I started making these cookies when I moved to Brazil because I had an endless amount of cocoa nibs and Brazilian brown sugar known as rapadura. This type of sugar is known under different names depending where you are in Latin America – in Mexico it is known as piloncillo and in other parts, as panela.

It is the first crystal sugar that is made after it passes the molasses stage of refining sugar cane – it is full of flavor and a lovely brown. White sugar has no flavor, that is one of its positive traits; on the other hand, rapadura has a lot of flavor and to boost, some vitamins and minerals. But let us be honest, we are not making these cookies for their health benefits.

The addition of nibs creates the perfect balance to the sweetness and compliments the texture wonderfully. And they are so easy to make! No creaming the butter or using multiple bowls and gadgets.

You are going to brown the butter in a pot and then you can dump all the ingredients into that same pot and stir. You can also make them all right away or freeze some dough for later.

This is the easiest and most tastiest cookie I have ever made. You can bake less for a chewy cookie or you can bake a bit longer for a crunchy cookie. I like them both ways and achieve both in the same batch, the trick it to make a lot of cookies and eat half as soon as the bake and save the other half for tomorrow. During this rest, they will become crunchy.

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Brown Sugar Nib Cookie

  • Author: Arcelia Gallardo
  • Prep Time: 15 minutes
  • Cook Time: 10-15 minutes
  • Total Time: 30 minutes
  • Yield: 30 cookies 1x
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Description

Easy, one bowl cookies with browned butter and cocoa nibs. 

Equipment: Saucepan, strong spoon, cookie sheets, silpat,  small ice cream scoop

Ingredients

Scale
  • 200 g butter
  • 350 g rapadura (or panela, or dark brown sugar chopped into small pieces.)
  • 2 eggs
  • 300 g all purpose flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon of salt
  • 1/2 cup to 1 cup of cacao nibs (depends on your love for cocoa nibs)

Instructions

  1. Heat oven to 350F (176c)
  2. Place the butter in a medium to large saucepan and turn heat to low. You will use this pot to mix everything else in, make sure it is big enough. 
  3. Melt all of the butter until it becomes slightly brown and begins to smell nutty – there will be solid pieces on the bottom. Turn off the heat, let cool for 10 minutes.
  4. In this same pot that is now cooled, add the 2 eggs and sugar and mix with a wooden or heavy spoon.
  5. In here toss everything else except the nibs, which means: flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Mix until the white flour doesn’t look white anymore.
  6. Add the nibs and use all your strength to mix until the nibs are everywhere in the dough.
  7. Use a small ice scream scoop or use a normal spoon to scoop out round balls the size of a golf ball. You can also freeze this dough for later use.
  8. Place on a cookie sheet lined with parchment or a silpat, they will grow twice their size so leave some room!
  9. Leave in the oven 10 to 15 minutes, look for light browning around the edges of the cookie and they are done. Make sure not to over bake because these go from baked to burnt very quickly. You can bake longer if you want to create a crunchier cookie but make sure to lower the temperature or turn off the oven and let them sit there a few more minutes. But avoid allowing them to get browned. 

Equipment

Notes

Cocoa nibs should be roasted, not raw. If you are buying cocoa nibs and they do not say Raw, then they are roasted. If you have some raw nibs that you want to use, just roast them until they are hot; 1 cup of nibs can be placed in a 300F oven for 10 minutes. As soon as you smell chocolate odors, they are ready. Yes, you are baking the cookies but once the nibs are in the cookies, they are enveloped in fat and flour and will not get a chance to roast. 

The raw cocoa nibs will have a different flavor that I do not like in my chocolate. Roasting is a huge factor in developing cocoa flavors and aromas in cocoa nibs – the best chocolates in the world are made with roasted nibs.

  • Category: cookies
  • Method: mix
  • Cuisine: dessert

Keywords: cookies, nibs, easy, brown sugar

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