These brown butter chocolate chip cookies have been life changing for me! That might sound dramatic, but it's true! I’ve been on the hunt for years for the perfect chocolate chip cookie. I’ve made dozens of recipes before finally realizing I’d just have to make my own. The perfect chocolate chip cookie to me has golden crispy edges, a good crust on the top, but still soft and a littlegooey in the center.
Enter our brown butter chocolate chip cookies. The cookie base has a rich toffee flavor, semisweet or dark chocolate is a must to contrast the sweet dough, and a pinch a salt to enhance the flavors all around. And that is what you get with this cookie! The secret to this perfect cookie? The brown butter, of course!
Browning the Butter
If brown butter intimidates you, don’t let it! I promise it is actually super easy.
See our video and step by step tutorial on how to brown butter:
HOW TO BROWN BUTTER TUTORIAL AND VIDEO HERE
Our brown butter guide will show you what to expect and answer any of your questions about browning butter!
Once the butter is browned, remove from heat, and pour into a bowl to cool. We want the butter to be soft but solid—room temperature. I stick mine in the fridge or freezer to speed up the process, if your butter gets too hard in the fridge, just let it sit on the counter for a few minutes and it’ll be perfect.
You can even brown your butter a few days in advance and store it in the fridge covered until you’re ready to make your cookies.
After you’ve browned butter once, you’ll never be afraid to do it again!
What makes these cookies so good?
I'll let your in on a couple secrets on what makes these cookies truly spectacular. First is the most obvious, the brown butter. The brown butter offers a subtle nutty flavor that blends perfectly with the molasses in the brown sugar to give the cookie that amazing rich slightly smoky and nutty toffee flavor.
You'll notice I use a higher ratio of brown sugar to white sugar. You've got to have the right balance of sugar and butter with not too much flour to get a nice spread on your cookies, as well as those nice crispy edges.
Instead of baking my cookies at the standard 350 degrees, I bake them at 375 degrees. Baking your cookies at a higher temperature will cook the outside of the cookie faster before the inside cooks too much. This trick is going to give you those crispy edges and exterior and keep the inside nice and soft.
My Cookie Baking Essentials:
You don't need a cookie scoop for this recipe, but it sure speeds up the cookie scooping process and guarantees that your cookies are all the same size and shape. This scoop is a 4 tablespoon scoop (¼ cup) and it is my most used scoop!
I love using a kitchen scale to weigh out my flour. If you don't weigh out your flour make sure you are measuring your flour correctly otherwise you may end up with way too much flour in your cookies, which would be a tragedy.
Basic cookie sheets, I use these for EVERYTHING!
I love these silicone mats! Nothing sticks to them and they make cleaning up a breeze!
You can use beaters or any stand mixer you already have for these cookies, but this kitchen aid mixer is my absolute favorite!
HI THERE! LINKS IN THIS POST ARE AMAZON AFFILIATE LINKS TO PRODUCTS WE LOVE.
You'll notice in the instructions that your cookie dough balls should be ¼ cup. You might be tempted to make them smaller, but ¼ cup scoops will give you the perfect ratio of crispiness and softness.
How to get PRETTY cookies:
I've also got some tips for you on how to make your cookies look extra pretty!
- Make your cookies big! Bigger cookies look prettier. I use ¼ cup of dough for the perfect crispy and gooey ratio. This is my favorite cookie scoop to use.
- Before you put your cookie dough balls in the oven top them with a few extra chocolate chips. This makes sure you've got some chocolate chips picture perfect on top of every cookie.
- Right when your cookies come out of the oven bang the pan on the counter. the pushes the cookies out and gives them those beautiful wrinkles.
- If your cookies are a little misshapen its okay, you can fix them.While the cookies are still hot take your spatula and gently push in the edges anywhere the cookies aren't perfectly round.
DON'T FORGET TO MEASURE YOUR FLOUR CORRECTLY!
You guys, I cannot emphasize enough how important it is to measure your flour properly! Any time someone had had these cookies turn out dry, crumbly, or cakey 99% of the time the culprit is TOO MUCH FLOUR!
I actually weigh my flour--130 grams = 1 cup flour. I know most people don't have a kitchen scale, which is why it's so important that you stir up your flour before using it, as it compresses while it sits, and spoon and level it before using it. We have an entire picture tutorial HERE showing you how to measure your flour properly and why it's so important. For the love of all baked goods, please, oh please do not just dip your measuring cup into your flour container and scrape it up the side. Save us from the dry, crumbly cookies.
How to Freeze the Dough
I loveeee to have a stock of these in my freezer for when I'm craving a cookie or in case I need to bring a little treat to someone fast! So here's what you'll want to do:
- Scoop the cookie dough into ¼ cup balls and line them up on a cookie sheet and place the entire cookie sheet in the freezer for at least 1 hour this is going to make sure they maintain their shape and don't get squished and misshapen in the freezer
- Then you can stack them on top of each other in a tupperware container, I like to place a piece of parchment paper, wax paper, or even plastic wrap in between the layers of cookie dough so that they don't get stuck to each other
- Before baking, pull out however many cookie dough balls you want and let them sit out at room temperature for about 15 minutes. Then bake according to normal instructions.
Just look at that gooey center! If you like this recipe don't forget to comment and rate it below!
Enjoy!
Alyssa
You May Also Like These Other Cookie Recipes:
- Peanut Butter Cup Cookies
- Dark Chocolate Pistachio Tahini Cookies
- Chewy Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Chocolate Chip Shortbread Cookies
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Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
Instructions
- Brown 1 ¼ cups of butter in a medium-large saucepan, stirring constantly over medium-high heat, until you reach a deep honey color. Remove from heat and pour into your mixing bowl. Cool butter in fridge or freezer until room temperature consistency, you want your butter to be solid. If you use it when its still liquid your cookies will be flat.
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease baking sheets with cooking spray or line with silpat mats.
- Once butter has set up, cream together butter, both sugars, eggs, and vanilla for 2-3 minutes until the mixture is pale and fluffy. (Make sure you get all those toasty brown bits at the bottom of your brown butter!)
- Add in flour, baking soda, and salt. Only mix the dry ingredients in until just barely combined—over mixing will make the cookies tough. Stir in chocolate chips.
- Take ¼ cup of dough and shape into round balls bake 8-10 minutes until the top and edges are just golden. Cool cookies on baking sheet for 2-3 minutes before moving to a cooling rack.
Notes
Nutrition
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originally published August, 19 2018
This has become my all-time favorite chocolate chip cookie! The brown butter gives the cookies such a rich texture and my whole family loves them!
I'm so glad you enjoyed them Brenda! Thanks for taking the time to try them out and comment and review them. 🙂
- Alyssa
When do I add the baking soda and salt?
At the same time you add in the flour!
- Alyssa
Do you use regular brown sugar or dark brown? Would it make a difference if you used either or?
Hi Nina, great question! I typically use regular brown sugar in this recipe. Dark brown sugar would give it a slightly chewier texture and give it a slightly richer caramel flavor.
- Alyssa
Love this recipe. Can you Double this recipe and can you freeze the dough.
So glad you liked them! You can definitely double the recipe and freeze the dough, I do it all the time! Form the cookie dough into balls before freezing. Then when you're ready to bake, just let the cookie dough balls sit out for 20-30 minutes before baking.
- Alyssa
I typically make 1.5lbs-2lbs of browned butter at a time, I know it decreases im volume after cooking - so just curious of the measurement of butter AFTER browning
Hi Crys,
The amount can vary depending on how long you brown the butter for. But generally, I’ve found that I lose about 20%. So in this recipe you would use about a cup of brown butter.
- Alyssa
I think I could've stood to brown the butter a bit more(was my first time) however these were def a hit! I used both chocolate chips as well as reese's peanut butter chips and did chill the mixed batter for a few minutes before baking. Recipe is a keeper, yum!
Pretty sure these were the best chocolate chip cookies I’ve ever made. Wow. Wow, wow, wow. It was a struggle to eat them because our jaws were DROPPED…! Crossing fingers for those weights so I can make them much more easily. Never trust my own!! :))(
Hi, just made the dough but haven't baked yet. Is it normal for the dough to be pretty wet/sticky? I've made dough like this before and the cookies always turn out flat so I'm worried..
Hi Robert,
The dough is not usually super wet or sticky. Did you chill the butter back to a solid state? If it's too wet and your cookies are spreading like crazy you can chill the dough for a while to help it set up and if it's still a problem add 1-2 tablespoons of flour until the dough is no longer wet/sticky.
- Alyssa
Hey!
I’m just saw these posted on reddit and I’m browning butter for my first time so that I can make these. They look terrific. Thanks for the thorough guidance.
If you have the ingredient weights you use, it would be so helpful to post them as well!
Thanks.
Hi Matt,
I don't have weight for the ingredients, but I will work on it and get them put in there! I hope the cookies turned out for you!
- Alyssa
Fabulous cookies! I have never received so many kudos and requests for more. The browned butter adds a whole new dimension. Bought a kitchen scale just for these cookies because - why not? Problem is I can’t keep them in the house for more than 24 hours - they’re just that good!
IMO, These are the best chocolate chip cookies! Sooo flavorful, big and gooey! Follow the recipe, and they will look just like the picture. Perfect for my palate! The search is over!
These cookies are beyond amazing !!! This is my new “go-to” favourite
My search is over! Thank you for posting this amazing recipe!! I've been looking for YEARS for that perfect chocolate chip cookie. We were all anxious to try them on day 2, to see if they were just as good, and they are! I have tried many, many recipes that claimed to be the perfect or best chocolate chip cookie, but have been disappointed. I only made half the recipe because I was expecting it to not be that great. I will never make half of this recipe again!
These are, by far, the best chocolate chip cookies I’ve ever made, and I have tried what seems like every ccc recipe there is! The cookies are beyond amazing. The brown butter definitely takes these cookies to another level. Thank you for this perfect chocolate chip cookie. Can’t wait to make these again and again!
Loved these cookies! Did make a few changes though. i used a combination of AP and cake Flout equal parts. Then i used half milk chocolate and hc half Dark chocolate chips. Finally as my husband likes nuts in his chocolate chip cookies i added a half a cup each of chopped walnuts and Peacns. They came out beautifully
Now I now why everyone is raving about Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies. Definitely the best CCC recipe out there, all others go in the trash.
These turned out AMAZING!!!! The secret to a good chocolate chip cookie is to brown the butter! I thought I burnt the butter but like the recipe said, it’s not burnt! Turned out perfect!!! I’m going to make individual cookie boxes and use them for party favors for a 12 yr old birthday.
Thanks so much, I'm so happy they worked out for you! And I LOVE that idea of cookie boxes for party favors! I might have to steal that one for the future 🙂
- Alyssa
Hi !
I'm confused I made into balls (1/4cup) they didn't flatten until the very end. Turned out nice and brown but raw on the inside .. is raw the "soft and chewy" meaning? Should I have flattened balls? Thanks
Jenna
Ps batter was delicious
Hi Jenna,
So when I make my cookies, like you said, the flatten out at the very end and do tend to be a little gooey on the inside. They will set up at they cool and will be less gooey. If you don't like your cookies that soft in the center you can bake them a couple minutes longer or even lower the temperature to 350 and bake for a longer amount of time. Lowering the temperature will give you a more chewy cookies, and you won't get as crispy of an exterior/edges or the gooey center. Hope that helps!
- Alyssa
Is this 1 1/4 cups of melted butter or solid butter?
Hi Josie, it will be 1 1/4 cups of butter BEFORE you brown the butter. You will lose some of the volume when it is browned. Hope that helps!
- Alyssa
My butter reduced to approx 1 1/8 cup; is this about right?
Thanks!
That sounds about right!
- Alyssa
I will never use another chocolate chip cookie recipe again! These are perfection!