Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies (Printable)
Nutty brown butter elevates chocolate chip cookies to chewy centers and crisp, golden edges.
# What You'll Need:
→ Dairy & Eggs
01 - 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
02 - 2 large eggs
→ Sugars
03 - 1 cup packed brown sugar
04 - 1/2 cup granulated sugar
→ Dry Ingredients
05 - 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
06 - 1 teaspoon baking soda
07 - 1/2 teaspoon salt
→ Flavorings
08 - 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
→ Add-ins
09 - 1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
10 - Flaky sea salt, for sprinkling (optional)
# Steps:
01 - Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Continue cooking, stirring frequently, until the butter foams and turns golden brown with a nutty aroma, about 4 to 5 minutes. Immediately pour into a large mixing bowl and let cool for 10 minutes.
02 - Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
03 - Whisk the brown sugar and granulated sugar into the cooled brown butter. Add the eggs and vanilla extract, then beat until smooth.
04 - In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, and salt. Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet mixture, mixing until just combined.
05 - Fold the chocolate chips into the dough until evenly distributed.
06 - Scoop heaping tablespoons of dough onto the prepared baking sheets, spacing them 2 inches apart.
07 - Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, until the edges are golden brown but the centers are still soft.
08 - Remove from the oven and optionally sprinkle with flaky sea salt. Let cool on the baking sheets for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
# Expert Tips:
01 -
- Brown butter transforms a familiar cookie into something that tastes like it came from a boutique bakery, with zero extra effort beyond a few minutes of patient stirring at the stove.
- The contrast of textures, chewy middles and crunchy edges, makes it genuinely impossible to eat just one, and I have tested this theory on myself more times than I care to admit.
02 -
- Underbake them slightly and trust the carryover heat because cookies continue cooking on the hot pan after you pull them, and this is the single most important lesson I learned after years of overdone hockey pucks.
- Chilling the dough for just 30 minutes before baking deepens the flavor dramatically and helps the cookies hold their shape instead of spreading into thin wafers.
03 -
- Let the brown butter cool until it is no longer warm to the touch but still liquid, because hot butter will cook the eggs and create a greasy, separated dough that never bakes properly.
- Press a few extra chocolate chips into the top of each dough ball right before baking so every cookie looks beautiful and no one gets a cookie that looks like it was shortchanged on chocolate.