Browned Butter Peanut Caramel Chocolate Chip Cookies

A while ago, I picked up a bag of Nestle Mix-ins, which was a combination of chocolate chips, caramel pieces, and peanuts. Previously, I had only seen holiday themed varieties, and that just wasn’t right at the time. I knew I could do something with this combination and took them home with me. They have been in the kitchen and my husband sent me a couple of recipes that we thought we could adapt to what we had. This one was great as it had many of the same elements. My bag of mix-ins was 225 grams, which was less than the 425 grams in the original recipe. I added some chopped chocolate, and if I would have had peanuts on hand that would have also been good. They were absolutely fine as they were.

The first step of this recipe is to make a simple caramel by melting sugar. I’ll be honest, caramel can be fussy. Sometimes the sugar burns before it melts! This time I stirred the sugar when partially melted, and this helped so that nothing burned. It cooled beautifully on the baking sheet. When you bash it up or cut it up, the pieces are quite sharp! They also break and go everywhere, so now my kitchen is covered with shards of sticky caramel.

The original recipe warns that you shouldn’t refrigerate these much longer than the two hours specified in the recipe, as they caramel starts to soften. I baked the cookies in two halves, one after two hours and the next day. Honestly, I didn’t notice much of a difference. It didn’t seem like the caramel softened, and the cookies retained their crunch. The caramel bits on the edges of the cookies do get a little oddly shaped, but you can quickly reshape the cookies while they are warm. These cookies have a great combination of different flavors, and each bite is a little different. I’d be curious how tasty they are with even more peanuts, but they are great as it is.

Browned Butter Peanut Caramel Chocolate Chip Cookies
200 grams sugar

225 grams butter
150 grams sugar
150 grams brown sugar
2 eggs
2 egg yolks
1 teaspoon vanilla
350 grams flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
225 grams/1 package Nestle Chocolate/Peanut/Caramel Mix-ins
125 grams dark chocolate, chopped

Make the caramel: place the 200 grams of sugar in a medium-large saucepan. Heat over medium-low heat, until the sugar is melted. I found it best to stir the sugar once it was partially melted, otherwise it could burn. When melted, the sugar will be a deep amber color. Spread the mixture on a baking sheet lined with a silicone baking mat. Allow to cool for 30 minutes, until it hardens.

Make the cookie dough: in a medium saucepan over medium-low heat, melt the butter. Once the butter has melted, continue to cook the butter, stirring occasionally, until the butter smells nutty and is golden brown. Don’t look away as the mixture can go from golden to burnt very quickly. Pour the browned butter and any browned bits into a bowl and cool for 10 minutes.

In a large mixer bowl, beat the browned butter, sugar, and brown sugar on medium to combine. Add the eggs, egg yolks, and vanilla and stir to combine. With the mixer running on low, gradually add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

Add the Nestle mix-ins and chopped chocolate. Bash/chop the cooled caramel into small pieces and add to the dough. Stir on low until the additional ingredients are incorporated.

Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for two hours.

Heat the oven to 350 degrees and line two baking sheets with silicone baking mats.

Shape the dough into mounds, about 1-1/2 tablespoons and place on the prepared baking sheets. I placed about 8 cookie per baking sheet, so they would have space.

Bake for 12-16 minutes, until set. You don’t want to over bake the cookies, as the caramel gives the cookies a good crunch. Cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes before removing to a wire rack to cool completely.

Recipe from The Boy who Bakes