Hipster – Foodologie

Until about 5 days ago, I thought “brown butter” was a crock of shit.

I hate to be crass, but let’s be honest, food bloggers are some of the best bullshitters I know. Don’t worry, I’m include myself in that sweeping comment.

I mean really, we love to make basic things and give them a fancy name that hipsters will repin like crazy and drive traffic to our sites.

Examples:

Chocolate Pudding with Peanut Butter Mousse and Maple Candied Bacon = Chocolate Pudding with stuff sprinkled on it

Spinach-Quinoa-Peach Salad with Honey-Sage Vinaigrette= a salad with fruit and grains

You’re welcome.

I’m just calling it like it is. And you know what hipsters love?

Butter. Especially brown butter.

So for a long time, I avoided anything with brown butter, because it just sounded sort of silly, but then on Friday I was bored and I needed to make dessert for the next day. So I thought to myself, why not give it a shot?

At worst it, it’s still just a damn cookie. At best, it’s an amazing cookie.

I won’t lie. It’s a pretty amazing cookie.

Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

adapted from Food and Wine

1 stick of butter
1 cup + 2 tbsp all purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup white sugar
1 egg
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup dark chocolate chips

In a pan, melt butter over medium heat. Allow to brown, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat, transfer to large bowl and allow to cool to room temperature. In the meantime, combine flour, salt, and baking soda in a bowl and set aside.

Once the butter has cooled, cream together butter and sugar until fluffy. Add 1 egg at a time, then vanilla and continue to be beat for about a minute. Add in flour mixture. Mix until almost combined. Fold in chocolate chips until dough is just combined.

Place dough in the freezer while oven preheats to 350F.

Once oven has pre-heated, form dough into walnut sized balls. Place on parchment paper-lined pan and bake for 8-10 minutes, or until golden around the edges.

Remove from oven, leave on pan for a few minutes then transfer to a cooling rack until cool. Then serve! This recipe makes about 20-24 small ish cookies. If you want larger cookies, bake longer and you’ll probably get about 10.

So I’m going to go ahead and tell you that these are great.

I’m going to swallow my pride and admit I was wrong. Brown butter is pretty tasty. They weren’t lying when they said it gives it a nice nutty flavor.

Ok now be a hipster and…

I’m coming to terms with the fact that a lot of people like to wrongly think I’m a hipster.

I get it.

I have bangs and long hair that I don’t always brush. I wear dresses. I like bourbon and mason jars. I own too many things from Anthropologie.

Little do they know… I love Beyonce and Romeo Santos/Aventura and generally shop at Food 4 Less. Oh and I bathe daily and don’t think I’m any better than you.

Not very hipster-like if you ask me.

But just for fun, let’s keep up appearances. I present to you a hipster dessert.

If you’re looking to impress a hipster, make this. It’s sure to impress. Feel free to serve it with some PBR on a vintage plate while listening to some unknown band.

Flourless Chocolate Bourbon Cake in a Jar

from Babble

12 (4 oz) mason jars
1 stick butter
8 oz chocolate chips
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
4 eggs
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup Bourbon (I used Jim Beam) or other whiskey
Whipped Cream for Serving

Preheat oven to 350F. In a saucepan, melt together butter and chocolate on low heat, set aside to cool slightly. In a separate bowl, combine white sugar and brown sugar. Add melted chocolate to sugars and stir to combine. Add in eggs, one at a time, beat until well combined. Add baking powder, baking soda and salt, stir. Stir in Bourbon/Whiskey. Pour mixture into 12 greased 4oz mason jars. Place on a baking sheet, bake for 20-30 minutes or until they pass the toothpick test.

They’ll rise but big but don’t worry they’ll shrink again.

This might not be the prettiest dessert, but that’s okay. Hipsters don’t care about pretty. It tastes like bourbon and chocolate. That’s all that matters to them.

Refrigerate until ready to eat. I recommend eating them the next day with whipped cream. The texture is better after chilled, and the whipped cream works wonders (that is if you have any left over from Valentine’s Day…).