Simply by Maha
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DessertBrown butter chocolate chip cookies with milk and semi sweet chocolate chips
American · Dessert

Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

These brown butter chocolate chip cookies are soft, chewy, and packed with rich, buttery flavor. Browning the butter gives them that deep nutty taste, and using both semi-sweet and milk chocolate makes them extra good.

5.0 (4 reviews)
30m
Prep
15m
Cook
45m
Total
12
Serves
medium
Level
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How to Make Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

  1. Brown the butter
    Place the butter in a small saucepan over medium-low heat. Stir often until the butter melts, foams, and turns golden brown with little brown bits at the bottom. Once it smells nutty and rich, remove it from the heat and let it cool in the saucepan for a few minutes.
  2. Mix the wet ingredients
    In a large mixing bowl, combine the brown butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar. Mix well using a spatula. Add the egg, egg yolk, and vanilla extract, then mix until smooth and combined.
  3. Add the dry ingredients
    Add the flour, baking soda, and salt. Fold everything together until no streaks of flour remain, being careful not to overmix.
  4. Add the chocolate
    Fold in the semi-sweet chocolate chips and milk chocolate chips until evenly distributed throughout the dough.
  5. Shape the cookie dough balls
    Scoop the dough into even-sized cookie balls and place them on a parchment-lined tray or plate, spacing them apart. I like to add a piece of chocolate on top so it can create a chocolate pool in the cookie while baking!
  6. Chill the dough
    Place the shaped cookie dough balls in the fridge for at least 1 hour, or up to overnight, until chilled and firm.
  7. Preheat the oven
    Preheat the oven to 350°F and line baking sheets with parchment paper.
  8. Bake
    Place the chilled cookie dough balls onto the prepared baking sheets, leaving about 2 inches between each cookie. Bake for 12 to 13 minutes, or until the edges are lightly golden brown but the centers are still soft.
  9. Finish and cool
    Remove from the oven and sprinkle with flaky sea salt if using. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for a few minutes before serving.

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5.0 (4 reviews)

About Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

Browning the butter is the one extra step that turns a regular chocolate chip cookie into something I get asked for over and over. You cook the butter until the milk solids at the bottom go golden and start to smell like toasted nuts and caramel, and that flavour ends up in every bite. It is not hard, it just asks you to stand at the stove for a few minutes and pay attention.

These bake up with crisp edges, a chewy middle, and that deep, almost butterscotch background note you only get from brown butter. I like to use a mix of chocolate chips and chopped chocolate so you get both melty pools and tidy chips. A little flaky salt on top right out of the oven is not optional in my kitchen.

One thing to know going in. Browning the butter removes some water, so the dough behaves a little differently and really benefits from a rest in the fridge before baking. I will walk you through all of that below so your first batch comes out the way it should.

Per serving
  • 230Calories
  • 3gProtein
  • 12gFat
  • 29gCarbs
estimated

Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies Tips and Notes

Why you'll love it

  • The brown butter gives a deep, nutty, caramel flavour you cannot fake.
  • Crisp edges with a soft, chewy centre.
  • Uses one bowl once the butter is browned and cooled.
  • The dough keeps in the fridge for days, so you can bake a few at a time.
  • Flaky salt on top makes them taste like a bakery cookie.
  • Hard to overbake if you pull them while the centres still look soft.

Ingredient notes

Butter: use unsalted so you control the salt, and do not walk away while it browns. Once you smell toasted nuts and see golden flecks, take it off the heat right away.

Sugars: a mix of brown and white sugar matters here. Brown sugar keeps them chewy and works with the brown butter, while white sugar helps the edges crisp.

Chocolate: I use a mix of good chocolate chips and a chopped bar. The chopped pieces melt into thin pools and the chips hold their shape.

Flour: spoon it into the cup and level it off, or weigh it if you can. Too much flour is the main reason cookies come out dry and cakey.

Eggs: bring them to room temperature so they blend smoothly into the cooled brown butter.

Tips & tricks

Cool the brown butter until it is just warm, not hot, before adding sugar. Hot butter will melt the sugar and give you greasy, flat cookies.

Chill the dough at least 1 hour, ideally overnight. Brown butter loses water, so resting lets the flour hydrate and stops the cookies spreading too thin.

Bake at 180C (350F) and pull them when the edges are set but the centres still look underdone. They finish setting on the tray.

Scoop them on the larger side, about 2 tablespoons each, for that chewy middle. Tiny cookies dry out fast.

Right after they come out, give the tray a gentle bang on the counter to settle the centres, then add flaky salt.

Storage & make-ahead

Keep baked cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 4 days. A slice of bread in the container keeps them soft.

Freeze raw dough balls on a tray, then bag them once solid, for up to 3 months. Bake from frozen and add 2 to 3 minutes.

To bring back day-old cookies, warm them in a 150C (300F) oven for about 4 minutes so the chocolate goes melty again.

Variations

Swap half the chocolate for chopped toasted pecans or walnuts. The brown butter and toasted nuts were made for each other.

Use dark chocolate chunks instead of milk for a less sweet, more grown-up cookie.

Add a teaspoon of espresso powder to the dough to push the caramel and chocolate flavours deeper.

Stir in a handful of toffee bits for an even stronger butterscotch note.

Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies FAQs

Watch for the foam to subside and the bits at the bottom of the pan to turn golden brown, and trust your nose. When it smells toasty and nutty, it is done. Take it off the heat right away because it can burn in seconds.
I really recommend it. Browning the butter removes water, so the dough needs time to hydrate. Without a chill the cookies tend to spread thin and greasy. An hour helps, overnight is best.
Usually the butter was still too warm when you mixed in the sugar, or the dough was not chilled. Let the butter cool until just warm, and rest the dough in the fridge before baking.
You can use softened butter for a standard chocolate chip cookie, but you lose the nutty, caramel flavour that makes this recipe what it is. If you have five minutes, brown it.
Brown butter dough can look dry and crumbly straight after mixing because of the lost water. Press a piece together. If it holds, it is fine. If it truly will not come together, add a teaspoon of milk.
Yes. Scoop into balls, chill or freeze, and bake when you want. From the fridge they bake as written, from frozen add a couple of minutes.
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