butter-licious ginger cookies

heat butter in skillet over low heat, to just barely simmer, until melted. add the ginger and continue to cook, until milk solids are dark golden brown. the moment that you start to see shades of gold in the foam and when you start to smell the toasty smell of the browned butter, it's almost ready. push aside the foam so that you can see if the milk solids at the bottom of the pan are golden brown, yet.

remove skillet from heat and transfer browned butter to large heatproof bowl. remove the ginger pieces. add the salt and stir into hot butter to dissolve; set aside for 15 minutes.

whisk flour, baking soda, and baking powder together in medium bowl; add the candied ginger and mix with your fingers to ensure ginger bits are not stuck together; set aside.

in shallow dish or pie plate, mix granulated sugar and brown sugar, rubbing between fingers, until well combined; set aside.

add brown sugar to bowl with cooled butter; mix until no sugar lumps remain. add egg and vanilla and mix until fully incorporated. add flour mixture and mix until combined.

adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350ºF.

roll about 1 tablespoon of batter between your hands into balls about 1 inch in diameter. working in batches, toss balls in topping to coat, brush off excess and set on prepared baking sheet, spacing them about 2 inches apart.

bake one sheet at a time until cookies are browned and still puffy and edges have begun to set but centers are still soft (cookies will look raw between cracks and seem underdone), 10 to 12 minutes, rotating baking sheet halfway through baking. do not overbake.

cool cookies on baking sheet 5 minutes; transfer cookies to wire rack and cool to room temperature.