Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie

Once you try these brown butter chocolate chip cookies, you won't go back to regular cookies! With the depth of flavor from the browned butter combined with the crisp edges and soft chewy texture, these brown butter cookies are the ultimate cookies.

This post was originally published on April 6, 2016. It was updated with new recipe information on January 23, 2024.

Ingredients

• Unsalted butter. By heating unsalted butter in a saucepan until the milk solids brown, we'll get the most delicious browned butter! Avoid using salted butter, because you'll end up with cookies that are too salty.
• All-purpose flour. Use plain all-purpose flour for the perfect chewy cookies.
• Salt. You can use fine sea salt or fine Himalayan pink salt.
• Baking soda. Helps the cookies spread.
• Sugar. This brown butter cookie recipe uses both granulated sugar and brown sugar. The combination of the two adds to both the chewy texture, as well as the flavor.
• Eggs. We're using a whole egg as well as some yolks for some added richness!
• Vanilla. Use pure vanilla extract or vanilla paste for the best flavor.
• Chocolate chips. I suggest semisweet chocolate chips but feel free to use dark chocolate or even milk chocolate. You can use either chocolate chips or chocolate chunks! I added hazelnuts as well because they pair so well with chocolate!
• Flaky sea salt. Optional as well, but a little sprinkle of flaky salt, aka fleur de sel, really balances the sweetness of these cookies!

How to Make Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

Step 1: Prep. Preheat the oven to 375°F (190°C) and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Step 2: Brown the butter. Put cubes of unsalted butter in a saucepan on medium heat for about 5 minutes until the butter turns golden and the milk solids have browned at the bottom of the pan. Take the saucepan off the heat, put the brown sugar and granulated sugar in a large bowl, and pour in the browned butter and stir. Make sure to add all of the browned bits in the pan.

Step 3: Combine the dry ingredients. While the butter and sugar mixture cools a bit, add the all-purpose flour, baking soda, and fine sea salt in a separate bowl and whisk together to combine.

Step 4: Add the rest of the wet ingredients. To the browned butter mixture, add the egg and egg yolks one at a time and stir after each addition. Add the vanilla extract and stir again.

Step 5: Add the dry to the wet ingredients. Put the flour mixture into the butter mixture and mix using a spatula or wooden spoon. When most of the flour is mixed in but you still see patches of flour, add the chocolate chips, and fold them in only until you don't see any bits of flour. Be sure not to overmix.

Step 6: Scoop and bake. Using a cookie scoop (mine holds 4 teaspoons), scoop out the dough onto a parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Top with some extra chocolate chips, and a sprinkle of flaky salt. Bake the cookies for 6-8 minutes and let them cool completely on the baking sheet.

Recipe Pro Tips

• Room temperature ingredients. Make sure all your ingredients are at room temperature so they incorporate properly.
• Use a kitchen scale. Using a kitchen scale to accurately measure ingredients is the best way to make sure these chewy brown butter chocolate chip cookies come out perfect every single time!
• Don't overmix the dough. Overmixing the cookie dough will cause them to be hard and dense.
• Get creative with the mix-ins. Although my favorite combination is dark chocolate chunks with hazelnuts (if you have them in your pantry, here's how to roast hazelnuts), you can add a variety of mix-ins. Chocolate chunks, M&M's, walnuts, or toffee bits!
• Add extra chocolate on top. add a few extra chocolate chips on tops before you bake them in the oven. They look pretty, and no one's ever complained about too much chocolate in cookies.
• Don't overbake. Unless you're going for a crispier cookie, it's best to slightly underbake these cookies for a soft and gooey center.
• Store some dough for a rainy day. Although tempting, I highly recommend not baking the whole batch and keeping some scooped balls of cookie dough in a freezer bag. You can keep it in the freezer for up to 2 months. When you're ready to bake, bake them from frozen for an extra minute or two.

Frequently Asked Questions

More Cookie Recipes

• If you're looking for a chocolatey-er cookie, make my fudgy double chocolate chip cookie recipe!
• Do you love a loaded cookie with lots of mix-ins? These kitchen sink cookies are for you! They've got chocolate chips, as well as toffee bits, pretzels, and potato chips, too!
• These dairy-free peanut butter cookies are so chewy and not dry and crumbly at all!

I hope you love these Browned Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies as much as I do. For more mouth-watering7 dessert inspiration, make sure to follow me on Pinterest, Facebook, and Instagram. You can also get all of my newest content delivered straight to your inbox by signing up for my email newsletter!