Wednesday, March 31, 2010

It's All About the Salt

My family has spent a lot of time on the Central Coast of California,  and I thought I knew Cayucos, the little town where we stayed this weekend pretty well, but it's changed a lot in the last few years, for the better, I think. It's still a tiny place with none of that Southern California congestion and rush, but it's been spruced up. Of course, that also means that we could never afford a home there as people from my town used to be able to do, but oh well.
 Paige and her "Auntie Ann" both love the beach. It was almost too hot for sweatshirts as we walked out on the pier.


 One new addition to Cayucos (Well, they've been there for four years, but we hadn't noticed them before.) is the Brown Butter Cookie Company. We were looking for coffee the first late afternoon that we pulled into town, and it was about the only place open. They did have coffee, one of my favorites, SLO Coffee, but more enticing were their shelves of cookies. Their signature cookie is, of course, their brown butter sea salt cookie. They're way too expensive, a dollar apiece for a little cookie, but they're sooooo good. I made it my quest this week to copy their recipe, and I think I came pretty close. It's al about the salt. I improvised a recipe I found from Food Channel, but this morning, I found an even better one on Maple sugar Lyrics' blog. Hers sounds more like mine.

Brown Butter Sea Salt Cookies


Ingredients:

1 cup brown butter
1 cup light brown sugar
2 tsp vanilla
2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
sea salt

To make brown butter, melt butter over medium heat until browned. It will foam up a little just before it gets brown. Stir in brown sugar and vanilla and remove from heat, let cool.

In a mixing bowl add flour and baking soda  Stir in sugar mixture and let sit for half an hour or so.

Roll 1 inch balls of dough and dip in sea salt.  Bake for 12 - 15 minutes in a 325 degree oven.


So, it takes my sister-in-law coming to visit us for me to be introduced to "salt." How could I know that it was all the rage? Being trapped in a classroom with teenagers for weeks on end, I'm really out of the loop.  I don't know if my cookies would have tasted just as good with two dollar Trader Joe's sea salt, but I got mine at World Market as part of a set. Now, I can experiment with salt endlessly. Hypertension, here I come!  Oh...and I do remember that this is a knitting blog, but one has to have knitting accomplishments to blog about knitting accomplishments!

9 comments:

Thimbleanna said...

Hey -- baking accomplishments are just as good! I love to find something fabulous and then try to find a matching recipe. Thanks for this one -- it looks great!!!

Rani said...

I agree with Thimbleanna. Who needs knitting when you have such yumminess instead!

Those cookies look to die for. My mom has some strange, exotic pink salt. I may have to raid her pantry and have a go at those cookies.

Thanks for the recipe.

TheBlackSheep said...

We like new and interesting baked goods too. I'm going to have to try that recipe just because it intrigues me.

Did I mention it's snowing out? Looking at you sun makes me want to go home. Right now.

Tracy Batchelder said...

I'm a big fan of the salty/sweet combination. I'm sure I'd love these cookies.

frayedattheedge said...

I'm not too sure about the salt ....
I started my blog as a tale of knitting and sewing, then had to add 'and living in the country' as I started posting photos of my surroundings - and I should now add cooking, as I do a lot of recipes as well .... if I only posted when I had sewing or knitting to show, then I wouldn't do very many posts!

Julie said...

When I first read the recipe I thought, brown butter? now where in the world would I find that. And then of course I read the recipe and thought, oh hey!, I just had brown butter on my popcorn last week!
You know, this is your blog, you can make it anything you want!!
Happy Easter!

Anonymous said...

The cookies from that company were AMAZING.......BUT I knew Caroline could match them with her baking skills. Can't wait to give these a go....thanks for figuring it out...AND thanks again for making me the socks. I cannot wait to wear them. Miss you all already.
Ann/Lincoln

ImplausibleYarn said...

Thanks for taking the time to figure it out and sharing. If you ever have that ambitious urge to try and figure out more top secret wicked expensive recipes I've been haunted by the memories of caramel apple tarts for some time...

JayJay said...

Thanks for sharing the recipe! I 've never heard of cookies like these, so I would love to try them. I have several cookie recipes I want to try, actually. Maybe once I get some grading done.....