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.
Struggling with Flat or Dry Cookies?
My free guide shows you how to fix texture problems and bake cookies you’ll love.
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!
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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.
Esta es la primera vez que probé una receta de galletas con choclate chips. Nos encantó
I followed the exact measurement using a scale, but when I baked it my cookies were completely flattened. It seems like this recipe was too much fat/sugar and not enough flour for the cookie to hold its shape.
It is possible that you may have not browned your butter well enough to cook out the additional water or you may have used a butter that has a higher water content. I recommend using unsalted kerry gold butter. Also you may want to check your expiration dates on your baking soda and baking powder because if they are out of date that can affect things as well. I have made this recipe about a dozen times and I get the thickest cookies when I pre-roll them before I chill them in the fridge (just make sure they are well covered). When I set the cookie dough to get room temperature before scooping, I do notice that they flatten more.
I browned my butter pretty well since I’ve made brown butter cookies before using different recipes. It always turned out brown and smell delicious. I used unsalted tillamook butter. Everything was brand new I recently bought to make some cookies. It wasn’t expired. I’m just not sure why it melted so fast in the oven. The fat melted first. I even baked the dough after freezing it for 24 hours. Even after cooling, the cookie was still flat and soft. It was just pure butter and sugar. There wasn’t enough flour to hold the cookie to its shape.
Hi Neva, thank you so much for sharing your experience! I’m sorry to hear the cookies didn’t turn out as expected. While it’s tough to pinpoint the exact cause without baking alongside you, here are a few tips that might help:
1. Butter temperature: If the butter-sugar mixture wasn’t fully cooled before adding the other ingredients, it could cause the cookies to spread more. Chilling the dough definitely helps, but it won’t completely fix this if the butter was too warm.
2. Flour: Another factor could be the protein content in the brand of flour you used or extra moisture in the cookies. Depending on your climate (especially in humid areas), adding an extra tablespoon or two of flour could help. Some flour brands have a lower percentage of protein, which can also impact the final result. For reference, our team uses Gold Medal bleached all-purpose flour and King Arthur unbleached bread flour.
3. Oven temperature: Lastly, an oven thermometer is worth looking into if you don’t have one already. Even a slight discrepancy in temperature can affect how cookies bake. If your oven runs cooler than it reads, the butter may melt before the cookies have a chance to set. For example, when my oven beeps to say it’s preheated, it’s actually 10°F lower! I always have to wait an additional 10-15 minutes before my oven reaches the correct temp.
Have you made any of our other cookies before? I’d love to know if this is one-time issue, or something you’ve noticed with similar recipes. Hopefully this troubleshooting helps! I’m more than happy to help further if needed, and I hope you give our recipe another try. Let us know how it goes!
What is the reason baking soda , there’s assid in the recipe ! 🤔 Why not use baking powder only ?
Hi Scott! Both baking soda and baking powder work together in this recipe to help create the ideal texture and flavor. The baking soda helps with browning and spreading, giving the cookies that rich, slightly crispy edge, which the baking powder provides lift and ensures the cookies don’t spread too much. It’s the balance of both that creates the perfect cookie 🙂 You can learn more about both leaveners and how they impact baking here.
The most delicious recipe!
I already have browned butter on hand. Is there a measurement in grams for the browned butter?
Hi Kelly! We haven’t measured the butter once it’s browned in this recipe; however, typically a couple of tablespoons of water is removed during the browning process. I’d start with removing that much, which would equate to about 198 grams. Let us know how they turn out!
My 12 year old son made these with my supervision for Christmas and they were amazing! I told him to find a recipe and he found this one. He even asked if we had a food scale which we do. He weighed his ingredients and set a timer to let the dough sit for at least 24 hours. He made a batch Christmas Day while we were hosting family and they were immediately gone. He made a second batch right after and those were gone before we went to bed. I definitely recommend this recipe and it is now our go-to chocolate chip cookie recipe.
Amazing cookies! We loved them!
I made these exactly. One person at my xmas party said she’d push over a pregnant woman to get to them! Definitely a great recipe, but don’t skip the details.
My cookies basically melted into one huge blob. They never set up and the chips all clumped in the middle of the blobs. Idk where I went wrong.
You need to have everything at room temp before mixing, then refrigerated the dough before baking.
I made these and doubled the recipe. They taste soooo good!! I didnt use bread flour and instead just used what i had which was AP flour. And i didnt let them sit. Maybe theyre suppose to sit to incorperate more flavour but it’s soooooo good even without the refrigeration!!! This is definatly going to be a repeat cookie recipe for me!
To be honest I started following this recipe thinking it was one that I had tried before, but upon browning the butter and then adding all of the sugars I realized it was double the amount I remembered and panicked. I generally find most cookie recipes to be too sweet and I was making this for a holiday party for school. I also thought it was a butter cookie recipe not chocolate chip cookies. Yes, I was a total scatterbrain. So I found the old recipe and compared the sugar content and realized it was comparable (this one is for double the batch of cookies compared to the other recipe). I followed the rest of the recipe except for adding the chocolate and it turned out great. I made about 40 cookies using a tablespoon These were a hit! These are the best cookies I’ve ever made according to the kids and the cookies didn’t even taste very sweet. They were just perfect. It honestly reminded me of the Linder butterscotch cookies I used to eat at school but even better. It smells and tastes amazing. I will be making this on repeat. Thanks for sharing!
These are the BEST chocolate chip cookies! Definitely read the separate article about how to brown butter if you haven’t done it before. Also, use the salt on top! Makes a huge difference!