Knowing Where Your Cookie’s Buttered

Perhaps, post the holidays, you’ve had your fill of cookies. Even with that, you should be tempted by the delights of the brown butter sea salt cookie from the Brown Butter Cookie Company in Cayucos (250 N. Ocean Ave., 995-2076, brownbuttercookies.com). While there’s a lot of brown butter in that last sentence, it’s nothing compared to these lovely bites, the butter on its way to something caramelly and beyond butter—it practically melts in your mouth. Of course the real kicker is that dusting of sea salt, butter’s perfect foil. These cookies are simple perfection, pleasing without chocolate or anything but a baker’s basics. Perhaps they are magical. Originally they were just one product made by The Little Market in Cayucos, but sisters Traci Nickson and Christa Hozie soon realized what their true calling was, and since January 2009, it’s all cookies, all the time. Sure they’ll ship, but the good news for Santa Barbara is you can buy these beauties at C’est Cheese (825 Santa Barbara St., 965-0318, cestcheese.com).