Prep: 15 minutes

Bake: 14 minutes

Makes: 36 cookies

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut up

1 heaping teaspoon kosher salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

1½ cups dark brown sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 whole eggs

2¼ cups all-purpose flour

10 ounces semisweet or bittersweet chocolate disks or chips

1. Brown: Settle butter in a medium sauce pan. Set over medium heat. Butter will melt, foam and—after about 5 minutes—brown. When the bottom of the pan is speckled with brown bits, pull pan off heat. This brown butter will give your cookies a rich, nutty taste. Scrape into a mixing bowl.

2. Mix: Stir in, in order: salt, soda, sugar, vanilla, eggs, and flour. Check that dough and bowl are cool (so as not to melt chocolate). Stir in disks (or chips).

3. Shape: Using a 2 tablespoon ice-cream scoop, shape 36 dough balls. Settle balls in a bag (I like those reusable silicone bags) and freeze until cookie time.

4. Bake: Set oven rack in the center position. Heat oven to 325 degrees. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone mat. Choose the optimum number of cookie balls and settle them on baking sheet, leaving 3 inches space in-between. Bake until shiny on top and just set, about 14-16 minutes. Let cool (a bit). Munch.