I can attest that these cookies are foolproof because when made them, I messed up the directions royally and they still turned out great. In my defense, I had received my covid shot the day before and was suffering wicked brain fog. Since I am now familiar with the drill – 24 hours of bleh and then you’re good – I was planning on doing nothing but watch bad rom-coms. But by the afternoon, I was restless and rallied enough to do a little recipe testing.
The original recipe asks that you use two tablespoons of butter to brown the pecans and soak the oats, and then use the remaining six tablespoons to cream with the sugar. My addled head zoomed right past that division and used all the butter to brown and soak. Unwilling (okay, too knackered ) to start again, I mixed in the remaining ingredients and followed the rest of the instructions diligently. They were excellent.
If you want to try the original recipe, I encourage you to sign up for the Times’ cooking subscription since it is an impressive archive. But you can also try this version and whether they are what the author intended or not, they are pretty darned good; chewy in the middle and crispy on the edges. I used our new Vanilla Bean Infused for the maple addition but Sugarmaker’s Dark pure maple would also work really well.
Adapted from Chewy Brown Butter Cookies by Genevieve Ko, New York Times, Oct 30, 2024
