It’s no secret I love my home state of Kentucky. I daydream about watching the horses on a Spring day at Keeneland again. I trained as a Bluegrass guitarist. I use Kentucky Bourbon as the ONLY liquor when a recipe calls for it. The thing I love the most, however, is the cuisine across the state: Hot Browns, Burgoo, Blackberry Dumplings. However, my favorite is undoubtedly Kentucky Brown Butter Cake and since the Derby is this weekend, I decided to make them in cookie form. Thanks for the idea Crumbl, but leave it to Kentucky natives from here on out.
These cookies are extremely rich. However, they are perfect for your Derby party and they come together pretty quickly. Be warned though, if you eat more than one, you *might* go into a coma. All of your conscious guests will be asking for the recipe though.
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups salted butter
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter
- 1 cup dark brown sugar
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 3 cups all purpose flour
- 1 1/2 cups yellow cake mix (I used good ol’ Betty Crocker; she’s never done me wrong)
- 1 tbsp cornstarch
- 1 tsp baking soda
Instructions
- OPTIONAL: Brown salted butter in a pan ahead of time and put it in the fridge to resolidify. Plan to do this at least 4 hours before, or preferably the day before. The resolidified butter will be softer than un-browned butter. If you would like a tutorial on how to brown butter, see my Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe.
- Preheat oven to 375 F. While that’s heating up, add COLD AND SOLIDIFIED (or room temperate if un-browned) salted butter, and granulated and brown sugars to a stand mixer and mix for 1 minute on low speed. Kick the speed up to medium for another 3 minutes and you should have a roughly combined butter spread.
- Scrape sides of the bowl and add both eggs and vanilla extract. Mix on medium for another minute.
- Add 1 cup of flour and mix on low speed for 1 minute. Repeat this 2 more times until all flour is incorporated. Then, add remaining dry ingredients and mix one last time for 1 minute. At this point, you should have a thick, cohesive dough.
- Scoop roughly 1/3 cup of dough and roll into a ball with your hands. Place on cookie sheet with 1-2 inches inbetween and press down to slightly flatten. Cookies shouldn’t expand outward much, mostly puff up.
- Place cookies in oven for 9 minutes. While cookies are baking, put a small pot on the stove at medium heat. Add 1/2 cup of unsalted butter and 1 cup of powdered sugar and stir until butter is melted. Take it off heat and it should begin to thicken quickly into an icing.
- Remove cookies from the oven and let cool for 5-10 minutes. Then, use a spoon to pour and spread butter icing over the top. Finish with a dusting of powdered sugar.
Faith, Food and Pharmacy 