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.
Made this recipe over and over again, but have never added the wafers. The BEST brown butter choc chip recipe there is.
I have added one less egg in my dough by mistake and i just realised this while my dough is chilling in the fridge for abour 12 hours already
What is the best way to proceed?
Hi there! Since you already made the dough, I’d recommend baking them! They’ll still be delicious, but the texture will be slightly different.
Hi Tessa!
Loving all your recipes! I have a few questions.
1. 227grams Unsalted butter – is this the measurement before browning the butter? How long do I need to cool the butter after browning them? Do i leave it in room temperature or it’s ok to pop it in the chiller for it to set?
2. What is the difference with unbleached and bleached flour?
Thank you!
Hi Felicia! Yes, 227 grams is the measurement before browning the butter. You’ll want the butter/sugar mixture to cool to just warm (about 90°F) to ensure that it doesn’t begin cooking the eggs when they’re added. It’s fine to pop the mixture in the fridge for a bit to cool it more quickly, just know the butter and sugar will separate a bit and you’ll want to mix it again before adding the eggs and vanilla.
Bleached flour allows more moisture to be absorbed in a batter or dough to prevent excess spread. It improves the structure and height of cakes, makes taller sturdier breads, and it also makes the flour more shelf stable so it’ll last longer. Tessa’s favorite brand (and the one we test our recipes with) is Gold Medal Bleached. I hope that helps!
Delicious cookies. I was in a hurry to make these cookies so I didn’t follow the instructions completely. After the cookie dough was made I used a 1 1/2 tbs cookie scoop and placed the scooped dough inside a covered container and refrigerated the dough for a couple of hours. Then I baked them and they came out perfect. I loved the fact that I didn’t have to beat the butter and sugar. Simple recipe and delicious.
Hello, made this recipe a few times and turned out great everytime. I just have a problem with the texture. Sometimes they spread (not too much) & sometimes they don’t at all. What could be the reason for this. I always chill them for 48 hrs. Everytime they tasted great. To add as well, I have a conventional oven. I have thermometer hanging at the top heating element which reads exactly how I set the heat to be. But the other Thermometer in the middle rack is off like 20 to 30 degrees. Could this be my issue?
Hi Michael! It’s tough to say exactly what is going wrong here without baking alongside you, but here are some thoughts. Firstly, yes, it could be your oven’s temperature for sure. My oven thermometer hangs on my middle rack, where the vast majority of my baking happens, and that’s how I know my oven runs about 20°F hot! Learn more about that here.
Also, are you weighing your ingredients? Weighing vs. measuring by volume can also have a huge impact on your baked goods, as it’s so easy to add too little or too much flour to any recipe! Tessa also talks about how to measure properly in this article here. While we’re talking flour, are you sometimes changing the brands of flour used? Different brands contain varying percentages of protein, which can change the consistency of the final bake. Bleached vs. unbleached flours also differ and can yield different results. We typically use bleached flour to test our recipes.
This shouldn’t be your issue as it’s happening sporadically, but it’s worth checking if your leavening agent is fresh. If baking powder/soda sit around for a bit, they can lose their rising powder, which can result in flat cookies! Tessa talks about how to test for leavener freshness in this article here!
Another possibility is your baking pans – do you always use the same one to bake cookies? Different materials (even similar-looking ones) conduct heat differently, and some can cause cookies to overspread, or burn on the bottom before they’ve spread, and anything in between. Learn more about that here.
One last thing to leave you with is a little tip I learned from Tessa! If your cookies spread a little, or are even just not as perfectly round as you would prefer, try using a round cookie or biscuit cutter that’s slightly larger than the size of your cookies, and swirl the cookie cutter in circles around the cookie edges a few times. Make sure you do this straight out of the oven (before they have a chance to set up). This makes the cookies perfectly round and thicker again! Here’s a link to the reel on our Instagram, where we shared this fun cookie hack a bit ago 🙂 I hope this helps, and if not, please feel free to reach out again and we can try to troubleshoot with you further! Happy baking 🙂
I made this with unsalted butter. Very good !! I ran out lol can I use salted butter instead?
Hi Bethany! Tessa always recommends baking with unsalted butter (learn why here) but in a pinch, you can use salted butter and skip adding additional salt. I hope that helps! Happy baking 🙂
I’ve made this more times than I can count, for parties, sharing with neighbors, and just me wanting cookies. I haven’t made another choc chip cookie recipe since discovering this one, it’s perfect. <3
made according to recipe except used 72% ghiradelli dark chocolate chopped into chunks instead of the wafers. the flavors were perfect and got better each day. finished with flaky salt and OMG, my favorite cookie recipe ever. the bread flour and brown butter are truly game changers!!! and using a kitchen scale to measure everything! love that you include grams in all your recipes!!
Best cookies I’ve ever made! Everyone loves them and they are now my go to!
My new favorite chocolate chip cookies!! I’m always on the hunt for the perfect chocolate chip cookies and I think these may be them. They are SO flavorful, caramely/butterscotchy, and perfectly chewy. I haven’t yet made them with the bread flour (just all-purpose) but just bought some for next time, and I haven’t been able to find the chocolate wafers anywhere so it’s either been all chips or subbing chopped up Ghirardelli dark chocolate for the wafers. But even with these modifications the recipe is awesome. I usually have to make half a dozen before chilling the dough (because when I make cookies I want some NOW) and then I bake the rest the next day. Definitely worth making a double batch and chilling some dough balls for easy spur-of-the-moment cookies.
Would this be a good dough to freeze? I am making a double batch, one to bake tomorrow and the rest I am hoping to save and freeze for the days I just really want some cookies !
Hi Maria! Yes, this dough freezes perfectly – but read through Tessa’s tips in the pink tip box (above the recipe) for more info on this, as we really recommend chilling the dough in the fridge for 24-72 hours prior to chilling. Happy baking! 🙂
Tessa,
What are your thoughts on using GHIRARDELLI dark chocolate wafers instead of the one you recommended in your recipe? Would I substitute 2 cups of chocolate chips for 1 cup of wafers? If yes, what type of chocolate?
Thank you for sharing your recipes and ideas.
Hi Rosy! Yes, feel free to use Ghirardelli chocolate wafers instead of Guittard or Valrhona wafers as a 1:1 swap – no need to alter the chocolate chips. Just be careful to purchase baking chocolate wafers and NOT melting wafers, as these contain different ingredients and oils, designed to melt for coating and not for baking. Let us know what you think of these cookies once you have given them a try 🙂
Hi Kiersten,
The baking wafers are not easy available in local stores. What else can I substitute it with and how much? What percent of CACAO to substitute with?
Appreciate your response.
Thank you
Hi Rosy! The Guittard brand is commonly available where I live in NY, and they’re also available online here. Alternatively, feel free to buy some baking chocolate bars in about 65-75% cacao and chop it coarsely, for a similar flavor and texture. You can simply substitute 1:1 for the same weight as listed for the baking wafers (or even the baking wafers + the chocolate chips, if you prefer). Happy baking!