Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
These Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies are your classic chocolate chip cookie with a nutty browned butter flavor and little specs of sea salt throughout. These will quickly become a tried and true recipe for you.
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BROWNED BUTTER CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES
Now I know I have several chocolate chip recipes on my site but these have browned butter and sea salt!
These cookeis are from Shelly from Cookies and Cups in her new Cookies & Cups Cookbook.
She asked me to share my favorite recipe. I was flipping through her book I bookmarked so many recipes and I finally decided if you’re gonna pick a recipe from a girl who has the name Cookies and Cups you should probably make her cookies. So I did. And let me tell you – I had a hard time not eating all the dough.
Browned butter – stop it. Chocolate chips – yes ma’am. The brown butter gives them a slightly nutty flavor.
HOW TO BROWN BUTTER
In a medium saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat, then bring to a boil. Once it starts boiling, swirl the pan constantly using a rubber spatula until the butter passes the foamy phase and becomes a deep amber color with brown bits on the bottom of the pan. There should be a nutty aroma. Remove from the heat, pour into a separate bowl (this allows the butter to stop cooking) and allow the butter to cool for 20 minutes.
- FACT: When butter is melted and then simmered, it gradually separates into two parts and the milk solids drop to the bottom of the pan and turn a brown color. The result is a unique flavor flavor of the butter and crispy edges
- TIP: The browning process is delicate. Do not walk away!
Sea salt – have you guys had cookies with sea salt in them?
The little crystals hide throughout the cookie and give you an unexpected hint of saltiness which compliments the sweetness so much.
HOW TO MAKE THESE
- In a medium saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat, then bring to a boil. Once it starts boiling, swirl the pan constantly until the butter passes the foamy phase and becomes a deep amber color. Remove from the heat, pour into a separate bowl (this allows the butter to stop cooking) and allow the butter to cool for 20 minutes.
- While the butter is cooling, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and sea salt. Set aside.
- Add the brown sugar, granulated sugar, eggs, and vanilla to the cooled butter and stir to combine. Pour this mixture into the bowl with the dry ingredients. Stir using a wooden spoon or mixer until the dough comes together and the ingredients are evenly incorporated. Stir in the chocolate chips.
- Using a medium (2-tablespoon) cookie scoop, drop the dough 2 inches apart on the baking sheet. I always add extra chocolate chips on top for that bakery look. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, until edges are lightly golden brown (or 8-9 minutes for extra gooey).
- Allow the cookies to cool for 5 minutes on the baking sheet, then transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely. If desired, sprinkle a small amount of flaked sea salt on top of the cookies as they are cooling. Store cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days.
FREEZING COOKIE DOUGH
I scoop my cookie dough into balls and freeze it on a cookie sheet.
After the cookie dough balls are frozen you can put them in a freezer bag. To bake the balls of dough, just add 2-3 minutes to the bake time.
OTHER CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIE RECIPES
- My Big, Fat, Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookie
- Soft Chocolate Chip Cookies
- S’mores Cookies
- Oatmeal Raisin Cookie
- Chewy Coconut Lime Cookies
- Monster Cookies
- No-Bake Cookies
Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup unsalted butter, (2 sticks)
- 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon coarse sea salt
- 1 cup packed light brown sugar
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs, whisked
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
- flaked sea salt, for sprinkling
Equipment
Instructions
- In a medium saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat, then bring to a boil. Once it starts boiling, swirl the pan constantly until the butter passes the foamy phase and becomes a deep amber color. Remove from the heat, pour into a separate bowl (this allows the butter to stop cooking) and allow the butter to cool for 20 minutes.
- While the butter is cooling, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and sea salt. Set aside.
- Add the brown sugar, granulated sugar, eggs, and vanilla to the cooled butter and stir to combine. Pour this mixture into the bowl with the flour mixture. Stir using a wooden spoon until the dough comes together and the ingredients are evenly incorporated. Stir in the chocolate chips.
- Using a medium (2-tablespoon) cookie scoop, drop the dough 2 inches apart on the baking sheet. I always add extra chocolate chips on top for that bakery look. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, until edges are lightly golden (or 8-9 minutes for extra gooey).
- Allow the cookies to cool for 5 minutes on the baking sheet, then transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely. If desired, sprinkle a small amount of flaked sea salt on top of the cookies as they are cooling.
- Store airtight at room temperature for up to 3 days.
Notes
FREEZING COOKIE DOUGH
I scoop my cookie dough into balls and freeze it on a cookie sheet. After the balls are frozen you can put them in a freezer bag. To bake, just add 2-3 minutes to the bake time. Source: From the Cookies & Cups Cookbook with permission from Shelly the author.
Hi!
What size pan would you recommend to turn this recipe into bars?
I haven’t tried it! I would guess a 9×13
Delicious. Best chocolate chip recipe. Never fails.
Thank you!
Absolutely love the brown butter chocolate chip cookies
Had no chips so I used the best Lindt chunks I had absolutely Devine
The best
And I’ve made many many chocolate chip cookies over the years
This one is a definite keeper
Thank you so much for sharing !!
Cheers
Thank you!
Made them last night 01/16/24 and they were really good! Super easy to make. I had all the ingredients in my pantry. Leftover from the holiday season bakings. The brown butter was a blessing. Lol. The cookies themselves weren’t very sweet which i loved. The dough was a little dry but when baked it was great. The only thing i did was bake it 2 minutes more after the first batch. Personal preference as i prefer a crispier cookie. But seriously, 10/10
thank you!
Cookies are good but 30 my a** try 20 with the recommended 2 tbsp scoop
Amazing. My friends and family always ask me to bring these to parties
I’ve been making these cookies for at least 5 years! They are my go to comfort cookie and everyone that I have gave one too is obsessed! I love to use mini chocolate chips and make small cookies as well!
Thank you!
I love this recipe, it’s definitely my go to! I’ve never had any issues with it. I do have a question or rather a request for a tip: is there a best way to bake these to make a cookie bar in a 9×13? I want to use it for slutty (sorry) brownies. Thanks!
I haven’t tried it but You should be able to just press it in the pan.
I salvaged the cookies, but without putting the dough in the fridge, they spread way too much, and I had to remold them after they came out of the oven. How is everyone making these without chilling the dough?
Maybe you didn’t let the butter cook enough?
*cool
This is my go-to cookie recipe now. These are incredible! We sprinkle the salt on the cookie before baking and that’s the only change. Sooooo good!!!
Yum! Glad you liked it!
I gave this recipe a three star rating because the dough was a little dry and crumbly. This was probably due to the water loss from browning the butter. It was difficult to mold a scoop full onto the baking sheet. That being said, the final product was a little crumbly but not dry. The taste was INCREDIBLE! The brown butter and the salt was in perfect balance with the sweetness of the sugar, the woodiness of the molasses in the brown sugar, and the creaminess of the chocolate chips. I shared the cookies with friends and coworkers who all demanded a copy of the recipe because of the incredible and unique taste of these cookies. I would be interested in tips for how to compensate for the lost moisture in the brown butter. I want these to be my go-to recipe for chocolate chip cookies. I just feel it needs the slightest tweak. Thank you for sharing this delicious recipe.
Mine were plenty moist. I don’t know how to compensatebesides adding more butter?
It may help but I know where I went wrong when I make the recipe a second time
All the best
In my first reply to Antoinette I I have no idea how my reply was so that I don’t even understand what it means lmao
What I meant to say to all readers and to Antoinette as well is
Occasionally, the first time dosent always turn out and it’s worth a try to repeat the recipe a second time and when they turn out exactly the way you wanted , then you’ll know where you made your mistake the first time
That is all I meant to write
I have been making these for years now and I’ve definitely had this happen to me before – I just melted a little bit more butter at a time in the microwave and mixed it with milk to thin it out so they weren’t too over loaded with butter but can retain some moisture.
P.S Since this has happened to me I now pour my browned butter back into a glass measuring cup to make sure that my measurements are always equal. I highly recommend you try this recipe again – its truly a keeper. Hope this helps!
It sounds like you had too much flour – maybe try sifting it and then carefully scooping it into the measuring cup to avoid packing it densely.
I love this recipe. I use 3/4 dark chocolate chunks and 1/4 mini semi sweet chocolate chips. They are beyond amazing!
Ooh sounds delicious!
This is my go to fail PROOF recipe. I’ve done different variations with the dough – used all brown sugar, cut down on the salt (and a little sugar) and then placed it in a cast iron with Nutella stuffed in between two layers of dough to make a giant Nutella cookie. Baked to perfection. Soooo goey 😍
Ooh sounds delcious!
Absolutely delicious. These cookies literally came out looking like they’re machine made!! Will continue to use this recipe. Brown butter is the way to go.
These are so good!
This recipe is amazing! I made these cookies for my family one night and loved them, they asked for these cookies for the next three days. Needless to say these cookies are delicious if I could eat them everyday I would!!!
So glad you liked them like I do.
These have been my go-to cookies since discovering this recipe mid-pandemic. I love them in their original recipe form, but I’ve also experimented with different mix-ins. My favorite is a cup of chocolate chips and a cup of praline pecans; they’re also great with white chocolate chips instead, like an elevated version of those Subway cookies I loved as a kid. I’ve also made them with no chocolate all, mixing in two cups of a blend of dried cranberries, praline pecans, & crispy pepitas. I call that version “Thanksgiving cookies.” So good!
I love all of the versions!
Instead of 2 cups of semi-sweet I only did one cup. I did that so I could add a cup of toasted slivered almonds and unsweetened coconut. These are my new favorite cookies!
So happy you liked it!
Easy and so yummy! We tried both a mounded scoop and a slightly flattened scoop. This recipe is versatile enough for both soft and crisp cookie fans depending on the cooking time and scoop method. I also chilled a batch for a few and they turned out perfect so I think this would work well to keep dough in the freezer if you wanted to make them ahead.
Kid and adult approved and my new go-to!
So happy you liked it!
This is the BEST chocolate chip cookie I have ever had in my life.. Oh my gosh. I just told my family to leave me alone so I could really focus on eating my cookie by myself. The brown butter imparts a caramel flavor that is SO GOOD.
Note: while making these cookies my daughter burnt her hand when she dropped a ceramic bowl of hot browned butter. It splashed on her computer screen which will need to be replaced. Since her hand is fine, I’m happy to report that the deliciousness of these cookies will make paying for the new screen a little less painful.
Oh man. I’m so sorry to hear that your daughter got hurt.
I added a generous Tablespoon of plain yoghurt with the teaspoon of soda. Before placing the dollop of dough onto the cookie sheet, I broke it in half and placed them mushed together so tue tops have more texture. Great recipe! Thank you. The browned butter is more distinctive in this recipe.
Great tip!
I almost made this with half the butter called for. Some butter comes in 1/4 cup sticks, not 1/2.
Also very important to flatten the cookie. I made them round just like the recipe called for, and they turned out more like a fluffy cookie than the photo. Next round I smushed and they turned out better, but still way more fluffy than I expected. Not really sure what happened since I followed the recipe exactly…
Do yourself a favor and make these ASAP!
I cooked the first batch at 350 and the second batch at 375 degrees. The second batch was the winner especially if you love crispy cookies.
Made another batch but substituted 1/2 of chocolate chips for heath toffee bits. These were superb!
Thanks for this recipe!
So glad you liked them.
The best chocolate chip cookies ever!
Thank you!
A great cookie!! One of my favorite recipes! But, the only issue was the bake time:( I ended up baking them for 11 minutes at 350 degrees. And that seemed to work well. They weren’t hard and they weren’t undercooked. We tried baking them at 8,9, and 10 minutes and they were still undercooked. I’m not sure if that happened to anyone else. I hope this helps! And thanks for the amazing recipe !!!:)
Ovens can vary by 50 degrees so it’s always good to go by how they look and the doneness in your oven.
These were easy to make and so delicious! The saltiness of the brown butter and the sea salt on top combined with the sweetness of the chocolate chips is to die for. My new go-to chocolate chip cookie recipe!
I love this one too!
My husband loved these! My first time browning butter and I won’t go back to the original! I halved the recipe exactly and it was perfect. I added roasted pecans as well like some others suggested.
One of my favorites too!
these were DELICIOUS. I do have to say, it always takes me longer to make brown butter than people claim (more like 10 min than 5), but even if I messed it up, that cookies came out delicious! I like salty and thought they were salty enough without the finishing sprinkle on top. I also might add nuts next time. But this recipe is a keeper for sure.
Glad you liked them!
Cookies were delish!! I went with a combo of pecans, chocolate chips, and chocolate caramel clusters (new tollhouse item, check it out) and added a touch of cinnamon and they are the perfect Fall cookie!! Very easy to make, too. Thanks!
Thank you!
These are wonderful!!!
We like nuts so I added 2 cups walnut halves.
But the recipe as is, is fantastic!!!
(Like the idea from another reviewer of adding caramel clusters)
No matter what, make this recipe!!!!