Chewy, gooey, and crunchy Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies are loaded with flavor and will surely become your new favorite cookie recipe! No mixer required. Download my FREE Cookie Customization Guide here.
Yield:
25 large cookies
Prep Time:15minutes
Cook:35minutes
Tessa's Recipe Rundown...
Taste: Ridiculously flavorful. I love when desserts have a beautiful depth of flavor instead of just being sweet. Texture: Incredibly chewy and gooey in the middle, crunchy at the edges. Absolute perfection. Ease: Browning the butter is an extra step but I find the process fun and adds so much flavor. Other than that this recipe is simple! Appearance: Gorgeous, just like cookies from that new local bakery. Pros: Amazing cookie recipe. Cons: None! Would I make this again? Absolutely yes.
Somehow, I never tire of cookies. No matter how many hundreds, maybe even thousands, of batches I’ve made in my life I still crave them regularly. That’s why I’m always experimenting and tweaking cookie recipes in the kitchen, especially chocolate chip cookies. Sometimes all I want is an ultra rich, gooey, and chewy chocolate chunk recipe.
These Brown Butter Chocolate Chunk Cookies are absolute perfection because they are loaded with that rich and nutty brown butter, salty-sweet, butterscotch, and pure chocolate flavors. Chocolate chunk cookies can easily become too ooey and gooey (too much of a good thing exists!) so I made sure these were the perfect balance of gooey, chewy, and crunchy.
I’ve included tons of tips below so your cookies turn out perfectly! Best of all? These cookies require no electric mixer required.
How to Make Perfect Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
Browning the butter
Follow the directions closely for browning the butter. It’s super simple, just be sure not to walk away from it. It quickly goes from browned to burnt.
Do you have to use bread flour?
The bread flour in this recipe helps make the cookies ultra chewy and thick. It’s my go-to trick for incredible cookies so I always have some on hand. If you don’t have any feel free to use only all-purpose flour, though your cookies might lose some chewiness.
Sugar
A high ratio of dark brown sugar makes these cookies moist, chewy, and rich in flavor. I love it. Again if you don’t have any on hand, you can use light brown sugar but your cookies will lose a little bit of awesomeness.
Chocolate
This recipe calls for both regular semisweet chocolate chips as well as chocolate baking wafers. I used the Guittard brand of semisweet chocolate wafers. You can also find these specifically at Whole Foods, Williams Sonoma, or Sur la Table. You could also use the Valrhona brand of wafers (they call theirs “chocolate feves”). They don’t hold their shape like chocolate chips do. Instead they turn into little chocolate puddles that are a delight to bite into. If you can’t find them feel free to use 2 cups of semisweet chocolate chips instead.
Sea Salt
This is optional, but you can add a sprinkling of flaky finishing sea salt to the cookies right after pulling them out of the oven.
The best baking tips…
I always use a kitchen scale to weigh my ingredients, especially flour, and an oven thermometer to ensure baking accuracy. Incorrectly measured flour can lead to cookies that are tough, crumbly, dry, too thick, or just blah. Most ovens run a little hot or cold, so checking the temperature with an oven thermometer ensures the best cookies possible.
Chilling the Dough
It might be a little annoying to see that I call for chilling the dough for a minimum of 24 hours in this recipe. But believe me, it makes a big difference here. Both the taste and texture improve during this time. Think of it as a marinating time where everything just gets better and better!!
Size
I’ve found these are best made as big cookies, using a 3-Tablespoon large cookie scoop. This provides the perfect texture: crisp at the edges, slightly gooey in the center, and chewy throughout. If you want to make smaller cookies, use a 1.5-Tablespoon cookie scoop and reduce the baking time to about 10 minutes.
Why Use a Cookie Scoop?
Using a stainless steel spring-loaded cookie scoop when portioning out cookie dough is one of the KEYS to beautiful, uniform, evenly-shaped and evenly-baked cookies. My cookie scoop is one of my most frequently used kitchen gadgets. A spring-loaded scoop saves you *so much time* in forming the balls of dough. When using a scoop, you ensure each ball is evenly sized so the cookies bake evenly, meaning you don’t have any small overbaked cookies or large underbaked cookies. Learn more about Cookie Scoops and how to use them here!
Handle the Heat now has our very own Perfect Cookie Kit, containing three spring-loaded stainless steel cookie scoops, two spatulas, 6-piece stainless-steel, round nested cookie cutter set with silicone rim, and more! Learn more here.
Make Ahead
You can make the dough ahead of time and refrigerate it for up to 3 days. I like to scoop balls of dough onto a small baking sheet and freeze them until solid. Then I transfer the frozen balls to a ziptop bag and store in the freezer. Let the balls come to room temperature before baking. This way I can bake off small batches of fresh cookies whenever I feel like it! Check out my full post on how to freeze cookie dough and bake from frozen here.
Chewy, gooey, and crunchy Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies are loaded with flavor and will surely become your new favorite cookie recipe! No mixer required. Download my FREE Cookie Customization Guide here.
Ingredients
2sticks (227 grams) unsalted butter
1/2(100 grams) cup granulated sugar
1 1/4cups(250 grams) lightly packed dark brown sugar
1 1/2cups(190 grams) all-purpose flour
1cup(127 grams) bread flour
1/4teaspoonbaking powder
1teaspoonbaking soda
1teaspoonfine sea salt
2large eggs plus 1 egg yolk, at room temperature
2teaspoonsvanilla
1 1/2cups(255 grams) semisweet chocolate chips
1cup(140 grams) semisweet chocolate baking wafers (from Guittard or Valrhona)
Directions
In a small saucepan set over medium heat, melt the butter. Swirling the pan occasionally, continue to cook the butter. It should become foamy with audible cracking and popping noises. Once the crackling stops continue to swirl the pan until the butter develops a nutty aroma and brown bits start to form at the bottom. Once the bits are amber in color, about 2 to 3 minutes after the popping stops, remove from heat and pour into a mixing bowl. Add in the sugars, stir, then set aside to cool completely.
In a medium bowl combine the flours, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.
To the browned butter mixture, add the eggs, egg yolk, and vanilla and stir with a rubber spatula until combined. Slowly stir in the flour mixture until just combined. Stir in the chocolate chips and wafers.
Wrap dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 24 hours but no more than 72 hours. Let dough sit at room temperature just until it is soft enough to scoop.
Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 350ºF. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
Divide the dough into 3-tablespoon sized balls and drop onto prepared baking sheets, leaving about 3 inches between each piece of dough to spread.
Bake for 11 to 13 minutes, or until golden brown. Let cool for 2 minutes before removing to wire racks to cool completely.
Recipe Video
Course :
Dessert
Cuisine :
American
September Baking Challenge
This recipe was the September 2020 selection for our monthly baking challenge. Every month you can join a challenge by baking the recipe and snapping a photo for a chance to win prizes! Full challenge details here. Check out everyone’s cookies:
This post was originally published in 2015 and recently updated with recipe improvements and new photos. Photos by Ashley McLaughlin.
I share trusted baking recipes your friends will LOVE alongside insights into the science of sweets. I'm a professionally trained chef, cookbook author, and cookie queen. I love to write about all things sweet, carb-y, and homemade. I live in Phoenix, Arizona (hence the blog name!)
About Tessa...
I share trusted baking recipes your friends will LOVE alongside insights into the science of sweets. I'm a professionally trained chef, cookbook author, and cookie queen. I love to write about all things sweet, carb-y, and homemade. I live in Phoenix, Arizona (hence the blog name!)
I love this cookie recipe! I’ve made it several times and I never stop talking about it. However I do find they come out a little greasy, am I able to reduce the butter to make them less greasy?
Kiersten @ Handle the Heat
— November 18, 2022 at 2:51 pm
Hi Jasmeaux! Hmm, these cookies shouldn’t be greasy. What kind of butter are you using? Butters with a high butterfat content (such as European style butters) can leave a slight greasy feel in some cookie recipes. Do you chill the dough for a few days, or at least 24 hours, before baking? Chilling for this extended period of time can help immeasurably with greasiness, as the flour has time to absorb more of the moisture, therefore making the cookie less greasy. You can read more about this here! Lastly, if you aren’t already, I recommend using a bleached flour for cookies. Bleached flour better absorbs moisture, compared to unbleached flour, which could also help combat this greasiness. Hopefully something here helped – and if not, feel free to reach back out so we can further troubleshoot together 🙂
Kiersten @ Handle the Heat
— November 16, 2022 at 12:57 pm
Hi Abeer! Unfortunately, these cookies need to sit in the fridge for 24 hours before baking, and freezing just can’t work the same magic! Find out more about why here!
Kiersten @ Handle the Heat
— November 14, 2022 at 12:40 pm
Hi Martina! I’m sorry to hear that you didn’t enjoy these cookies. How do you measure your ingredients? By volume (using cups), or by weight (using a digital kitchen scale)? When measuring by volume, it’s so easy to mis-measure flour/sugar/etc and throw off the entire chemistry of a recipe – and end up with a baked good with the wrong consistency, too flat, or too sweet. Tessa talks about how to best measure ingredients to ensure accuracy every time, in this article here! I would also recommend using a darker or bittersweet chocolate in these, to balance the sweetness more, if you are sensitive to sweetness. I hope you give these cookies a try another time – they really are delicious! Happy baking 🙂
Hello! If I wanted to make a double batch of these, would you recommend making 2 separate batches or can I double it at the same time/in the same bowl? Can’t wait to try these, thank you!
Hi Nicole! You could definitely double it, just use a large bowl to mix everything in and also keep in mind that your butter may take a bit longer to brown due to the increased quantity. I’d suggest to divide the dough in half before chilling as it will make the time coming back to room temperature to scoop your dough much quicker! Let us know what you think of this recipe when you give it a try 🙂
This looks lovely! I’m loving what feels like a recent trend towards “brown butter” style cookies that eliminate the need for creaming/mixers.
I might suggest that it could be much easier to scoop the cookies before they go in the fridge for a few days (rather than after) because the dough is softer then.
Keep up the awesome recipes !!
That’s a great option 🙂 Just make sure that your cookie scoops are in an airtight container so they don’t dry out! I hope you give our recipe a try, let us know if you do! 🙂
I have made this recipe many times and it’s simply the best chocolate chip cookie I’ve ever had!! I bake a lot of bread and only had bread flour in hand when I found this recipe. Serendipity!! Thank you for sharing it with the world. I now use brown butter in so many other recipes. It’s a game changer! Kerry Gold butter just got an upgrade. 🙂
Kiersten @ Handle the Heat
— September 30, 2022 at 9:16 am
Hi April! We really recommend sticking with the original quantity of sugar in any recipe, for many reasons. Sugar doesn’t just sweeten baked goods; it moistens, provides tender structure, assists with gluten formation, extends the shelf-life (meaning it will be fresh and moist longer), and assists in creating a taller and lighter finished product – just to name a few things! Reducing the sugar content in a recipe doesn’t just lower the level of sweetness; it messes with the recipe’s chemistry and creates a totally different baked good. If you wish to reduce the sugar, we recommend making the recipe as written once, and then slowly reducing from there, to a point where you are pleased with the results; but making it first as-written is key, so you have something to compare it to! Happy baking!
This is by far our favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe and brown butter recipe! Sooo sooo good! I will say, each time I make it though, they come out slightly different each time, my favorite version was when my dough appeared a bit more crumbly, not worrisome, just not as greasy looking (and I always weigh my ingredients). They seemed to spread less, but still chewy and gooey once baked!
My question is, would waiting for the brown butter and sugar mixture to cool completely/begin to solidify before mixing in egg result in that crumbly texture of dough?! I can’t figure it out 😉
Kiersten @ Handle the Heat
— September 22, 2022 at 9:06 am
Hi Jess! I’m so glad to hear that you love these cookies! So strange that your cookies are different each time!! Have you used any different ingredients between batches? Or even different egg sizes? Seemingly slight variances can have a huge impact on a cookie’s outcome – particularly egg size, flour type (even brands of flours, too), and type of butter (store brand vs quality butter vs European butter). It could also be how much you are browning your butter each time. The browner the butter gets, the more water is evaporated, so the batches you’re finding are crumblier may have had the butter browned longer/more because they therefore contain less moisture. The cooling time can have some effect on the outcome, but I wouldn’t expect it to have as much of a variance as the other things I listed here! I hope this helps! Happy baking 🙂
I made these and they spread soooo thin in the oven. I followed the recipe exactly and actually made a quadruple batch of dough to freeze so I really hate to lose all those ingredients. Could I still salvage the dough? It’s chilling in the fridge now as I made it this morning. Could I still add more flour or something else to make them spread less or do I have to scrap it?
Kiersten @ Handle the Heat
— September 7, 2022 at 9:59 am
Hi Avie! Oh no, I’m so sorry to hear that these cookies didn’t turn out as you had hoped! Although it’s hard to say exactly what may have happened here without having backed alongside you, I do have a few thoughts here. Firstly, did you refrigerate the dough for at least 24 hours before baking the first batch? Here at Handle the Heat, we advise you chill pretty much all cookie doughs for 24 – 72 hours to maximize the flavor! Think of it like marinating meats, but for cookies! All that depth of flavor happens while the dough rests. It’s especially important for browned butter or melted butter doughs, as it’s so important to give the dough a chance to set up properly in the fridge, before baking.
Hopefully something here helped and you can salvage the rest of your cookies!! Feel free to reach back out to us with any further questions – we are always happy to help!! 🙂
Kiersten @ Handle the Heat
— August 29, 2022 at 1:09 pm
Hi there! I’m sorry, maybe I’m not understanding your question? The chocolate on top of these should solidify once cooled, so you should be able to stack them to store for a couple of days!
Kiersten @ Handle the Heat
— July 14, 2022 at 9:02 am
Hi Marie! Yes, we do! Unfortunately our “watch video” button up the top is not working (we are working on reformatting our recipe posts, so hopefully it will work soon!), but if you scroll down just a little bit, the video is underneath the second photo, under the heading “Recipe Video”. Let us know what you think of this recipe when you make it!! Happy baking 🙂
I forgot the cooling step 🙁 I didn’t let the sugar and browned butter mixture cool all the way before adding the eggs and vanilla, but I did let that mixture cool in the fridge for about 15 minutes before combining it with the flour mixture.. did I ruin them? Should I not even bake them? lol
Kiersten @ Handle the Heat
— July 11, 2022 at 2:05 pm
Hi Britany! The reason we cool the sugar/brown butter mixture is just so we don’t cook our eggs when adding the hot butter! Too much heat introduced to the eggs cooks them, and you end up with gross, sweet scrambled eggs!! It’s been a few days now, so if you did not bake them yet, and did not freeze the dough, I would advise throwing out the dough now, as it’s probably been sitting in the fridge too long and may have spoiled at this point … but I hope you decided to roll the dice and bake them anyway! Hopefully you were pleasantly surprised with the results 🙂
Kiersten @ Handle the Heat
— June 15, 2022 at 8:03 am
Hi Srishtti! Unfortunately, we do not test our recipes with egg replacements or substitutes. Eggs bring so much structure, moisture, color, flavor, tenderization and more to baked goods, and we have not found anything that can replace the real thing. I know others have experimented and found something that works for them, so feel free to try out different things and see what works for you. Good luck! 🙂
Hi I was wondering what if I put my cookie dough in the fridge for more than 72 hours?
Because I’m thinking of making them and also freezing them in the freezer, would that be a problem?
Kiersten @ Handle the Heat
— June 13, 2022 at 9:27 am
Hi Marlenn! It depends how much longer your cookie dough was in the fridge! We generally advise that cookie dough only sits in the fridge for 24-72 hours because exceeding that window can dry out the cookie dough — but also, if it’s much past 72 hours, you run the risk of spoilage! If the dough was covered well, or in an airtight container, and it hasn’t been sitting much past 72 hours, you should be fine to bake some and freeze the rest. Smell them and make sure they smell good, and inspect them carefully. If you see any signs of mold, or if the edges have started to discolor and turn darker, throw them away! Good luck!
Any suggestions for a gluten free sub on the bread flour? I am thinking about trying tapioca starch, but I’m so excited about this recipe that I don’t want to mess it up!
Kiersten @ Handle the Heat
— May 23, 2022 at 8:47 am
Hi Jackie! I’m sorry, we don’t test gluten free substitutes for our recipes, but The Loopy Whisk (she has a website and is also in Instagram) is a great resource for GF recipes. I’d suggest checking her out/giving her a follow! Good luck 🙂
I love these cookies! The brown butter flavour is amazing. Question. Could I form the dough into balls right away and then chill the dough balls overnight before baking? Instead of chilling the full block of dough and then forming into balls? This would save me time when ready bake and I think it would work? Thought?
Kiersten @ Handle the Heat
— May 13, 2022 at 7:26 am
Hi Christy! Here at Handle the Heat, we prefer to chill the entire mass of dough. I know this makes scooping the balls of dough harder when it’s time to bake; however, by allowing all of the dough to chill together, you’re allowing the flavours to marinate more deeply. Also, smaller, pre-portioned balls of dough tend to dry out faster in the fridge. We recommend chilling in one big batch for 24-72 hours, and then allow the dough to sit at room temperature until it’s malleable enough to portion out (about an hour, depending on the temperature of your kitchen). I hope this helps!
Thank you, Kiersten @ Handle the Heat
I love this recipe. For anyone who struggled with scooping the chilled dough — I usually just chill it for about 15-20 minutes and then scoop the cookies onto a tray. Then I chill the dough balls for the full 24 hours before baking. That way no muscling through hard cookie dough later and they are all set for you when you’re ready to bake.
I’m gonna have the unpopular opinion, but I found these to be way too sweet and have too much chocolate. Waiting for a report back from my sugar loving friends, but so far they’ve been reviewed with “these are fine”. I’m looking for “OMG!!!”
I do like the no mixer aspect, as when I visit family they don’t have any mixers, so I will keep it in the back pocket for that reason alone. But will definitely cut back on the chocolate.
Kiersten @ Handle the Heat
— July 18, 2022 at 9:22 am
Hi Willow! I’m sorry to hear that these cookies were not as you had hoped! Just a thought: did you brown the butter until it was a fairly deep brown, and the bits on the bottom were amber? I find if the butter is browned until that deep brown stage, the nutty toffee, butterscotchy flavors are a nice offset to the sweetness. You could also try a darker, bittersweet chocolate chip/wafer, instead of the semi-sweet. You can also (of course) cut down on the chocolate, as you said, if you prefer! Please let us know if you would like to troubleshoot any further – we are always happy to help 🙂
Hi Gigi! With any HTH recipe that contains brown butter, you don’t need to weigh it after browning. We take the evaporated water content of the butter into account when writing the recipe. Can’t wait for you to try this, let us know what you think!
Hi! I can’t wait to try this recipe, but I have a question about the butter. When you brown the butter, it reduces the amount to less than original 227 grams that is listed. So should I just use what is left after browning the butter which is likely to be much less than 227 grams, or should it be 227 grams of melted brown butter that goes into the batter? Thanks in advance!
Hi Gigi! Yes, use what is left after browning the butter, you won’t need to make any adjustments to the amount 🙂 Let us know what you think when you give this recipe a try!
I have made thousands of cookies in my life, and probably a dozen different chocolate chip cookie recipes. This one sits as one of the better ones that I have tried (and my taste testers certainly enjoyed them, too!), but I don’t think I’ll be making this one again. I followed the recipe to the letter, including letting everything cool down before adding the dry ingredients, and leaving in the fridge for 24 hours. It was incredibly easy to mix with just a silicone spatula (this may be the first cookie recipe I didn’t use my stand mixer for!).
I use a kitchen scale for every recipe (been using one for almost five years now!), I buy good quality ingredients, and I know how to measure an oven temperature. None of that was the problem.
The problem with this recipe is that the cookie dough turns out like cement. It took me almost 15 minutes to scoop 30 cookies out of this recipe, and that’s after leaving the cookie dough on the counter for an hour to soften up! (I tried scooping after 30 minutes, but it was rock-solid still. One hour didn’t make a difference at all!) I bruised my wrist and gave myself welts on my hands trying to scoop this cookie dough. My husband didn’t have any more luck than I did.
I was worried that the terrible dough would mean terrible cookies, but to my surprise they turned out wonderful. Everyone loved them. I just don’t enjoy getting injured while baking. I love this recipe, but there are so many other chocolate chip cookie recipes out there that don’t involve bodily harm, so I most likely won’t be making this again.
Thanks for your feedback, Lauren! Cookie dough definitely hardens up quite a bit after refrigerating overnight due to the butter content, and the length of time it can take to soften up depends on the temperature of your kitchen. Feel free to place the dough in a warmer place in your home to help speed up the process, but I”m so glad that the flavor and texture of these cookies turned out great!
I have a half stick of butter I’d like to use. Would it be possible to scale this recipe to 1.5 sticks of butter instead of 2, or would you suggest I just buy another full stick?
Hi Shina! For best results, I wouldn’t suggest reducing the amount of butter. Decreasing by that much will affect the texture and flavor of your cookies. If you’re not able to use 2 sticks, I’d recommend halving the recipe instead and using only 1 stick. Or to include that additional half stick, you’d need to increase all of the ingredients by 1/4 amount (though that gets a little more complicated!). I hope that helps!
As a trained chef and cookbook author, I share trusted baking recipes your friends & family will love alongside insights into the science of sweets. I help take the luck out of baking so you *always* have delicious results! Learn more here.
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I love this cookie recipe! I’ve made it several times and I never stop talking about it. However I do find they come out a little greasy, am I able to reduce the butter to make them less greasy?
Hi Jasmeaux! Hmm, these cookies shouldn’t be greasy. What kind of butter are you using? Butters with a high butterfat content (such as European style butters) can leave a slight greasy feel in some cookie recipes. Do you chill the dough for a few days, or at least 24 hours, before baking? Chilling for this extended period of time can help immeasurably with greasiness, as the flour has time to absorb more of the moisture, therefore making the cookie less greasy. You can read more about this here! Lastly, if you aren’t already, I recommend using a bleached flour for cookies. Bleached flour better absorbs moisture, compared to unbleached flour, which could also help combat this greasiness. Hopefully something here helped – and if not, feel free to reach back out so we can further troubleshoot together 🙂
I made these. The dough is sticky and went so flat in the oven. I froze tow balls for 2 hours and then baked them.
Hi Abeer! Unfortunately, these cookies need to sit in the fridge for 24 hours before baking, and freezing just can’t work the same magic! Find out more about why here!
I find this recipe too sweet. My throat hurt from the sweetness. Made me sad because I spent good money on the ingredients. Sorry.
Hi Martina! I’m sorry to hear that you didn’t enjoy these cookies. How do you measure your ingredients? By volume (using cups), or by weight (using a digital kitchen scale)? When measuring by volume, it’s so easy to mis-measure flour/sugar/etc and throw off the entire chemistry of a recipe – and end up with a baked good with the wrong consistency, too flat, or too sweet. Tessa talks about how to best measure ingredients to ensure accuracy every time, in this article here! I would also recommend using a darker or bittersweet chocolate in these, to balance the sweetness more, if you are sensitive to sweetness. I hope you give these cookies a try another time – they really are delicious! Happy baking 🙂
very yummy
Hello! If I wanted to make a double batch of these, would you recommend making 2 separate batches or can I double it at the same time/in the same bowl? Can’t wait to try these, thank you!
Hi Nicole! You could definitely double it, just use a large bowl to mix everything in and also keep in mind that your butter may take a bit longer to brown due to the increased quantity. I’d suggest to divide the dough in half before chilling as it will make the time coming back to room temperature to scoop your dough much quicker! Let us know what you think of this recipe when you give it a try 🙂
This looks lovely! I’m loving what feels like a recent trend towards “brown butter” style cookies that eliminate the need for creaming/mixers.
I might suggest that it could be much easier to scoop the cookies before they go in the fridge for a few days (rather than after) because the dough is softer then.
Keep up the awesome recipes !!
That’s a great option 🙂 Just make sure that your cookie scoops are in an airtight container so they don’t dry out! I hope you give our recipe a try, let us know if you do! 🙂
I have made this recipe many times and it’s simply the best chocolate chip cookie I’ve ever had!! I bake a lot of bread and only had bread flour in hand when I found this recipe. Serendipity!! Thank you for sharing it with the world. I now use brown butter in so many other recipes. It’s a game changer! Kerry Gold butter just got an upgrade. 🙂
These are awesome but I can taste the salt I didn’t chill them I did a taste batch
Hi! Can I reduce sugar in this recipe? How much can I cut without ruining the integrity of the cookies? Thanks!
Hi April! We really recommend sticking with the original quantity of sugar in any recipe, for many reasons. Sugar doesn’t just sweeten baked goods; it moistens, provides tender structure, assists with gluten formation, extends the shelf-life (meaning it will be fresh and moist longer), and assists in creating a taller and lighter finished product – just to name a few things! Reducing the sugar content in a recipe doesn’t just lower the level of sweetness; it messes with the recipe’s chemistry and creates a totally different baked good. If you wish to reduce the sugar, we recommend making the recipe as written once, and then slowly reducing from there, to a point where you are pleased with the results; but making it first as-written is key, so you have something to compare it to! Happy baking!
Very Good Cookie…Resting the dough is the best..Went 6 days and they were amazing..
This is by far our favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe and brown butter recipe! Sooo sooo good! I will say, each time I make it though, they come out slightly different each time, my favorite version was when my dough appeared a bit more crumbly, not worrisome, just not as greasy looking (and I always weigh my ingredients). They seemed to spread less, but still chewy and gooey once baked!
My question is, would waiting for the brown butter and sugar mixture to cool completely/begin to solidify before mixing in egg result in that crumbly texture of dough?! I can’t figure it out 😉
Hi Jess! I’m so glad to hear that you love these cookies! So strange that your cookies are different each time!! Have you used any different ingredients between batches? Or even different egg sizes? Seemingly slight variances can have a huge impact on a cookie’s outcome – particularly egg size, flour type (even brands of flours, too), and type of butter (store brand vs quality butter vs European butter). It could also be how much you are browning your butter each time. The browner the butter gets, the more water is evaporated, so the batches you’re finding are crumblier may have had the butter browned longer/more because they therefore contain less moisture. The cooling time can have some effect on the outcome, but I wouldn’t expect it to have as much of a variance as the other things I listed here! I hope this helps! Happy baking 🙂
Literally the best chocolate chip cookie recipe I’ve ever found. Every time I make this recipe I get so many compliments.
I made these and they spread soooo thin in the oven. I followed the recipe exactly and actually made a quadruple batch of dough to freeze so I really hate to lose all those ingredients. Could I still salvage the dough? It’s chilling in the fridge now as I made it this morning. Could I still add more flour or something else to make them spread less or do I have to scrap it?
Hi Avie! Oh no, I’m so sorry to hear that these cookies didn’t turn out as you had hoped! Although it’s hard to say exactly what may have happened here without having backed alongside you, I do have a few thoughts here. Firstly, did you refrigerate the dough for at least 24 hours before baking the first batch? Here at Handle the Heat, we advise you chill pretty much all cookie doughs for 24 – 72 hours to maximize the flavor! Think of it like marinating meats, but for cookies! All that depth of flavor happens while the dough rests. It’s especially important for browned butter or melted butter doughs, as it’s so important to give the dough a chance to set up properly in the fridge, before baking.
Also, how do you measure your ingredients? By volume (using cups), or by weight (using a digital kitchen scale)? When measuring by volume, it’s so easy to mis-measure flour/sugar/etc and throw off the entire chemistry of a recipe. Tessa talks about how to best measure ingredients to ensure accuracy every time, in this article here!
What type of pan are you baking on? Different materials of pans conduct heat differently, so some are much better suited to cookie baking than others. Tessa shows the differences between a variety of baking pans in this article here!
I just want to mention your leavening agent. If your baking/soda powder are not fresh, they won’t do their jobs and your baked goods can not rise properly, s[read too much, fall after baking, and much more. Tessa talks about the science behind leavening agents, and how to test for leavener freshness, in this article here!
Hopefully something here helped and you can salvage the rest of your cookies!! Feel free to reach back out to us with any further questions – we are always happy to help!! 🙂
So good. They are very large and soft so how do you store them since you can’t stack them
Hi there! I’m sorry, maybe I’m not understanding your question? The chocolate on top of these should solidify once cooled, so you should be able to stack them to store for a couple of days!
Hi, do you have a recipe video for these brown butter chocolate chip cookies? Thanks
Hi Marie! Yes, we do! Unfortunately our “watch video” button up the top is not working (we are working on reformatting our recipe posts, so hopefully it will work soon!), but if you scroll down just a little bit, the video is underneath the second photo, under the heading “Recipe Video”. Let us know what you think of this recipe when you make it!! Happy baking 🙂
I forgot the cooling step 🙁 I didn’t let the sugar and browned butter mixture cool all the way before adding the eggs and vanilla, but I did let that mixture cool in the fridge for about 15 minutes before combining it with the flour mixture.. did I ruin them? Should I not even bake them? lol
Hi Britany! The reason we cool the sugar/brown butter mixture is just so we don’t cook our eggs when adding the hot butter! Too much heat introduced to the eggs cooks them, and you end up with gross, sweet scrambled eggs!! It’s been a few days now, so if you did not bake them yet, and did not freeze the dough, I would advise throwing out the dough now, as it’s probably been sitting in the fridge too long and may have spoiled at this point … but I hope you decided to roll the dice and bake them anyway! Hopefully you were pleasantly surprised with the results 🙂
Hi these look delicious!
Could you please help with a substitute for egg in this recipe? Thank you
Hi Srishtti! Unfortunately, we do not test our recipes with egg replacements or substitutes. Eggs bring so much structure, moisture, color, flavor, tenderization and more to baked goods, and we have not found anything that can replace the real thing. I know others have experimented and found something that works for them, so feel free to try out different things and see what works for you. Good luck! 🙂
Hi I was wondering what if I put my cookie dough in the fridge for more than 72 hours?
Because I’m thinking of making them and also freezing them in the freezer, would that be a problem?
Hi Marlenn! It depends how much longer your cookie dough was in the fridge! We generally advise that cookie dough only sits in the fridge for 24-72 hours because exceeding that window can dry out the cookie dough — but also, if it’s much past 72 hours, you run the risk of spoilage! If the dough was covered well, or in an airtight container, and it hasn’t been sitting much past 72 hours, you should be fine to bake some and freeze the rest. Smell them and make sure they smell good, and inspect them carefully. If you see any signs of mold, or if the edges have started to discolor and turn darker, throw them away! Good luck!
Any suggestions for a gluten free sub on the bread flour? I am thinking about trying tapioca starch, but I’m so excited about this recipe that I don’t want to mess it up!
Hi Jackie! I’m sorry, we don’t test gluten free substitutes for our recipes, but The Loopy Whisk (she has a website and is also in Instagram) is a great resource for GF recipes. I’d suggest checking her out/giving her a follow! Good luck 🙂
Is it ok to use convection oven to bake cookies?
Hi Cindy! Yes, absolutely! Just drop the temperature 25°F, and begin to check for doneness earlier, at least 2/3 or 3/4 of the way through the recommended baking time. If you like, you can read more about the differences between ovens here, in Tessa’s “Ovens 101” article!
I love these cookies! The brown butter flavour is amazing. Question. Could I form the dough into balls right away and then chill the dough balls overnight before baking? Instead of chilling the full block of dough and then forming into balls? This would save me time when ready bake and I think it would work? Thought?
Hi Christy! Here at Handle the Heat, we prefer to chill the entire mass of dough. I know this makes scooping the balls of dough harder when it’s time to bake; however, by allowing all of the dough to chill together, you’re allowing the flavours to marinate more deeply. Also, smaller, pre-portioned balls of dough tend to dry out faster in the fridge. We recommend chilling in one big batch for 24-72 hours, and then allow the dough to sit at room temperature until it’s malleable enough to portion out (about an hour, depending on the temperature of your kitchen). I hope this helps!
Thank you, Kiersten @ Handle the Heat
I love this recipe. For anyone who struggled with scooping the chilled dough — I usually just chill it for about 15-20 minutes and then scoop the cookies onto a tray. Then I chill the dough balls for the full 24 hours before baking. That way no muscling through hard cookie dough later and they are all set for you when you’re ready to bake.
Hi Beth. I’m glad you found a way that works well for you, and that you love this recipe! Thanks for the comment!
I’m gonna have the unpopular opinion, but I found these to be way too sweet and have too much chocolate. Waiting for a report back from my sugar loving friends, but so far they’ve been reviewed with “these are fine”. I’m looking for “OMG!!!”
I do like the no mixer aspect, as when I visit family they don’t have any mixers, so I will keep it in the back pocket for that reason alone. But will definitely cut back on the chocolate.
Hi Willow! I’m sorry to hear that these cookies were not as you had hoped! Just a thought: did you brown the butter until it was a fairly deep brown, and the bits on the bottom were amber? I find if the butter is browned until that deep brown stage, the nutty toffee, butterscotchy flavors are a nice offset to the sweetness. You could also try a darker, bittersweet chocolate chip/wafer, instead of the semi-sweet. You can also (of course) cut down on the chocolate, as you said, if you prefer! Please let us know if you would like to troubleshoot any further – we are always happy to help 🙂
How many grams should the brown butter weight once it’s melted? Thanks! Looks delicious
Hi Gigi! With any HTH recipe that contains brown butter, you don’t need to weigh it after browning. We take the evaporated water content of the butter into account when writing the recipe. Can’t wait for you to try this, let us know what you think!
Hi! I can’t wait to try this recipe, but I have a question about the butter. When you brown the butter, it reduces the amount to less than original 227 grams that is listed. So should I just use what is left after browning the butter which is likely to be much less than 227 grams, or should it be 227 grams of melted brown butter that goes into the batter? Thanks in advance!
Hi Gigi! Yes, use what is left after browning the butter, you won’t need to make any adjustments to the amount 🙂 Let us know what you think when you give this recipe a try!
Hii i wanna know is the bread flour compulsory.
Hi there! Please check out the pink tip box above the recipe for more details 🙂
I have made thousands of cookies in my life, and probably a dozen different chocolate chip cookie recipes. This one sits as one of the better ones that I have tried (and my taste testers certainly enjoyed them, too!), but I don’t think I’ll be making this one again. I followed the recipe to the letter, including letting everything cool down before adding the dry ingredients, and leaving in the fridge for 24 hours. It was incredibly easy to mix with just a silicone spatula (this may be the first cookie recipe I didn’t use my stand mixer for!).
I use a kitchen scale for every recipe (been using one for almost five years now!), I buy good quality ingredients, and I know how to measure an oven temperature. None of that was the problem.
The problem with this recipe is that the cookie dough turns out like cement. It took me almost 15 minutes to scoop 30 cookies out of this recipe, and that’s after leaving the cookie dough on the counter for an hour to soften up! (I tried scooping after 30 minutes, but it was rock-solid still. One hour didn’t make a difference at all!) I bruised my wrist and gave myself welts on my hands trying to scoop this cookie dough. My husband didn’t have any more luck than I did.
I was worried that the terrible dough would mean terrible cookies, but to my surprise they turned out wonderful. Everyone loved them. I just don’t enjoy getting injured while baking. I love this recipe, but there are so many other chocolate chip cookie recipes out there that don’t involve bodily harm, so I most likely won’t be making this again.
Thanks for your feedback, Lauren! Cookie dough definitely hardens up quite a bit after refrigerating overnight due to the butter content, and the length of time it can take to soften up depends on the temperature of your kitchen. Feel free to place the dough in a warmer place in your home to help speed up the process, but I”m so glad that the flavor and texture of these cookies turned out great!
Hi can I substitute blueberries in this recipe?
We haven’t tried that! Let us know how it goes if you do.
I have a half stick of butter I’d like to use. Would it be possible to scale this recipe to 1.5 sticks of butter instead of 2, or would you suggest I just buy another full stick?
Hi Shina! For best results, I wouldn’t suggest reducing the amount of butter. Decreasing by that much will affect the texture and flavor of your cookies. If you’re not able to use 2 sticks, I’d recommend halving the recipe instead and using only 1 stick. Or to include that additional half stick, you’d need to increase all of the ingredients by 1/4 amount (though that gets a little more complicated!). I hope that helps!