Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
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!
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
While browning the butter, it will start foaming first. This is the moisture evaporating. Then you'll notice louder pops and larger bubbles. When the butter is nearly there, the bubbles will become smaller and quieter and the milk solids will start to turn golden. Keep cooking a little longer until it's a deep golden color. The color will change pretty fast from here, so if the butter becomes medium brown, it's okay too.
Notes
Please refer to the post above for step by step photo reference, ingredient substitutions, tips, storage, and more!
- 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.
Nutrition
Serving: 1cookie | Calories: 302.3kcal | Carbohydrates: 38.2g | Protein: 3.7g | Fat: 15.1g | Saturated Fat: 9.6g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.6g | Monounsaturated Fat: 3.6g | Trans Fat: 0.4g | Cholesterol: 43.7mg | Sodium: 190.4mg | Potassium: 134.2mg | Fiber: 1.4g | Sugar: 21.1g | Vitamin A: 316.9IU | Vitamin C: 0.03mg | Calcium: 42.2mg | Iron: 1.7mg
Keywords: chewy chocolate chip cookies, easy recipe
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