The BEST Brown Butter Cookies
I almost want to call these brown butter chocolate chip cookies my best chocolate chip cookies ever. They’re just a notch below my “worst” chocolate chip cookies (nothing can top those life ruiners), so I think calling them the best might be fair. Anyway, what really sets this recipe apart from your standard chocolate chip cookie recipe is one key magical ingredient: brown butter. Brown butter (more formally known by its French name: Buerre Noisette…fancy!), is simply butter that’s been cooked until all of the water evaporates and the milk solids begin to turn brown. The end result is a rich, flavorful butter with a nutty, toffee-like aroma. When used in baked goods (especially cookies, but also my butter pecan cake), it yields a buttery, rich, and flavorful end product. And it’s utterly amazing in these chocolate chip cookies. If the idea of cooking it on the stovetop until it’s perfectly browned (and not burnt!) sounds a little intimidating, don’t panic! I have an in-depth post on how to brown butter you can read before starting, and I also cover this in detail in my video below. When you’re ready, grab a saucepan and two sticks of (unsalted) butter, and prepare yourself for the most gourmet cookies you’ve ever tasted!
5 things to love about this recipe:
No mixer needed. Just 30 minutes of chilling. Dough can be made in advance and even frozen. INCREDIBLE flavor!
What You Need
Despite their gourmet flavor, these brown butter chocolate chip cookies use pretty humble, everyday ingredients. Here’s what you need:
Brown butter. This takes just minutes to make on the stove! Note that you will need to let the butter cool after browning, which usually takes about 30 minutes to an hour. It’s not necessary for the butter to re-solidify, but it should not feel warm to the touch. Sugar. We’ll use a blend of brown and granulated sugar. Again, you need to wait until the butter has cooled before adding the sugars; otherwise, you could end up melting the sugars and creating a greasy, runny cookie dough that will spread all over your cookie sheet. So take the time to let your butter cool! Eggs. We need all of our ingredients to be the same temperature so they combine properly. This means our eggs and butter both need to be room temperature. I usually set my eggs out the night before I’m going to be baking. If you forget to set yours out, read my tip below! Chocolate. I know I call these brown butter chocolate chip cookies, but I honestly prefer to use chopped semisweet (or even dark) chocolate bars. I do include instructions in the recipe for using regular chocolate chips, though!
SAM’S TIP: If you tend to forget to set out your eggs ahead of time, read my post on how to quickly bring eggs to room temperature! It’s a game changer. Remember, this is just an overview of the ingredients I used and why. For the full recipe please scroll down to the bottom of the post!
How to Make Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
SAM’S TIP: Slightly underbake your cookies! When they are ready to come out of the oven, the edges will be just starting to turn a light golden brown, and the centers may still look underdone. The cookies will finish cooking outside the oven on their cookie sheets. This is how I achieve soft and chewy cookie perfection! I’d love to hear how you like these compared to my “worst” chocolate chip cookies! Enjoy! Let’s bake together! I’ll be walking you through all the steps in my written recipe and video below! If you try this recipe, be sure to tag me on Instagram, and you can also find me on YouTube and Facebook I originally published this recipe May 2017. Post improved and updated July 2023, recipe remains the same.
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