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Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

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Brown butter chocolate chip cookies are perfectly balanced with crisp outsides, chewy insides, sweet dough, chocolate chips, and a sprinkle of sea salt!
Prep Time: 25 minutes
Cook Time: 10 minutes
Chilling Time (optional) 30 minutes
Total Time: 1 hour 5 minutes
A stack of brown butter chocolate chip cookies on a plate.

As much as I love to bake, I don’t have many cookie recipes on my site. After taking a good hard look, I realized this post for brown butter chocolate chip cookies was in serious need of an update!

The cookies are super simple to make. I make brown butter in the microwave and it only takes 5 to 6 minutes! Brown butter adds a layer of caramelized flavour to these cookies which I love. All of the ingredients are mixed quickly by hand and scooped in small portions on a baking sheet. I’ll leave it up to you if you decide to freeze your cookie dough before baking.

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Ingredients

  • flour
  • baking soda
  • salt
  • brown butter, cooled (see instructions below)
  • brown sugar
  • white sugar
  • eggs
  • vanilla
  • chocolate chips
  • flaky sea salt for sprinkling
Overhead close up of brown butter chocolate chip cookies.

How To Make Brown Butter In The Microwave

  • Place room temperature butter, or cold butter cut into small chunks, in a large microwave-safe dish. I use an 8-cup glass Pyrex measuring cup.
  • Microwave the butter for 2 minutes. At this point the butter will sputter loudly and be very bubbly.
  • Place the butter back in the microwave, however, cook it in one minute increments. Around the 4 and 5 minute marks the butter will quiet down and become quite foamy.
  • After 5 minutes, cook the butter in 30 second increments. Once the butter begins to brown, it will darken quickly, however, that also depends on the power of your microwave. My microwave is powerful and my butter turns a beautiful dark copper colour around the 6-½ minute mark. Use your judgement. The butter should be dark in colour but not blackened. The darker you let it go the more flavour the brown butter will have.
  • Set aside to cool.
Butter before and after browning.

Step-By-Step Instructions

Process shots for the first stage of making cookies.

If baking your brown butter chocolate chip cookies right away (another option is to freeze the cookie dough balls before baking – see below), preheat oven to 350ºF / 180ºC and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Whisk flour, baking soda, and salt together in a bowl.

Add brown sugar and white sugar to the cooled brown butter.

Mixed cookie ingredients.

Mix the brown butter and sugars together to combine.

Add eggs and vanilla to brown butter mixture and stir until smooth.

Cookie batter before and after stirring.

Mix the flour into the brown butter and stir until a smooth dough forms.

Add chocolate chips and fold to combine.

A bowl of cookie dough with a wooden spoon.

Scoop portions of dough onto the prepared cookie sheet, each one approximately tablespoon sized.

Sprinkle the top of each cookie dough with flaky sea salt and bake 9-11 minutes, or until the edges of the cookies are golden. Cool 5 minutes on the pan, then finish cooling on a rack.

Cookies before and after being sprinkled with flaky salt.

I tested baking these brown butter chocolate chip cookies with both room temperature dough, and portioned cookie dough I froze for 30 minutes.

  • Room Temperature Dough – Clearly the faster option! I baked some batches of brown butter sea salt chocolate chip cookies immediately after mixing. Though tasty, these cookies had crispier edges, and smoother tops.
  • Frozen Dough – I scooped portioned cookie dough balls onto a plate and froze them for 30 minutes. After, I baked them on the same pan for the same amount of time as the room temperature cookies. The frozen dough yielded a chewier cookie, with a wrinkly top. Even though it means waiting longer, the frozen dough cookies won the vote in our house!
A side by side comparison of cookies baked with room temperature dough, and frozen dough.

Recipe Notes

  • If you don’t want to make brown butter, you can always microwave your butter for 2 minutes only, just to melt. Set aside to cool and continue on with the recipe as written.
  • I know many of us are striving to cut down on sugar, however, if you do this when making this recipe, it will change the texture and cooking time of your cookies.
  • Any chocolate chips, bits, or chunks you have on hand will work. Dark, milk, or white chocolate are all great, however, see my tip about baking with white chocolate chips in my Blueberry White Chocolate Scones post. You could try M&Ms, nuts, or crushed pretzels. Feel free to play with the chocolate chip measurement to suit your preference.
  • I portioned my brown butter sea salt chocolate chip cookies into one (roughly) 1 tablespoon portions of dough. You can make your cookies bigger if you don’t feel like baking 5 pans of small cookies, however, your baking time will change.
A plate filled with brown butter chocolate chip cookies.

Did you make these brown butter chocolate chip cookies, or any other recipe on my site? Don’t forget to rate the recipe and let me know how you made out in the comments below. You can also stay in touch with me on Instagram, Facebook, and Pinterest to see more delicious food and recipes!

Printable Recipe Card

A stack of brown butter chocolate chip cookies on a plate.

Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

Author: Kelly Neil
Brown butter chocolate chip cookies are perfectly balanced with crisp outsides, chewy insides, sweet dough, chocolate chips, and a sprinkle of sea salt!
5 from 4 votes
Prep Time 25 minutes
Cook Time 10 minutes
Chilling Time (optional) 30 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 5 minutes
Course Cookies & Bars
Cuisine American / Canadian
Servings 30 servings
Calories 157 kcal
Need Metric Measurements?Use the button options below to toggle between US cups and Metric grams.

Ingredients
 
 

  • 1 cup butter
  • ¾ cup brown sugar, lightly packed
  • ¾ cup sugar
  • 2 large eggs
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla
  • 2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • ¾ cup chocolate chips
  • flaky sea salt , optional

Instructions
 

Brown The Butter

  • Cut the butter into small chunks and place in a large tall microwave-safe dish (I use an 8-cup glass Pyrex measuring cup). Microwave the butter for 2 minutes. At this point the butter will sputter loudly and become very bubbly.
  • Now cook the butter for one minute. Repeat. After about 4 to 5 minutes of total cooking time, the butter should quiet down and become foamy.
  • At 5 minutes of total cooking time, begin to cook the butter in 30 second increments. Once the butter begins to brown, it will darken quickly! My microwave is powerful so my butter turns a beautiful dark coppery colour around the 6 ½ minute mark. Use your judgement as you go, and know that the butter should be dark golden caramel in colour but not blackened. The darker you let the butter brown, the more flavour it will have. Once you are happy with the colour of your butter, set it aside to cool slightly, about 15 to 20 minutes.

Make The Cookies

  • Preheat the oven to 350ºF (180ºC) and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
  • Transfer the cooled brown butter to a large mixing bowl. Add both sugars to the butter and whisk to combine.
  • Add the eggs and vanilla to the brown butter mixture and whisk until smooth.
  • Add the flour, baking soda, salt, and chocolate chips to the bowl. Switch to a rubber spatula or wooden spoon. Stir the cookie dough until the chocolate chips are well distributed and the flour is just mixed in.
  • Use a cookie dough scoop to scoop 12 portions of cookie dough onto the prepared baking sheet. Sprinkle the top of each cookie with a tiny bit of flaky salt if using. Bake the cookies for 9 to 11 minutes, or until the edges are golden. Cool the cookies for 5 minutes on the pan, then transfer to a wire cooling rack to cool completely.

Recipe Notes

  • I tested these brown butter chocolate chip cookies with both room temperature dough, and dough I froze for 30 minutes. Room temperature dough is clearly the faster option! I baked batches of cookies immediately after mixing. Though tasty, these cookies had crispier edges, and smoother tops. I scooped some of the batches of cookies onto a plate and froze them for 30 minutes. When the time was up I baked them on the same pan, for the same amount of time as the room temperature cookies. Frozen dough yielded a chewier cookie, with a wrinkly top. Even though it means waiting longer, the frozen dough cookies won the vote in our house!
  • If you don’t want to make brown butter, you can always microwave your butter for 2 minutes only, just to melt. Set aside to cool and continue on with the recipe as written.
  • I know many of us are striving to cut down on sugar, however, if you do this when making this recipe, it will change the texture and cooking time of your cookies.
  • Any chocolate chips, bits, or chunks you have on hand will work. Dark, milk, or white chocolate are all great, however, see my tip about baking with white chocolate chips in my Blueberry White Chocolate Scones post. You could try M&Ms, nuts, or crushed pretzels. Feel free to play with the chocolate chip measurement to suit your preference.
  • I portioned my cookies into one (roughly) 1 tablespoon portions of dough. You can make your cookies bigger if you don’t feel like baking 5 pans of small cookies, however, your baking time will change.

Nutrition

Serving: 50gCalories: 157kcalCarbohydrates: 21gProtein: 2gFat: 8gSaturated Fat: 5gPolyunsaturated Fat: 1gMonounsaturated Fat: 2gTrans Fat: 1gCholesterol: 30mgSodium: 140mgPotassium: 25mgFiber: 1gSugar: 13gVitamin A: 218IUCalcium: 10mgIron: 1mg

Nutrition information is provided as a courtesy and is an estimate only. If accurate data is important to you, please verify it independently.

Did you make this recipe?Let me know on Instagram @kellyneildotcom or tag #kellyneil!

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16 Comments

  1. I'm not a huge chocolate lover either, so I'm very picky with chocolate chip cookies but this recipe looks yummy! Why all the chilling, tho? I've never done that and I'm not sure my kids (or my husband) will go for it. Is it necessary?

  2. Hi Monica – Basically the point of chilling the dough is to prevent the butter from melting too quickly which can result in a flat cookie. Putting cold balls in the oven means they don't really spread at all and stay thick and chewy!!

    1. Malika, hi! It really depends on how big you make them. I think I made 24 but you can make them as big or as small as you want. Once the edges start to turn golden, they’re usually done. Just check the bottoms to make sure they’re golden all over and you’re good to go!

  3. Well you can’t go wrong with brown butter and I have been baking up a storm so this is the perfect recipe to add to my lineup!

  4. I have never used brown butter in baking. I am emailing this recipe to my husband so he can bake some! I totally love the idea of sprinkling salt afterwards. Sweet and salty is my favourite flavour combination.

  5. I love your brown butter twist on these yummy cookies! It takes the standard chocolate chip cookie up a notch for sure.

  6. Wow – before this I never would have thought of making brown butter in my microwave. Thanks for that – I love the stuff and use it often!

5 from 4 votes (4 ratings without comment)

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