Currently listening to Ben Howard and getting nostalgic about my college days at Marquette University. A huge part of my college life (instead of hitting the bars late) was baking for friends and diving into finding good recipes. I'd be up late, baking all sorts of desserts from America's Test Kitchen 🌝.

Baking has always been my comfort zone. It's my form of therapy! Although I've branched out from just baking in recent years, it seems my oven is still always on at our place 🔥.

I first discovered brown butter 🧈in college while making chocolate chip cookies 🍪 from America's Test Kitchen. As simple as it sounds, my favorite dessert is a fresh-out-the-oven chocolate chip cookie, just 10 minutes cool. Those 10 minutes and the brown butter are essential, trust me ⏰.

Soon after discovering brown butter, I drove up to Kaukauna, WI with my friend Sheila to visit a family friend. This 83-year-old woman was thrilled about our visit. She handed us a box of homemade treats and urged me to try a cookie. After one bite, she asked if I could guess the secret ingredient. When I guessed “brown butter,” I got it right, and her smile was contagious 😊.

Brown butter? It's like a secret weapon in the kitchen! It elevates desserts with its richness, all from a simple recipe. The color the brown butter is key – I think I used to undercook it. Now, I aim for that perfect color 🍯 (just like in the picture below!).

By the way, my current favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe is from Grossy Pelosi. He doesn’t use brown butter, but I'm still a huge fan of those ATK cookies.

It's only been in the last year that I've reintroduced brown butter back into my baking.

Here are a few brown butter hits my friends and family have loved:

• Carrot Cake with Brown Butter and No Clutter from Smitten Kitchen 🥕

• Brown Butter Brownies from Handle the Heat 🍫 — HUGE fan of these!

• Salted Brown Butter Crispy Treats from Smitten Kitchen 🧂

And some that weren't top-tier but still got the thumbs up👍:

• Brown Butter Pumpkin Snickerdoodles from Broma Bakery 🍂

• Brown Butter Pumpkin Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies from Half-Baked Harvest 🎃

All these were part of my end-of-2023 brown butter spree. Can't wait to try more!

Recipes Made So Far This Year:

Goal: To try 7 different recipes each week 🗓️, aiming for a total of 365 this year!

 Number of New Recipes Tested as of 1/21: 26

Weeks Achieving 7 or More New Recipes: 3 out of 3

This Week’s Recipe Test Summary

Impress Someone🌟

1. Lemon Parmesan Lettuce Salad 🥗from The Mediterranean Dish (vegetarian)

   • Delicious yet so simple!

2. Parmesan Roasted Zucchini 🧀from Food Network (vegetarian)

   • Also delicious and I loved the crunch of the panko. Opted for dried parsley over fresh.

   • Note: I'll share the link next week - I can’t open the Food Network’s website while in Mexico.

Would Make Again 👍

Would Not Make Again 👎

These recipes didn’t live up to expectations or just weren’t to my taste.

1. Peach Cardamom Lassi from Mayurisijikoni 🍑

   • I recommend trying the Mango Lassi by Eitan Bernath instead!

2. Piña Colada Smoothie from America’s Test Kitchen🍍🥥

3. Vegan Coconut Smoothie Vanilla Bowl (@twincoast) from As Cooked on TikTok: Fan Favorites and Recipe Exclusives from More than 40 Creators! 🌴🥥

4. Sticky Garlic Chicken Bites from Damn Delcious 🍗

5. Universal Yogurt Cake from unknown cookbook 🍰

6. Spinach-Artichoke Mac + Cheese from America’s Test Kitchen🧀🌿

7. Tony’s Chicken Tenders with Honey Mustard Sauce by Food Network 🐔🍯

I’d love to hear your thoughts, suggestions, or any recipe request you might have.

See you next week. Keep cooking! 👋 

Vale from ValeCooks