These brown butter chocolate chip cookies have soft, chewy centers with plenty of chocolate chips and crispy edges. Sprinkle sea salt on top to add the best flavor!
Browned butter adds the best flavor to dessert recipes! Try brown butter blondies, brown butter Rice Krispies and banana bars with brown butter frosting, too.
Table of Contents
Why I Love This Recipe
- Rich and flavorful: Learning how to make brown butter adds a rich flavor to the classics like these chocolate chip cookies or a Nestle toll house cookie recipe!
- Easy: While there is an extra step of browning the butter, they are just as easy as my chocolate chip pudding cookies.
- Perfect texture. This cookie recipe is nothing short of amazing with a gooey center and crunchy edges.
Substitutions and Variations
- For a thicker cookie, add 1-2 extra Tablespoons of flour and refrigerate dough for 1 hour.
- Use both chocolate chips and chocolate chunks! It gives the cookies the best dimension.
- Add a couple of extra chocolate chips on top right before baking.
- Top with sea salt for the perfect sweet, salty and caramel flavor combination.
- Sandwich 2 brown butter cookies between a scoop of vanilla ice cream to make the perfect ice cream sandwich.
How to Make Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
Melt 1 stick of room temperature unsalted butter in a pan over medium-heat. Cook for about 3-5 minutes. Once the butter has browned (the color will be amber golden and aroma nutty), remove from heat and pour into a bowl. Chill for 5 minutes.
In a large mixing bowl, cream 1/2 cup softened butter, brown sugar and sugar. Add in the melted brown butter and mix then stir in eggs and vanilla. Add dry ingredients then stir in chocolate chips.
Scoop cookie dough onto the prepared pan, about 2 inches a part. Bake at 350°F until edges are golden brown (but center is still slightly doughy), about 7 to 9 minutes. Let cookies sit on pan for about 2-3 minutes, then move to a cooling rack.
Make Ahead and Freezing Instructions
- Make ahead: This browned butter chocolate chip cookie dough can be made up to 5 days in advance and stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator. The cookies will actually get more flavorful the longer they are stored!
- Freezing: It’s easy to freeze cookie dough! Portion into cookie dough balls then flash freeze on a parchment lined pan. Once frozen, transfer to a freezer safe bag and store up to 3 months. You can also freeze baked cookies.
You may also love this gooey butter cookie recipe, cowboy cookie recipe or these peanut butter cookies with chocolate chips!
More Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipes
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Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
Video
Ingredients
- 1 cup unsalted butter (2 sticks at room temp)
- 1 ½ cups light brown sugar
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 2 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon fine sea salt (or kosher)
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1-2 cup chocolate chips (I do a mix of semi-sweet and milk)
Optional: maldon flake sea salt
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Line two baking sheets with a baking mat or parchment paper and set aside.
- Melt 1 stick of the butter in a pan over medium-heat. Cook for about 3-5 minutes, swirling the pan every so often. Allow the butter to brown (when it turns an amber golden color and has a nutty aroma, it’s done). Remove from the heat and then pour into a bowl and chill for 5 minutes.
- In a large bowl, combine the remaining 1/2 cup softened butter, brown sugar and sugar. Mix for 1 minute, until smooth and creamy. Then add in the melted brown butter and stir until combined. Mix in the eggs and vanilla. Then add the flour, salt and baking soda. Mix until well combined. Stir in the chocolate chips. Chill dough up to 30 minutes if desired.
- Scoop cookie dough onto the prepared pan, about 2 inches apart. Bake for 7-9 minutes, or just until the edges are golden brown, while the center is still slightly doughy.
- Remove from oven and allow the cookies to cool for a few minutes on the pan. Add a few extra chocolate chips on top of the cookies and sprinkle with flaked salt if desired. Then move to a cooling rack. Enjoy with a cold class of milk!
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition provided is an estimate. It will vary based on specific ingredients used.
Did you make this recipe? Don’t forget to give it a star rating below!
Categorized as: American, Chocolate, Chocolate Chip Cookies, Cookies, Desserts, Reader Favorites
Jamielyn Nye is the founder and recipe creator at I Heart Naptime. She is the author of the I Heart Naptime Cookbook and shares easy family-friendly recipes and desserts for every occasion.
AMAZE-BALLS!!!!
Radical, totally tubular, gnarly!
What size scoop did you use? That matters a lot!
I typically use a medium sized cookie scoop :)
2 tablespoons? So you could put 12 on a sheet and they spread to about 3” in diameter?
Yes, you can typically fit 12 on a cookie sheet. If you don’t want them to touch at all, I’d do 9 to be safe.
Gooey and delicious 💖
Ahhhhhmazing!!!!!
Yay, so glad you liked them! :)
I agree with you
I have made so many batches of these and figured I should finally leave a review. These so good! I have made a couple adjustments…a little less sugar and a little more vanilla. I also added some toffee bits. These cookies are like little butter bites…mmmmm. The browned butter takes the flavor up a few notches.
Yum, the toffee addition sounds delicious!!
These cookies are hands down the best cookies my family and I have ever had! Once you eat one, you will want to eat the whole batch!
Thank you for your comment! I’m so glad to hear your family loved them! :)
This are now my go to cookies! The sweetness of the browned butter, and then the salt on top…. AMAZING! I promise you, you won’t be able to stop eating these!!!
I’m so glad you enjoyed them. Thank you for your comment! :)
These are sooo good! Brown butter is definitely the secret ingredient.
I’m so glad you enjoyed them! :)
These cookies taste great! I did have to bake mine for 12 minutes and they came a little fat, but were still very yummy.
I’m so glad you enjoyed them! :)
How many calories are in this without the dark chocolate chunks?
About 160 calories each cookie.
Just made these cookies and they are delicious. The only thing I did different was sprinkled sea salt on top. Thanks for the recipe
Sounds delicious! I’m so glad you enjoyed them. :)
I don’t know what I love more, the batter or the cookies! I have requests ALL the time to make t hese! Warning: These cookies are addictive!!!
The dough really is so delicious!! I’m glad to hear you love these as much as we do. :)
Just made these and they are incredible! What a delicious flavor and aroma from the brown butter. So glad there were also instructions to make the brown butter. I’ve been searching for the perfect chocolate chip cookie recipe, and to me, this is it! Thank you!
I’m so glad you loved them! Thanks for your comment and review Heather. :)
Can u make them into bars if so what size Pan like a 9×13 please let me know and how long to bake them.
Hi Beth! I haven’t tried this recipe in a bar, so I’m not sure. I think it would work! My favorite cookie bar recipe are these Congo Bars: https://www.iheartnaptime.net/congo-bars/
The flavor of these cookies were amazing from the browned butter. Totally worth the little extra time!!
I’m so glad you enjoyed them! Thanks for leaving a comment and review Julie!
These tasty great! I is there aimed reason mine arent flat like in your picture? Mine are a bit fat…lol
Hi Chantay! The temperature of butter is often a reason for flat cookies or dense cookies. Did you melt the butter and then chill for 5 minutes?
I am not usually someone to comment but after making these I HAD to. I’ve never made brown butter cookies and was really intrigued when I saw this recipe. Today my younger sister and I decided to give this recipe a go and we were not disappointed! These cookies are delicious! Ours took about 10-11 minutes to bake but they were perfectly crispy around the edges and had a chewy center. This recipe is amazing and I recommend anyone who is reading this view to give this recipe a try. ❤️ Thank you!
Been reading your blog forever, these are hands down the best
chocolate chip cookies ever! Really, millions of recipes I’ve read
and tried and you nailed it. They are crispy on edges & gooey in
the middle. I used just like you recommended half milk and half
dark jumbo chips. Thank you for this recipe, I can now
stop looking for truly the best chocolate chip cookie recipe cause
I found it, finally!
Thank you so much! I’m glad you enjoyed them! :)