I know very few people who dislike cookies. I shared with you one of my favorite cookies, and there’s no reason not to make those browned butter, chocolate chip cookies just the way they are. That said – there’s got to be another awesome way to enjoy them. 

Tah-dah! Not sure what you’re looking at? These my friends are browned butter cookies, filled with chocolate ganache, and topped with sea salt. I did promise you another use for ganache, and this is one of the best uses I can think of.

Now you should know that I happened to have married one of the best people on the face of the planet. He’s my best friend, my favorite person to hang out with, a wonderful man of God, and so much more. Yet, for all his goodness he as one flaw. You’d think being married to someone who spends 85% of her time in the kitchen making sweets would mean that you too enjoy sweets. However, if you ask my husband what his favorite dessert is his answer is almost always the same – seconds. He’d rather have more dinner than anything sweet. But I said almost for a reason. Every single time he knows I’m going to be in the kitchen making cookies, he finds a way to request these. Every. Single. Time.

Well this time, he got his wish. Now let’s make the people in your life wish they were having these all the time too :)

Browned Butter Chocolate Ganache Filled Cookies 

for the cookie dough
1 c unsalted butter
1 c brown sugar
1/2 c sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla
2 1/2 c flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt

for the chocolate ganache*
1/3 c heavy cream
3/4 c chocolate chips
1/4 tsp vanilla extract

Sea Salt for sprinkling

*Just a note – if you’ve already made the ganache from the previous post you should have about half of it left. If not, the above recipe is halved from the original. You can also double what’s above and just have some awesome ganache left over for other uses. Example: warm it up and pour it over ice cream. Or when it’s in its liquid state dip some strawberries in and let them cool in the fridge. It’s a completely different take on chocolate covered strawberries in that you won’t have a crunchy shell that falls off the minute you bite into it. Or if you’re feeling extra fancy you can take this ganache and create truffles. Just roll the ganache into spheres and cover in powdered sugar, cocoa powder, or maybe some finely chopped nuts. So good! Ganache is also good for decorating. Let the ganache cool a bit once it’s liquid, and put into either a decorating bag with a small, round tip or plastic bag with a small snip in the corner. You can write with your chocolate now or decorate as you please. 

Another story for another day :) Enough tips! On to the cookies.

The ganache is very simple to make, and if you’ve already made it this should be chilling in your fridge. If you don’t have solid ganache yet you’ll need to do this first, and give it a few hours to chill  before using it.

1. Combine your cream and vanilla in a large(ish) measuring cup.
2. Heat in the microwave at 30 second intervals until very hot. This took me about a minute and a half.
3. Add chips to heated cream and let stand for a bit – maybe a minute or so.
4. Carefully stir ingredients together until smooth.
5. If you still have lumps place everything back in the microwave and heat at 30 second intervals. Stir between heating to see if it has smoothed out.
6. Chill ganache in fridge until solid. A few hours should do.

There’s a step-by-step picture tutorial for the cookie batter over here, so I’ll just give you the bulleted version.

1. Brown the butter over medium heat in a small saucepan. This should take about 5-8 minutes.
2. Combine flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
3. In another bowl combine sugars.
4. Pour the browned butter into the sugars, and whisk until combined.
5. Whisk in the eggs and vanilla until smooth.
6. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir with spatula until combined.
7. Place this dough in the fridge for at least 30 minutes before baking.

Once everything is prepped and ready you can preheat your oven to 350°F. Now the fun part. It’s a little more time consuming than just add chocolate chips directly to your cookie batter, but the result is something new that is definitely worth the effort. Scoop out a helping of cookie dough – maybe 2-3 tablespoons – and press it flat in your hand. 

I find this works better if you initially start by rolling the dough into a ball and then flatten it. Scoop about 1/2-1 tsp of the solid chocolate ganache out of the measuring cup, and put it in the center of the cookie dough. 

Now you’ll just need to wrap it up. This takes a little practice. If you put too much chocolate in the center you won’t get an even seal of cookie dough. You’ll end up with some chocolate oozing out when it bakes. Not the worst thing that could happen to you, but you don’t want to waste any of that delicious ganache! After the dough is pretty well sealed around the ganache I like to roll it back into a ball.

These should be placed on parchment, pressed down slightly, and then sprinkled with sea salt. 

Bake these for 12-16 minutes. 

You may find that some of the chocolate oozed out anyway, but don’t fret. Let these cool for 5 minutes on the pan before removing them to a cooling rack. We like to eat these a little warm so you get the melty chocolate at its best. Cold cookies are still amazing, and you won’t have completely solid ganache at room temperature, but even warming these in the microwave the next day results in something absolutely delicious!