Try these brown butter chocolate chip cookies with chewy, crispy edges, loads of chocolate, and nutty flavor from brown butter! The best part is that the cookie dough stirs together quickly by hand and only needs a short chill time in the refrigerator. You can bake these cookies immediately or freeze them for later.
Browning butter is a quick, simple technique that is a game-changer in this cookie recipe. While you could simply use melted butter, browning it for a few minutes gives it a nutty flavor with hints of caramel that takes these cookies to the next level. For more cookie recipes, try my double chocolate chip cookies, oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, and sugar cookies.
Ingredients
These are the key ingredients needed to make the best brown butter chocolate chip cookies! Get the full list of ingredients in the recipe card below.
Butter — to make brown butter chocolate chip cookies, you need 1 cup of browned butter. To get that, you will start with 1¼ cups of unsalted butter since moisture in the butter evaporates during browning.
Leavening — you need both baking powder and baking soda for this cookie recipe. Since you don’t beat the butter and sugar together, incorporating air, I added the baking powder to help the cookies puff so they aren’t too dense.
Sugar — light brown sugar and granulated sugar not only add sweetness to the cookies but moisture (for chewy cookies) and a hint of molasses flavor as well.
Egg — a large egg and additional egg yolk are needed. The extra egg yolk adds chewiness and richness.
Chocolate chips — I use both semisweet chocolate chips (or chocolate chunks) and dark chocolate chips to make these brown butter cookies, but you can use all of one kind of chocolate if you like.
Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
Equipment
- 2 Large baking sheets
- Parchment paper
Ingredients
- 1¼ cups unsalted butter, diced (282g)
- 2⅔ cups all-purpose flour (320g)
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- ¾ cup light brown sugar (165g)
- ½ cup granulated sugar (100g)
- 1 large egg
- 1 egg yolk
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1½ cups semisweet chocolate chips or chocolate chunks (270g)
- ½ cup dark chocolate chips optional, (90g)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Place the butter in a medium skillet or wide saucepan over medium heat. Cook for 2 to 3 minutes, until melted and bubbling.
- Continue to cook for 3 to 5 more minutes, stirring frequently, until it is light to medium amber in color and the milk solids are medium brown.
- Remove the pan from the heat and immediately pour the butter into a large, heatproof mixing bowl. Stir it around in the bowl to help stop the cooking. If the milk solids at the bottom of the pan are still medium-brown, you can scrape them into the browned butter if you like.
- Whisk in the light brown and granulated sugars, then let cool until it’s just warm, 20 to 30 minutes.
- Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
- To the butter mixture, add the egg, egg yolk, and vanilla and whisk to combine.
- Add the flour mixture and stir to combine. Stir in the chocolate chips. Refrigerate the dough for 20 minutes.
- Scoop the dough into 3 tablespoon-sized balls (66g) and place on the baking sheets 3 inches apart. Press a few dark chocolate chips into the top of each cookie, if you like.
- Bake for 11 to 13 minutes or until the edges are light golden brown and the tops are dry. (For best results, bake one sheet at a time.) Let cookies cool on the pan for 5 minutes, then move to a cooling rack. Store any leftovers in an airtight container for up to 5 days.
Notes
- You can tell the butter is browned when the solids have separated and little brown flecks are settled on the bottom of the pan. I recommend using a lighter color pan, like stainless steel or a light enameled coating so you can easily tell the color of the butter.
- Once the butter is browned, you should have about 1 cup (226g). If you think you might have less, measure it and add enough melted butter to reach that volume or gram weight before mixing the dough together. If you have a little bit more, that’s okay! Proceed with the recipe.
- You can sprinkle these with flaky sea salt right when they come out of the oven for extra crunch and flavor.
- For smaller cookies, scoop the dough into 1½ tablespoon-sized balls (34g) and bake for 9 to 11 minutes.
Nutrition
How To Make Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
1. Make the browned butter in a medium saucepan or skillet. Cook the butter over medium heat until amber in color and the milk solids are medium brown. Transfer the butter to a large heatproof bowl.
2. Add the brown sugar and white sugar and whisk. Let cool. In the meantime, whisk together the all-purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl and set aside.
3. Whisk the egg, egg yolk, and vanilla extract into the cooled butter and sugar mixture and whisk to combine. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and stir.
4. Fold in the chocolate chips with a rubber spatula, then refrigerate the cookie dough for 20 minutes.
5. Scoop the dough into 3 tablespoon-sized balls using a cookie scoop and place on two baking sheets lined with parchment paper. Press a few dark chocolate chips on top of each cookie dough ball, if desired.
6. Bake one baking sheet at a time at 350°F for 11 to 13 minutes or until the edges are golden brown. Let the brown butter chocolate chip cookies cool on the cookie sheets for 5 minutes, then move to a wire rack to cool completely.
Use Baking Soda For Chewy Cookies
Just like for my classic chocolate chip cookies, baking soda is key. This helps the cookies spread and produce crisp edges with a chewy center. Using only baking powder would make the cookies puff up too much and have a cakey texture.
What’s The Best Type Of Chocolate To Use?
I like chocolate chips for convenience, but you can use chocolate chunks or chop up chocolate bars, too! I use semisweet chocolate for the cookie dough and dark chocolate to press into the cookie dough balls before baking, but you can use all dark chocolate if you prefer a less sweet cookie. Or, swap in your favorite type of chocolate. Feel free to customize it to your preference!
Do I Have To Chill The Cookie Dough Before Scooping It?
Yes, since this is a stir-together dough (using melted butter), the dough needs a short time in the refrigerator to firm up so it scoops well. This chill time will also allow the flour to hydrate so the cookies spread properly.
How To Freeze And Store The Cookie Dough
Scoop the cookie dough and place the dough balls on a lined baking sheet. Freeze the cookie dough balls until solid, then transfer them to a freezer-safe container and freeze for up to 3 months. Bake the cookie dough from frozen, adding 2 to 3 minutes to the bake time.
Pro Tips For Making This Recipe
- Weigh your ingredients. Weighing the flour and sugar is especially important because using too much or too little can affect how the cookies spread. A kitchen scale is the easiest way to accurately measure ingredients for the best cookies. But if you don’t have one, fluff it in its container, spoon it into your measuring cup, and level off the top with a knife.
- For soft cookies, add 2 tablespoons of cornstarch. This is a trick for more tender cookies. Just add the cornstarch to the flour mixture!
- Add mix-ins! Replace up to ¾ cup of the chocolate chips with chopped nuts like toasted pecans or toasted walnuts, M&Ms, sprinkles, or dried fruit like dried cranberries.
Frequently Asked Questions
Not chilling the dough is the most likely culprit. Refrigerating the dough for 20 minutes helps it firm up and hydrates the flour, which impacts how the dough spreads. Incorrect ingredient measurements can also cause the cookies to spread too much, particularly if you use too much sugar and too little flour. Lastly, a cooler oven temperature can cause the cookies to flatten because the edges of the cookies will take longer to set, so they’ll have more time to spread.
Store leftover brown butter chocolate chip cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days. You can also freeze baked cookies for up to 1 month in a freezer container.
No, you don’t have to brown the butter to make these cookies, but the flavor will be quite different, and you’ll lose out on the nutty aroma. If you’re looking for a more classic recipe using regular melted butter, just melt 1 cup of butter without letting it brown. Follow the rest of the recipe as directed.
If you’ve tried this brown butter chocolate chip cookies recipe, then don’t forget to rate it and let me know how you got on in the comments below. I love hearing from you!
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