You can’t avoid brown butter in baked goods these days even if you try. But really, why would you want to? Slowly melting down the stick until the milk solids turn golden makes bakery treats smell rich and nutty and taste even more decadent. And the addition of brown butter makes it harder to resist the oatmeal raisin cookies at the Cheese Shop at France 44, where they beckon from the register.
Petite in size but not in flavor, these cookies ($6 / dozen) can be polished off in just a few bites, but amazingly, one can be quite satisfying. The quality of ingredients is so high that each bite is intensely rich. The nuttiness of the oatmeal is heightened by the butter and countered with the raisins’ sun-kissed sweetness. There must be plenty of sugar — after all, it’s a cookie — but these soft-baked rounds let the raisins’ natural sugars take the lead.
Admirably, the cookies don’t suffer from the fate of many oatmeal-based counterparts: stiffness. Adding too much oatmeal to the dough can make the cookies tough rather than toothsome. Luckily, that’s not the case here; the treats stay tender and moist days after purchase.
The perfect addition to your picnic basket along with the sandwiches at the Cheese Shop at France 44, the brown butter oatmeal raisin cookies will wiggle their way into your bag at some point. Just make sure you have plenty of milk on hand to wash down those cookies. Cheese is optional — but allow us to recommend a nutty Gouda.
The Cheese Shop at France 44, 4351 France Ave S, Minneapolis, MN 55410; 612.278.4422