Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

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Welcome to my favorite Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies. These cookies have a deep, nutty flavor to them; they’re made with two types of chocolate, chopped walnuts (optional!) and flakey sea salt on top. Their texture is perfection: crispy edges with soft and chewy centers–yum!

Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies with flakey sea salt on top.

It is no secret that I love brown butter. It makes everything better. Maybe you’ve seen my Brown Butter Scallops with Butternut Squash Risotto or my Brown Butter Apple Crumble. Savory or sweet, it truly makes EVERYTHING better.

Ingredients For Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients for brown butter chocolate chip cookies.
  1. Chocolate – I like using a bar of bittersweet chocolate (we will chop this) AND semi-sweet chocolate chips. This gives great chocolate dimension to these cookies.
  2. Sugars – This recipe uses white sugar and brown sugar. The ratio is definitely more brown sugar to white, resulting in a chewy cookie.
  3. Eggs – Whole eggs and an egg yolk. The egg yolks adds a nice richness to the dough that feels luxurious.
  4. Butter – I like using unsalted butter so we can control the salt amount in the cookies. And of course, using good quality butter helps. I used KerryGold for this recipe.
  5. Baking soda – This gives a nice color to the cookies as well as helps with spreading.
  6. Vanilla extract – I love making Homemade Vanilla Extract. Of course, store-bought is fine!

For the full list of the ingredients, please see the recipe index card below!

How to Brown Butter

I like to start with the butter cubed. And place it in a shallow pan over medium heat. You will slowly see it foam up (this is all the water evaporating out of the butter). Give it a stir regularly. Slowly you will start to see the milk solids caramelize, resulting in brown butter! I like to take my brown butter pretty far. You want it to be golden, dark brown. Immediately pour it into a bowl so it stops cooking.

Brown butter in a pan.

How to Make Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

1. Whisk together the dry ingredients: all-purpose flour, baking soda and salt.

2. Brown the butter, allow the butter to cool for five minutes. And then whisk in the sugars. You really want to cool down the brown butter so it doesn’t melt the chocolate when we add it later on in the recipe.

3. Add in the eggs and egg yolk and whisk until very smooth. We want a cohesive wet mix!

4. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and mix just until all cohesive and you don’t see any speckles of flour.

5. Pour in the two types of chocolate (chopped and chocolate chips) and the walnuts. At this point we don’t want to over-mix our dough so I like to add all the mix-ins at once!

6. Chill the dough for 1 hour or overnight. Next you want to scoop out balls. I used a 2-ounce cookie scoop to get a good size cookie.

Cookie dough balls on a baking sheet.

7. Place your cookies on a baking sheet, about 4 inches a part (they do spread). And bake for 8 minutes. At the 8-minute mark, remove the cookies from the oven and use a large cookie cutter to help shape them a bit (if they look wonky). This is absolutely optional.

Brown butter chocolate chip cookies on a baking sheet.

8. At the 12-minute mark remove the cookies, or until the edges look lightly golden brown. Let them cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes, then move them to a cooling rack. Serve them warm!

Brown butter chocolate chip cookies on a baking sheet.

Styling Tip for these Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

Place chocolate chips on top. I like to place a few chocolate chips on top of the balls of dough so they look the best.

Use a large cookie cutter. This is called ‘scooting’. I like to do this to shape my cookies into perfect circles. It’s totally optional.

Brown butter chocolate chip cookies on a platter.

Tips for the Best Cookie Results

Weigh your flour – For quick breads (like my Easy Banana Nut Bread), weighing flour isn’t that necessary but I find with cookies it’s critical to get the perfect consistency.

Use light colored baking sheets – My favorite are from NordicWare. I own a few of them and they’re amazing. Dark colored baking sheets will result in darker bottomed cookies that are burnt or overbaked.

Recipe FAQs

What does brown butter do for chocolate chip cookies?

Browning the butter gives these chocolate chip cookies a nutty quality to them that isn’t all that distinguishable. It adds a depth of flavor and caramel notes that is hard to pin point. You don’t eat these and think to yourself, “Oh this is brown butter!” Their flavor is more subtle. That caramel-like flavor that lives in these cookies goes SO well with sea salt. Yum.

Should I use light or dark brown sugar?

I always use light brown sugar. The subtle molasses flavor makes for a more balanced cookie. I actually ONLY buy light brown sugar vs. dark brown sugar. Because I personally enjoy the flavor a bit more. Feel free to use either. If you use dark brown sugar, your cookies will turn out a little browner in color.

Can I leave the walnuts out of this recipe?

Absolutely.

To Freeze this Cookie Dough

I have a whole post on How to Freeze Cookie Dough. But quickly, here’s how:

  1. I like to scoop out the doughs of cookie dough and place them on a plate or baking sheet (whatever fits in your freezer).
  2. Place them in the freezer for 30 minutes. This is known as flash freezing them.
  3. Then add the to a freezer-safe bag. Bake them straight from the freezer; you’ll most likely need a few minutes longer.
Brown butter chocolate chip cookie on a plate.

More Cookies to Make and Eat

If you tried this Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies Recipe or any other recipe on my website, please leave a 🌟 star rating and let me know how it went in the 📝 comments below. Thanks for visiting!

4.87 from 29 votes

Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

Prep: 15 minutes
Cook: 30 minutes
Chilling Time for Dough: 1 hour
Total: 1 hour 45 minutes
Servings: 2 dozen
Brown butter chocolate chip cookies are so gooey and nutty in flavor. They're made better with walnuts; if you disslike walnuts in your chocolate chip cookies, leave them out!

Ingredients 

  • 3 (360g) cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1 cup unsalted butter, (we're going to melt it so it can be straight from the fridge)
  • 2 teaspoons water
  • 1 1/2 cups brown sugar
  • 1/2 cup white sugar
  • 2 large whole eggs
  • 1 large egg yolk
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract or vanilla paste
  • 3 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped (from a bar)
  • 6 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips
  • 1/3 cup finely chopped walnuts

Instructions 

  • In a large bowl, mix together flour, baking soda and salt. 
  • In medium saucepan, set over medium-low heat, melt the butter. Take out a silicon whisk and give the butter a stir. It will begin to foam up and bubble. Stirring frequently, allow it to keep going until it goes from a pale yellow color to a light brown color. Once it hits a light brown color, I like to give it a few more stirs just so I can monitor the color. This process happens quickly so don’t walk away! Keep stirring it until it goes from a light brown color to deep golden brown. Remove it from the heat and give it a few more stirs.
  • I like to let it continue to cook until it’s dark brown. Immediately pour it into a large bowl. Whisk in the two teaspoons of water. Allow the brown butter to cool for about 10 minutes. (If you don’t do this, when you add the chocolate, it’ll melt.) 
  • Next, whisk in the sugars. And then, add the eggs and vanilla. Pour into the dry ingredients and mix until combined. Lastly, fold in chocolate chips and walnuts (if using). Stick in fridge for 1 hour to chill.  
  • Preheat oven to 350F. Scoop out 2-ounce balls of dough and roll them between your palms; place them onto a parchment-lined baking sheet spacing them 4 inches apart.
  • Bake for 8 minutes. At the 8-minute mark, remove them from the oven to shape them (this is optional). Rotate the pan and bake for an additional 3 to 4 minutes, until the edges are lightly golden brown.

Notes

To Make Ahead:
  • The cookie dough can be made, scooped out into dough balls and kept in the fridge for up to 3 days. Bake them straight from the fridge. 
  • Some people’s cookies have come out a bit domed and not as flat as pictured. The biggest trick is be sure to weight your flour. With cakes and other baked goods, a bit more flour won’t alter the state of the appearance but with cookies it’s really important to weigh out the flour. 
To Freeze Cookie Dough: 
I have this post right here that explains how to do so! 
Equipment and Tools:
OXO Medium Cookie Scoop | Baking Sheets | KitchenAid Stand-Up Mixer | Silicon Spatulas

Nutrition

Calories: 124kcal | Carbohydrates: 2g | Protein: 3g | Fat: 3g | Saturated Fat: 4g | Cholesterol: 32mg | Sodium: 21mg | Potassium: 23mg | Fiber: 5g | Sugar: 21g | Vitamin A: 5IU | Calcium: 32mg | Iron: 1mg

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

Additional Info

Course: Dessert
Cuisine: American
Like this Recipe? Please Rate & comment below!

*The original post is from 2019; this recipe has been updated and new photos have been taken. I can guarantee this recipe is SO much better. For clarity, the leavening has been adjusted, new chocolates are being used. But that’s it!

Cozy Latin-Inspired Comfort Food Recipes

Hi! I'm Adrianna and this is my cozy space on the internet that is super-charged by butter, flour and copious amounts of pasta. Stay awhile, will you!

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44 Comments

  1. 5 stars
    They turned out sooo good! Thankyou for sharing this recipe . It was my first time trying out cookies and safe to say they were ahhh-mazing! My family devoured them in a day.

  2. 5 stars
    Perfect chocolate chip cookie recipe. It is so easy!! The recipe didn’t mention this, but I pack my brown sugar (300g total for the recipe) and they turn out perfect. I also use a 3oz scoop because I like a bigger cookie, flatten the top a little so it is shaped like a puck, then chill. I feel like some people are not into nuts, but you chop them finely so they just add to the texture. I love this recipe so much.

  3. 5 stars
    I absolutely love these cookies but I have noticed they get hard after a few days even if in an airtight container.

  4. 5 stars
    Hands down my favorite cookie recipe. Couldn’t find chocolate chunks anywhere so I just got milk and dark chocolate bars and cut them up but man oh man did it still worked. Topped them with a bit of flaky salt right out of the oven and they are out of this world good. As my fiancé described it, this recipe is “generational” and should be passed on from generation to generation. So glad your page showed up on my Instagram discover page!

  5. 3 stars
    Made these today! They came out flat as a pancake ☹️.
    Tasted great, but not the prettiest cookie I’ve made.
    Any tips??

    1. they sounded like they needed to chill a bit more in the fridge. I would just chill the dough a bit longer. The other thing could be that there wasn’t enough flour. Are you sure you measured that correctly? To ensure the most accurate results, I would weigh the flour next time.