Brown Butter Nougat Cookies

My lovely parents have just returned home from an extended holiday and I decided to renew my efforts at being their favourite and make them some Brown Butter Nougat Cookies to celebrate their return.

Reeling from the divine Nougat & Vodka cocktail I had recently, I have been searching for ways to incorporate more nougat in my life and thought cookies were the perfect vessel. Let me tell you, these are DELICIOUS! The chocolate commingling with the nougat is very Toblerone 2.0. and if weren’t for ancestral cholesterol, I would’ve doubled the recipe.

Note: I would not suggest you attempt making these if you aren’t armed with an electric whisk as there is a lot of whipping involved.

P.s. I have recently discovered that I been mispronouncing nougat my whole life.

Ingredients | Makes 12 Cookies

• 150g unsalted butter

• 75g golden caster sugar

• 75g light brown muscovado sugar

• 180g plain flour

• 150g nougat (I used these but you can definitely use Barratts if it’s easier to find)

• 100g of chocolate (I used 50g of milk chocolate & 50g dark milk chocolate)

• 1 egg

• 2 tsp Camp Chicory & Chocolate Essence

• 1 tbsp milk

• 1 tsp vanilla extract

• ½ tsp baking powder

• Pinch of sea salt

Method

Step 1: Brown your butter

Add your butter to a light-coloured pan* over medium heat and allow the butter to melt, whisking it intermittently as it cooks. When the butter is golden brown in colour and smells a little bit nutty it’s ready to go. This process should take approximately 7-8 minutes.

Once the butter is browned, transfer it immediately to a bowl to cool for 10-minutes. Keeping it in the pan could lead to it overcooking.

*It’s important that you are able to see your butter transition in colour as it cooks, so that’s why a light-coloured pan is preferable over a black one.

Step 2: Whilst your browned butter is cooling, chop up your nougat and chocolate into bite sized pieces.

Step 3: To your cooled brown butter, add 2 teaspoons of Camp Chicory & Chocolate Essence and 1 tablespoon of milk and whip until the mixture transforms from liquid to a smooth paste consistency.

Step 4: Add in your sugar and whip the mixture again until it starts to get a little fluffier in consistency.

Step 5: Add in the egg and vanilla extract and whip the mixture again for the final time- approximately 1/2 mins. After this final whip, the mixture should be very light and fluffy in consistency.

Step 6: Sift in 180g of plain flour and then add in the 1/2 tsp of baking powder, pinch of sea salt and the chopped chocolate and nougat. Fold the mixture until all of the flour has been incorporated, but be careful not to overwork the dough too much.

Step 7: Cling film your cookie dough and refrigerate for 30 minutes (you can cool the dough for longer/ overnight if you like, I was very hangry whilst making this so didn’t have the luxury of patience)

Step 8: Remove your cookie dough from the fridge and roll into 12 balls and place on parchment lined baking sheets; ensuring you space out the cookies so that they have room to spread in the oven. Bake for 10 minutes at 180 degrees celsius until browned and crisp at the edges but still very soft in the centre. The cookies will continue to cook as they cool. 

Step 9: Remove from the oven and let the cookies cool. I left mine for 45 minutes.

Once cooled, enjoy! x