Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies that are perfectly chewy with crispy edges and incredible flavor.
I've spent years testing chocolate chip cookies for Bonni Bakery, and this is the recipe I make when I really want to impress. We're talking crisp golden edges, soft and gooey centers, generous puddles of chocolate, and a flavor so irresistible you'll wonder why you ever made them any other way. And don't worry - browning butter might sound fancy, but I'll walk you through it step-by-step so you nail it every single time.
Once you've had a brown butter chocolate chip cookie, there's no going back to the regular kind. That nutty, caramel-like aroma that fills the kitchen while the butter sizzles… the way it deepens the flavor so every bite is rich, toasty, and just a little bit addictive - it's magic in cookie form.
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Why You'll Love This Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe
- The best cookies with an irresistible nutty flavor from the brown butter.
- One easy extra step to transform your cookie game.
- The perfect recipe to impress without a lot of effort.
Ingredients for Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
This perfect chocolate chip cookie recipe has all the same ingredients as a classic cookie recipe, it's the one step of browning the butter that brings all the magic.
- Butter - Unsalted butter is best, so you can control the amount of salt in the cookies.
- Light Brown Sugar - This recipe combines two kinds of sugar for the perfect balance of textures. The brown sugar gives the cookies their chewy center and also adds a slight caramel flavor.
- White Sugar - White sugar gives the base sweetness and helps to create the crisp edges of the cookies.
- Flour - All-purpose flour will give the best chewy texture.
- Cornstarch - This will help keep the cookies super soft in the middle as well as prevent too much spreading.
- Eggs - Use large eggs. We will be using the whole egg, the egg whites bind the ingredients and create a soft texture, while the egg yolk add richness to the flavor.
- Vanilla - Use a high-quality vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste.
- Baking Soda - This helps the cookies to spread just the right amount and contributes to texture.
- Salt - Use kosher salt in the cookie dough. If you want to, you can also top them with a sprinkle of flaky sea salt.
- Chocolate - I think dark chocolate or semisweet chocolate works best with the brown butter flavor, but you can use milk chocolate or white chocolate - whatever suits your taste. You can use chocolate chips, chocolate chunks, or chopped chocolate.
See the recipe card for quantities.
Measuring Ingredients
For the best results, measure your ingredients with a kitchen scale, rather than a measuring cup. Cups are not a very accurate way to measure and often result in too much flour being added - which will make your cookies dense and cakey.
Recommended Equipment
- Large Mixing Bowl - You can make these cookies in a stand mixer if you like, but it's not necessary as they come together so easily by hand.
- Wooden Spoon - or rubber spatula. As above, you can use an electric mixer if you like, but you definitely don't need to!
- Cookie Sheet - You will likely need to do multiple batches of cookies.
- Cookie Scoop - I used a 1 ½-inch cookie scoop, which I found to be the perfect cookie size, but you can use a large cookie scoop for bigger cookies or a mini one for smaller cookies.
- Cookie Lifter - This is not required, but I find this cookie lifter to be the easiest way to transfer my cookies from the sheet to the cooling rack.
- Cooling Rack - Cool the brown butter cookies on a wire rack so the bottoms can get nice and crisp.
How to Make Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
Browning the butter only takes a few minutes and adds SO much flavor to these cookies, it's a game changer and totally worth the extra step. I'm confident this will quickly become one of your favorite cookie recipes!
Brown Butter
Cube the butter and put it in a medium saucepan over medium heat until the butter melts and starts to foam and crackle. Keep stirring often until it turns deep golden brown and you can smell the nutty aroma.
I have a detailed post about how to brown butter if you would like more details and process pictures.
Cool Butter
Transfer the butter to a bowl, make sure you get all the little brown bits from the bottom of the pan - those are the toasted milk solids and they contain all the flavor!
Leave to cool until it is no longer hot to the touch.
To make the brown butter ahead of time, wait until it cools to room temperature, stir it to disperse the milk solids, then refrigerate for up to 2 weeks.
Heat it gently when you are ready to make the brown butter cookies.
Wet Ingredients
Once the butter has cooled, beat it in a large bowl with both sugars until combined, then add the eggs and vanilla and mix together.
Dry Ingredients
In a separate bowl, sift together the dry ingredients, then add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients and mix together, just until combined - be careful not to overmix.
Add Chocolate Chips
Pour in the chocolate chips and stir them through the cookie dough.
Chill the dough in the fridge for at least an hour, but preferably 24 hours. The longer it has to rest the better the texture and flavor will be.
Make Cookie Dough Balls
Preheat the oven to 350°F / 180°C (160° fan-assisted) and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
Scoop out balls of dough with a 1 ½-inch cookie scoop, or use a spoon and roll into walnut-sized balls with your hands, place them on the prepared baking sheet with plenty of space between them.
If the dough is too firm, let it sit on the counter for 15 minutes to soften.
Bake
Bake the cookies for 12 minutes. Baking time can vary according to your oven so look for them to be a lovely golden brown color.
You can slightly under-bake them if you want them to have super gooey centers.
Let the baked cookies sit on the baking sheet for 10 minutes before moving them to a wire rack to cool (or enjoy them warm!)
The Cookie Scoot
If you want completely perfect chocolate chip cookies, you can use a trick called 'The Cookie Scoot'. As soon as they come out of the oven, use a round cookie cutter or a glass that is a little larger than your cookies run around the outside of each cookie and gently 'scoot' the edges into a perfect circle shape.
How To Store Brown Butter Cookies
Store your delicious brown butter chocolate chip cookies in an airtight container for up to 5 days.
You can also freeze the unbaked cookie dough balls and store them in an airtight container or Ziploc bag to bake at a later date. Bake from frozen and adjust the bake time by 2-3 minutes. Store in the freezer for up to 3 months.
Browned Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies FAQs
Using brown butter gives these cookies a complex and sophisticated flavor that is rich and kind of nutty.
It also makes for slightly softer cookies with a crispier edge.
Yes, you can - reduce the amount of butter by 2tbps (28g). This is because when you brown the butter, some of the moisture evaporates and you end up with less butter than when you started, so to make this recipe without browning the butter, the amount of butter needs to be adjusted.
For an easier way, just check out my classic chocolate chip cookie recipe!
Yes you can make the cookie dough up to 3 days in advance and store it covered in the fridge, or you can roll the dough into cookie dough balls and freeze them for up to 3 months.
You can also make the brown butter ahead of time and store in the fridge for up to 2 weeks.
More Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipes
If you love the flavor of these brown butter chocolate chip cookies, you might like some of these cookie recipes:
Recipe
Browned Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe
Ingredients
- 227 g (2 sticks) Unsalted Butter 227g
- 165 g (¾ cup) Light Brown Sugar 165g
- 150 g (¾ cup) Granulated Sugar 150g
- 2 (2 Large) Eggs
- 2 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
- 1 teaspoon Salt
- 300 g (2½ cups) All Purpose Flour 300g
- 1 tablespoon Corn starch
- ¾ teaspoon Baking Soda
- 320 g (2 cups) Chocolate Chips 320g
Equipment
Instructions
- Cut the butter into chunks and put it in a saucepan over medium heat, stirring occasionally until it has melted.227 g (2 sticks) Unsalted Butter
- The butter will start to bubble and crackle, this is the water evaporating out of it. Keep stirring, once the crackling subsides, the butter will brown quickly, so don't take your eye off it. It will go from yellow to golden to a toasted brown color. It may froth up a little, so just use a spoon to scrape the froth to the side so you can check on the color.
- As soon as it turns golden brown and you can smell a wonderful nutty aroma, remove it from the heat and transfer it to a mixing bowl to cool until it is no longer hot to the touch.
- Once the brown butter has cooled, add the white and brown sugar to the bowl and whisk just until combined.165 g (¾ cup) Light Brown Sugar, 150 g (¾ cup) Granulated Sugar
- Add the eggs and vanilla and stir them in.2 (2 Large) Eggs, 2 tsp Vanilla Extract
- In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, cornstarch, and salt and stir together. Add them to the other ingredients and mix them until incorporated.1 tsp Salt, 300 g (2½ cups) All Purpose Flour, ¾ tsp (¾ teaspoon) Baking Soda, 1 tbsp Corn starch
- Stir in the chocolate chips until well distributed. Be careful not to overmix.320 g (2 cups) Chocolate Chips
- Chill the dough for at least an hour, but preferably 24 hours. The longer it has to rest, the better the texture and flavor will be.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F / 180°C (160° fan-assisted) and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
- Scoop the dough into balls with a 1 ½-inch cookie scoop, or use a spoon and roll it into walnut-sized balls with your hands. Lay the cookie dough balls out on the cookie sheet with plenty of space between them.If the dough is too cold and firm, let it sit at room temperature until it is soft enough to scoop.
- Bake the cookies for 12 minutes or until they are golden brown. You will probably have to do multiple batches as this recipe makes a lot of cookies!
- The cookies will still be very soft, so let them sit on the baking sheet for 10 minutes before moving them to a wire rack to cool (or enjoy them warm!)
Joan
I have never browned my butter; however, I add 1 C brown sugar, and 1/2 C regular sugar. They come out yummy. I will try browning my butter next time.
Thank you.
Jeanine Bühler
Tried this recipe and the cookies were really tasty, but after baking, they were really flattened and hard on the oustides. Could you maybe help me figure out what I did wrong? Thank you!
Jules Grasekamp
Hi Jeanine,
I'm so sorry to hear your cookies didn't turn out as you'd hoped! Cookies going flat can be down to a few things, these are the most common:
- mismeasured flour (especially if measuring with cups instead of a kitchen scale)
- too much baking soda
- cookies not being chilled enough before baking
- unbalanced white to brown sugar ratio.
- butter being too hot when mixing in the sugar
Is there any chance it could be any of these? I actually have a brand new post that goes into detail of the science of chocolate chip cookies, it might be helpful!
Jules
Penny Terry
Just reading through this browned butter chocolate chip cookie recipe has me practically running to the kitchen! I can already picture the first bite—chewy in the middle, crisp at the edges, and completely irresistible. I can’t wait to bake these up and watch my friends’ faces light up when they taste them. This might be my new signature cookie!
Jules Grasekamp
I'm so glad you're excited to try the brown butter cookies Penny! I hope you absolutely love them when you try them!
Jules
Chris Radwanski
These. Are. AMAZING! I think these cookies have ruined any other cookie for me, they are that good. That browned butter is next level!
Juande Sanders
Can these cookies be made from plant based ingredients? Vegan butter? Flax egg?
Jules Grasekamp
Hi Juande,
Honestly I have never tested them with plant based ingredients so I can't really give you an answer on that. I will say thought that I don't think you can brown vegan butter as it doesn't contain the milk proteins, which are what turn brown and toasty.
Jules
Juande Sanders
Ok, no worries. Thanks for your reply. I'll try it out and let you know how they turn out
Cheerfully,
Pat
The first 2 batches of cookies were STUCK to the baking sheet. It would have been nice if you suggested using parchment paper.
Won't make these again.