any other chocolate chip cookie I’ve made.
Tēnā koe Emily and thank you so much for the awesome feedback, how good is brown butter right? It really does add another dimension to the cookies. Kia ora rā – thank you!