Brown Butter Roasted Brussels Sprouts

Found this recipe on "Cooking with Amy" the other day and decided to modify it to suit my own tastes. I love brussels sprouts, but you have to cook them the right way or else they get icky. Usually I chop them and saute them in a little olive oil and salt for about two minutes, but I think I now have a new favorite preparation method.

2-3 cups brussels sprouts

2-3 tablespoons butter

salt & pepper

First, preheat the oven to 425. Chop the sprouts in half lengthwise. Heat the butter in a saucepan until it melts and then browns. This takes a couple of minutes. Remove from heat and toss the sprouts in the butter with some salt and pepper to taste. Spread the sprouts out on a baking sheet and roast for 5-7 minutes, or until they are beginning to brown.

They should be tender and crisp and not burned when done. They should taste like the outsides are roasted but the middle is just barely steamed. So good! I could eat these all the time.

best ever peanut butter cookies

So, I found this recipe on vanilla sugar the other day and had to try it out. It is fantastic! I have honestly never had such good peanut butter cookies. They were a little hard to form into cookies, but trust me, the results are worth it. These didn't last even 12 hours in my apartment.

1 cup all-natural chunky or smooth peanut butter (not too oily though, drain some oil out)
¾ cup dark brown sugar
¼ granulated sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 TB flour
1 ts sea salt
Bittersweet chocolate chips, about ½ cup, optional
Sea salt for sprinkling, optional

In a small bowl add the flour, baking soda and salt and mix, set aside.
In a mixer or by hand, combine peanut butter and sugars until well combined. Crack egg open in a small bowl and beat. Add egg to the cookie mixture; add in the flour mixture in several smaller increments. Mix until combined. Cover bowl and refrigerate until firm (vanilla sugar suggested 2 hours, but I only waited like 20 minutes and they tasted fine). Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Roll into tablespoon sized balls and place on non-stick cookie sheets or greased cookie sheets. With a fork gently make a criss-cross pattern with a fork.
Bake for 10 minutes, until lightly browned. As soon as they come out of the oven sprinkle with just a bit of sea salt—this adds a nice peanut depth; this is optional.

If you want to add in a chocolate topping (which I did), don’t make a cross-cross pattern, but make a small well in the center. Bake half way (about 5 minutes) then add in ~4 chocolate chips and bake remaining 5 minutes or so. I also swirled the chocolate around so that it would be a smooth topping and not just chocolate chips on top. The chocolate was delicious, but the cookies were so rich that it was probably unnecessary.
Should make about 23 – 25 cookies.