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 OXO’s 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, portion the dough into 1 1/2 tablespoon balls and reduce the baking time to about 10 minutes.
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.
More AMAZING Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipes:
See ALL of my chocolate chip cookie recipes + tips & insights into the SCIENCE of cookie baking here!
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2
sticks (227 grams) unsalted butter
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1/2
(100 grams) cup granulated sugar
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1 1/4
cups
(250 grams) lightly packed dark brown sugar
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1 1/2
cups
(190 grams) all-purpose flour
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1
cup
(127 grams) bread flour
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1/4
teaspoon
baking powder
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1
teaspoon
baking soda
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1
teaspoon
fine sea salt
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2
large eggs plus 1 egg yolk, at room temperature
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2
teaspoons
vanilla
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1 1/2
cups
(255 grams) semisweet chocolate chips
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1
cup
(140 grams) semisweet chocolate baking wafers (from Guittard or Valrhona)
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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.
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In a medium bowl combine the flours, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.
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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.
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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.
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Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 350ºF. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
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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.
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Bake for 11 to 13 minutes, or until golden brown. Remove from and let cool for 2 minutes before removing to wire racks to cool completely.
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.
Loved this recipe so much! I finally get the bread flour importance!! Really helped with the extra chewy goodies
Omg, these were sooooo good! I think these are my new favorite chocolate chip cookies!
WOW!!!!! These were VERY tasty! My family went nuts for them. They are already asking for more. Definitely a new addition to my recipe collection.
It’s an amazing cookie recipe. It’s crunchy on the outside and chewy on the inside. The brown butter gave a nutty flavor to the cookies and I love it so much. This recipe is an easy five stars. Thanks Tessa for the recipe. Definitely will re-bake this cookie recipe again.
Worth the extra steps. Best cookie ever.
Love this recipe ! Will definitely be making these again.
Amazing recipe!
Amazing recipe!
These cookies had the perfect consistency! Chewy and crispy. The brown butter takes them up a level too.
I don’t know where to find the chocolate baking wafers?
These cookies are delicious! Browning the butter first gives them a rich caramel taste. Definitely a keeper!
Bubbling butter was a new experience. These are delicious.
My favorite kind of cookie is always on the chewy and soft side. The secret ingredient bread flour and brown butter made it the best ultimate chewy and toffee flavored cookie. So easy to make!
The brown butter made this dough smell amazing! I followed the recipe, but used dark chocolate chunks I chopped up instead of the wafers, and they were a big hit! They do spread a lot, so be sure to space them out!
This is hands down my FAVORITE chocolate chip/chunk recipe, ever. It’s a staple in my house. The brown butter really makes this recipe stand out.
As with all of Tessa’s recipe this is a winner!
By far the best chocolate chip cookies I’ve ever made. The extra time browning the butter is so worth it! I couldn’t find the baking wafers so broke a baking bar into chunks which worked quite well.
These came out wonderful! They have a nice depth of flavor from the browned butter and are chewy and gooey from all the chocolate chips! One of our new favorites
Just made these! They smell AMAZING and taste DELICIOUS!
Best Cookies Ever!!!! I love how easy the recipe is.
I love anything brown butter and these cookies were no exception. YUMMM!! And the dark brown sugar adds that extra carmelized flavor. These were delicious!!
They are definitely my favorite sweet snack
The perfect chocolate chip recipe. Browned butter in it, bonus! Chewy with delicate chocolate through out.
The only bad part about these is how fast they disappear in my house. Love these!
These cookies are super simple with no mixer required but so delicious and packed with flavor!!
I didn’t have the chocolate wafers… definitely want to try it with them next time. I used mini chocolate chips and white chocolate, they were worth the 24 hour wait 🙂
These are delicious. A little more time consuming that your standard Toll House cookie, but well worth the extra bit that it takes. The worst part of this recipe is the waiting! I added walnuts, because I love them, but with or without walnuts, they are fabulous.
Gobbled up in one afternoon! Soft and chewy in the inside with crispy edges, the brown butter adding such a yummy caramel flavor. Life doesn’t get much better than this!
Tessa never disappoints!!!! These are so good even though I couldn’t find the baking wafers. Will try for the next batch
Love the crispy edges and chewy centers. The caramelly toffee like texture the browned butter gives. So incredibly good, everyone loved them!
Yum!!! I was able to find the Guittard chocolate wafers. It was really good but I think it would be just as yummy with chocolate chunks or more chocolate chips.
Received rave reviews at the Labor Day bbq! Good thing I saved some for myself at home. Delicious!
These are most delicious when freshly baked
These are most delicious when freshly baked
Delicious cookies. Thanks Tessa
Oh my…these are the best chocolate chip cookies ever! The hardest part of the recipie is to wait 72 hours before baking them but it is so worth it!
I always receive praises everytime I bake one of Tessa’s recipe and this is no different, this recipe is so easy to follow, foolproof, and the brown butter makes all the difference!
My favorite cookie recipe, hands down! I’ve made it more times than I probably should!
Literally the best cookies you’ll ever make. I’ve tried tons of chocolate chip cookie recipes and this one is the best. I don’t know if its the brown butter or the bread flour that makes this cookie so great, maybe its both. But this cookie has everything you want in a chocolate chip cookie. Crispy edges, soft in the middle, thick, sweet, chocolatey goodness.
I didn’t add the other type of chocolate she uses since I couldn’t find it near me but its still amazing with just the regular chocolate chips.
If you haven’t made this recipe yet you need too.
I just baked the cookies and OMG they turned out great!!! I was very excited to try them out, I’ve never had brown butter cookies and it’s safe to say that I will be doing them again ASAP.
The little touches in these (brown butter, dark brown sugar) make them phenomenal. So delicious. Thank you for another great recipe to have in my repertoire!
I can’t stop thinking about these cookies! Hands down the best I’ve ever made. Totally worth the chill time, too – the batch after 48 hours was my fave. This will be my go-to chocolate chip cookie recipe from here on out!
These are sooooooo worth the wait and soooooo good. I’m eating one right out of the oven for breakfast !
Soft but with a crunch, these have such a rich flavor from the brown butter and the dark brown sugar. I’ve made these several times!
So easy yet so satisfying! I simply love the addition of chocolate wafers to create melting chocolate pools on top pf the cookies..Genius! My daughter will eat specifically that part first before biting the rest of the cookie.
Delicious! Instructions were easy to follow and the results were superb! These were absolutely mouthwatering. Chewy, chocolate cookies that melt and the browned butter is like IT.
Best. Cookie. Recipe. Ever. These will be on repeat forever.
These cookies are a breeze to make, and so delicious! I recommend marinating the dough for at 48h, it was a game changer. With 24h it was still really good, but with 48h it made such an amazing difference! They tasted even better and were even thicker. I loved them!
Absolutely loved this recipe! It was my first time making a recipe from Handle the Heat and I definitely have had a great experience from these cookies. They were slightly crispy on the edges and pillowy and chewy in the centers- absolute perfect combo!
So good!
Absolutely delicious!
SOO GOOD!! Sweet and rich. The brown butter makes it out of this world.
Questi cookies sono veramente fantastici, li ho preparati per la festa di compleanno di mio figlio e sono stati un successone
Amazing!!
Love the brown butter to bring richness to these cookies. Amazing after 30 minutes of chilling and even better after 48 hours!
i love how easy this recipe is and how little cleanup there is! the cookies have a slight crisp on the outside and are soft on the inside. love this!
The brown butter really made a difference in these cookies! The flavor definitely had butterscotch notes that brought out a rich flavor. The baking discs added an extra melty chocolate explosion! These defininetly did not taste like “every other chocolate chip cookie”. Even though the melted discs gave them that unique melty texture, they were a bit much for me, and I’d probably use only chocolate chips next time. I especially liked that I didn’t have to use a mixer. 🙂
Great recipe! I loved the different-sized chocolate chips and the rich flavor from the browned butter and dark brown sugar!
We really liked these cookies. They are wonderful chocolate chip cookies with a nice nutty, browned butter taste.
My jeans will never fit again. SO DELICIOUS, AS ALWAYS!