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
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originally published August 19, 2018
Julia T
The absolute BEST chocolate chip cookies out there! I baked these today for the second time and somehow they are even better than the first time. I was apprehensive to make the cookies as large as 1/4 cup like recommended but doing this gives the perfect crispy edge and gooey center. I’ve searched long and hard for the best chocolate chip cookie, and I have found it!
Vanessa Coleman
I made these and loved the flavor, but my cookies came out dense and greasy.
Any idea what I did wrong?
admin
Hi Vanessa! My first thought when you said that was did you chill your butter after browning it? Chilling the butter helps them keep their shape more and would also help them not be greasy puddles!
As fast as the cookies being dense, how long did you cream together your butter, sugars, and eggs for? Let them cream together for at least 2-3 minutes (set the timer!). This helps whip some air into the cookies so their not too dense!
Give them another try and see if that helps!
- Alyssa
Ting Bresnahan
LOVE this recipe! Have been baking up a storm during this quarantine and giving these cookies (baked and frozen) to friends! Thank you!!!
Lorraine
First time browning the butter. Wow! These cookies were the best I have EVER made!! So delicious!! This is my new favorite recipe. The only thing I did differently was used Chocolate Chunks. I didnt our extra chunks on top before baking. Not only do they takes great they look beautiful!!
admin
Yum! I love chocolate chunks in my cookies!
- Alyssa
Heather
Best.Cookies.Ever
The browned butter adds soooo much flavor! I don’t have to add nuts to my cookies now. 😀 I’ve been a baker for years and these are the best bloody cookies. I’ve made them again and again for friends and family... they are a fan favorite/staple now. Thank you!
admin
Thanks so much for trying them and for taking the time to comment! I really appreciate it, Heather! Also, if you like nuts n your cookies I totally recommend trying our Brown Butter Pecan Cookies next. SOOOO goood!
http://infinetaste.com/butter-pecan-cookies/
- Alyssa
Ariel
Undeniably THE BEST cookies I've ever tasted. Your tutorials on flour measurement and browning the butter were SO helpful and necessary. Forever in awe!
admin
Thank you so much Ariel! Seriously, your comment means so much! And I'm so glad you found those tutorials helpful 🙂
- Alyssa
Lisa
I just made and they are delicious! I did add pecans and they are yummy!!!!!
admin
Thanks Lisa! I love pecans, especially with chocolate! You should try out our butter pecan cookies next! If you like these cookies and pecans you will LOVE these!
http://infinetaste.com/butter-pecan-cookies/
- Alyssa
Melissa
Hi there-- in the middle of making these cookies (waiting for butter to cool), but noticed that you do not chill the dough before baking. Have you tried this with chilling dough and/or what are you recommendations about this?
admin
Hi Melissa! I don't chill the dough generally., however there is no harm in chilling it if you want to make the dough a little bit ahead of time. Just make sure you wrap the dough tightly in plastic so it doesn't dry out!
- Alyssa
Angie
Hi my batter came out very crumbly any idea why?
In Fine Taste
Hi Angie, if your cookies are crumbly that is usually a sign of too much flour! Check out our post on how to properly measure flour to make sure you're not getting too much flour when measuring out the flour for your cookies!
https://infinetaste.com/how-to-measure-flour-correctly/
Hope that helps!
- Alyssa
Jamie
The flavor is amazing. Browning the sugar is definitely the secret trick here. However I disagree with using baking ‘soda’ there is nothing acidic for it to react with. I think I needs to be baking “powder”
I had to use baking powder because I didn’t not have baking soda. I doubled it as you should and it was just way too much leavening. I will have to try again. They were delicious!
admin
Hi Jamie! Brown sugar is actually acidic (the molasses in it is) but baking powder is always a good substitute, though obviously the ratios have to be played with. I've always used baking soda in this recipe but now I'm curious! I'll have to play with using baking soda and baking powder in the recipe and see how it changes the recipe. I'll experiment and report back!
- Alyssa
Angela
These cookies were perfect! Ive been making brown butter chocolate chip cookies for the last 3-4 years. I used to have an amazing recipe from this YouTube video but I think it’s been taken down for some reason. I’ve been searching for forever for the right recipe but all of the ones I’ve tried weren’t quite right (and I’ve tried a lot). This is the one that looked similar to what I’ve made before and I gave it a go. I also added 0.5 tsp to of instant coffee to the vanilla to give it a richer taste. It was so gooey in the center and crispy on the outside. Because I was in a rush, I popped my brown butter in the freezer and it cooled it off quickly. Mine did not spread too much and they came out absolutely perfect! Thank you so much!
admin
I'm so glad you finally found a recipe you love! And that coffee added to the vanilla sounds divine!
- Alyssa
Drea
This is the absolute best chocolate chip cookie recipe I’ve ever tried. My mind is blown by the brown butter.... now I must find ways to sneak it into everything I bake. Thank you so much for sharing your recipe with the world!
admin
You're so kind Drea! I'm right there with you, brown butter makes everything better!
- Alyssa
Ashley
Best chocolate chip cookie in the world! My first batch burned on bottom. Put my heat to 350 and they rest turned out great.
admin
So glad you loved them Ashley!
- Alyssa
Adrienne Overly
These truly are the best chocolate chip cookies ever!!! My entire family loves them, which is quite an accomplishment. The secret has to be the brown butter. I have never browned butter before, but I will from now on, to make these cookies.
Cindy latiak
I am a Pinterest addict & have tried more recipes than I could count ~ this is my first comment ~ absolutely the best chocolate chip cookies ever ~ the browned butter is a beyond amazing ~ my husband called it a keeper ~ thank you so much🍪❤️
admin
Thank you so much Cindy!
- Alyssa
Hanna
OMG!!! I love these cookies. I would not have found this recipe if Weed me and Reap (YouTube Channel) would not have put the recipe in the description box. I was a bit nervous to do the browning stage, but it’s so simple and worthwhile!!! They taste AMAZING and have a slight nutty flavour without it being too nutty!!!! I love these so much, I will keep the recipe forever!!!!
admin
Hanna! I'm so glad you loved the cookies, the slightly nutty flavor is, in my opinion what makes these sooooo goodddd, totally agree with you there.
I had no idea that Weed em' and Reap linked to us! Would you mind sharing the link with me? I'd love to support them and share it!
- Alyssa
Shelby
These cookies taste great! I’m not a baker, but your tips made it pretty easy to follow along! I do think my dough was a little dry because it was pretty crumbly. I have half left that I was planning to freeze. Do you think I can add more butter to it before freezing?
admin
Hi Shelby! I know this a day late, but in the future if your cookie dough is a crumbly you can absolutely add a little softened butter to your dough to moisten it up! I would add 1 tablespoon of soft butter at a time until it comes together.
Also, side note, if your dough is crumbly that usually means you have a little too much flour! I always encourage my fellow bakers to make sure they're diligent about measuring their flour correctly, it makes all the difference in the world! Here's a picture guide to help you out: http://infinetaste.com/how-to-measure-flour-correctly/
- Alyssa
Scott
I’m a guy. I’ve made plenty of cookies before, but always pretty utilitarian, because...well, I’m a guy and I’m easy to please when it comes to cookies. Also, I’d never heard of brown butter. So, when I was at the twenty-third hour of a Saturday of a long and stressful week, I just went with the first recipe that had a good looking picture of cookies that google showed me. This...was much more than a good looking picture. Question: why did I never learn of brown butter!? It isn’t like I didn’t learn to cook and stuff from my amazing mother, but...brown butter?...that one got hidden from me for forty-two years somehow...but will now be how ALL chocolate chip cookies get made. In fact, I’d brown an extra tablespoon did this recipe, because your going to eat plain butter...brown, but plain. Delicious. I didn’t use a 1/4c ball of dough, probably about half of that for each cookie, and now I have plenty of cookies to last at least 18 hours.
Thanks for the new, interesting, and DELICIOUS recipe!
-Scott
admin
Scott! This comment must made my weekend! I'm so glad you loved the cookies!
- Alyssa
Molly
I don’t know what the heck I could have done wrong, I followed this recipe exactly and these cookies were a greasy mess and barely salvageable, I had to keep pushing them together during baking cause they spread like crazy. Flavors are good but everything else was awful. Super disappointing. Maybe if the dough was chilled beforehand it would have been better. But that wasn’t in the recipe.
admin
Hi Molly! You're right that does not sound right. Did you chill your butter after you browned it? That's my first thought when I read about your cookies! If you don't chill the butter they turn into giant cookie puddles!
Neremiah
I used a 1/4 cup measure to scoop out the cookies and they spread out too much in the oven and some were touching each other. Not sure if it’s my oven (more than likely it is the problem) but I had to leave one of the cookie sheets in there longer than 8-10 min and they still appear to be underdone.
The recipe itself is yummy but I’m not sure how to prevent them from spreading out too much in the oven. Any tips would be helpful!
admin
Hi Neremiah! My first thought is, how many cookies are you putting on a sheet? When I make large cookies using 1/4 cup scoop I only put 6 cookies on a sheet. My other thought is, did you cool your brown butter until it was solidified? i've found if you don't cool the brown butter the cookies spread quite a bit. If You're doing all these things and finding that they're still spreading, I would suggest chilling the cookie dough balls in the fridge for an hour, or popping them in the freezer for 20ish minutes. That should help keep them from spreading too much.
The cookies themselves are designed to be crispy on the outside and a little gooey in the middle right when they come out of the oven. But they will continue to set up and cook longer as they sit on the hot pans. If you don't like your cookies gooey at all, then feel free to add a few minutes onto the bake time to make them a little crispier!
I hope this helps! Let me know if you have any other questions or if you try them again, I'd love to know how they turn out!
- Alyssa
Leslie
Best Cookie ever!!!!