These brown butter chocolate chip cookies take a classic favorite to the next level! Rich, nutty brown butter gives them an irresistible, almost toffee-like flavor, while plenty melty chocolate and a sprinkle of flakey salt makes each bite extra luxurious. These cookies bake up beautifully golden brown with crispy edges and soft, chewy centers just like your favorite bakery cookies. Best of all, they're easy to make at home with no fancy equipment or expensive ingredients needed!
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Why you'll love these cookies!
✔ No mixers needed! Just grab a whisk and a rubber spatula.
✔ Comes together in 45 minutes with an hour of optional chill time.
✔ They make great emergency freezer snacks! We always have a stash of them ready for when guests visit or just when the cravings hit.
✔ They are delicious and really bring chocolate chip cookies to a whole new level! They're richer, has a nutty, toffee-like flavor and crispy edges with soft and chewy centers. Literally everything you love about a cookie in one!
Ingredient notes and substitutions
Please scroll down to the recipe card for the ingredient quantities!
- All-purpose flour
- Baking soda - This gives our cookies just enough lift, helps it spread a little, give them a bit more chew, and and helps them brown better.
- Salt - Just a little to balance the sweetness.
- Butter - We prefer using unsalted butter for all of our recipes, but for this recipe, you can use salted butter instead. If using salted butter, reduce the salt by half.
- Granulated white sugar and brown sugar - We need a combination of the two to achieve that soft, chewy texture with crispy edges. Either light or dark brown sugar is fine.
- Egg
- Vanilla extract
- Milk - When making browned butter, some moisture is lost in the process. So to compensate for the moisture lost, we're adding a little milk. If you don't have milk, liquid coffee creamer is a good substitute, and in a pinch, you could use water.
- Semi-sweet chocolate chips and bittersweet chocolate bars - I love using a combination of the two because semi-sweet chocolate chips provides the perfect sweetness without making the cookies a gooey mess. The bittersweet chocolate bars adds a lovely, more complex chocolate flavor to the sweet cookies. Also, chocolate bars stay melted. So you get just enough melted chocolate in the cookies. If you prefer, you can use all chocolate chips.
- Flakey salt - Optional for garnish but also provides a lovely contrast with the chocolate and the cookies' sweetness.
How to make these soft and chewy brown butter chocolate chip cookies
Please scroll down to the recipe card for the full recipe and instructions!
Brown the butter
Brown butter is super easy to make and gives whatever you're using it in a nutty, almost toffee-like flavor.
To brown butter, first place the butter into a small saucepan and melt over medium heat.
Once the butter has melted, keep cooking until the there's golden brown bits in the butter, about 3-5 minutes. Stir or swirl the pan as needed. Once the butter has been browned, remove from the heat immediately and transfer to a large heatproof mixing bowl. Let the butter cool at room temperature until no longer warm.
Prepare the dry ingredients
Whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt in a bowl, and set aside until needed.
Make the cookie dough
When the butter has cooled, add both of the sugars and mix with a whisk until just combined.
Then add the egg, milk, and vanilla and mix until just combined.
Add the prepared dry ingredients and mix with a rubber spatula. Mix until only a little dry flour is still visible, then add the chocolates.
With the spatula, fold the chocolates into the cookie dough until evenly distributed.
Portion and chill
Portion the cookie dough into 3 tablespoon balls (about 60g) or scoop using a 3 tablespoon cookie scoop (scoop #20). Arrange them on a plastic wrap lined sheet pan or plate and cover and refrigerate for about 1 hour.
You can also bake the cookies without chilling or freeze the portioned cookie dough to bake later. If baking the cookies without chilling, go ahead and arrange the cookies onto a greased sheet pan or a parchment lined sheet pan.
Bake the cookies
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease or line a sheet pan(s) with parchment paper and arrange the cookies on the sheet pan at least 2 inches (5cm) apart.
When the oven is ready, bake the cookies for 12-13 minutes from fresh, 13-14 minutes if refrigerated, and 14-15 minutes from frozen. About three-quarters way into baking, take the tray of cookies out and give it a few firm taps on the counter to flatten the cookies and give them ripples.
Garnish and let them cool
When the cookies are done baking, remove them from the oven. At this point, the edges of the cookies should be just turning golden brown and the center will still be very soft.
If desired, sprinkle them with some flakey salt. Let eh cookies cool on the sheet pan for a few minutes so that the residual heat from the pan can continue to cook the cookies to perfection.
🌟 Pro tip
How to get perfect round cookies every time!
You know how sometimes a cookie just doesn't want to cooperate and get all wonky-shaped after baking? Well, fear no more! You can easily fix that with a round cookie cutter or anything that has a round opening that fits over your cookie.
We usually like to use a round cookie cutter that's a couple sizes larger than our cookies. While the cookies are still soft, hot, and just out of the oven, use the cookie cutter to give them a gentle jiggle all around to gently shape and round them out.
Storage
These brown butter chocolate chip cookies can be stored in an airtight container and kept at room temperature for up to 1 week, but they are best enjoyed within 3-4 days of baking.
The portioned cookie dough can be covered and kept refrigerated for up to 3 days, but it's best to freeze the cookie doughs if you aren't baking on the same day.
To freeze, portion the cookie dough onto a plastic wrap lined sheet pan and freeze for at least 2 hours or until hard. Then transfer the cookie dough into resealable freezer bags or freezer-safe airtight containers. The cookie dough can be frozen for up to 6 months but for best flavor and quality, use within 3 months.
FAQs
Yes! It is very important to let your brown butter cool before using so that it doesn't melt your sugars, which could lead to flat, greasy cookies.
Your brown butter is ready when it smells nutty and the specks in the butter look golden brown. Once it gets to this golden brown stage, it can burn very fast, so keep a watchful eye on it! If the specks become a chocolate brown, that's okay too. We highly recommend you use a stainless steel pan when making your brown butter so you can see easily see the color changes and cook on medium heat to prevent the butter from burning.
Yes, absolutely! You can brown your butter ahead of time and keep it refrigerated until needed. When ready to use, warm the butter up just enough to melt it, and if needed, let it cool until the butter feels cool to the touch.
The most likely reasons why your cookies are greasy:
Brown butter too warm - If the butter is too warm, it could melt your sugars, leading to flat, greasy cookies.
Oven temperature too low - If the baking temperature is too low, the fat could leak out and the cookies could spread too much.
Not enough flour - There's not enough flour for the fat to bind to, leading to greasy cookies that's also likely to spread too much.
📖 Recipe
Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 stick unsalted butter
- 1½ cup all-purpose flour fluffed, spooned, and leveled* see notes
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup dark brown sugar
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 tablespoon milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 2 ounces bittersweet chocolate bar roughly chopped* see notes
- Flakey salt optional for garnish
Instructions
- Brown the butter:Place the butter into a small saucepan and melt over medium heat. Once melted, keep cooking until the there's golden brown bits in the butter, about 3-5 minutes. Stir or swirl the pan as needed. Once the butter has been browned, remove from the heat immediately and transfer to a large heatproof mixing bowl. Let the butter cool at room temperature until no longer warm.1 stick unsalted butter
- Prepare the dry ingredients:In a bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside until needed.1½ cup all-purpose flour, ½ teaspoon baking soda, ½ teaspoon salt
- Make the cookie dough:When the butter has cooled, add both of the sugars and mix with a whisk until just combined. Then add the egg, milk, and vanilla and mix until just combined. Add the prepared dry ingredients and mix with a rubber spatula and mix until only a little dry flour is still visible. Add the chocolate chips and chopped chocolate and fold with the spatula until evenly distributed.½ cup dark brown sugar, ¼ cup granulated sugar, 1 large egg, 1 tablespoon milk, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, ½ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips, 2 ounces bittersweet chocolate bar
- Portion and (optional) chill:Prepare a small tray or plate lined with plastic wrap. Using a 3 tablespoon cookie scoop (scoop #20), scoop and portion the cookie dough onto the prepared tray. You can also scoop and and roll together 3 tablespoons (about 60g) of cookie dough. Cover and refrigerate the cookies for about 1 hour so the flavors can marry. If you're making the dough ahead of time, you can freeze them after an hour of refrigerating.If you can't wait, go ahead and portion the cookie dough onto a sheet pan greased or lined with parchment paper and follow the baking instructions.
- Bake:Preheat the oven to 350°F and grease or line a sheet pan with parchment paper. Arrange the cookies on the sheet pan at least 2 inches (5cm) apart. When the oven is ready, bake the cookies for 12-13 minutes from fresh, 13-14 minutes if refrigerated, and 14-15 minutes from frozen. About three-quarters way into baking, take the tray of cookies out and give it a few firm taps on the counter to flatten the cookies and give them ripples.The edges of the cookies should be just be turning golden brown and the center will be very soft.
- Cool and garnish:Once cooked, remove the cookies from the oven and if desired, sprinkle them with some flakey salt. Let the cookies cool on the sheet pan for a few moment so the residual heat can continue cooking the cookies to perfection. Enjoy!Flakey salt
Notes
- Fluff, spoon, and level - This is an important step if you are not using a scale and are measuring the flour using US customary dry measuring cups. Skipping this step could increase the amount of flour used by about a ¼ cup and that's a lot! The extra flour could make the cookies dense and dry. So to avoid that, follow these steps:
- Fluff the flour to loosen it up. Then spoon the flour into your dry measuring cup until it overflows. Do not tap or shake. Using a straight edge, like the back of a butter knife, scrape the excess flour off to level the cup.
- Bittersweet chocolate bar - We think a combination of semi-sweet chocolate chips and bittersweet chocolate bar makes the most balanced use of chocolate in brown butter chocolate chip cookies. Plus, chocolate bars melts better than chocolate chips, and stay melted and gooey. If you prefer, you could skip this and use more chocolate chips instead.
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