Soft, chewy centers with crisp, buttery edges. Nothing is better than these brown butter chocolate chip cookies.
Why this recipe works
In the seemingly never ending quest to find the best chocolate chip cookies ever, there is one cookie that definitely deserves that title. That my friends, is the brown butter chocolate chip cookie - finished with a healthy sprinkle of flaky salt, of course.
These brown butter chocolate chip cookies are rich, chewy, and packed with pools of chopped chocolate. Browning the butter gives them a deep, nutty, almost toffee-like flavor, while an extra egg yolk, a spoonful of cream, and a short dough rest keep the centers soft and the edges crisp. Finish them with flaky sea salt for the perfect sweet-salty bite.
This is what makes these cookies special:
- Big brown butter flavor: Browning the butter gives these cookies a rich, nutty flavor that tastes almost like caramel or toffee.
- Soft centers and crisp edges: The extra egg yolk and cornstarch help keep the cookies tender while the edges bake up beautifully golden.
- No overnight chill required: The dough rests briefly while the oven preheats, so you get better flavor without waiting until tomorrow.
- Perfect chocolate pools: Chopped chocolate melts into puddles throughout the cookies, giving you a bakery-style texture in every bite.
Key ingredients
You don’t need anything fancy to make these brown butter chocolate chip cookies, but quality ingredients make a difference. Good butter, real vanilla, chopped chocolate, and flaky sea salt will give you the best flavor and texture.
- Butter - We're going to brown this butter up until the milk solids caramelize and give off that irresistible nutty scent.
- Brown sugar - When paired with the brown butter, it gives the cookies a butterscotchy/caramely flavor. I prefer to use dark brown sugar when I can, but light brown is just as good, so use what you have available. You can even make your own brown sugar, if necessary.
- Granulated sugar - We don't want to use all brown sugar because we don't want the molasses flavor to compete with the brown butter, so we also add granulated sugar.
- Egg + yolk - This adds structure as well as moisture and richness from getting that double yolk.
- Vanilla - I've been using vanilla bean paste lately, but vanilla extract is my usual go-to.
- Heavy cream - The dough itself tends to be a little dry. This is because a lot of the liquid from the butter evaporated when we brown it. We help make the dough workable by adding a little moisture. The cream also adds richness.
- Cornstarch - This adds tenderness and structural help.
- Flour - Use all-purpose flour, preferably unbleached. Cake flour will be too tender, while bread (or strong) flour will add too much toughness and chew.
- Chocolate - I always use a mix of chocolate in my cookies. I like to use a super dark chocolate and a sweeter milk chocolate for balance.
- Salt - To balance out all the flavors we need salt. I use sea salt in all my baking. I also top these cookies with a flaky fleur de sel, but you can also use any flaky sea salt you have - I recommend Maldon.
What does brown butter do in cookies?
Brown butter adds a deeper, nuttier flavor to chocolate chip cookies. As the butter cooks, the milk solids toast and create a rich caramel-like flavor that makes the cookies taste warmer and more complex than classic chocolate chip cookies.
Because some of the water evaporates as the butter browns, this recipe adds a tablespoon of heavy cream to bring moisture back into the dough. That helps the cookies stay soft and chewy instead of dry.
How to brown butter
I love brown butter. It is probably the best thing to ever happen to both sweet and savory food. I even wrote out a whole post to help people understand how to make browned butter. It is a very simple process, but sometimes people get scared they've burnt their butter.
Here's the biggest tip I can give you: if it smells nutty and nice, it's good. If it starts smoking a lot, smells bitter, and the milk solids are all black, it's burnt. You will 100% know if you've burnt your butter when you see it.
- Heat your butter in a saucepan or skillet on a medium heat.
- Continue to heat it, stirring frequently. The butter will start to bubble and you might get some foam. Soon, the butter will begin to darken, and you will notice the smell becoming a little stronger.
- Stir more frequently until you notice the butter is a darker color, and the milk solids at the bottom are turning a dark caramel brown color. You should also smell a wonderful nutty scent.
- Remove from heat immediately.
Note: The butter is ready when the liquid is golden brown and the bits at the bottom of the pan are deep amber brown. Remove it from the heat as soon as it smells nutty. If the butter smells bitter, looks black, or smokes heavily, it has gone too far. It goes from perfect to burnt in moments, so pay close attention!
How to make
Unlike regular chocolate chip cookies where you beat room temperature butter with sugar, we start things off by browning butter. This means we have melted butter on our hands to start with. So, we need to chill our butter just a little before we can use it.
- Chill your butter until it is partially solidified, but still a little melted in the middle.
- Beat the sugars into the butter, then beat in the egg, cream and vanilla.
- Mix together the dry ingredients and then add it to the butter mixture.
- Fold in the chopped chocolate.
- Portion out and bake until delicious.
Amanda's expert tips
There are a few tips I want to share with you so you can have the best brown butter chocolate chip cookies ever.
- Measure the flour correctly so it doesn't get too compacted and you accidentally use too much, which can result in crumbly dough or cookies coming out too thick and not spread. Fluff or sift your flour, spoon it into your measuring cup, then gently sweep off the excess. For the most accurate results, you can weigh your flour using a kitchen scale
- Use chopped chocolate. I love chocolate chips, but cookies these good deserve the pools of chocolate you get when you use chopped chocolate. Experiment with different brands of bars. If you find a salted chocolate, even better!
- Allow the dough to rest. I like to let the dough rest for about 30 minutes before I turn on the oven to preheat. This allows all the flavors to meld together and make them even better. You don't need to chill the dough when you rest it, but it can help, if you also prefer your cookies to not spread as much.
- Yes, you really do need to separate an egg just to use the yolk for this recipe. We need that extra richness. Using two whole eggs is just too much. If you're worried about wasting an egg white, I like to freeze mine for later use (or add into my breakfast the next day).
- Don't skip the flaky salt. For me, it's a game-changer. Table salt or kosher salt won't work. It has to be a flaky sea salt. The salt I used here is from Beanilla.
Storing and freezing tips
Finished cookies last at room temperature for about a week in an airtight container. You can freeze finished cookies in an airtight container for about 2 months. Leave them at room temperature to thaw them. I also like to put them in the microwave for 5 seconds to give them that freshly baked feel.
Cookie dough can be frozen about 2 months in an airtight container. I recommend portioning out the dough into balls, then freezing them on a parchment-lined sheet. Once they are frozen, place them in an airtight container.
You can bake brown butter chocolate chip cookies from frozen, but will need to add an extra couple of minutes to the baking time. Be sure to check my guide on freezing cookie dough.
Recipe F.A.Q.
Absolutely! This recipe multiplies and divides wonderfully to make as much as you need.
To turn this recipe into a skillet cookie, just make the full recipe and bake it in a cast iron skillet. It will need about 5 - 10 minutes more for the cookie to bake through.
Definitely! You can add in so many things like nuts, chopped pretzels, and even a tablespoon of instant coffee for extra oomph.
Brown butter loses some water as it cooks, so the dough may feel a little drier than regular chocolate chip cookie dough. This recipe adds heavy cream to bring back moisture. Accidentally over measuring flour can also result in dry, crumbly cookie dough. If your dough still feels crumbly, add another tablespoon of cream until it comes together, but do not overmix as this can result in a tough cookie dough.
Yes, you can use chocolate chips, but chopped chocolate gives you bigger pools of melted chocolate. I like using a mix of dark and milk chocolate for a nice complex flavor.
The cookies are done when the edges are golden brown and the centers look slightly underbaked. Let them sit on the baking sheet for a minute before moving them to a wire rack so they can finish setting.
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Recipe Card
Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup unsalted butter
- 2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- 1 large egg room temperature
- 1 egg yolk room temperature
- 1 tablespoon heavy cream
- 2 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 ¾ cups chopped chocolate
Instructions
- Heat the butter in a saucepan until it is all melted, darker in color, and the milk solids are caramelized. The butter should smell nice and nutty.
- Chill the butter in the freezer for 10 minutes.
- Mix together the flour, cornstarch, baking soda, and salt together in a small bowl and set aside.
- Beat the butter and both sugars until light and fluffy.
- Add in the egg, yolk, cream, and vanilla. Beat well.
- Stir in the flour mixture and mix until just combined.
- Fold in the chopped chocolate.
- Portion the cookie dough into balls and set aside to rest while the oven preheats, preferably in the refrigerator.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Place the cookie dough 2-inches apart on your baking sheets and bake for 8 - 10 minutes, or until golden brown.
- Allow the cookies to rest on the baking sheet for one minute before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. Top with flaky sea salt while still warm.
Video
Notes
Allowing the cookie dough to rest is optional, but highly recommended for better flavor and texture. If the dough feels dry or crumbly, add 1 additional tablespoon of heavy cream. For thicker cookies, chill the dough balls for 30–60 minutes before baking. For the best chocolate pools, use chopped chocolate instead of chocolate chips.
Leslie says
These cookies are literally the best cookie!
Maddie Jones says
Super delicious!! I used a chopped up symphony bar and the toffee with the brown butter is out of this world! May be my all time favorite cookie recipe!
Ayaka says
Hi! Your cookies look awesome and I’d like to bake them.
I have a question but the measure cup you use is American or Canadian?
Amanda Powell says
I use a standard American dry measuring cup, which is roughly 125g of all-purpose flour. You should be able to convert the recipe to metric measurements using the recipe card!
Sofia Graf says
Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies are tasty baked goodies but I have tried it with ghee instead of unsalted butter. It is a successful replacement because ghee baked cookies which I made are good to eat and easy to preserve. I have used organic ghee instead of using unsalted butter.
Namrata says
How can I make this eggless?
Amanda Powell says
I'm sorry it took me this long to respond to you. I have never made this recipe eggless before, but when I've made eggless cookies in the past, I've made a flax egg by mixing together water and ground flax seed, then allowing it to rest for five minutes. I do not remember the ratios needed to get an eggy consistency, but I think it was about 1 tablespoon flax and 3 tablespoons water.
Diane Fung says
Hi, your cookies look amazing. I am curious how you get them to look so round and flat. My cookies come out round and chunky (thick) like a Chips AHOY Chunks cookie.
Thank you!
Amanda Powell says
Hi! I didn’t do anything special to them. It could be the flour was measured - it is easy for the flour to get packed in and it’ll result in a thicker cookie. Was the dough dry or crumbly at all? Perhaps another tablespoon or two of cream could help them spread more!