Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

These are hands down the best Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies that everyone needs in their baking repertoire! Crispy and chewy, gooey and buttery, sweet but very well balanced with some sea salt on top. My favorite chocolate chip cookies!

Best Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies Recipe

Chewy texture - My recipe will guide you through on all the necessary steps to achieve that irresistible chewy texture on your brown butter cookies.

Gooey and fudge center - Remember to watch your baking time and do not over-bake your cookies!

Wonderful flavor- I mean brown butter, brown sugar, chocolate chips...I never compromise on taste!

It's quick and easy! - Making brown butter is really must more hassle-free than you might think. My recipe is totally beginner-friendly, I promise

It's a detailed tutorial! - While this recipe might seem long, all the information provided here is to help YOU achieve the best result!

Ingredient notes

Gather these Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie ingredients and don't forget to measure them using a scale!

1. Butter: Use always unsalted butter as you want to be in control of the quantity of the salt. I am using 82% fat content butter in all my recipes. Brown butter gives the most delicious deepness to the flavors, I highly recommend that you do not skip browning the butter!
2. Sugar: For the best results I recommend using a combination of white and brown sugar (light brown sugar or dark brown sugar) in this chocolate chip cookie recipe. Their mixture contributes to both taste and texture.
3. Vanilla extract: Avoid using artificial vanilla. There are several great brands for fine, pure vanilla, I use Nielsen massey which I love and really recommend
4. Egg: Use room temperature as always
5. Flour: I find the best cookie recipe needs a mixture of soft (pastry) and hard (bread) flour, they both offer different benefits in terms of texture, alternatively use All purpose flour
6. Salt: An essential ingredient in most dessert recipes. Balances flavor and enhances other ingredients
7. Baking soda: Makes cookies slightly risen, tender and chewy
8. Chocolate: Use high cocoa content, high-quality chocolate which you would anyway enjoy eating on its own, and avoid using “baking chocolate”. I am using Valrhona or Callebaut in almost all my recipes, I found these are the most perfect chocolate chips. Please avoid using too sweat chocolate chips

🛒 You’ll find detailed measurements for all Ingredients in the printable version of the Recipe Card at the bottom of this post

Make the Brown Butter First

Brown butter (beurre noisette) is a classic French one ingredient gold that will take your chocolate chip cookies to the next level! It has a deep nutty, complex flavor and really elevates butter to the next level. Use it for making medeleines, financiers (French teacakes), or even on savory dishes like on top of grilled salmon, gnocchi, etc.

Making it is incredibly easy, takes 5 minutes!

Heat butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Make sure the heat is not too much; otherwise, the butter will just burn quickly.

First butter should melt then it will foam.

Then, white bits (milk solids) will start to appear on the bottom of the pan.

The brown butter is ready when the white bits on the bottom of the pan turn golden brown, and you will start to feel a lovely nutty smell.

Once your brown butter is ready, carefully pour it into a cold heatproof container so it will cool as soon as possible.

💡 Top Tip: Make sure you carefully watch the butter throughout the process, stir it regularly, and remove it from the heat before it starts burning

Make The Cookie Batter

Making this Browned Butter Chocolate Cookie recipe is extremely easy and quick but there are a couple of key steps you have to get right to achieve the right texture

With an electric hand mixer cream together room temperature (!) browned butter and brown sugar for a few minutes. Whip in the egg, just until combined.

Sift the dry ingredients; the two different kinds of flour, salt, baking powder, and baking soda together.Sifting is necessary to avoid lumps later.

Fold the flour mixture in with the help of a rubber spatula just until combined. Make sure you fold it only until the mixture comes together, literally 30 seconds.

Finally, fold in chocolate chips. Leave some chocolate chips to place on top of the cookies just before baking.Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper and with the help of a digital scale divide the cookie batter into 10 equal cookies and place them on parchment paper leaving enough space between them to spread. Do not soften the surface of the ball, in fact, try to keep it as rough as possible for a nice, crackly surface.

Press more chocolate chips on the surface of the cookie dough balls. Now comes the chilling time. See details below.

💡 Top Tip: Do not use a mixer while making cookies and do not over-mix the cookie butter. Over mixing ingredients would result in incorporating too much air and gluten into the mixture

How To Bake The Cookies

You will have to chill the cookie dough for at least 1 hour and the main reason behind it is to avoid over-spread, sad-looking, flat cookies. The warmer the dough the easier it will spread in the oven and our aim is to achieve thick, crackly surface, fudge cookies. Alternatively, chill it for 15 min in the freezer.

There is one important trick to baking fudge chocolate cookies and it is not to overbake them. I know it is worrying to take them out when they look underbaked, but believe me, at the end of the baking time they won’t look done but they are, indeed. Let them rest on the parchment paper for a few minutes then carefully remove them to a Cooling rack.

If, for some reason, you forgot your cookies in the oven, check my how to fix burnt cookies guide.

💡 Top Tip: The cookies will be very fragile straight out of the oven so be careful while moving them.

Expert Tips to Make Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

Brown butter will bring a delicious, complex flavor profile, please do not skip it.

Use high-quality semi-sweet chocolate chips eg. Callebaut or Valrhona, that melt well and bring a deep cocoa taste, not just sweetness.

I get the best results when baking these cookies on parchment paper or a perforated baking mat. I find they might get wet from the bottom if baked on silicone mat.

At the end of the baking time, grab a cookie cutter and apply some circular movement around the cookies so they will become perfectly round.

Avoid over-mixing and over-baking your cookies as that would result in a crumbly texture.

Sea salt at the end of baking is a must to balance the flavor and offset the sweetness.

Storage & Freezing

These cookies are best eaten fresh from the oven. However, you can store them for 1-2 days at room temperature if stored in an airtight container. Warm them up in the microwave before serving.

You can easily freeze the cookies either before baking (after you divided them into balls) or after baking.

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