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Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies are pure heaven in a cookie.
Somehow, I never tire of cookies. No matter how many hundreds, maybe even thousands, of batches I’ve made in my life I still crave them regularly.
That’s why I’m always experimenting and tweaking cookie recipes in the kitchen, especially chocolate chip cookies. Sometimes all I want is an ultra-rich, gooey, and chewy chocolate chip cookie1
These Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies are absolute perfection because they are loaded with rich and nutty brown butter, butterscotch flavors, and pure chocolate.
Chocolate chunk cookies can easily become too ooey and gooey (too much of a good thing exists!) so I made sure these were the perfect balance of gooey, chewy, and crunchy.
I’ve included tons of tips below so your cookies turn out perfectly! Best of all? These cookies require no electric mixer required.
How to Make Perfect Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
Browning the Butter
Follow the directions closely for browning the butter. It’s super simple, just be sure not to walk away from it. It quickly goes from browned to burnt. Be sure to scrape all the brown bits into the mixing bowl – that’s where the flavor lives!
Do You Have to Use Bread Flour?
You don’t absolutely have to use bread flour, but it adds a ton of chewy texture to these Browned Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies, so I always have some on hand. If you don’t have bread flour, then just use all-purpose flour in place of the bread flour in the recipe, but note that you will lose some chewiness. Make sure to weigh your flour accurately. If you add too much flour, your cookies may end up dry, dense, or crumbly and barely spread.
Sugar
A high ratio of dark brown sugar makes these Brown Butter Cookies moist, chewy, and rich in flavor. I love it. Again if you don’t have any on hand, you can use light brown sugar but your cookies will lose a little bit of awesomeness. Please don’t reduce the sugar in these cookies – learn why here.
Chocolate
- This Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe calls for both regular semisweet chocolate chips as well as chocolate baking wafers.
- I used the Guittard brand of semisweet chocolate wafers. You can also find these specifically at Whole Foods, Williams Sonoma, or Sur la Table.
- You could alternatively use the Valrhona brand of wafers (they call theirs “chocolate feves”). They don’t hold their shape like chocolate chips do. Instead, they turn into little chocolate puddles that are a delight to bite into.
- If you can’t find baking wafers/feves, feel free to use 2 cups of semisweet chocolate chips instead.
Sea Salt
This is optional, but you can add a sprinkling of flaky finishing sea salt to the cookies right after pulling them out of the oven. I love the salty-sweet combination, and I think it really adds something special to these Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies.
My Best Tips for Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies:
- I always use a kitchen scale to weigh my ingredients, especially flour. Incorrectly measured flour can lead to cookies that are tough, crumbly, dry, too thick, or just blah.
- I also swear by using an oven thermometer to ensure baking accuracy. Most ovens run a little hot or cold, so checking the temperature with an oven thermometer ensures the best cookies possible.
- Use a quality unlined light-colored baking tray, like these ones. Line with parchment paper for best results. The pan you bake on has a huge impact on your cookies. Learn more about the best and worst baking pans here.
- Don’t skip the chill period!! More on that just below.
Chilling the Dough
I know it’s annoying to have to wait to enjoy cookies, but I promise you it’s SO worth it. Both the taste and texture of these Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies improve as the dough chills. Freezing does not work the same as chilling, so there are no shortcuts here. Learn more about how and why to chill cookie doughs in this article here.
Size
I’ve found these are best made as big cookies, using a 3-Tablespoon large cookie scoop. This provides the perfect texture: crisp at the edges, slightly gooey in the center, and chewy throughout. If you want to make smaller cookies, use a 1.5-Tablespoon cookie scoop and reduce the baking time to about 10 minutes.
Portioning the Cookie Dough Before vs. After Chilling
- I recommend following the directions in the recipe for chilling the dough in one big mass, and then portioning the dough because it prevents the dough from drying out while chilling.
- However, if you’re finding it too challenging to scoop the Browned Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie dough at this point, feel free to scoop before chilling.
- There’s a bit more risk that your dough will dry out in the fridge this way, so just be sure to store the cookie dough balls in an airtight container or good quality ziptop bag, to prevent them from drying out.
- Then simply bake the pre-portioned Browned Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies straight from the fridge after the 24-72 hour chill time!
Can I Freeze Browned Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough?
Yes – but make sure you chill the dough first, before freezing. Learn why here. I like to portion out the dough and place it on a baking sheet, then freeze just until solid. Transfer the frozen dough balls to a ziptop bag and store in the freezer for up to 6 weeks. This way, you can bake off small batches of fresh cookies whenever you feel like it! Check out my full post on how to freeze cookie dough and bake from frozen here.
More AMAZING Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipes:
See ALL of my chocolate chip cookie recipes + tips & insights into the SCIENCE of cookie baking here!
-
2
sticks (227 grams) unsalted butter
-
1/2
(100 grams) cup granulated sugar
-
1 1/4
cups
(250 grams) lightly packed dark brown sugar
-
1 1/2
cups
(190 grams) all-purpose flour
-
1
cup
(127 grams) bread flour
-
1/4
teaspoon
baking powder
-
1
teaspoon
baking soda
-
1
teaspoon
fine sea salt
-
2
large eggs plus 1 egg yolk,
at room temperature
-
2
teaspoons
vanilla
-
1 1/2
cups
(255 grams) semisweet chocolate chips
-
1
cup
(140 grams) semisweet chocolate baking wafers
(from Guittard or Valrhona)
-
In a small saucepan set over medium heat, melt the butter. Swirling the pan occasionally, continue to cook the butter. It should become foamy with audible cracking and popping noises. Once the crackling stops continue to swirl the pan until the butter develops a nutty aroma and brown bits start to form at the bottom. Once the bits are amber in color, about 2 to 3 minutes after the popping stops, remove from heat and pour into a mixing bowl. Add in the sugars, stir, then set aside to cool completely.
-
In a medium bowl combine the flours, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.
-
To the browned butter mixture, add the eggs, egg yolk, and vanilla and stir with a rubber spatula until combined. Slowly stir in the flour mixture until just combined. Stir in the chocolate chips and wafers.
-
Wrap dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 24 hours but no more than 72 hours. Let dough sit at room temperature just until it is soft enough to scoop.
-
Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 350ºF. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
-
Divide the dough into 3-tablespoon sized balls and drop onto prepared baking sheets, leaving about 3 inches between each piece of dough to spread.
-
Bake for 11 to 13 minutes, or until golden brown. Let cool for 2 minutes before removing to wire racks to cool completely.
This post was originally published in 2015 and recently updated with recipe improvements and new photos. Photos by Ashley McLaughlin.
September Baking Challenge
This recipe was the September 2020 selection for our monthly baking challenge. Every month you can join a challenge by baking the recipe and snapping a photo for a chance to win prizes! Learn more about my monthly baking challenges here. Check out everyone’s cookies:
made according to recipe except used 72% ghiradelli dark chocolate chopped into chunks instead of the wafers. the flavors were perfect and got better each day. finished with flaky salt and OMG, my favorite cookie recipe ever. the bread flour and brown butter are truly game changers!!! and using a kitchen scale to measure everything! love that you include grams in all your recipes!!
Best cookies I’ve ever made! Everyone loves them and they are now my go to!
My new favorite chocolate chip cookies!! I’m always on the hunt for the perfect chocolate chip cookies and I think these may be them. They are SO flavorful, caramely/butterscotchy, and perfectly chewy. I haven’t yet made them with the bread flour (just all-purpose) but just bought some for next time, and I haven’t been able to find the chocolate wafers anywhere so it’s either been all chips or subbing chopped up Ghirardelli dark chocolate for the wafers. But even with these modifications the recipe is awesome. I usually have to make half a dozen before chilling the dough (because when I make cookies I want some NOW) and then I bake the rest the next day. Definitely worth making a double batch and chilling some dough balls for easy spur-of-the-moment cookies.
Would this be a good dough to freeze? I am making a double batch, one to bake tomorrow and the rest I am hoping to save and freeze for the days I just really want some cookies !
Hi Maria! Yes, this dough freezes perfectly – but read through Tessa’s tips in the pink tip box (above the recipe) for more info on this, as we really recommend chilling the dough in the fridge for 24-72 hours prior to chilling. Happy baking! 🙂
Tessa,
What are your thoughts on using GHIRARDELLI dark chocolate wafers instead of the one you recommended in your recipe? Would I substitute 2 cups of chocolate chips for 1 cup of wafers? If yes, what type of chocolate?
Thank you for sharing your recipes and ideas.
Hi Rosy! Yes, feel free to use Ghirardelli chocolate wafers instead of Guittard or Valrhona wafers as a 1:1 swap – no need to alter the chocolate chips. Just be careful to purchase baking chocolate wafers and NOT melting wafers, as these contain different ingredients and oils, designed to melt for coating and not for baking. Let us know what you think of these cookies once you have given them a try 🙂
Hi Kiersten,
The baking wafers are not easy available in local stores. What else can I substitute it with and how much? What percent of CACAO to substitute with?
Appreciate your response.
Thank you
Hi Rosy! The Guittard brand is commonly available where I live in NY, and they’re also available online here. Alternatively, feel free to buy some baking chocolate bars in about 65-75% cacao and chop it coarsely, for a similar flavor and texture. You can simply substitute 1:1 for the same weight as listed for the baking wafers (or even the baking wafers + the chocolate chips, if you prefer). Happy baking!