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!
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.
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! Learn more about my monthly baking challenges here. Check out everyone’s cookies:
This was a great CCC recipe! Loved the flavor and texture!
I love Tessa’s idea if adding brown butter to baked goods! This recipe and her brown butter blueberry muffins will be in my family’s regular rotation.
The recipe was fun to make because of some of the more unique steps and ingredients (using brown butter, baking melts in addition to chocolate chips, etc.) and the result was what was promised: gooey, chewy with a crispy edge. They are so delicious! The only downside i found was that they were so decadent that the large size of the cookie was almost too much. Don’t get me wrong – I definitely finished mine and part of another – but my husband and kids thought they were too rich to finish a whole cookie in one sitting. I’ll make these again using the smaller size variation Tessa mentions.
Chocolate chip cookies with regular butter will never be the same again with this recipe!
THE best brown butter chocolate chip cookie recipe I’ve tried. Flavorful and doesnt spread unlike other recipes before this.
I like that these cookies are thinner, but I also really like the chewiness of the Bakery Style Chocolate Chip Cookies. Either way, I’m liking this one! The technique of browning the butter is probably the hardest part. I think I under-did the last batch after burning some butter the first time I tried the recipe. Tessa has great tips on this that are really helpful though!
Love the brown butter addition! Soft and chocolaty! Perfect with a glass of milk.
These are next level delicious! I’ve been addicted to your Bakery Style Choco chip cookies, like make them every week addicted . I know that I can’t go wrong with one of your recipes- these cookies are just delicious, wouldn’t change a thing about these cookies. Although it was hard to wait the 24hrs for the dough to marinade!
These cookies are amazing!! Love that they are heavy on the chocolate chips. The only con was having to chill them for 24 hours, because sometimes you need cookies right now!!
The flavor that the brown butter gives to these cookies is just delicious.
Wow! I love this cookie recipe! I usually skimp on butter and sugar to make me feel better about eating all my desserts but this time, I just followed the recipe as is and they turned out bomb! Never have I made cookies this chewy and soft, I really felt like a true baker.
I needed a little patience waiting 24 hours to bake these, but it was worth it. I used chocolate chunks along with the chips. The chunks stay nice and melty. The brown butter gives a nice carmel/butterscotch undertone that adds a richness to these cookies. A winner for sure!
These cookies are absolutely beautiful (and of course delicious)! I couldn’t be happier!
Y’all. These cookies. They are everything. I have been searching for a special chocolate chip cookie recipe and I have finally found it! First off, browning butter should be way more normalized. The smell in my home is unreal!! These do require 24 hours to chill and patience is a virtue. Don’t skip the chilling part!! Baked half and have half in my freezer to bake fresh when I get cravings. Great job, Tessa!
AMAZING! I got to show my daughters how to brown butter and it was for a cookie! Usually I do it for dinner dishes like pasta and gnocchi. Fun change of pace!
An amazing recipe.. I really enjoyed doing it and the taste is amazing thaaaanks alot for sharing this with us
Loved these cookies! Browning the butter added a whole new flavor. They are definitely my new favorite chocolate chip cookie!
Sooo good ! And perfect for any season.
Thank you !
These have such a delicious flavour from the browned butter, and amazing texture ! One of my favourites (they’re all from here !)
These have such a delicious flavour from the browned butter, and amazing texture ! One of my favourites (they’re all from here !)
I loved this recipe -I will be making more of these cookies during the holiday season!
Tessa is the ultimate cookie goddess. I am so happy for her new cookbook! This brown butter chocolate chip cookie is the best cover choice, because it is her best recipe yet that I’ve made! Absolutely delicious!
My family really enjoyed these cookies. The brown butter really enhanced the flavor and the bread flour gives them a bit more chewy texture.
This is definitely one of the best chocolate chip cookies I have made! They are perfectly chewy in the center and crispy on the edges and so thick.
I looooooveeed this cookies!! I added a pinch of salta at last, which enhanced the flavor!! I would totally recommend this!!
I looooooooved this recipe!! My entire family kept asking for more!! I added the pinch of salt at last, which enhanced the flavor 😛 I’ll totally repeat these!!
So delicious!!!
Amazing. I loved the recipe, specifically the smell of the brown butter, it is exquisite. Will definitely make it again in the future!
I’ve been told that these are the only cookies I’m to make now. Everyone’s new favourite. So chewy, chocolatey and delicious.
Love, love, love chocolate chip cookies and this one is a winner! The addition of the chocolate wafers is worth it. I used Ghiradelli melting wafers and they worked great.
So yummy! Perfect texture and ALL the chocolate!
This is the second time I have made this recipe. The first time, I didnt quite get the browning butter part. This time I did it and it really worked. I could totally see the bits and could taste the difference. They are amazing cookies.
This is the second time I have made this recipe. The first time, I didnt understand the concept of browning the butter. I totally got it this time and I think it made quite a difference. The cookies are awesome, nice and fat and gooey on the inside.
I know everyone loves these, but they are not my favorite. They are chewy but to me they almost seemed under done. I will be trying some of the others in the book though!
Really loved these cookies!
It’s the first time I bake Tessa’s recipes and I absolutely loved these cookies!! I really love the science behind baking and I really enjoy your posts! Thank you so much for sharing!
I have made these at least 4 times and they are constantly requested at work. Delicious!
Another delicious recipe!
The brown butter gives the CCC a more nutty flavour. Will definitely be making them again. Thanks Tessa!
Thank you for including metric measurements! Always struggled making the cookies exact as I converted from sticks/cups to grams! huge brownie (or should I say cookie) points to you! Delicious as expected, will definitely make again, and be passing on this recipe!
Clear and easy to follow instructions, easy to make, but huge pay off!
I ate 3 of them before they were even cooled!
So delicious! And relatively easy considering how gourmet and “upscale” these cookies are.
I must say this is one delicious cookie. Sadly I don’t have the best taste buds any more so I couldn’t taste the brown butter but it was one of the best chocolate chip cookies I have ever made.
Finally experimented with Tessa’s recommendation to weigh all ingredients instead of measuring. IMG, it has taken my baking to the next level. Thank you Tessa for teaching how important the science is to bake the very Best. Oh, and I just got my cookbook. Love it!
Really easy to follow and came out absolutely delicious!
These were super yummy! Great flavor with the brown butter! I just like my cookies a little thicker
Love these! The brown butter takes these to the next level.
Delicious! I love the slightly nutty flavor the browned butter adds!
have made multiple times and love it!!
These were delicious! The browned butter makes all the difference in flavor! But too be honest the best surprise was the bread flour. At first I was skeptical; I had never used it in my cookies!! It gives a great chewy texture in the middle even after they cooled and into the next day–incredible!
THese brown butter cookies are amazing! No mixer required! THey are rich & chewy and extra gooey. So so good.
10/10 recipe. I love anything that has brown butter and these did not disappoint. They have a slight toffee flavour which I can’t get enough of. I couldn’t find the chocolate wafers in a store near me so I’ll be making these again once they become available. Everyone in my family was just raving about how good they were. I never thought that chilling the dough in the fridge for 48 hrs would make a difference but I’ll never go back!!
Yummy and easy to make – no mixer required! Most of the time went into browning butter and then waiting for it to cook. I also made a few cookies right away but put most of the dough to chill overnight.
Amazing. Just amazing.
Oh my gawd these are amazing!!!!!!!! They are sweet and salty and a little nutty from the brown butter. Best cookies ever!
So yummy! I love Brown Butter anything but it’s amazing in this recipe! So rich and delicious! I didn’t have wafers but added toffee bits and made them huge and they turned out fantastic! I didn’t chill them for 24 hours but next time I will, they spread a little.
Brown butter and bread flour are game changers for this chocolate chip cookie! So so good!
I’ve tried a lot of chocolate chip cookie recipes over the years and this is by far mine and my families FAVORITE. they always beg me to make these cookies for them. Love love love this recipe
Have made these over and over again and they get better and better!
I made more than 100 of these cookies yesterday and all of them turned out so good! The brown butter really adds a nice flavor and the texture of the cookie is perfect.
Loved the unique flavor of the brown butter. And refrigerating for at least 24 hours definitely is a game changer.