The following recipe was contributed by Nancy Kux from Nancy's Fancies on the Peninsula.

Ingredients:
8 ounces sweet butter
1 cup sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 cups all purpose flour,
1/2 tsp. baking soda
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2 quart saucepan
wooden spoon
2 or 3 cookie sheets
parchment paper (optional)

These cookies are from my childhood and from my aunt's kitchen. She was a wonderful baker who never tired of baking. When I was young, these cookies were dreamy to eat--with all that browned butter and crunchiness. Eating good sweets lured me into the kitchen. I fell in love with the transformation of ingredients into desserts, the great aromas, and the discovery of new tastes. Yet I still love the purity of only a few ingredients mixed together. "Simple, pure and delicious" were words I remember as a product's slogan. They have remained with me.

I'm not a romantic--much more practical--hearts and flowers are for others. Butter, sugar, chocolate, eggs, and peanut butter are what I swoon over!

Sharing these cookies is a MUST. So go into the kitchen, assemble the few ingredients, and when you are ready to roll the cookies into balls--put on some music, sit down, and dream about your honey and your good times together. That is what I discovered--the dream part is in the creation.

Chef One:
Melt the butter over HIGH heat in the saucepan. The butter will swell up and bubble furiously. Stir frequently. All of a sudden it will change color and brown. Remove from heat. Stir and scrape the pan. COOL. Leave in the saucepan. You will use the pan as your mixing bowl.

Stir in the sugar and vanilla. Stir in the flour and baking soda. It clumps up. Stir to mix. Do NOT add more flour.

Pre- heat oven to 350 degrees.

Put on some music. Pull up a chair. Sit down and dream while forming the crumbly dough into 40-50 balls. Usually it takes a little kneading to warm up the dough to form into solid balls.

Put cookie balls on cookie sheets, lined with parchment paper. Even though they don't expand much in baking, space about 1 inch apart.

Bake in the center of oven, one cookie sheet at a time.

They should be slightly brown, cracked, and move when gently pushed. About 18-20 minutes if cookies are large and 15-18 minutes if cookies are small(50).

Share them with your sweetheart on Valentine's Day!
I Hope you enjoy them as much as I still do.