Brown butter chocolate chip (hazelnut) cookies

I took a break from making ice cream and brownies, and decided to make...cookies! What can I say...I'm a creature of habit.

When it comes to comfort-baking and eating, you can't beat chocolate chip cookies. Even with temps in the 90's like it was here last week, I can't stop myself from turning on the oven to bake and cook (luckily, these cookies are done in 11 minutes). And I still crave a gooey chocolate chip cookie in the summer as much as I do in the winter.

I have a few recipes I make often but it's always fun to find something new to try. This time, I made brown butter chocolate chip cookies - a recipe I adapted slightly from Displaced Housewife.  Since I associate brown butter with hazelnuts, and because I personally like nuts in most baked goods, I added toasted chopped hazelnuts to about half my batch of cookies (my fellas usually prefer their cookies without nuts). 

If you remember, I made Displaced Housewife's olive oil chocolate chip cookie recipe not long ago and they were sensational.  I had high hopes for these cookies - which is made with a combination of brown butter and a flavorless oil (I used canola), and a mix of bread and all-purpose flour.  They didn't turn out as chewy as the olive oil cookies but these were solid cookies - sturdy and moist, happily devoured by all.  I think it's hard to make a "bad" batch of chocolate chip cookies if you make sure to stuff it with enough good chocolate.  You pretty much can't go wrong!

Chocolate financiers

Whenever I make custard-base ice cream and have leftover egg whites, I often make financiers - those little French tea cakes made with almond meal, egg whites, and brown butter.  We love these little cakes dearly, and I have to say I'm a little amazed it took me this long to make a chocolate version!

Sometimes, it feels like it's this little blog's mission to talk about chestnuts and financiers!  Those topics come up a lot.  Honestly, these humble looking little cakes are one of my favorite things.  I urge you to try it and I think you'll see why I'm so crazy about them!  Because looks alone don't do them justice.  Bake a fresh batch at home and you end up with these warm little cakes that have a crunchy crisp texture on the outside, along the edges, and an incredible hazel-nutty, buttery flavor within. 

I love the basic almond financiers so much that it's the one I make most often, usually with a spoonful of chestnut cream tucked inside (I can combine two favorite things together!). But I've also swapped out the ground almonds for pistachios, hazelnuts, and cashews to make those variations; plus, I've also made matcha financiers. Clearly, I'm a little financier-crazy!  And to further this madness, I went with a chocolate version this time.  I think it was long overdue.

All I did was add a couple of tablespoons of Dutch-process cocoa to the basic recipe I always use.  This simple move yielded these decadently-dark cakes, which have the same familiarly delicious nutty, buttery flavor, just now with a blanket of chocolate encasing the whole thing.  To get a little "fancy", you can grab some fresh berries - like I did with raspberries - and top a few on top of the cakes.  Add them about midway through baking so they don't sink into the batter.

I've mentioned before that I can never quite bake my financiers without a bit of a liquid center; I suspect it's because my batter is chilled.  It isn't a problem though. In fact, we love that slightly under-cooked center (it's the best part, tied with the crispy crust) so if you're willing, give it a try and see what I mean. 

These delicious chocolate financiers will be a part of the regular financier-making and eating rotation in our house going forward!  

Cashew financiers

No doubt about it, these little French tea cakes, known as financiers, are one of my all-time favorite treats.  My husband and I just adore them and they are my favorite ways to use up egg whites.  Since I've been making plenty of ice cream this summer, I've had the chance to whip up a few batches.

This might be getting old...I've talked about this a lot!  I know it and I just can't help it. I've taken the original financier recipe and made hazelnut, pistachio, and matcha versions.  I usually stick with the original but since I make these often enough, it's fun to change it up a little.  Basically, I'll make any excuse to make, eat, and post about these darling little cakes!

This time, I made a batch using cashew nuts.  At the very basic level, financiers are super moist sponge cakes made here with browned butter, egg whites, sugar, ground nuts (normally almonds but you can vary this like I do, this time with cashews) and a little flour.  I'm telling you, the result is magical!  It's nutty, it's super moist and tender, and full of this amazing brown butter flavor.

We adore cashews.  Growing up, my mother fried cashews for a chicken and cashew stir-fry dish that was, and still is, a family favorite.  I cook with it myself at home and it's a favorite nut to snack on (I used to keep just almonds on hand for snacking but in the past year, I started roasting batches of mixed nuts and keeping a jar on hand...everyone digs for the cashews!).  Lately, I've been thinking it would be fun to incorporate cashews a bit more into my baking.

The funny thing is, in this case, these cashew financiers don't taste all that different from the standard ones made with ground almonds.  In other words, they turned out utterly delicious!  

I often tuck a little chestnut cream (my stash of which has been replenished thanks to my sister hauling back several cans for me from her vacation in Europe) into our financiers and that is incredible!  This time, I put a little peach jam into one - you can use any kind of jam or even plop a piece of fruit inside.  And you see that runny center there?  Here's the thing - it's a little under-baked, on purpose.  

Peach jam inside...and an under-baked center, which I do often because it's really tasty!

We think that a gooey center, where the batter isn't quite baked through, is the best part (that and the crisp edges)!  It's very much like under-baking brownies or cookies for that soft, gooey center.  Maybe you wouldn't want to serve them this way to guests but for eating ourselves, we like them under-bake.  This is a matter of personal preference; if you prefer the cakes fully set, just leave the batter out at room temperature a little longer before baking and keep them in the oven a few extra minutes; you could test it with a cake tester.  They're fabulous either way.

Brown butter vanilla bean cake with chestnut cream filling

Have you noticed the deluge of cookbooks published recently?  Maybe the timing has to do with the upcoming holiday season but I just don't remember noticing such a swell of cookbooks being published around the same time before.  I'm talking cookbooks from...The Kitchn, Skinnytaste, Joy the Baker, How Sweet Eats, the guys from Baked, as well as new editions from Ina Garten, Martha Stewart, Yotam Ottolenghi...and a lot more!  I'm excited about it all because it means more inspiration, more deliciousness to see and discover.

One of the baking books I was really impressed with is Dorie Greenspan's latest, Baking Chez Moi.  It shouldn't have come as a surprise since I think Dorie's books are always so substantial - as in, there's just so much substance to them.  Her recipes are so detailed, but not complicated.  She provides tips and suggestions to guide you towards being as successful as possible in the kitchen.

I saw many recipes I'd like to make in the book.  I started right at the beginning, with a very simple (but smart) "weekend" cake.  It's the kind of simple yet delicious dessert the French bake at home.  It's easily prepared, with staying power to sit around for a few days to be enjoyed at any time when the mood is right.  I love this kind of cake.  Break out the bowls and whisks!  It feels comforting both to prepare as well as to eat.

The texture of this cake is firm and sturdy but moist.  It has a chewiness to it; my son thought I'd used almond paste because of the nutty, chewy, moistness of it that resembles certain almond paste bakes.  As for flavor, it's rich and full of the deliciousness of brown butter, something I'm in awe of every time I stand by the stove swirling my little pan making a batch for one of my favorite recipes, financiers (coincidentally, another recipe I picked up from one of Dorie's books).  It's called beurre noisette, or hazelnut butter, for a good reason.  Cooking the butter, letting it sizzle and brown, somehow releases an aroma and flavor like caramelized hazelnuts.  It's kind of magical, and delicious in combination with the flavor of fresh vanilla (and a touch of amaretto) in this cake.

This cake is meant to be easy, transportable, low-maintenance.  By all means, make it as intended...or...give it a little twist like I did it.  The original recipe was meant for a standard-size loaf pan.  I divided the recipe in half and made a smaller 6-inch round version that's perfect for my family to enjoy over a weekend.  And because this cake reminded me so much of those delectable financiers (it looks and taste quite similar), I decided to split my cake into two layers and add a slather of chestnut cream in between.  

You can certainly leave the cake plain, without any filling, but I love chestnut cream (and chestnuts, in general) and almost every time I make financiers, I tuck a small spoonful of it into the ones for my husband and I.  I think the flavor of the chestnut cream complements the brown butter - there's a certain similarity in the nuttiness of their flavors.

I had every intention of making this an actual weekend cake but I have to admit this little cake vanished before the weekend appeared for us...

Pistachio financiers

Just in case I haven't yet persuaded you to use your leftover egg whites to make financiers, here I am again with another version.  I went with pistachio this time.

Is it just me or do you also gravitate towards things pistachio-flavored when you go to a bakery or pastry shop?  Is it the color?  Or maybe just that it's a little bit more unusual, a flavor we're less likely to make at home?  Whatever the reason - when we go to a bakery, it's always chocolate, coffee, and pistachio that we go for (and hazelnut as well for me)!  Like with macarons - we can never resist trying a pistachio one and for some reason, we always end up raving about it (whereas chocolate macarons can be unpredictable and even disappointing)!

I went with my favorite financier recipe from Paris Sweets and simply made a little change using mostly ground pistachios instead of almonds in the batter. I could have swapped out all the almonds with pistachios but decided to keep a little bit of almonds in the batter to anchor the whole thing.  I was thinking about macarons and how even if you're making a flavored macaron, like hazelnut for instance, you often still use a bit of ground almonds to balance out the higher fat content from the other nut.  I don't think that's a concern when it comes to financiers but I was in the mood to mix things up.

I like making the batter the night before (or up to 3 days ahead) and baking these tea cakes fresh for breakfast the next day.  My fellas love them!  I generally prefer savory when it comes to the first meal of the day but this is one sweet item I enjoy savoring over breakfast.

So...pistachio financiers with a cup of coffee for breakfast, it was! They were just delicious.  Now, I know you have no problems using up any egg whites you might have for omelets and whatnot but...please...give financiers a try one day if you haven't already.  I don't think you'll regret it!

Hazelnut financiers

Oh, I love financiers!  I've sang their praises before and I'm here to do it again.  It's pretty startling to me how something so plain looking could taste so surprisingly delicious!

Their deliciousness has a lot to do with browned butter. I say that as a person who does not automatically swoon at the sound of those words.  All I know is that the browned butter really works and packs a ton of flavor here.  In financiers, it creates the most delicious flavor, a nuttiness that's accentuated by a generous amount of ground nuts.  In this case, I used hazelnuts instead of almonds.

Even though I am in no way any sort of professional blogger, I still like to try new things so I have something to post and write about here (not to mention, have something new to taste and discover).  That said, I do frequently make our family favorites - most of which are recipes I've discovered thanks to starting this blog.  Since I made financiers the first time last September, it's been one of my favorite ways to take adventure of extra egg whites (from, say, making ice cream).  And I love this recipe from Dorie Greenspan where you essentially stir the batter together over the stove-top.  It just requires a little patience or advance planning since the batter needs to chill for at least an hour.  I usually put it together in the evening to bake the following morning so that we can enjoy fresh baked financiers for breakfast.  They are golden, crisp (the edges are so crisp!), and just scrumptious freshly cooled from the oven!

So in the interest of posting something "new", I thought I'd revisit financiers and make a hazelnut version.  I love hazelnuts and baking with nuts in general (my son seems to take no offense to the presence of nuts when they are ground up).  Financiers usually come in a variety of flavors - from almonds, hazelnuts to pistachio, chestnut and chocolate - so there are plenty of variations to try.  I was really tempted to try pistachio (for some reason, I'm always drawn to that flavor when I buy treats) but I had hazelnuts on hand and it never disappoints me.  And considering how the French call browned butter, beurre noisette, or "hazelnut butter", hazelnuts are a natural partner.

I also thought I'd make mini financiers this time.  We all love things, particularly desserts, in miniature, don't we?  I baked the little guys in a mini muffin tin.  They are done in about 10 minutes when they puff up, spring back lightly to the touch, and the sides are golden.  Let the little cakes cool to room temperature and enjoy them - those golden corners are crunchy against the moist and very flavorful center.

I added a dab of Nutella to a few of my mini hazelnut financiers.  They're actually better without it since the Nutella flavor is strong and, believe me, you want to enjoy the full flavor of the financiers themselves.  I do love stuffing the regular almond financiers with chestnut cream.  I think that works really well because the sweet nuttiness of chestnut cream is milder.