Brown butter is the easiest way to make a chocolate chip cookie taste like a bakery cookie. Cooking butter until the milk solids toast adds nutty, toffee-like flavor to the dough, and the result is a cookie that tastes richer and more complex than the standard version. It takes about 10 extra minutes of attention and no special ingredients.
Makes: about 24 cookies. Prep: 25 minutes, plus 1 hour chilling. Bake: 11 to 13 minutes per tray.
Ingredients
- 1 cup (227 g) unsalted butter
- 2¼ cups (280 g) all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon fine salt
- 1 cup (200 g) packed brown sugar
- ½ cup (100 g) granulated sugar
- 1 large egg plus 1 egg yolk, at room temperature
- 1 tablespoon milk
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1½ cups (9 ounces / 255 g) chopped dark or semi-sweet chocolate, or chips
- Flaky sea salt, for finishing
Instructions
- Brown the butter: cut it into pieces and melt in a light-colored skillet or saucepan over medium heat. Stir often as it foams. After 5 to 8 minutes, the foam subsides, the butter turns amber and smells nutty, and brown flecks appear on the bottom. Immediately pour it, with the brown bits, into a heatproof bowl.
- Cool the butter for 10 to 15 minutes, until warm but not hot.
- Whisk the flour, baking soda and fine salt in a separate bowl.
- Whisk the sugars into the brown butter until combined and glossy. Whisk in the egg, yolk, milk and vanilla for about 1 minute, until smooth and slightly thick.
- Fold in the dry ingredients until just combined, then fold in the chocolate.
- Cover and chill for at least 1 hour, or up to 72 hours.
- Heat the oven to 350°F (175°C) and line baking sheets with parchment.
- Scoop 2-tablespoon portions, 2 inches apart. Bake for 11 to 13 minutes, until the edges are golden brown and the centers look soft and slightly underdone.
- Sprinkle with flaky salt while warm, rest on the tray for 5 minutes, then transfer to a rack.
How to brown butter without burning it
- Use a light-colored pan. A stainless steel or light pan lets you see the color change. In a dark nonstick pan, you cannot tell when the butter is done.
- Stir constantly once it foams. The milk solids sink and can scorch quickly.
- Use your nose. When it smells like toasted nuts or caramel, it is done.
- Pour it out immediately. The pan’s heat keeps cooking it, and the line between brown and burnt is short.
- Scrape in every brown bit. That is where most of the flavor is.
If you do burn it, start over. Black specks and a bitter smell will taste bitter in the cookie. The same principle of browning for flavor drives pan sauces, and browning is covered more in our searing guide.
Why start with a full cup
Butter is about 80 percent fat, 16 to 18 percent water and a little milk solids. As it browns, the water cooks off, so a full cup (227 g) leaves you with roughly ¾ cup plus 2 tablespoons. That lost moisture is why this recipe adds 1 tablespoon milk back, along with the extra yolk. Without it, the cookies would bake up drier and crumblier. If you compare this to our soft chewy chocolate chip cookies, which use regular melted butter, you will see the brown butter version is deeper in flavor, a little crisper at the edge and a bit more caramel in color.
Why chilling matters even more here
Brown butter dough is soft because the butter is liquid when mixed. An hour of chilling hydrates the flour and firms the fat, which prevents spreading. Resting it for 24 to 72 hours does even more. The dough deepens in color and flavor, and cookies bake up with more toffee notes and crinkled tops. If your cookies spread, it is usually temperature. Our troubleshooting list on why cookies spread covers each cause.
Tips for the best cookies
- Weigh the flour. A packed cup can add up to 25 percent more than intended. See measuring cups vs. grams.
- Chop chocolate by hand. It leaves shards that melt into the dough and create pools. Chips are fine, but chopped chocolate looks better.
- Use dark chocolate. The slight bitterness balances the sweet, toasty dough.
- Underbake slightly. The cookies finish on the hot pan.
- Bang the pan. Tap the tray on the counter at the end of baking to create ridges.
More general tips are in 15 baking tips for beginners.
Variations
- Toasted pecans or walnuts: add ¾ cup, toasted for 8 minutes at 350°F (175°C).
- Espresso: add 1 teaspoon instant espresso powder to the dry ingredients to boost the chocolate.
- Brown sugar only: use 1½ cups (300 g) packed brown sugar for a deeper, chewier cookie.
- White chocolate and macadamia: replace the chocolate with white chocolate and chopped macadamia nuts.
- Oats: replace ½ cup of flour with ½ cup old-fashioned oats.
- Stuffed: wrap the dough around a square of chocolate or a spoonful of caramel.
For more flavor combinations, see our guide to what to pair with chocolate. And if you are baking for fall, try the pumpkin chocolate chip cookies.
Storing and freezing
Store cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to five days. Freeze scooped dough balls on a tray, then bag them, and bake straight from frozen at 350°F (175°C), adding 1 to 2 minutes. Baked cookies freeze for up to three months. See freezer-friendly meals for more tips. If you only want a few cookies at a time, try our small batch chocolate chip cookies.
Common questions
Can I use salted butter? Yes. Reduce the added salt to ½ teaspoon.
Do I need to cool the butter? Yes. Hot butter will melt the sugar and scramble the egg.
Why are my cookies greasy? The butter was too warm or the dough was not chilled.
Can I brown the butter ahead? Yes. Brown it up to 3 days ahead, refrigerate it, then warm it to liquid before mixing.
Why do my cookies taste bitter? The butter was browned too far. Pull it off the heat sooner next time.
