Brown butter, banana, tahini and chocolate cookies recipe
There's much debate over what makes the perfect chocolate cookie, but this is an outrageously tasty combination.
This recipe makes 28 cookies. Note the prep time does not include chilling.
Ingredients
- 150 g unsalted butter
- 120 g plain (all-purpose) flour
- 120 g spelt flour
- 1 x ¾ tsp baking powder
- 0.5 tsp bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)
- 0.5 tsp fine sea salt
- 280 g dark chocolate (70% cocoa solids), roughly chopped, with some biggish chunks and some small bits
- 1 very ripe banana, about 100g/3½oz without skin
- 1 large egg
- 220 g soft light brown sugar
- 40 g granulated sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 80 g tahini (must be smooth and runny enough to run off a spoon easily)
- 1 pinch sea salt flakes or fleur de sel, for sprinkling
Details
- Cuisine: American
- Recipe Type: Cookie
- Difficulty: Easy
- Preparation Time: 20 mins
- Cooking Time: 25 mins
- Serves: 14
Step-by-step
- Place the butter in a heavy, light-coloured pan and melt over a medium-high heat, swirling frequently, until the butter smells gorgeously nutty and has turned dark brown. Remove from the heat and transfer to a mixing bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer, making sure you scrape in all the brown bits from the bottom of the pan (this is flavour!). Leave to cool for at least 5 minutes.
- Meanwhile, using a fork or balloon whisk, whisk the flours, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda and salt together in a bowl to combine. Add the chopped chocolate and stir to evenly distribute.
- In a small bowl, mash the banana until smooth, then add to the cooled butter along with the egg, both the sugars, vanilla and tahini. Whisk for a good 5 minutes until creamy and much paler than when you started – this is a sign that the mixture has aerated well.
- Fold in the flour and chocolate mixture in 2 additions. Don’t overmix or beat smooth: dough with an uneven consistency delivers welcome texture to the baked cookies.
- Chill for at least 2 hours.
- Preheat the oven to 170°C/340°F/gas mark 3 and line a large baking sheet with baking paper (you will need to cook these in batches).
- Scoop heaped tablespoons of dough onto the prepared baking sheet (about 40-45g/1½-1¾oz each), leaving at least 5cm/2in between them.
- Bake for 6 minutes, then turn the baking sheet round and bake for a further 6 minutes or so until brown at the edges (the centre might look a little undercooked, but it’s not).
- Lightly sprinkle the cookies with the sea salt while still warm. Leave on the baking sheet for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool.
This recipe is from The Little Chocolate Cookbook by Sue Quinn (Quadrille, £10). Photography ©Yuki Sugiura.
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