Adapted from my brown butter walnut cookies, these cookies are soft, thick, slightly chewy with crispy edges, infused with the nutty flavour of browned butter or melted butter and loaded with your childhood favourite - Dairy Milk chocolate chunks! These cookies are so easy to make and you can munch on them while reminiscing your school days!
I can survive without chocolates for months but when I do have access then I like to make it last forever 😁 call me frugal. However, F loves to binge on a bag of mini chocolates once in a blue moon which I used to find atrocious but now I happily join his party. His choice of chocolates is not what I grew up eating in India and he never buys dairy milk for some unknown reason. On one of my "scrolling" grocery shopping times, I found Dairy milk bars on offer and without much thinking I ordered two of them because let's be honest we all are missing home and anything that can bring back home is welcome.
When the stuff arrived, I saw the two large bars of dairy milk and immediately thought of testing brownies. (I don't have a single brownie recipe yet). Created a Pinterest board and started pinning favourite brownie recipes but never got to it 😬. Apparently, destiny didn't like my idea and presented me with an opportunity to serve my neighbour! These Dairy milk chocolate cookies were born out of one of the packs and guess what happened to the second pack? I taught F how to eat one square a night. 😜 call me stingy!
What kind of Butter is used?
I baked Cadbury dairy milk chocolate cookies with and without browned butter and both are equally good. Hence, I did not include browned butter in the title of the post because I want you to have the option. You may skip making brown butter and just use melted butter or even softened butter. If using melted butter or softened butter, you should skip the tablespoon of milk I added in the recipe. The reason we add the milk is to compensate for the moisture loss that happens when we make browned butter.
Brown butter aka browned butter is nothing but the end result of slow cooking the regular butter. The French call it beurre noisette and they use it in both savoury and sweet dishes as a sauce. The melting method gently cooks the butter and turns the milk solids into brown bits while evaporating all the water present in the butter. This develops a nutty flavour and toasted aroma making it liquid gold in the culinary world. Browned butter has a deeper, richer, and more intense flavour than melted or clarified butter. Like I mentioned earlier, you may just use melted butter for this recipe if you don't have the time or inclination to make browned butter.
I had shared these pics on Instagram stories so just adding them here for a record. I had started my day making cookies for my neighbour aunty who was all set to travel to India. She loved my chewy cookies and always asked for them whenever we had chai. I decided to bake some for her but realized I did not have any choco chips. That is how the Dairy Milk got destined to become studded on these cookies. Frankly, I was half-hearted to open the fresh pack and also to give away! 😱
If you noticed, I chopped one square of the chocolate into four smaller squares. It takes time but if you are not bothered about the sizing, you may just roughly chop them up and use them. 😀
Noticed how I used the remaining baking paper after cutting for round pans! 🙂 The cookies were so good that I made again another batch which we ate shamelessly.
Can I use normal chocolate for baking?
Yes, you may but with precautions. Eating chocolate has added ingredients of milk solids and sugar which makes it unsuitable to directly substitute without altering the recipe. You may pull it off by using darker chocolate because it has more cocoa content. So it depends on what the recipe calls for and you may need to adjust the sugar and liquid content. However, for good quality ganache or frostings or puddings, it’s better to use baking chocolate rather than normal eating chocolate, as the composition of cocoa and butter vary.
How to make Dairy Milk Chocolate Cookies?
Cookie dough. The first step is to melt the butter or make the brown butter and let it cool. Mix and keep the flour items in a bowl. Next, you will whisk the sugar and egg into the browned butter and then stir in the flour mixture. Lastly, fold in the chocolate chunks. Your cookie dough is ready.
Chilling the dough is mandatory. You may chill for 30 minutes or overnight. Remove the dough and let it sit on the counter for 10 to 15 mins while the oven is getting preheated. This will help the dough to soften a bit so you can scoop.
Baking time! Preheat your oven and line the baking tray. Scoop the cookie dough and place it on a lined baking tray leaving a gap between each. You may shape the dough into neat balls and then bake until golden to brown edges - approx 13 minutes.
Make sure to remove the tray from the oven and let it cool as the cookies will continue to cook while cooling. You may sprinkle some coarse sea salt or flakes over the cookie while still warm. Refer below for the detailed cookie recipe.
My chewy chocolate chip cookies are so good that home bakers are proudly making and selling them 😊. I have had a good soul who thanked me for the recipe. So if you are a home baker looking to add some cookies to your menu please don't hesitate to try my chewy chocolate chip cookie recipes which are the base for all my cookies so far. So hopefully my next cookie should be with the softened butter method - InshaAllah!
📖 Recipe
Dairy Milk Chocolate Cookies Recipe
Ingredients
- ½ cup unsalted butter 100gms
- ⅓ cup brown sugar
- ¼ cup white sugar
- 1 large egg room temperature
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 tablespoon milk (skip if not making brown butter)
- 1¼ cup all-purpose flour (plain flour or maida)
- ½ teaspoon cornflour
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 100 gms dairy milk chocolate chopped
Instructions
Prepare the brown butter
- If you don't want to make brown butter, you may skip the milk and just melt the butter and use it in the recipe. Browned butter is just a tad bit extra time that needs your undivided attention.
- Cut the butter into smaller pieces and add to a light-coloured saucepan which will help to determine when the butter begins browning.
- Melt the butter on low to medium heat while stirring constantly. Once melted, the butter will begin to foam and make a crackling sound but do not stop stirring. The butter will begin browning with a nutty aroma and lightly browned bits will begin to form at the bottom of the pan.
- Remove from heat once the brown bits reach amber colour and the popping sounds have stopped. Pour the browned butter into a large mixing bowl and let it cool completely.
Prepare the dairy milk chocolate cookie dough
- Whisk the flour, cornflour, baking soda and salt together in a large bowl. Set aside.
- Take the brown butter bowl and whisk in the brown and white sugar until no lumps remain.
- Whisk in the egg and the vanilla extract.
- Use a rubber spatula and gradually stir in the flour mixture into the wet mixture until combined with no traces of dry flour but do not overmix.
- Fold in the chopped dairy milk chocolate chunks making sure they are distributed all through.
- Cover the dough and chill in the refrigerator for 30 mins to an hour or until it is not greasy and soft. You may leave it overnight too. Chilling is mandatory as the butter needs to solidify to prevent flat cookies.
Bake the dairy milk chocolate cookie
- Remove the dough from the fridge and let it sit on the counter for a few minutes so it can soften a bit and is scoopable. (If you had left it overnight, It will be hard to scoop)
- Preheat the oven to anywhere between 170°c to 180°c. Line a baking tray with baking paper.
- Scoop a little less than ¼ cup of dough for each cookie and place them on the tray leaving space between each cookie and the edges of the pan so that the cookies can spread evenly.
- For chewy gooey cookies, bake for 12 to 13 mins only. For light crunchy cookies bake for 14 to 15 mins. But do keep an eye on them after 8 mins or so and remove them as soon as you see golden spots and brown edges. Cookies will continue to cook while cooling.
- Take out of the oven and allow to cool for 10 minutes, then transfer the cookies on a wire rack to cool completely. You may sprinkle some coarse or flaky sea salt while still warm for added taste.
- Serve or store in an airtight container for up to one week but I bet you it won't last that long!
Did you make this recipe? Let me know!