Brown Butter Oatmeal and M&M Cookies

About 1 year ago, our city of Minot, ND flooded.  About 4,000 homes were flooded and about 11,000 people were evacuated.  When the flood waters receded, there was so much devastation that if you had not witnessed it, you wouldn't believe it.  A friend of mine owned a house right next to the river, and the flood waters pushed her house off it's foundation and into the house next door.  I saw someone's deck hanging from a street sign.  The houses were soggy and moldy and smelly.  Volunteers came from all over the United States and Canada to help people gut their homes so that they could start the long process of rebuilding. That volunteer effort is continuing this Summer.  There is a volunteer management organization in town called Hope Village.  They provide housing and meals for volunteers from all over the country who need a place to stay while they help to rebuild our city.  This is a wonderful service, and one that is sorely needed due to the low availability and high cost of housing in our area.  Now, I made a couple of batches of these cookies over the weekend, so what's a girl to do with a gajillion cookies?  I am donating these cookies (and more batches to come) to the Hope Village.


I have never tried anything with brown butter before, so I decided that perhaps that should end now.  I made these cookies the other day, and they were good.  Not my most favorite chocolate chip cookies ever, and I'm not sure that I enjoyed the brown butter enough to spend the extra time repeating it.   


Brown Butter Oatmeal and M&M Cookies


1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup old fashioned oatmeal
1/2 cup M&Ms (I used Red White and Blue for the 4th of July), or use chocolate chips


Preheat the oven to 350F.  Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Set aside.


Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat.  Stirring constantly, continue to cook the butter until it just begins to brown.  This will take several minutes.  Remove from the heat and let cool.


In a medium size bowl, stir together the granulated sugar and brown sugar.  Add the cooled butter.  Stir in the egg and vanilla extract.  Add the flour, baking powder, salt, and oatmeal and stir until blended.  Stir in the M&Ms.  Scoop dough by heaping tablespoonfuls and place on the prepared baking sheet.  Cook for about 10 to 12 minutes, or until set in the center and the edges are lightly browned.  Remove from the oven and transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.  Makes about 12-15 cookies.


Enjoy!  -Cardamommy