These brown butter chocolate chip cookies are the perfect cookie. The brown butter gives these cookies a rich toffee flavor and a hint of salt. They have crisp, golden edges, a nice crust on the outside, but are still soft and gooey in the center with melty semisweet chocolate.
Why this Recipe Works
I spent years trying to find the perfect chocolate chip cookie recipe. I tested dozens before deciding to just come up with my own. The brown butter and high baking temperature I think it what gives these cookies an edge.
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.
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.
Ingredient Notes
- Butter. The amount of butter listed in the ingredients is the amount needed before you brown it. Once browned you will probably lose about 25% of your butter as liquid evaporates during the browning process.
- Brown Sugar. We use a higher proportion of brown sugar to white sugar in this recipe. The molasses in the brown sugar compliments the brown butter well and amps up that amazing toffee-butterscotch flavor. If you want an amazing chocolate chip cookie recipe without brown sugar, we have a delicious and super easy one!
- Flour. A classic, no-frills, all-purpose flour is all we use here. The most important thing when it comes to flour is making sure you don’t use too much—spoon and level, weigh, and check out our guide on How to Measure Flour Correctly.
- Semisweet Chocolate Chips. I prefer semisweet chocolate chips over milk in this recipe. The slight bitterness from the semisweet chocolate chips adds the perfect contrast to this rich brown butter chocolate chip cookies.
How to Make this Recipe
- How to Brown Butter. Start by browning your butter. Place the butter in a heavy bottomed pan, make sure it is large as the butter tends to foam up quite a bit. Keep stirring it over medium-high heat until the butter has reached an amber color and there are brown bits at the bottom. Consult out How to Brown Butter tutorial for FAQs on browning butter, pictures, and a video!
- Chill the butter. Place the butter in a large bowl and chill or freeze until it has returned to a solid state. You want it to be room temperature, solid, but soft enough to be creamed. Chilling the butter is essential to these cookies, so do not try to skip this step. Picture A shows what the butter will look like after it is chilled and Picture B shows it after it has been moved to the mixing bowl. Notice the toasted milk solids (the dark bits) have sunk to the bottom of the dish. Don’t forget to get all those dark bits into your mixing bowl, they add lots of toasted butter flavor!
- Cream the butter and sugar. Cream together the butter, brown sugar and white sugar for 1 minute.
- Add the eggs. Then add the eggs and vanilla and beat for another 2-3 minutes until the mixture is light and fluffy. Please note: the image pictured is a double batch, which is why you see 4 eggs in the image instead of 2.
- Add the dry ingredients. Add the flour, baking soda, and salt. Mix the dry ingredients in so they are just barely incorporated. Overworking the dough will result in tough cookies.
- Add the chocolate chips. Stir in the chocolate chips until they are evenly dispersed throughout the dough.
- Bake. Take 4 tablespoons of dough and shape into round balls. Place on a greased or lined baking sheet and bake for 8-10 minutes at 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Leave plenty of room for the cookies to spread (I typically place 6 cookie dough balls on a baking sheet). Let the cookies cool for 2-3 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
When butter is browned the milk solids are toasted giving it a nutty and toffee flavor that complements the rest of the ingredients. If 1 ¼ cups of butter seems like a lot to you in this recipe it is because butter loses about 25% of its liquid when it is browned. So you end up with closer to 1 cup of butter by the time you add it into the mixing bowl.
If your cookies are too flat, this is usually a result of not chilling the butter after it has been browned. We need the butter chilled back to room temperature so that air can be whipped into it when it is creamed together with the sugars and eggs. Otherwise you will end up with puddles for cookies.
Typically, if your cookies are hard after they have cooled it means that you didn’t make the cookies large enough. Remember, we’re using about 4 tablespoons of dough per cookie. If you make them smaller they will end up slightly overbaked and won’t have that same soft center that you get with the larger cookies.
Expert Tips
- Make sure your flour is measured correctly. Too much flour is a cardinal sin in baking. You need to take care when measuring it, I prefer to weigh my flour, but otherwise take a second to review our guide on How to Measure Flour Properly. Too much flour in your cookies can make them dry, tough, crumbly, or too thick, none of which are good.
- Get all the brown bits in your brown butter. After you brown your butter you’ll see all sorts of little brown bits at the bottom of the pan. Those are toasted milk solids and they add a delicious toasted and salty flavor to the brown butter chocolate chip cookies. So scrape every last bit of them into your bowl for maximum flavor.
How to make pretty cookies:
- 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 it's 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. You can also use a large round cookie cutter or even a large mason jar to shape your cookies. Just move the cookie cutter in a circular motion around the cookie to make it a perfect circle.
How to Store this Recipe
How to freeze cookie dough.
I love 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 lined cookie sheet and place the entire cookie sheet in the freezer for 30-60 minutes. This is going to make sure they maintain their shape and don't get squished and misshapen in the freezer
- Then you can place them in a freezer safe gallon back or 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. You can freeze these for up to 3 months.
- Before baking, pull out however many cookie dough balls you want and let them sit out at room temperature for about 30 minutes. Then bake according to normal instructions, you may need to add a minute to the baking time
How to Store at Room Temperature
- To maintain the crispy edges and soft centers, my preferred method of storing these is to leave them on a plate or tray and loosely cover them with a towel over night.
- If you decide to store them in a sealed container (like a Ziploc bag or Tupperware) The cookies will likely lose their crisp exterior and take on a chewy texture overall (still delicious though!).
You May Also Like These Other Cookie Recipes:
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Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 ¼ cup butter (280 grams) see notes
- ¾ cup granulated sugar (150 grams)
- 1 cup firmly packed brown sugar (200 grams)
- 2 large eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 2 ¾ cups of flour (357 grams) measured correctly
- ½ teaspoon of salt
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 2-2 ½ cups semisweet chocolate chips (360-480 grams)
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 silicone mats or parchment paper.
- Once butter has set up, cream together butter and both sugars for 1 minute. Add in eggs and vanilla for and additional 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 (about 68 grams) and shape into round balls bake for 8-10 minutes at 375 degrees Fahrenheit 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
Best cookies I've ever made. Definitely use salted butter. I browned my butter to a dark Carmel color.. I also added a heaping cup of chopped walnuts .
I am super bummed. I measured all the ingredients exactly with the scale so I’m not sure why the dough came out so dry. I use my scale to make macarons which always turn out fine so I’m Confused as to how this worked for everyone else. I baked a few to see how they turned out and they never flattened at all like the pictures.
Hi Ileah! I'm sorry you had some trouble with the recipe! I know you said you used a scale for ingredients, which is great! That eliminates many common problems with the recipe. Other things I would double check on the recipe are: Are you creaming the butter, sugar and eggs for the full amount of time? Are you making the cookies with 4 tablespoons of dough? The smaller cookies don't spread nearly as much as the larger ones. You can also give your baking sheet a good bang on the counter after they come out of the oven which helps flatten them a little too. Hope this helps a little 🙂
- Alyssa
I’ve made this recipe numerous times and I LOVE it! I get so many compliments on how delicious these cookies are. I don’t use quite as many chocolate chips and I use dark chocolate. For sure one of my all time favorite dessert recipes!
Love the addition of dark chocolate! Definitely my favorite too!
- Alyssa
Absolutely delicious!!!!!!
Absolutely delectable!!
I didn’t have issues with the flour. But my recommendation is use dark brown sugar for the flavor and bake the cookies at 325 (14mins for my oven) not 350. They still get a nice crunch to them but don’t brown as dark.
The perfect choc chip cookie. Gooey inside and crisp. I always have issues with cookies (too crispy, too thin, bland taste). These were perfect. My new favorite.
Did you follow the recipe as written?
By far my favorite cookie recipe! I’ve made these at least a dozen or 3 (hehe) times since I got the recipe 2 years ago. They’re super versatile too! I love mixing it up: the cookies are phenomenal plain with no chips, pecans are a great addition, I’ve used mini peanut butter cups, a combo of dried blueberries and macadamia (those are in the oven now!) and a triple chip with salted caramel chips, milk chocolate chips, and dark chocolate chunks. So many options! Thank you for this recipe. It always gets rave reviews from my friends.
Amazing recipe! Was wondering if you ever freeze the dough for later and if so how that worked for you? Would like to roll into balls and freeze them so can just pop in the oven when I want fresh cookies but don’t know how that would affect the bake time and outcome. Thanks for the help!
Hi Gina! Yes, I freeze the cookie dough all the time! If you scroll up to the last paragraph I go into a little more detail. But essentially, I form the cookie dough into balls and freeze them for 30 minutes before storing in a freezer bag in the freezer. Then, when I want to bake some, I just let the dough thaw for about 30 minutes and bake according to normal instructions. They sometimes require an extra minute. Hope that helps!
- Alyssa
Amaaaaazing recipe. I brought these to work so I wouldn’t have unlimited access to cookies at home and I have gotten so many compliments! The recipe is perfect.
So glad they all liked them Sam! I appreciate you taking the time to comment <3
- Alyssa
Amazing and worth the wait!
I've made these cookies over 50 times now, and they are just to DIE for. Here is what I've learned/changed: the dough tastes incredible and honestly deserves the spotlight in this cookie.. so instead of chocolate chips I use pecans. It is a heavenly combo! I am also sure to use dark brown sugar to give it an even richer flavor. I have been told over and over again by countless people that I need to sell these cookies.. and I'm honestly planning on it. They are absolutely incredible. My husband who doesn't usually like sweets, loses all self control with these. We are in love! Thank you for this life-changing recipe. I make it at least twice a week.
Hey there! I’ve been earnestly wanting to try these cookies out but facing some difficulties regarding the conversion to the metric system🥺 Please add the measurements in the metric too!
Hi Nishat, I just added the weight of each ingredient in grams. I hope that helps you! Please let me know if you have any other questions.
- Alyssa
This is the absolute best chocolate chip cookie recipe I’ve ever made and my search for the perfect cookie is over! I know measuring the flour for this recipe is super important - can you please confirm the amount in grams? If I use your 1 cup = 130g strategy then 2 3/4 cup is 357.5g. Is that correct? Thank you!
Hi Laura! Your flour measurement in grams is correct! I'll be updating the recipe soon so it has grams for every ingredients, just need to remake it one more time to confirm what I have noted is correct.
- Alyssa
Wonderful! Thank you so much! We are obsessed with these cookies 🙂
Hi! This is THE BEST recipe ever! I noticed you edited this recipe in Aug 2021. It’s been a while since I’ve made these — Did the previous version call for 2 1/4 cup flour? I see it now calls for 2 3/4 cup. Knowing how important the flour measurement is I want to make sure of the following: using your 1 cup = 130g method, this means I’ll use 357.5 g total of flour, correct? I’m worried I’ll mess them up because I had it in my notes to use 2 1/4 cup which is: 292.5g. Thank you!
I’ve made this recipe twice and everyone keeps requesting them for family gatherings. Although very delicious, I cannot get them to stay soft after a few hours of baking. I’m measuring my flour with a scale and using a KA mixer at about the 2-4 speed. Any tips?
Hi Diamond, it's always hard to say without actually being there. But usually I say, make sure you aren't over mixing the dough once the flour is added. Mix is just enough for the flour to be incorporated so the cookies aren't touch. The other thing is that your may need to make your cookies bigger! The bigger the cookies, the better ratio of crispy edges and gooey center you'll get. I usually make each cookie dough ball about 1/4 cup. If those don't work, try baking them for 1-2 minutes less.
I hope that helps!
- Alyssa