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 brown butter chocolate chip 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 brown butter chocolate chip 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 brown butter chocolate chip 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.
- Top the off. 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.
- Bang the Pan. 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.
- Make them circular. 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 brown butter chocolate chip 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 overnight.
- 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.
Video
Notes
Nutrition
See our web story for this post.
originally published August 19, 2018
Terry says
Absolute perfection!!!! Now I need to make some for the rest of my family.
BEST EVER!!!!!
KPete says
I've been on the search for the perfect chocolate chip cookie - every weekend for the last two months I make a different recipe. After making these I have stopped - this is it! I've never browned butter before but it is so worth it! These cookies are amazing. - thank you 🙂
admin says
Thank you so much! I'm so happy you love them as much as I do!
Brie says
Clearly I did Something wrong. Not only were my cookies completely crumbly even the dough was not sticking? It’s almost like I needed more of wet ingredient? they definitely did not have a gooey center! I have no idea what I did wrong! Maybe my eggs weren’t large enough I’m just not sure?! Bummer!
admin says
Hi Brie! I'm sorry they didn't turn out for you, but you're right, if the dough is that crumbly something is definitely not right 🙁
For the record, I use large eggs. My though is that maybe you had too much flour in your dough? If you're not spooning and leveling your flour into the measuring cup its super easy to get end up with a ton of extra flour in your dough. I have a tutorial here on how to measure flour http://infinetaste.com/how-to-measure-flour-correctly/
Again, I can't be sure that's the problem, but thats my first though! Hope that helps.
- Alyssa
Becky says
I am in the process of making these. Is it supposed to take F O R E V E R to brown the butter? I seriously stood and stirred it for a half hour, and it never turned brown. I finally gave up because it's 9:30 pm and these cookies are for tomorrow morning. Not sure what I'm doing wrong... It's just Land o' Lakes salted butter.
Hoping they'll still be as amazing as all the comments say, even though I am failing already on the first step.
admin says
Hi Becky! I'm surprised it took so long! Usually it takes about 8 minutes for my butter to brown. I hope they still turned out well!
- Alyssa
Joylene says
I had to turn up my heat to medium to get my butter to brown.
GK says
These are great; however, mine are much lighter than your cookies. I was skeptical about not using dark brown sugar to achieve that same color. Should my browned butter be darker than a light honey:/caramel color?
admin says
Hi Kim! I always use light brown sugar when I make these. Feel free to check out this IGTV video I made a while back walking you through how I make them. You can see the color of my brown butter after it's cooled and the color of the cookies at the end. Hope that helps!
https://www.instagram.com/tv/Bx7_h_YhtU3/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
Alyssa
Jenna says
Hey! This recipe is AHHHHMAZING! It tastes wonderful. Only issue is mine spread out REALLY wide and I had a huge ring of pretty brown (but delicious) cookie on the inside and a ball of completely uncooked cookie on the outside. Any input??
Jenna
admin says
Hi Jenna! the only time I've had this happen to me is if my cookie dough was completely frozen or if I make them smaller than 1/4 cup. when they are smaller they cook really quickly on top and don't spread. I don't know if that helps you at all! But that is my experience.
- Alyssa
Kathy says
These cookies are really good. My husband and Dad loved them. Worth the extra time to brown the butter and then refrigerate it again.
Amy says
Excited to try these!! Do you happen to have the weight amounts for the sugar and flour? Thanks!
admin says
Hi Amy! I don't have the weights for the sugar, but for the flour I use about 350 g!
- Alyssa
Lindsay says
Hi! I’m excited to try this. Any idea if I can substitute GF flour instead? Thanks!
admin says
Hi Lindsay! I've personally never used gluten-free flour, but I've heard good things about Bob's Red Mill 1:1 gluten-free baking flour! If you do try please let us know how they turn out. I'm sure all our gluten-free users would be thrilled for a good gluten-free option.
- Alyssa
admin says
Hi Lindsay! I just wanted to share, I saw on pinterest one of my followers tried this recipe with Gluten-free flour and said they turned out great! Here's a link to their try if you're interested: https://www.pinterest.com/pin/221943087875246992/activity/tried
- Alyssa
Jan says
Wow! Can I even tell you how much I absolutely love these cookies. That melted browned butter
Is a game changer. The depth of flavor the brown butter brings is just the perfect touch. Chewy, with flavors of chocolate, and hints of toffee, and caramel from the browned butter. So much flavor in one little cookie. Thank you for sharing this recipe.
admin says
Jan, thank you so much for your kind comment! It means the world to us!
- Alyssa
Noelle says
I haven’t made these yet, but could I use parchment on the pan instead of greasing or silpats?
admin says
Yes, of course!
- Alyssa
Josy says
Can this be substituted with Crisco shortening butter sticks?
admin says
Hi Josy, unfortunately no. The shortening will not brown like butter. When butter browns it is the milk solids that are toasting and that cant happen with shortening.
- Alyssa
Nina says
The absolute best chocolate chip cookie I’ve ever made!!! Thank you for sharing.
Typically I’m not good at making cookies but thanks to all the tips and tricks you offered - from knowing when brown butter is ready to having the right technique to measure flour to slightly slamming the tray to get that crinkly cookie - my cookies turned out amazing. I am so happy!!
admin says
Nina! That's amazing! I love that you actually found all those little tricks helpful, thank you so much for sharing, your feedback means so much to me!
- Alyssa
Michele says
The recipe states to add the flour, baking soda, and salt to the wet ingredients. With typical chocolate chip cookie recipes the three dry ingredients are mixed together and than added. I just want to make sure this is not the case with your recipe. Can’t wait to make these cookies!
Kara says
I ate these cookies and immediately thought of the scene in Elf where he congratulates the diner for having the world's best coffee. These are the world's best chocolate chip cookies. Well done and thank you for sharing! 👏👏👏
admin says
Kara! Thank you so much for you kind comment, it makes me so happy to see people making and enjoying these as much as I do!
- Alyssa
Lindsay Dunn says
I'm so mad at you. I will never be able to use another chocolate chip cookie recipe again. Holy crap. You should know that I have always had a theory that I should eat as many cookies as I can while they are still warm because 1: warm cookies and 2: it's GOT to be a better plan than eating one cookie a day for 16 days, calorie-wise, right?! BUT these cookies are so good that I am literally satisfied after just 1.
I followed the recipe exactly, including using 1/4 cup scoop and dropping the tray on the counter. And of course, the key ingredient--brown butter-- took these cookies over the edge. You suggested adding 1/2 teaspoon salt if using unsalted butter, which I did-- that extra bit I added was kosher salt, and it was magnificent.
Warning to anyone thinking of making these cookies--there is no coming back from this.
admin says
Lindsay! This might be the best compliment anyone has ever given me! I'm so glad you loved them, I almost always have a stash of this cookie dough in my freezer so I can pull a ball out and have a warm cookie any time I want! Because you're right, warm cookies are ALWAYS better, though you'll never see me turning down one of these cookies, warm or cold, ever!
- Alyssa
Jessica says
Hi, these look delicious! I thought all purpose flour weighed 120 g per cup or is it dependent on each flour brand? I just don’t want to add too much flour. Could you clarify how many total grams you’re using in this recipe. Thanks!
admin says
Hi Jessica! You're not wrong! Most bags of flour do say 120 g per cup, however, I've found that no matter how many times I've sifted the flour, spooned it, leveled it, I could NEVER get 120 g! I tried this over and over and was consistently getting 130 grams per cup, so that is what I use for measuring flour!
Hope that helps!
- Alyssa
Kim says
Great taste but I didnt get a cookie w/a gooey Center & crisp edges, I got more of a cakey cookie...any idea what I did wrong?
admin says
Hi Kim! You're right, a cakey cookie definitely indicates something isn't quite right!
It's hard to say exactly what is wrong without being there to see what you're doing, but I have two thoughts on maybe what when wrong....
My first thought is that you're adding too much flour! I personally weigh my flour to make sure i'm not adding too much. But we have a step by step guide here showing you how to properly measure your flour for baking! Most people don't even realize that they're adding almost 50% too much flour!
http://infinetaste.com/how-to-measure-flour-correctly/
My other though is maybe you are over mixing your dough? once you cream together your butter, sugar, eggs, and vanilla and you're adding your flour, you just want to barely mix your flour in. Don't keep mixing and mixing, mix it just enough that the flour is incorporated into the dough.
Here's a link to a video on our instagram page that shows me making them, maybe it'll help you a little bit! https://www.instagram.com/tv/Bx7_h_YhtU3/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
Try them again and see if that helps!
Alyssa
Ell says
I rarely comment on recipe posts, but these are the most incredible cookies I have ever tasted. I followed the recipe exact. I will never use another recipe again. These were AMAZING.
admin says
Ell! Thank you so much, your comment means EVERYTHING!
- Alyssa
Michele says
Very decadent cookies. Yum
admin says
Thanks Michele!
-Alyssa
Maivy says
I’ve had bad luck with making cookies - they always turn cakey and never spread. So I took one more chance and tried this recipe. OH MY I made my first ever successful batch that tasted great and spread out into lovely round chocolatey cookies! The only reason i gave 4/5 is because there was so much butter. I don’t typically like my cookies to taste as if I’m biting into a stick. I’m afraid of what would happen if I reduce it.
admin says
Hi Maivy! One reason your cookies have probably not spread and have turned out cakey in the past is that you're not using enough butter! Butter and sugar help your cookies spread and give them a nice non-cakey texture. Also, when it comes to brown butter chocolate chip cookies we have to add a little extra butter to the recipe to account for some of the moisture that is lost when the butter is browned. I hope that helps, I'm so glad you liked the recipe!
- Alyssa
Sarah says
I have made these twice already this month. We LOVE these. They are pretty oily, but in the most delicious way!
Latonia says
I baked these cookies tonight! I used a plant based butter including caramel and pecans! This recipe is a keeper!
admin says
That sounds DELICIOUS! I'm curious, did you try browning the plant based butter, if so, did it brown like normal butter does?
- Alyssa
Naomi says
I got a lot of sediment in the pan when I browned the butter. Do I add that along with the melted and cooled butter or do I discard it? It looks like at least 1/4 cup of sediment. I am in the process of making these !
admin says
So sorry for the late reply Naomi! I know this might not be helpful now, but for future reference all those little brown bits at the bottom of your pan are the toasted milk solid, you do want to add those into the mixture as they add lots of nutty delicious flavor!I hope your cookies still turned out okay 🙂
- Alyssa
Kendra says
Hello. I was wondering about how long it takes for the butter to set up in the refrigerator? Thank you
admin says
Hi Kendra,
I would say on average it takes about 45 minutes. It will set faster in the freezer than the fridge. Also if you pour it into a shallow pan so it spreads out, it will set faster than in a deep bowl.
Hope that helps!
Alyssa
Chrystie says
If you freeze the dough, do you have to thaw before baking or can you bake them from frozen? Does this change the bake time?
admin says
Hi Chrystie, when I am using my frozen cookie dough I either let it sit out for about 20 minutes to come to room temperature and bake for the normal time or I'll just add 1-2 minutes depending on how they look. I usually also give the pan of cookies a good whack on the counter after they come out of the oven because sometimes they don't spread as much and that helps flatten them out.. I hope that helps!
-Alyssa
Dana Terry says
Oh my goodness! I will never make another chocolate chip cookie recipe. These are amazing! Perfect amount of crispiness and chewiness. The brown butter just takes them up to the next level of awesomeness! Thank you for this gift.
admin says
Thank you so much for the huge compliment Dana!
- Alyssa
Sherri says
Alyssa, you have definitely created the “best” chocolate chip cookie I’ve ever tasted! They are so delicious with the browned butter! So delicious, that I just threw all of my favorite chocolate chip cookie recipes that I’ve aquired over the years. Thanks for sharing your secret tip for this recipe!
Alyssa says
Thank you so much! This honestly means the world to hear that!
Kathryn Thieben says
I made these cookies with my grandson. All of us loved them. Im wondering, can you do the brown butter in chocolate cookies?
admin says
Kathryn, I'm so glad you made them and loved them! You know I have never actually tried brown butter in chocolate cookies, but I think it would be delicious! If you do decide to try it make sure you increase the amount of butter used, as when you brown the butter you lose some of the liquid. So if the recipe calls for 1 cup, I like to do 1 1/4 cups. And please report back if you try it, Im so curious how it turns out!
- Alyssa
Julie says
Have you ever made this into a cookie cake & if so, should I double the recipe & how long should I bake it?
admin says
Hi Julie! I've never made it into a cake before so I can't say for sure, but I think one recipe would be enough for a cookie cake (depending on the size you want. Each recipe should give you about 5 cups of dough. Since you'll be flattening the cookie dough out into a round cake instead of making balls of dough, I'd start with 10 minutes and check on it and add time from there as needed!
- Alyssa
Donna says
I’ve never browned the butter before! I’m anxious to try this !
Claire says
Help!! My cookies keep turning out flat when I make this recipe and I am always waiting until my butter is solid! Any other ideas as to why this could be happening?
In Fine Taste says
Oh no! Are you creaming the butter and sugar and eggs together long enough? Creaming them together helps create some volume and should help with too flat of cookies. If that isn't the problem, you can try adding a couple tablespoons of flour to your dough or try freezing your cookie dough balls for 20 minutes before popping them in the oven, that should help them not spread quite as quickly!
- Alyssa
Melissa says
These look delish! Can’t wait to try your recipe. Do you think cutting back to 3/4 c brown sugar would still work?
admin says
If you reduce the brown sugar in the cookies, you'll still get cookies, but they won't be as good! You'll end up with a drier, more crumbly cookie.
Carol H says
Do you use light brown or dark brown sugar?
admin says
Hi Carol,
I use light brown sugar for these cookies, but I do think they would be delicious with dark brown sugar if that's all you have!
- Alyssa
Katrina says
Oh my YUM I’ve made these twice now and I swear this is by far the best cookie recipe I’ve ever made, the brown butter makes the difference, I will never go back to making normal chocolate chip cookies. Thank you!