Sweet & Salty Kitchen Sink Cookies {Panera Copycat}

These are the best cookies I've made in awhile. Like...can't get enough of them. Which makes sense because they're modeled after another cookie I couldn't get out of my head: the kitchen sink cookies at Panera.

At one of our meetings with a bride, my boss and I had a couple kitchen sink cookies at Panera. And I knew I needed to recreate them. They were HUGE (like...bigger than these ones. For the first time in my life I struggled with making cookies big enough!) And had pretzels and little bits of caramel and chocolate chips and...of course...there was sea salt on top. So-pretty simple to recreate actually. I amped up the flavor an extra notch by using one of my favorite browned butter cookie bases, because--why wouldn't I?

I think my version might be even better. They're sturdy but chewy and full of so many fantastic textures-crunchy pretzels, gooey caramel, melty chocolate. They're so so good. Addictive to the max. They also freeze really well if you-like me-can't be trusted with an entire batch. I froze some and then just pulled out when I needed a special treat ;). 

They're also great for sharing with new friends to endear yourself to them-hence why I brought along some for my "girl-date" with my boss/friend, Val and our new friend, Evie. They both loved them. Of course!

Salted Caramel Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookies

Sometimes you eat a delicious (browned butter) chocolate chip cookie (with sea salt on top) and think...you know what could make this better? If there was a salted caramel inside.

And sometimes you get a bag of soft salted caramels for your housewarming. And you know what you have to do.

Now....in a perfect world....there would just be an even layer of caramel in the middle of the entire cookie. In my opinion. But there is something fun about the surprise of a gooey salted caramel right in the middle of your seemingly standard(ish) chocolate chip cookie.

And you impress people when you give them as gifts. I love bringing little treats to my boss and my brides when I'm doing the wedding planning thing-these cookies had the honor of being a shared treat. And everyone who was gifted with them was VERYYY happy :D

They're a fairly sturdy, yet chewy, browned butter chocolate chip cookie with yummy bites of chocolate and sea salt on top (NECESSARY!) and then you get a bit of that chewy, gooey, sweet and salty caramel. When they're warm? TOTAL MAGIC. Messy. But magical!

Dark Chocolatey Hazelnut Spread Stuffed Blondies #Chocmeister

Ok sooo....I've documented that fall is not my favorite time of year. I know I know, everyone else in the world loves it. Sorry, all-it's not for me. HOWEVER-one small perk about the cooler weather and fall is that it's time to LET THE RICH FOOD COMMENCE! Bikini season is over? Eat all the yum yums! Plus we have Halloween and Thanksgiving--holidays largely known for eating an excess of food. And this is a thing I'm totally down with. SO, in the spirit of EAT ALL THE FOOD I made us some brown butter blondies stuffed with rich and gooey dark chocolate hazelnut spread (My new fave=PB & Co's Chocmeister). You're welcome :) 

Admittedly, I made these blondies in my old house. BUT I still have to gush about how much I'm loving baking in my new kitchen-the counter space is downright intoxicating. There's the big old island that is the perfect workstation for all of my masterpieces-making even more complicated treats fun to make. Of course...these blondies are so far from complicated. I would have been able to easily whip them up even in my super tiny New York apartment kitchen, So gather 'round bakers with kitchens large or small....you're going to want to give these blondies a try.

So these are essentially deliciously chewy, yet somewhat crisp, brown sugar cookie bars made with browned butter (aka the thing that makes all other things better), studded with chocolate chips, with a layer of gooey chocolate hazelnut spread (such as Nutella, Nocciolata Rigoni, or-my choice-Chocmeister!) And then I topped the whole thing with some sea salt. 'Cuz that's what we do here.

Brown Butter Toffee Blondies

It's graduation season! People are getting their caps and gowns and getting ready to bit high school adieu. I have 4 family members graduating this year-3 of my cousins and my precious little sister-in-law. Tomorrow is Shannan's graduation and I couldn't be more excited for her! It also makes me realize how ridiculously far removed from that I am. Like...I think that I'm not that much older than an 18 year old buuut I AM. I can barely even remember my graduation-I remember being mad because my hair wouldn't curl the way I wanted it to (typical) and I remember feeling sort of...underwhelmed during the whole thing. Everyone around me was crying and I was just sitting there willing myself to feel...something. But, that's fairly typical for me when it comes to big events-I sort of have a hard time wrapping my head around the situation. Also high school wasn't exactly the most fun time for me, so I wasn't too sad to be ending it. It's funny to look back and think how I had absolutely no idea where my life was headed. Especially considering I have an adorable photo at graduation with my mother-in-law, long before I had any inkling that is what she would eventually be for me :D

Anyway. With graduations, come graduation parties. Which are such a fun celebration of the graduate-I'm so excited for Shannan's and my cousins' and I know that, if asked, I would 1000% make these blondies to bring to a grad party. Because they're totally impressive and delicious and if you've graduated high school you deserve something epic to mark the occasion. And...I mean...on the practical side--bars/blondies are awesome for parties because you just grab one and go. Not messy and super addictive. Everyone will rave about them!

Technically I already gave some of these to Shannan after her last choir concery buuut I mean...I'd make them again for her party! Or just for me to horde and eat by myself while I watch Orphan Black. Because they're gooey and chewy and brown-sugary brown-buttery delish. And the toffee adds a bit of delightful crunch. And chocolate gives us life. And salted caramel on top is probably just a necessity, yeah? Yeah I think so too.

Salted Caramel Chocolate Chip Cookie Pie

I'm so mad because these pictures DO NOT DO THIS PIE JUSTICE. This is legitimately one of the most delicious things I've made for this blog and I blame stupid crappy rainy-day lighting for the fact that you so have no idea how good these are. Just...trust me. Listen to me. Let me convince you.

Ok...I mean...that photo above gives you some idea--right? LOOK AT THE EPIC LEVELS OF GOOEY RICHNESS! 

So...technically...I've shared this recipe before. In fact, it was the first recipe I ever posted on this blog: my beloved chocolate chip cookie pie. It has been way way too long since I've made that pie because....well because I have a blog and I have a ton of desserts I want to try so it's hard to re-make things. But I somehow improved upon that originally favorite recipe. Let me tell you how.

The original pie recipe calls for melted butter. Which now...if a dessert recipe calls for melted butter....I mean...there's a 99% chance I'm gonna brown that butter. So that's what I did (totally the right call). I also put in a bunch of oh so delicious salted caramel sauce--I poured some on top of the graham cracker crust, drizzled some on top prior to baking AND drizzled some on top after baking. And also sprinkled some sea salt on there. Because when THAT IS HOW WE ROLL.

The result is an ultra rich, super gooey, cookie pie (with melty chocolate chips that make you want to do a happy dance) in a buttery graham cracker crust with lots of rich and gooey caramel and the most gorgeous crackled brown-sugary top. And more caramel. And that salt. And...oh my goodness it is seriously the most wonderful sort of heaven. I prefer to enjoy the deliciousness of this pie warm, but Michael loves it cold. You can also just serve it room temperature. This pie is versatile like that.

I just...I cannot emphasize enough that THIS IS THE BEST THING EVER AND YOU NEED IT IN YOUR LIFE.

Ultimate Fudge Brownies with Toasted Pecans

This week is a little special for me: Michael's on spring break from school and he also took the week off from work. So I get to have my boy home with me all week!! Which is awesome but also means my productivity is gonna be minimal. It just always is when he's home. We get stuff done but things for him or with him, not so much the stuff I usually do when he's gone. I guess this is my way of saying that um I don't know if I'm going to have recipes for you next week? Maybe? We'll see??

Regardless...if I don't-these brownies will MORE than make up for it! They are PHENOMENAL.

Warning: these brownies are not for the faint of heart. They are very rich. The recipe uses 4 sticks of butter and 6 eggs--that equals a lot of decadence (also this recipe makes A LOT of brownies. So take that into account). I highly suggest freezing some brownies for later. And sharing with everyone so that they are in awe of you and your baking prowess.

Texture: super fudgy and decadent and perfection--with some melty chocolate chips and crunchy toasted pecans thrown in (and normally I'm not a fan of nuts mucking around in my brownies but OMG go with me on this these are an exception and you shouldn't omit them because they're awesome!)
Flavor: A LOT of browned butter means a lot of browned butter flavor, plus a lot of delish dark chocolate, toasted pecans add to the entire thing and then some sea salt on top brings everything together. Serious indulgence here, my friends. Serious brownie perfection. They even have the sought after crackly tops!

These shall go down as one of my favorite brownie recipes-EVER. You will be blown away, forreals.

Brown Sugar Lava Cookies-T-Sugars #BakeTheDifference

These might not be the prettiest things I've ever made but...haven't we learned that sometimes the tastiest foods are the ones with a bit more...character? Yes, I think we have. Sooo instead I ask that you focus on the moist brown sugar-y goodness of these cookies, and the melted chocolate centers, and the lovely powdered sugar dusted over them like snow.

Speaking of sugar...guys...I have GOT to tell you about T-Sugars! T-Sugars is a Belgian specialty sugar company that has been around for 175 years --!!! Guys...that is a LOT of sugar experience! AND they have just launched in the US which means all we have the opportunity to get our hands on the good stuff (currently you can find T-Sugars products at your nearest HEB store-or you can order online)!

Now...in case you were wondering what kind of sugar I'm specifically talking about...there are a few different products, but I am specifically talking about their Belgian Cassonade Sugar and Icing Sugar Mill, which T-Sugars were kind enough to send me to try!

That picture right there? That is showing off how revolutionary the Icing Sugar Mill is--seriously...I hate making a mess whenever I want to dust powdered sugar on top of a dessert and the Icing Sugar Mill (which has a sifter built right in, so all you have to do is twist) makes it so insanely easy and gives you an amazing amount of control, too. 

Now...what is Cassonade Sugar? It's like brown sugar...but BETTER. It has no additives, is all-natural, and is softer and has a finer texture than tradition brown sugar. The texture means it stays fresh longer (no more rock hard sugar!), doesn't clump up, AND it dissolves easily, so it can be used to sweeten beverages in addition to being FANTASTIC in baked goods (here are a ton of amazing recipe ideas!)

Which is exactly why I wanted to make a recipe that really lets the Cassonade Sugar shine and allowed me an opportunity to get decorative with the Icing Sugar Mill. These cookies are actually a brown butter, brown sugar blondie base (helpful note: Cassonade Sugar can be used as an exact substitute for brown sugar) with melted dark chocolate centers. They are chewy, rich, and full of that perfect sweet, caramelized brown sugar flavor--and the dark chocolate centers help offset that sweetness.

These cookies are good. T-Sugars are good. Facts.

Pinch of Yum's Soft Chocolate Chip Cookies

I know...I've shared so many chocolate chip cookie recipes. Why share more?

Um...if you're asking that question...why are you on my website? That's crazy talk! OF COURSE we always need more chocolate chip cookies! ALWAYS! You silly, I'm glad you've seen the error of your ways. Now we can talk about these cookies in peace and happiness.

Full disclosure--these are not my favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe. They're not even that high up on the list. BUT I do like them...a lot. And they come from one of my favorite blogs, Pinch of Yum, and when she raves about a recipe like she did about this one I HAD to give it a try. And I have NO REGRETS. Because...I've made a lot of outstanding cookies. It's not these cookies fault that I have insanely high cookie standards. And they were also really really delicious so...like I said. No regrets.

They're soft. Yet crunchy (thanks to the raw sugar). And complex. And chewy. And gooey. And sweet-but with just enough of that saltiness that I love with my desserts. Yes....I definitely am happy that I was able to enjoy these. And I know you will be too!

Brown Sugar Toffee Dark Chocolate Chip Cookies

 Soooo....Monday I gave you healthy cookies. Today? Not exactly. But they are YUMMMYYYY!

And totally worth cheating on your diet for. Everyone says denying yourself is bad anyway, right?

And btw the title for these cookies should really be: Brown Butter Brown Sugar Toffee Dark Chocolate Chip Cookies with Sea Salt. But...that's a bit long, hm? So I shortened it slightly. Brown butter and sea salt are pretty much a given at this point with me anyway, yes?

Honestly, I had an excuse to make these cookies-the wonderful folks over at Golden Barrel sent me over some of their Supreme Baking Molasses to try and I had to do it justice! (FYI Golden Barrel is a Lancaster, PA based company that are all about tradition and pure, quality products. In addition to molasses they also have oils, syrups, baking mixes, sugars, soups, and more!)

And yes...I have a cutting board in the shape of Ohio. I am that cool. 

Anyway. My main knowledge of molasses is that it's what makes brown sugar (you add it to granulated sugar and voila! Brown sugar) so I wanted to use a recipe that would really be pumping up that molasses-y brown sugar flavor. Most people would think "Gingersnaps!" or something like that. But when I think of brown sugar cookies I think of chocolate chip cookies. Soooo I took one of my fave cookie recipes and I really turned up the molasses element (for one thing...I added 2 tbsp. of molasses. But I also subbed in some dark brown sugar instead of regular light.) And, to me, brown butter is best buddies with brown sugar. Samesies with toffee-but I really wanted to get some nice chunks of toffee in every bite so, instead of using toffee chips, I chopped up some Heath bars. And then to help cut the vast amounts of sweetness....dark chocolate. And sea salt on top. These are a few of Kayle's faaaavorite thiiiings!

And I told myself I'd only eat one a day. But then....I made them. And smelled them. And tasted them and....I CAN'T RESIST! They're so perfectly chewy yet crisp they're so complex and almost smoky and the toffee is crunchy and sweet and the chocolate chips are gooey and have a little bit of a bite to them and there's salt and just....ugh you guysssss. They're SO DELICIOUS. Not kidding. About to eat one right now.

I don't want to live in a world without these cookies.

Puffy Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies-Nestle Toll House #DelightFulls Review

Christmas is my favorite holiday.

There's pretty lights. Happiness. Jolliness. Colorful decorations. Gifts. Family. Friends. Fun.

AND COOKIES! SO. MANY. COOKIES! It's the cookie season!

And now we can have even more fun with baking and put a fun spin on favorite recipes thanks to Nestle Toll House DelightFulls Filled Baking Morsels! Just when you thought chocolate chips couldn't be improved!

A couple months ago I spied a new fantastical thing---chocolate chips with...fillings?? It was one of those moments where you think to yourself "THAT'S LIFE CHANGING." and also, "Obviously-why hasn't this already been done?" All I know is when I found out that Nestle Toll House wanted me to play with their new DelightFulls I was SO EXCITED. 

Nestle Toll House DelightFulls Filled Baking Morsels are the same Nestle Toll House chocolate we all love (I mean...guys....they invented the chocolate chip cookie. THAT MEANS SOMETHING.) filled with 4 different flavors! They're slightly bigger than standard chocolate chips (no complaints here) and they even hold their shape when baking. You can use them whole, cut in half, or even chop them up--the ways you can use these tasty morsels are endless (brownies, cookies, cake, candy, hot chocolate, milkshakes...etc.!)

Available in 9 oz. bags these are the 4 varieties of Nestle Toll House DelightFulls:

• Milk Chocolate Morsels with Peanut Butter Filling
• Obviously...these were what I used! PEANUT BUTTER AND CHOCOLATE. 
• Milk Chocolate Morsels with Caramel Filling
• These are the ones I can't wait to try next, I haven't been able to find them at my local store but I will continue my pilgrimage for gooey caramel filled goodness!
• Dark Chocolate Morsels with Mint Filling
• I'm definitely going to be using these soon, too. Michael and I both adore dark chocolate and mint.
• Dark Chocolate Morsels with Cherry Filling
• I want to use these in a cheesecake sort of dessert for Michael I think-it's right up his alley!

Pssst....Nestle peoples...you should totally make the peanut butter and caramel varieties in dark chocolate, too! Just a dark chocolate lover's opinion :P

Back to Christmas talk: I'm in that very frustrating stage of life in between being a child and having children. I'm unable to fully experience all of my old Christmas traditions, but I don't have any kiddos to create new ones with! That said, Michael and I are definitely already forming new traditions. And this year I will enjoy the last bit of my most time-honored and important childhood Christmas experience for the last time: I will spend the night at my mom's, wake up with my brother, and enjoy Christmas morning being all excited and happy (although we probably won't wake up at 3 AM like we used to--also...the presents aren't gonna be so overwhelming.) Next year Michael and I will be married and I'll want to wake up with him, so this is all a little bittersweet. The good news is, now that I'm home I can take part in other Christmas festivities! My mom and brother and I are actually going to a little Christmas village today. And next week we're going to decorate cutout cookies (which we always used to do as children and I haven't been able to participate in for a long time). And in the spirit of new things...I've been tasked to make cookies for other things. Like Michael's work party. And who knows what else!

I'm really looking forward to, in the next 5 years or so, having little chubby helping hands and seeing little innocent eyes light up and seeing chocolate smeared little smiles in the kitchen with me. I adore baking and I cannot wait to share that with my children, and to share all the love that I bake into every bite!

I could definitely see these cookies becoming a favorite for years to come-especially with little ones. They are a total classic--all the flavors of a peanut butter cup in a big, FAT, perfect cookie! Fresh out of the oven they're so soft and peanut-buttery and when you take a bite and see the peanut butter filling a little bit melt-y inside of the baking morsels....it's simultaneously cool and delicious. Michael loved them. My brother broke his strict diet to eat one and a half (and he forced himself to resist more). I dare any picky eater to not fall head over heels (unless you're not into peanut butter...then...well...not for you, I suppose. May I interest you in a different cookie?) 

Anyway. What I'm saying is: make these cookies. Especially for the holidays (I bet Santa would put you on the extra nice list for LIIIFE if you made them for him, btw.) Get your hands on some Nestle Toll House DelightFulls Filled Baking Morsels. Have some fun. Bake. Experiment. Make traditions! Eat. BE HAPPY.

Fa la la la la.

Toasted Marshmallow Brown Butter Krispie Treats

When it comes to Rice Krispie Treats....I'm usually a purist. Those recipes that put chocolate, peanut butter, etc. etc. in a krispie treat? Nope. Not for me. I prefer them the old fashioned way. However....when I saw that you could brown the butter and toast the marshmallows...I figured...it's like all the same stuff you put in a classic rice krispie treat....but elevated. Taken to another level. Made epic to the nth degree!

Rice Krispie treats were one of the things that my mom made best growing up. I can still smell the marshmallow and butter, I can still see her with a greased up ziploc bag on her hand (so she could smooth the treats in the pan), I can still taste them all gooey and perfect. Sometimes, if I was feeling impatient for her to make some, I would buy those pre-made rice krispie treats...but....they never tasted right. So I would spread a little butter on top, drizzle them with a bit of vanilla extract, and heat them up for a few seconds in the microwave. For some reason that made them a bit better. Weird.

But now I'm a grown up and can make my own treats. So I did.

You know...you may think rice krispie treats are just something you eat. The end. Buuuut-not true! They make great gifts (they're sturdy so they travel well), you can use them for chocolate fondue, serve them with/in hot chocolate, or...ok...just eat them. I like them when they're gooey so I like to reheat leftovers in a microwave for 5-10 seconds...it just makes them a little bit extra special.

Speaking of extra special-these krispie treats taste pretty standard. But the differences are such wonderful bits of subtle nuance....the browned butter you occasionally will get hit with when you take a bite and it's extra buttery and a bit nutty. The toasted marshmallows give you that campfire/s'moresy little twist, just giving these an extra bit of oomph.

Yeah. I think this is just how we should make Rice Krispie treats from now on.

CHANGE APPROVED!

Brown Butter Pecan Toffee Cookies-Cookie Week 2014!

Welcome to the day 3 of Cookie Week, hosted by Kim of Cravings of a Lunatic and Susan of The Girl In the Little Red Kitchen! We’ve teamed together with 10 other talented bloggers to bring you 5 fantastic days of cookie recipes to get you in to the holiday spirits. If you are feeling a mid-week slump, then there is no better way to beat it than a big dose of cookie love! Please make sure to check out and enter our fantastic giveaway and check out our #CookieWeek Pinterest board full of all the cookie recipes you’ll see here this week!
Our sponsors for this event have provided us with some great prizes and we’d like to extend a huge thank you for their generosity. Thanks to Imperial Sugar, Circulon, Peanut Butter & Co. and Page Street Publishing for being a part of Cookie Week!

 Let's see what's baking up in the oven today:

Maple Peanut Butter Sandwich Cookies by The Girl In The Little Red Kitchen

S'mores Cookies by Cravings of a Lunatic

Banana Walnut Biscotti by Chocolate Moosey

Brown Butter Pecan Toffee Cookies by The Cooking Actress

Candy Topped Toffee Squares by That Skinny Chick Can Bake

Maple Walnut Shortbread Cookies by Hungry Couple

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies by Dinners, Dishes and Desserts

Savory Cheddar Coins by Crumb

White Chocolate Cranberry Ginger Cookies by Jen's Favorite Cookies

These are some of the better cookies I've made in awhile. In fact-I gave a couple of these to friends of mine and Michael's and they have two 5 year old daughters. I snuck them the cookies and made it clear that these were adult cookies and would be wasted on children. They just can't appreciate the nuances, the overt amount of taste SENSATION that you will undergo if you eat these cookies. Upon eating his secret cookie, David assured me that I was correct. Way too good to share with the kiddos :P.

That said...I love children. By all means give your kids these cookies-they'll love 'em. They'll love them even more in 20 years. :D

It's kind of hilarious...I think my particular cookie preferences are starting to skew Michael's and my view of the world. Recently I made some perfectly acceptable CCC's-but Michael remarked they almost tasted like a sugar cookie. They didn't. They were much more of a classic chocolate chip cookie, though, and I tend to make a lot of very brown sugar heavy cookies-so in comparison they tasted almost like a sugar cookie. Ah....perspective is a funny thing.

These cookies are browned butter perfection-it's in the dough and the pecans are toasted in the nutty buttery goodness. They are made with dark brown sugar-which adds that extra special mollases-y wonderful flavor. Toffee, my crunchy little friends, are the extra special final element. And salt. Of course. They're crisp yet chewy and sturdy but slightly tender on the insides and then you get a delightful crunch from the pecans and toffee. These are very serious cookies, my friends.

Browned Butter Brown Sugar Toffee Blondies

These blondies are seriously gooey. And I'm unsure if they're supposed to be quiiite this gooey...or if I underbaked them...It doesn't really matter. Either way they are fan-friggin-tastic! Sometimes the messiest things taste the best. True story.

I feel like the color brown gets a bad rep. Brown is a perfectly lovely color. It's the color of my hair. It's the color of my Michael's very lovely eyes (contrary to what he says. I won't repeat what he says to describe the brown color of his eyes). It's the color of most of the delicious things I can imagine. Chocolate? Brown. Toffee? Brown. Browned butter? Brown Sugar? Brown is in the name. And these are some of the tastiest things in life! Annnnnd they are all highlighted in these blondies. Boom! Brown is. da. shiz.

The original name of this recipe was "I <3 Brown Sugar Blondies". And I DO love brown sugar! It's so warm and complex and molasses-y. Ahhh brown sugar....you are the superior sugar. It is true. And these babies have a full THREE CUPS of brown sugar-2 light brown and 1 dark brown. So yeah...you're getting a big punch of that flavor. And...since the recipe had melted butter anyway...and I knew it would only serve to amp up the flavor even more and make these even more mouthwatering...I obviously browned the butter. Which was a good call, btw. Browning the butter added even more nuances and buttery goodness. Toffee is a perfect compliment to the 2, with just a little bit of semisweet chocolate chips in to help add a little something different. And some salt on top helps balance the entire thing. *muah* bellisima!

These blondies are a party on your tastebuds. You bite into a crackly top that gives way to utter gooeyness. Then you just taste everything. Like...you want to have a Homer Simpson "Mmmmm....blondies," moment. I'm literally beginning to salivate just thinking about it. The brown sugar is totally the star but the browned butter merges with the flavor so perfectly you almost can't distinguish between them. And then you get the crunchy bites of toffee and slightly melted pieces of semisweet chocolate (which adds a welcome bit of variety to break up the melding of the other flavors)...and the salt hits your palate to just make all the rest of it taste not too sweet. Like...they're sweet. But not too sweet. Warm and complex. Those are the words for this treat. And WHAT a treat these blondies are. Mmmmm.....blondies.

Browned Butter Salted Caramel Chocolate Chip Cookie Cups with Graham Cracker Crusts

After my last attempt at caramel sauce in a chocolate chip cookie...I decided to try again. I was hopeful the caramel would be more noticeable. Good news: it was! Slightly. But it helped that I drizzled the cups with caramel too. And that I used browned butter...actually....browning butter is just helpful, period. Mmmmm...

Anyway, when I decided to make this recipe I realized that I was lacking in pretzels (which were what originally crusted these cups)--so instead I made little graham cracker crusts. Which meant these cookie cups taste a little s'moresy...ya know...minus the marshmallows...stay with me on this.

Cookie cups are great-you never have to worry about if they're going to rise correctly or spread too much or anything. They just bake up in their little muffin cups and you are guaranteed a thick, chewy, gooey cookie. Plus, now there's a whole world of putting a crust on your cookie. So it's like cookie + pie. Amazingness.

These cookies are perfectly portable yet soft and gooey on the insides. The browned butter adds that bit of depth, and the caramel drizzled on top with the salt adds that mmm mmm salty goodness to the sweet. The graham cracker crust is buttery and delightful and...chocolate chips...always our friends. They're crazy addictive and simply irresistible. Find out for yourselves, my friends!

Brown Butter Brown Sugar Toasted Almond Dark Chocolate Chip Cookies with Sea Salt

Today is my Michael's birthday!! It's the day my favorite boy came into this world so that I could then be born 3 years later and then 19 years after that I could fall in love with him and then 4 years after that we could get engaged and less than a year from now we can get married <3 Happy birthday sweetie, I love you more than anything!

And he and I loved these cookies almost that much. Which is like...a lot.

I had something of an ulterior motive to making these cookies (as if I ever really need a reason to make cookies)--I was lucky enough to be sent some samples of Zulka's new sugars to try! You may remember that I've spoken about Zulka's Morena Sugar (my fave granulated sugar, btw) before. To sum up: Zulka is a family owned company that is dedicated to producing more natural sugar through responsible and environmentally friendly cane production. Their products are minimally processed, which helps preserve the flavor and natural properties of the sugar cane (which means it tastes better!)

And Zulka just came out with some new sugars, and I was able to try their Brown Pure Cane Sugar and Powdered Pure Cane Sugar!

Powdered sugar is great and all but....brown sugar is where it's at. It's my boo. My sugar BFF. So when I tested it out I wanted to make sure I chose a recipe that was really going to showcase it, as well as show me how it would behave in my favorite use for brown sugar: chocolate chip cookies. This recipe was perfect because not only is there a big dose of brown sugar in the cookie dough, the almonds are also toasted and caramelized in brown sugar-double whammy! 

And btw-the sugar was phenomenal. Subtly more rich and flavorful than more processed brown sugars, it really took these cookies to the next level!

Browned butter and brown pure cane sugar lend these cookies complexity and warm, delightfully comforting flavors. Brown sugar candied almond slivers add some smokiness and crunch. Dark chocolate is the bite that cuts the sweetness, and then the sea salt just ties everything together into a neat, delicious, cookie bow.

I LURVE THESE COOKIES.

As my fiance' and I were hunched over the cookie jar, shoveling fresh cookies into our mouths, Michael declared (around a mouthful of chocolate and almonds and cookies), "These are some of the best cookies you've ever made."

"Really?" I declared, probably causing bits of cookie goodness to escape and fly into his face, "EVER?!"

"They're up there," he confirmed, before reaching for another cookie.

You'd reach for another cookie too.