I disappear for a month, and then return with yet another rift on the chocolate chip cookie!?  Granted, this post puts the past two posts to shame – and this one’s definitely a keeper – but I still feel like I should be slightly chastened.  In my defense, which is really just another lame excuse, I shifted around my computer setup, and I have been dragging my feet when it comes to sorting out those final little computer quirks that make blogging possible.  I’ve also been swallowed up by my latest creative endeavor – sugar flower making!

But back to the BEET Crumb CHOCOLATE Chip Cookie!

If you recall, last Fall, I baked a Beet Crumb Chocolate Cupcake.  At the time, I had a few leftover beet crumbs, which I stashed in the freezer in the hopes that some day I would find another unique way of using them… well… inspiration stuck.  And I’m in love!  This is one of those recipes that I’m going to keep for life, the kind of recipe that I am going to continue to make over and over again until I die, and that, hopefully, someone else (who’s also in love with it) will continue to make long after I’m gone!

Dramatic, much? …I feel like these cookies are about as dramatic as I get.

The best part is that they are ridiculously easy to throw together.  It’s just a simple chocolate chip cookie with one extra step, and if you make a large batch of beet crumbs and freeze them, that extra step is as easy as popping open a freezer container and throwing it in.  You do want the beet crumbs to be cool when you add them into your cookie dough, so even if you are not planing on freezing them, making them a day in advance and storing them in an airtight container overnight, is a good alternative.

Brown Butter Beet Crumbs

Ingredients:

• 1 cup Butter
• 1/2 cup Sugar
• 1/2 cup Flour
• 3 tbsp Beet Powder
• 1/4 tsp Salt
• 1 tsp Vanilla Extract

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 325 F (~163 C).
2. Brown Butter – place your butter in a small sauce pan.  Melt the butter until the milk solids separate, and the butter develops a delightful chestnut brown tinge.  This process can take awhile, just be patient, it will happen.  You can save time, and skip this step, by just using regular melted butter.  It’s less decadent then the brown butter, but it’ll do the trick.
3. Sift together the flour and beet powder.
4. Combine the dry ingredients in the bottom of a mixing bowl.
5. While mixing, slowly pour in the brown butter and vanilla until the ingredients begin to clump together.  You may not need to use all of the brown butter, just enough to bring it together.
6. Scatter the crumbs out across a parchment lined baking sheet.
7. Bake for about 8 minutes.  If you have the option bake the crumbs with a low or no fan.  Ideally you want to bake the crumbs so that they hold together without browning them.
8. Allow the crumbs to cool fully before use.

Beet Crumb Chocolate Chip Cookies

Recipe makes 3 dozen small cookies.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup (1 stick) Butter (room temp)
• 1/2 cup Vegetable Shortening (room temp)
• 1/2 cup Sugar
• 1 cup Brown Sugar
• 2 Eggs
• 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
• a few rasps of fresh Nutmeg
• 2 1/2 cups Flour
• 1 1/2 tsp Baking Powder
• 1/2 tsp Salt
• 1 cup semi-sweet Chocolate Chips
• 1 cup Beet Crumbs

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F degrees (~177 C).
2. Cream together the butter, shortening, and sugars.
3. Beat in the eggs.
4. Beat in the vanilla, nutmeg, and salt.
5. Add in the flour and baking powder.  Continue to mix until fully combined.
6. Stir in the chocolate.
7. Gently, fold in the beet crumbs.
8. Scoop the dough out onto parchment lined baking sheets – about 1 tbsp of dough per cookie.
9. Bake for 8 – 10 minutes, or until the tops of the cookies are no longer shiny.  They should be slightly puffy and soft when you pull them out, they will sink down and solidify slightly as they cool.