Brown Butter Chocolate Chunk Cookies

Ingredients

• 1 cup unsalted butter
• 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 cup brown sugar, packed
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 9 ounces milk chocolate bars, roughly chopped into chunks, about 2 cups
• 1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans, optional

Directions

1. Heat the oven to 350 degrees F. To brown the butter, set it in a medium sized, thick-bottomed, stainless steel saucepan over medium heat and let it melt. Stainless steel helps you see the color as it changes.
2. Cook the melted butter as it foams, bubbles, and gives off moisture, whisking often for several minutes.
3. Once the butter smells nutty and you can move the foam aside to spot little brown flecks on the bottom of the pan, take it off the heat right away and pour it into a bowl. Move quickly here, because browned butter can turn scorched fast. In a separate bowl, add the flour, salt, baking soda, and cinnamon, then whisk well. Pour the browned butter into the bowl of a stand-up mixer, or use a bowl and beat it by hand. Add the sugars and beat until the mixture is smooth. Beat in the eggs one at a time, mixing after each one. Add the vanilla extract and continue beating for 3 more minutes. Stir the dry mixture into the butter and sugar mixture a third at a time. Fold in the chocolate chunks and the nuts, if using.
4. At this stage, the dough can be made ahead a day or two and kept in the refrigerator until you are ready to bake. Line rimmed cookie sheets with Silpat or parchment paper, or lightly butter them instead.
5. Drop heaping tablespoon-sized mounds of dough onto the prepared cookie sheets, leaving at least 2 inches between them so the cookies have space to spread in the oven. Bake in batches if needed. Bake at 350 degrees F for about 12 minutes, until the edges are lightly browned. Take the cookies out of the oven and leave them on the cookie sheet for 5 minutes, then transfer them to a rack to finish cooling.