Browned Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies Recipe

Browned Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

If you love a classic chocolate chip cookie but want something with a deeper, more grown up flavor, these Browned Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies are the ones to bake next. Browning the butter before it goes into the dough adds a nutty, caramelized richness that softened butter alone cannot give you.

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The finished cookies have a soft center, gently crisp edges, and a light sprinkle of flaky sea salt on top. The dough needs a long chill, so plan ahead. What you get in return is a batch of 23 deeply flavored cookies. This recipe is adapted from the original Browned Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies recipe.

Ingredients & Substitutions

Take a minute to read the list before you begin, because a couple of these ingredients can be swapped without changing the character of the cookie.

Butter does the heavy lifting here. Browning unsalted butter intensifies its flavor and brings in rich, nutty, caramelized notes that you simply cannot get from creaming butter. The recipe recommends a quality unsalted butter such as Challenge unsalted butter.

If you only have salted butter in the house, you can still bake these cookies, but reduce the amount of added salt in the dough to keep the flavor balanced.

Light brown sugar supplies both sweetness and moisture. Its light molasses content is what enhances the caramel flavor profile of the finished cookie.

Eggs should be at room temperature before you mix them in, so set them out a little ahead of time.

Flour, baking soda, baking powder, and kosher salt build the structure and the lift of the cookie, and the vanilla rounds out the flavor of the dough.

Chocolate. Roughly chopped semi sweet chocolate gives you melting pockets of chocolate instead of uniform chips. If you prefer, about 2 cups of chocolate chips or chunks can be used as a substitute for the chopped chocolate.

Flaky sea salt is sprinkled over the warm baked cookies as a finishing touch, where it complements the sweetness. Kosher salt can be used instead, and the cookies are also delicious without any salt on top.

Weigh your ingredients when you can. The gram amounts for the butter, brown sugar, and flour are listed so you can match the recipe exactly.

If you enjoy this nutty, caramel style of baking, my Brown Butter Sugar Cookies are a lovely next step.

Instructions

This is a bake recipe, and the oven goes to 350°F. Prep takes about 10 minutes and the cookies bake for 12 to 14 minutes.

Keep the rest of the timeline in mind too: the browned butter mixture cools for 15 to 20 minutes, the dough chills for 24 hours, the chilled dough rests for 30 minutes at room temperature, and the baked cookies cool for 5 minutes on the sheets before they move to a rack.

The source total time does not line up with the sum of those individual steps, so plan from the step times rather than from a single total.

1. In a stainless steel skillet, or another pan with a light colored bottom, melt the butter over medium high heat, swirling the pan occasionally. The butter will begin to foam, which signals that the water in the butter is boiling off. Watch closely at this stage. Tiny brown specks of milk solids will start to appear at the bottom of the pan, so stir and scrape them constantly with a spatula so they do not stick.
2. As soon as the butter turns chestnut brown and smells nutty, remove the pan from the heat and pour the browned butter into a heat safe bowl.
3. Add the brown sugar to the hot browned butter and stir to combine, then set the mixture aside to cool for 15 to 20 minutes.
4. While the butter mixture cools, add the flour, baking soda, salt, and baking powder to a medium bowl and whisk to combine.
5. Once the butter mixture has cooled, add the eggs and vanilla and whisk to combine.
6. Using a rubber spatula, gradually mix in the flour mixture.
7. Fold in the chopped chocolate.
8. Using a 3 tablespoon scoop, drop balls of dough onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Cover the dough balls and transfer them to the refrigerator to chill for 24 hours.
9. Remove the chilled cookie dough from the refrigerator and let it rest at room temperature for 30 minutes before baking.
10. Preheat the oven to 350°F and line baking sheets with parchment paper.
11. Place the dough balls on the lined baking sheets, leaving about an inch between each cookie. Bake for 12 to 14 minutes, or until golden brown. If you prefer a slightly underdone cookie, start checking at 10 minutes.
12. Remove the cookies from the oven and sprinkle flaky sea salt over the tops while they are still warm.
13. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheets for 5 minutes, then transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely.

The 24 hour chill is a real step in this method, not a suggestion. The dough is scooped first and chilled afterward, so build that day of resting time into your plan before you start.

Can I Make The Cookies Without Browning The Butter?

Yes, you can. The cookies will still bake up just fine, but you will miss out on the unique and rich flavor profile that browning the butter creates. That nutty, caramelized note is the whole point of this cookie.

If you decide to skip that step, simply cream room temperature butter with the brown sugar first, then continue with the rest of the recipe as written. Everything else, including the chill and the bake time, stays the same.

Why Chill The Dough?

This is the part where patience pays off. The recipe strongly encourages you not to skip the 24 hour dough chilling step.

During that long rest in the refrigerator, the ingredients meld and the flavors develop. Moisture in the dough hydrates the dry ingredients, which results in a more harmonious and well balanced flavor profile, and in cookies that taste richer and more complex.

After the dough comes out of the refrigerator, let it sit at room temperature for about 30 minutes before baking.

Plan ahead: the dough chills for 24 hours, then rests 30 minutes at room temperature before it goes into the oven.

How To Store Browned Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

Let the baked cookies cool completely, then store them in an airtight container at room temperature. They keep well for up to 3 to 4 days that way.

For longer storage, freezing is the better option, and the next section covers both ways to do it. For reference, the source lists 253 calories per one cookie serving.

Freezing Browned Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

These cookies freeze beautifully, and you have two choices. You can freeze the baked cookies, or you can freeze the portioned dough and bake fresh cookies whenever you want them.

To freeze baked cookies: let the cookies cool completely, then place them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and put the sheet in the freezer for 1 to 2 hours. Once the cookies are firm, transfer them to a freezer safe container, where they will keep for up to 3 to 4 weeks.

To freeze the dough: place the portioned dough balls on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and freeze for 1 to 2 hours, until solid. Then transfer the frozen dough balls to freezer safe zipper bags.

To bake from frozen: take out as many dough balls as you need and bake them as directed, keeping in mind that the baking time may need to be increased by 1 to 2 minutes.

Freezing the dough is a smart move if you do not want 23 cookies sitting on the counter at once. Portion them first, freeze them solid, and you can bake a small batch whenever the craving hits.

If you like having cookie dough ready in the freezer, my Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies follow the same make ahead idea.

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Browned Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

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Browned Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies If you love a classic chocolate chip cookie but want something with a deeper, more grown up flavor, these Browned Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies are the ones to bake next. Browning the butter before it goes into the dough adds a nutty, caramelized richness that softened butter alone cannot give you.

• Yield: 23 cookies 1x

Ingredients

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Ingredients
1 cup Challenge® unsalted butter, room temperature
1 ½ cups light brown sugar, lightly packed
2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon kosher salt
½ teaspoon baking powder
3 large eggs, room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla
12 ounces semi-sweet chocolate, roughly chopped
flaky sea salt, for topping

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Instructions

Instructions
1-In a stainless steel skillet (or another: In a stainless steel skillet (or another light-bottomed pan) over medium-high heat, melt butter, swirling the pan occasionally. The butter will begin to foam, which signals the water in the butter is boiling off. (Watch closely at this stage.) Tiny brown specks of milk solids will begin to appear at the bottom of the pan; constantly stir and scrape these off using a spatula so they don’t stick.
2-As soon as the butter turns chestnut: As soon as the butter turns chestnut brown and smells nutty, remove the pan from the heat. Pour the browned butter into a heat-safe bowl.
3-To the hot browned butter, add the: To the hot browned butter, add the brown sugar, stirring to combine. Set aside to cool for 15-20 minutes.
4-To a medium bowl, add the flour,: To a medium bowl, add the flour, baking soda, salt, and baking powder. Whisk to combine.
5-Once the butter mixture has cooled, add: Once the butter mixture has cooled, add eggs and vanilla. Whisk to combine.
6-Using a rubber spatula, gradually mix in: Using a rubber spatula, gradually mix in the flour mixture.
7-Fold in the chopped chocolate: Fold in the chopped chocolate.
8-Using a 3-tablespoon scoop, drop balls of: Using a 3-tablespoon scoop, drop balls of dough onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Cover the dough balls and transfer to the refrigerator to chill for 24 hours.
9-Remove the chilled cookie dough from the: Remove the chilled cookie dough from the refrigerator. Let it rest at room temperature for 30 minutes before baking the cookies.
10-When ready, preheat oven to 350°F: When ready, preheat oven to 350°F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
11-Place the dough balls onto lined baking: Place the dough balls onto lined baking sheets, leaving about an inch between each cookie. Bake for 12-14 minutes or until golden brown. (I prefer these slightly underdone, so I will start checking at 10 minutes.)
12-Remove from oven: Remove from oven. Sprinkle flaky sea salt on the tops of the warm cookies.
13-Let the cookies cool on the baking: Let the cookies cool on the baking sheets for 5 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely.

Last Step:

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Notes

Preparation: 10 min. Cooking: 12 min. Allow time for every resting, cooling and chilling step in the instructions. Additional time: follow the resting and cooling steps (1470 min).

• Method: bake

Nutrition

• Serving Size: 1cookie
• Calories: 253