Tessa’s Recipe Rundown
Taste: Ridiculously flavorful! SO much depth of flavor without being overly sweet.
Texture: Incredibly chewy and gooey in the middle and a little crunchy at the edges. Perfection.
Ease: Browning the butter is an extra step, but I find the process fun and it adds SO much flavor. Other than that, this recipe is simple!
Why You’ll Love This Recipe: Thick, chewy cookies with unparalleled depth of flavor.
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Loaded with rich and nutty brown butter, butterscotch flavors, and dark chocolate, these Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies are absolute perfection.
I have hundreds of cookie recipes on my site, but there’s something extra special about cookies made with brown butter. It provides an unparalleled depth of flavor that’s such a joy to eat.
Chocolate chunk cookies can easily become too ooey-gooey, so while testing and tweaking this recipe, I made sure these cookies were the perfect balance of gooey, chewy, and crunchy.
What Makes Cookies Chewy, Crisp, or Cakey?
My free guide reveals the ingredients and tweaks that matter.
Best of all? These cookies are super simple to make – you don’t even need an electric mixer!
Reader Love
this is the easiest, most delicious cookie i’ve ever made! my sister and i have been on the quest to find the perfect cookie, and this blows our former #1 (the jacque torres’s 72 hour cookie) out of the water. amazing!
–
Sprinkle of Science
How to Make Perfect Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
Browning the Butter
Brown butter is made by melting butter and then continuing to cook it until the milk solids in the butter become toasted, creating a deeply nutty, caramelized, butterscotch flavor that perfectly enhances chocolate chip cookies.
Brown butter is super simple to make – just be sure not to walk away from it as it can burn quickly. Be sure to scrape all the brown bits into the mixing bowl as that’s where the flavor lives!
Learn all my tips and tricks for browning butter in my How to Brown Butter article here.
Do I Have to Use Bread Flour?
Bread flour contains a higher percentage of protein than all-purpose flour, adding a ton of chewy texture to these Browned Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies, so I strongly recommend using it if possible.
If you don’t have bread flour, just use all-purpose flour in place of the bread flour in the recipe, but note that you will lose some chewiness.
⭐ Tessa’s Tip: Make sure to weigh your flour accurately. If you add too much flour, your cookies may end up dry, dense, or crumbly and barely spread. Too much flour also makes the cookies go stale more quickly.
The Sugar
This recipe uses the perfect amount of sugar to ensure moist, chewy cookies with the perfect amount of spread, without being too sweet. A high ratio of dark brown sugar makes these cookies moist and chewy, with a rich depth of flavor.
If needed, you can use light brown sugar instead of dark brown sugar (1:1 ratio), but your cookies will lose a little bit of moisture and flavor.
Whatever you do, don’t reduce the sugar in these cookies. Sugar does so much more beyond sweetening – learn more about sugar’s role in baking here. Note that cookies taste sweeter when served warm.
What Chocolate is Best for Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies?
- This recipe calls for both regular semi-sweet chocolate chips and chocolate baking wafers.
- I used the Guittard brand of semisweet chocolate wafers. You can find these at larger supermarkets, specialty kitchen stores, or online.
- You could alternatively 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.
- I’ve also enjoyed using Guittard Super Cookie Chips for this recipe.
- If you can’t find baking wafers/feves or super chips, feel free to use 2 cups of semi-sweet chocolate chips instead.
- You can also use blocks of baking chocolate, chopped coarsely, if preferred.
- Feel free to use milk chocolate or dark chocolate instead if preferred – just note that this will alter the final cookie’s sweetness levels. Learn more about Chocolate in Baking here.
- Some readers have felt this recipe uses too much chocolate. There’s no such thing in my book, but feel free to scale back the amount slightly. Note that scaling back too much may result in thinner cookies.
Topping Cookies with Flaky 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. I love the salty-sweet combination, and I think it really adds something special to these Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies.
Tips for Perfect Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies:
- Measure correctly: Always use a digital kitchen scale to weigh your ingredients, especially flour. Incorrectly measured flour can lead to cookies that are tough, crumbly, dry, too thick, or just blah.
- Correct temperature: I also swear by using an oven thermometer to ensure baking accuracy. Most ovens run a little hot or cold, so checking the temperature with an oven thermometer ensures the best cookies possible.
- The baking pan: Use a quality light-colored baking pan for baking cookies. Line with parchment paper for best results. The pan you bake on has a huge impact on your cookies. Learn more about the best and worst baking pans here.
- Leavening agents: Make sure your baking soda and baking powder are fresh and active to ensure your cookies spread and rise perfectly. Learn more about these two leaveners and how to test for freshness in my Baking Soda vs Baking Powder article here.
- Don’t overbake: Bake these cookies just until the edges are set and golden brown. The middles may still look a little ‘wet’ – that’s okay! The pan’s residual heat will continue to cook them through to perfection.
- Chill the dough: Don’t skip the chill period!! More on that just below.
Chilling the Cookie Dough
I know it’s annoying to have to wait to enjoy cookies, but I promise you it’s SO worth it. Both the taste and texture of these cookies improve as the dough chills. The flour is able to absorb the liquid in the dough, for thicker cookies, and the flavors intensify.
If you don’t want to wait for your cookies, feel free to bake off a few after chilling for at least two hours, just to satisfy the craving, and bake the rest after 24 hours!
Freezing does not work the same as chilling, so there are no shortcuts here. A minimum of 24 hours (and up to 72 hours) in the fridge is required to develop the flavor and texture fully. Learn more about how and why to chill cookie dough in this article here.
What Size to Make Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies?
I’ve found these Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies are best made as big cookies, using a large 3-Tablespoon cookie scoop. This size 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 medium 1.5-Tablespoon cookie scoop and reduce the baking time to about 10 minutes. Note that the texture will be affected with a smaller scoop of dough.
Portioning the Cookie Dough Before or After Chilling?
Both work; it depends on which option works best for you!
If my fridge space is more limited, I’ll refrigerate the entire mass of dough because it takes up less room and is more easily stacked with other containers in the fridge. Sometimes I’m in a rush when making the dough and don’t have time to portion before chilling.
However, refrigerating the entire mass means you need to allow plenty of time for the dough to come to room temperature before portioning. Do not scoop cold dough, you will break your scoop. For this reason, the easiest option is to scoop, then chill.
There’s a bit more risk that your dough will dry out in the fridge this way, so just be sure to store the cookie dough balls in an airtight container or good quality ziptop bag, to prevent them from drying out.
Can I Freeze Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough?
Yes – but make sure you chill the dough for 24-72 hours before freezing. Learn why chilling the cookie dough first is important here.
I like to portion out the dough and place it on a baking sheet, then freeze just until solid. Transfer the frozen dough balls to a freezer bag and freeze for up to 6 weeks. This way, you can bake off small batches of fresh cookies whenever you like! Check out my full post on how to freeze cookie dough and bake from frozen here.
More Cookie Recipes You’ll Love:
- Bakery Style Chocolate Chip Cookies (one of my most popular recipes!)
- Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Marbled Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Brown Butter Dulce de Leche Cookie Cups
- Browned Butter Toffee Chocolate Chip Cookies
See ALL of my cookie recipes + cookie Baking Science tips here!
Browned Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
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Ingredients
- 2 sticks (227 grams) unsalted butter
- 1/2 cup (100 grams) granulated sugar
- 1 1/4 cups (250 grams) lightly packed dark brown sugar
- 1 1/2 cups (190 grams) all-purpose flour
- 1 cup (127 grams) bread flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 2 large eggs plus 1 egg yolk, at room temperature
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- 1 1/2 cups (255 grams) semisweet chocolate chips
- 1 cup (140 grams) semisweet chocolate baking wafers (from Guittard or Valrhona)*
Instructions
- 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 Notes
The Ultimate Cookie Handbook
Learn the sweet SCIENCE of cookie baking in a fun, visual way to customize your own recipes frustration-free. Plus, my best 50+ homemade cookies!
This post was originally published in 2015 and recently updated with recipe improvements and new photos. Photos by Ashley McLaughlin.
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 🙂