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This recipe encapsulates the essence of Easter, with a delicious twist. These Browned Butter Cadbury Egg Cookies combine the nutty richness of browned butter with the sweet charm of Cadbury eggs, creating a perfect treat for the holiday season. Is your mouth watering yet? Saddle up, these are tasty! This guide not only walks you through the recipe but also delves into the science behind the flavors and provides tips to ensure your cookies turn out irresistible.
I love holidays and the baking that accompanies those special days. Especially when it involves Cadbury eggs (a childhood favorite of mine). Their colorful shells and creamy chocolate centers have always been a sign of the season. In this recipe, I wanted to elevate the traditional holiday cookie by incorporating the complex flavors of browned butter, making each bite a true delight. If you’re looking for more Easter recipes check out my Browned Butter Cadbury Egg Blondies or my Coconut Cream Pie.
The Chemistry of Browned Butter Cadbury Egg Cookies
Browning butter is a culinary technique that enhances the flavor profile of these cookies. The process involves cooking butter until the milk solids caramelize, producing a rich, nutty aroma. This not only adds depth to the dough but also complements the sweetness of the Cadbury eggs. The inclusion of both brown sugar and granulated sugar achieves a perfect balance of moisture and texture, ensuring the cookies are chewy on the inside with a slight crisp on the edges. Cream of tartar, an acidic ingredient, works with baking soda to leaven the cookies, making them light and soft.
Why brown butter for cookies?
Okay first of all, why not? Seriously, it’s so good! I digress… Browning the butter deepens the flavor of the cookies, adding a nutty, caramel-like taste that standard melted or softened butter can’t achieve. This step elevates the overall flavor profile, making the cookies more complex and indulgent. If you love browned butter like I do, take my word for it and bake my Browned Butter Banana Cupcakes. They’re heaven in your mouth!
Can I use regular eggs instead of Cadbury eggs?
While you can’t replace Cadbury eggs with regular eggs in the dough, you could substitute other chocolate candies if Cadbury eggs aren’t available. However, for the authentic Easter experience, Cadbury eggs are recommended, due to their unique taste and festive look.
How do you know when the butter is perfectly browned?
The butter is perfectly browned when it turns a rich amber color, and you can see little browned bits at the bottom of the pan. It will have a nutty aroma. Be careful and be sure to remove it from the heat at this point in order to prevent it from burning.
How do I achieve the perfect browned butter?
Mastering the art of browning butter can transform your cooking, making the process enjoyable and worry-free. Begin by placing your butter in a small saucepan over a medium flame until it melts completely. Shortly after melting, the butter will enter a boiling phase, accompanied by a series of popping sounds. These sounds are crucial cues during the browning process, so pay attention.
As the boiling continues, a thick foam will develop, yet the popping will persist. At this point, it’s essential to stay close and listen attentively. The moment the popping ceases, while at the same time the foam remains, it signifies it’s the time to remove the butter from the heat.
By gently stirring the butter, you’ll notice brown specks appearing through the foam, accompanied by a rich, nutty aroma. This indicates that your browned butter is ready.
Why did my cookies spread too much or not enough?
The spread of the cookies can be affected by the temperature of the dough and oven accuracy. Chilling the dough briefly before baking can help prevent excessive spreading. If your cookies aren’t spreading enough on the other hand, your oven might be running cooler than indicated, or the dough may be too cold.
What is in Browned Butter Cadbury Egg Cookies?
Browned Butter
Browning butter adds a nutty and rich flavor to your frosting, cookies, brownies or cake.
Shortening
Being 100% fat, it provides a flakier texture and prevents spreading because it does not melt down in the oven.
Brown Sugar
Is granulated sugar with a little molasses mixed in. Molasses is a somewhat smoky flavored natural sweetener, which makes brown sugar a bit sweeter than granulated sugar. Brown sugar draws more moisture into your treat, keeping it softer for longer. It’s also more acidic, which means it will help activate your baking soda.
Granulated Sugar
Adds sweetness, provides a caramelized flavor and crisp texture. Sugar assists with rising when creamed with butter. It helps add moisture to your treat and helps it evenly spread as it melts into a liquid in the heat of the oven. Sugar also helps with naturally preserving your baked treat.
Eggs
Adds both a protein (egg whites) and fat (egg yolks). The egg whites help with rising because, when foamed, little air pockets get trapped inside the egg white mixture. The water content in egg whites encourages steam while baking, which helps with gluten formation, resulting in nice and thick treats. Egg yolks have emulsifying properties that bring batters and doughs together and help them from collapsing. Unless otherwise specified, always use large eggs.
Vanilla Extract
When using pure vanilla extract, as opposed to imitation flavoring, it will add the deep rich flavor that everybody wants in a treat.
All-purpose Flour
Builds structure as it absorbs liquids and expands. All-purpose flour falls in the middle of bread flour (high in gluten) and cake flour (low in gluten). It’s exactly what it is named, all-purpose, the most universal flour that can be used in most baked goods.
Baking Soda
Elevates the pH level of your batter or dough. It increases the spread in your treat and encourages browning, which gives the crispy outside and soft inside texture that everyone loves. Baking soda needs both an acid and a liquid to react. Things that will activate your baking soda are: vinegar, fruit juice, molasses, brown sugar, tartar, buttermilk and sour cream. Baking soda only reacts once, which is right when it’s mixed into your batter or dough. The soda creates little air bubbles all throughout your treat. When the air bubbles get heated up in the oven, they expand.
Fine Sea Salt
Enhances flavor, adds balance, masks any bitter flavors. Salt is the most powerful and oldest preservative. Always make sure to use fine sea salt so it melts down at the right speed in the heat of the oven. If you use larger granule salt, it will not melt down fully when baked and will leave salt crystals throughout your treat, making it crunch like you dropped it into sand.
Cream of Tartar
Stabilizes the egg whites, ensuring they hold their structure when whipped.
Cadbury Eggs
Offer a sweet, chocolatey surprise with each bite, making the cookies festive and delicious.
Storage Tips
Store the cooled cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to a week. For longer storage, freeze the baked cookies for up to a 3 months. Thaw at room temperature before serving to enjoy them as if they were freshly baked.
Freezing
You can freeze the cookie dough balls for easy, fresh-baked cookies any time. Place the dough balls on a baking sheet to freeze, then transfer to a freezer bag. bake directly from frozen, adding a minute or two to the baking time.
Making Ahead
The cookie dough can be made a day ahead and stored in the refrigerator, tightly covered. When ready to bake, let the dough sit at room temperature for a few minutes for easier scooping. This also allows the flavors to meld together, enhancing the taste of the cookies. It’s also a risk because you’ll have spectacular cookie dough just sitting in your fridge, tempting you to gobble it up before you even get to baking. Proceed with caution.
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Why make browned butter Cadbury egg cookies?
With these Browned Butter Cadbury Egg Cookies, you’re set to bring a touch of gourmet elegance to your Easter celebrations. Each cookie is a blend of sophisticated flavors as well as childhood joy, making them a perfect addition to your holiday table.
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Browned Butter Cadbury Egg Cookies
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter *browned
- 1/2 cup shortening *butter flavored
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp fine sea salt
- 1 tsp cream of tartar
- 2 cups Cadbury eggs
Instructions
- In a medium sauce pan melt the butter. Once the butter is melted allow it to boil. Keep an eye on it as it will boil and then thick white foam will appear on top. Listen closely, once the butter stops making any popping noise, the butter is browned. Take off of the heat. Stir and you should see little brown bits and smell a nutty aroma.
- Pour the browned butter into a medium sized glass bowl. Add the brown sugar into the hot butter and stir, allowing some of the sugar to dissolve in the butter.
- Preheat your oven to 375 degrees
- In a standing mixer add the browned butter mixture and granulated sugar. Whip until the butter has cooled.
- Add in the eggs and vanilla, mix until combined.
- Stop the mixer and pour in the flour, baking soda, salt and cream of tartar. Mix until combined and a dough is formed.
- In a large plastic Ziploc bag, add the Cadbury eggs. Hit with a rolling pin to break the eggs up into smaller chunks. Pour the broken eggs into the dough and fold in.
- Scoop the dough onto a few light metal, parchment paper lined cookie sheets.
- Bake for 8 minutes. Remove and allow them to cool before enjoying!
Nutrition
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