The Best Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies: Chewy, Nutty & Irresistibly Delicious

Prepare to fall in love with these extraordinary brown butter chocolate chip cookies. Imagine a buttery, rich cookie dough infused with a captivating nutty aroma, generously loaded with melty chocolate chips. The best part? This recipe delivers perfection every single time, requiring absolutely no stand mixer and no chilling of the dough. It’s truly a game-changer for homemade cookie enthusiasts!

I’ve been refining my classic chocolate chip cookie base for years, and it’s always been a trusted favorite. For this elevated version, I’ve simply taken that beloved recipe, introduced the magic of browned butter, added a hint of almond extract for an extra layer of flavor, and finished them with a sprinkle of flaky sea salt. The result is a cookie that’s undeniably superior – a symphony of textures and flavors that will have everyone asking for more!

Why You’ll Adore This Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies Recipe

This isn’t just another cookie recipe; it’s a culinary experience waiting to happen. Here’s why these brown butter chocolate chip cookies will become your new go-to:

Consistently Perfect Results: This is a genuinely foolproof recipe. You can count on these cookies turning out beautifully baked with an ideal texture, every single time you make them. The careful balance of ingredients ensures a reliable outcome, making it perfect for both novice and experienced bakers.
The Ultimate Texture & Taste: Each bite offers a delightful contrast – a slightly crispy edge giving way to a wonderfully chewy, soft center. They are perfectly buttery, rich, and possess just the right amount of sweetness, complemented by the decadent chocolate.
Effortlessly Simple to Make: Forget the hassle of lugging out a stand mixer or waiting hours for the dough to chill. This recipe is designed for maximum flavor with minimal effort. A bowl and a whisk are all you need to create these incredible cookies from scratch.
Irresistible Nutty Brown Butter Flavor: The star of this recipe is, of course, the brown butter. As butter is gently cooked, its milk solids caramelize, transforming into golden-brown specs that infuse the entire dough with a deep, complex, and incredibly nutty aroma and flavor. This distinct taste sets these cookies apart from any other chocolate chip cookie you’ve ever tried.

The Magic Behind Brown Butter

If you’re new to browning butter, get ready for a revelation! This simple technique involves slowly melting butter and continuing to cook it until the milk solids separate and toast, turning a beautiful amber color and releasing a fragrant, nutty aroma. This process, known as the Maillard reaction, creates an entirely new depth of flavor – rich, toasted, and slightly caramel-like, which elevates the humble chocolate chip cookie to gourmet status. It’s a quick step that adds immense complexity and warmth to your baked goods.

Key Ingredients & Their Role

Crafting the perfect cookie begins with understanding your ingredients. Here’s a closer look at what you’ll need and why each component is crucial:

Unsalted Butter: The foundation of our cookie. Using unsalted butter allows you to control the total salt content in the recipe. Browning it is the key step that introduces that incredible nutty depth. Quality matters here – a good European-style or Irish butter with a higher fat content can truly make a difference in flavor.
All-Purpose Flour: Provides structure to the cookies. Make sure to measure your flour correctly – spoon it into your measuring cup and then level it off with a straight edge to avoid adding too much, which can result in dry, crumbly cookies.
Granulated Sugar & Brown Sugar: The combination of these two sugars is essential for both flavor and texture. Granulated sugar contributes to crispiness and spreading, while brown sugar (especially light brown sugar) adds moisture, chewiness, and a subtle caramel note thanks to its molasses content.
Eggs (Room Temperature): Act as a binder, adding richness and helping the cookies rise. Using room temperature eggs allows them to incorporate more evenly into the butter and sugar mixture, creating a smoother dough.
Vanilla Extract: A classic flavor enhancer that complements the chocolate and brown butter beautifully. Don’t skimp on good quality vanilla!
Almond Extract (Optional, but Recommended): This is my secret weapon for an extra layer of sophisticated flavor. Just a teaspoon adds a subtle, delicate nutty note that perfectly complements the brown butter and chocolate without overpowering them. If you’re not a fan, you can certainly omit it.
Baking Soda: Our leavening agent. It reacts with the acidic brown sugar to help the cookies spread and become tender, giving them that signature chewy texture.
Salt: Essential for balancing the sweetness and enhancing all the other flavors. We also use a pinch of flaky sea salt for topping, which adds a wonderful textural contrast and bursts of savory flavor.
Chocolate Chips: I prefer semi-sweet chocolate chips for a balanced sweetness, but the choice is yours! Feel free to use dark chocolate chips for a more intense chocolate flavor, milk chocolate chips for a sweeter, creamier bite, or even a delightful mixture of all three. Chocolate chunks also work beautifully, creating lovely pools of melted chocolate throughout the cookies.

Step-by-Step Guide: Crafting Your Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

Follow these simple steps to bake a batch of the most incredible cookies you’ve ever tasted:

Brown the Butter: Begin by placing two sticks (1 cup) of unsalted butter in a light-colored saucepan. Cook over medium-high heat, stirring frequently with a spatula or whisk. The butter will melt, then foam, and finally, you’ll see small brown bits forming at the bottom, and it will smell wonderfully nutty. Once it turns a deep amber color, immediately remove it from the heat to prevent burning. Pour the hot browned butter into a heatproof bowl to stop the cooking process and allow it to cool for about 25 minutes. This cooling step is crucial for the cookie’s texture.
Prepare for Baking: While your brown butter cools, preheat your oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line a baking sheet with parchment paper to prevent sticking and ensure even baking.
Combine Wet Ingredients: Once the browned butter has cooled slightly but is still liquid (not solidified), combine it in a large bowl with the room temperature eggs, brown sugar, granulated sugar, vanilla extract, and the optional almond extract. Whisk these ingredients together until they are well combined and smooth, making sure there are no lumps of sugar.
Add Dry Ingredients: To the wet mixture, add the all-purpose flour, baking soda, and salt. Mix gently until just combined. Be careful not to overmix the dough, as this can lead to tough cookies. Once the dry ingredients are mostly incorporated, fold in your chosen chocolate chips until they are evenly distributed throughout the dough.
Scoop and Bake: Using a mini cookie scoop (or about 1.5-2 tablespoons of dough per cookie), drop the cookie dough balls onto the prepared baking sheet, spacing them about 3 inches apart. This ensures they have enough room to spread without merging. For an extra aesthetic touch, press a few additional chocolate chips onto the top of each dough ball before baking.
Bake to Perfection: Bake for 10-12 minutes. The cookies will look slightly puffy and a bit undercooked in the center when you pull them out, but their edges should be golden brown. This is exactly what you want! They will continue to set as they cool, resulting in that perfect chewy texture.
Finish and Enjoy: Immediately after removing them from the oven, sprinkle each warm cookie with a pinch of flaky sea salt. Let them cool on the baking sheet for a few minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely. Or, better yet, enjoy them warm and gooey with a glass of milk!

Expert Tips for the Perfect Brown Butter Cookies

Achieving cookie nirvana is easy with a few insider tips:

Do Not Overbake: This is arguably the most crucial tip for chewy cookies. While they might appear slightly undercooked in the center after 10-12 minutes, trust the process. The residual heat from the baking sheet will continue to cook them through as they cool, leading to a perfectly soft and chewy interior. Overbaking leads to dry, crunchy cookies.
Invest in Quality Ingredients: The flavor profile of these cookies is largely dependent on the quality of your butter and chocolate. Opt for good quality unsalted butter – Irish pure butter, for instance, has a wonderful flavor and higher fat content that contributes to richness. Similarly, choose chocolate chips or chunks that you genuinely enjoy eating on their own, as their flavor will shine through in the cookies.
Proper Flour Measurement: Always spoon your flour into the measuring cup and level it off with a straight edge (like the back of a knife). Scooping directly from the bag can pack too much flour into the cup, resulting in dry, dense cookies.
Room Temperature Eggs: Ensure your eggs are at room temperature. This allows them to emulsify better with the butter and sugar, creating a smoother, more uniform dough, which in turn leads to a better cookie texture. If you forget, place them in a bowl of warm water for 5-10 minutes.
Don’t Skip the Sea Salt: A sprinkle of flaky sea salt (like Maldon) on top of the warm cookies isn’t just for decoration. It provides a delightful contrast to the sweetness of the cookie and chocolate, enhancing all the flavors and adding a subtle crunch.

How Can I Achieve Thicker Cookies?

If you prefer a thicker, puffier cookie, the key lies in chilling your dough. After scooping your dough into balls, refrigerate them for at least 30 minutes, or even up to 2-3 days. Chilling the dough solidifies the butter, which prevents the cookies from spreading too rapidly in the oven. Room temperature cookie dough tends to spread more, resulting in flatter cookies. You can also slightly increase the amount of flour by a tablespoon or two, or reduce the brown sugar by a similar amount, but chilling is the most effective method.

Can I Freeze the Cookie Dough?

Absolutely! Freezing the cookie dough is a fantastic way to prepare ahead and always have fresh-baked cookies on hand. Simply scoop the cookie dough balls onto a parchment-lined baking sheet and freeze until solid (about 1-2 hours). Once frozen, transfer the dough balls to an airtight freezer-safe bag or container. They will keep well for up to 2-3 months. When you’re ready to bake, you can either thaw the dough completely in the refrigerator overnight and bake as directed, or bake them directly from frozen, adding a couple of extra minutes to the baking time. Keep an eye on them for doneness!

How Long Will These Cookies Stay Fresh?

These brown butter chocolate chip cookies are best enjoyed fresh out of the oven, but they also store beautifully. Place any leftover cookies in an airtight container at room temperature. They will remain wonderfully soft and delicious for 3-4 days. For longer storage, you can freeze baked cookies for up to a month. Just thaw them at room temperature or gently warm them in the microwave for a few seconds to regain that fresh-baked appeal.

More Irresistible Cookie Recipes to Try

If you’ve loved these brown butter chocolate chip cookies, you might also enjoy these other delightful cookie creations:

These Italian Lemon Ricotta Cookies are incredibly soft, moist, and bursting with a bright lemon flavor. They’re surprisingly easy to make and a true crowd-pleaser.
For a fun, colorful, and utterly delicious treat, try these M&M Cookies. They’re chewy, sweet, and perfect for kids and adults alike!

Tried this recipe? Please consider leaving a star ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ rating in the recipe card below and/or a review in the comments section further down the page. Your feedback is greatly appreciated! And don’t forget to follow me on Facebook, Instagram, or Pinterest for more delicious recipes!

Five brown butter chocolate chip cookies on a plate, ready to be enjoyed.

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5 from 4 votes

Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

By
Julie Maestre

These brown butter chocolate chip cookies feature rich, buttery cookie dough bursting with chocolate chips. No mixer or chilling required for this easy, delicious recipe!

Prep:

15 minutes

Cook:

10 minutes

Total:

25 minutes

Servings:
24

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Ingredients

▢ 2 cups all-purpose flour
▢ 1 cup unsalted butter , 2 sticks
▢ 1 tsp salt
▢ 1 tsp baking soda
▢ 1 cup brown sugar
▢ 1/2 cup granulated sugar
▢ 1 tsp vanilla extract
▢ 1 tsp almond extract , optional
▢ 2 eggs, room temperature
▢ 2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
▢ sea salt, for topping

Instructions

Place two sticks of butter in a saucepan and cook over medium-high heat, stirring frequently. Once it turns a deep amber color, remove it from the heat and place the butter into a bowl. Let it cool for about 25 minutes.
While the butter cools, preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Combine the cooled browned melted butter, eggs, brown sugar, granulated sugar, vanilla extract, and almond extract. Mix well.
Add the flour, baking soda, and salt. Mix until well combined. Fold in the chocolate chips.
Using a mini cookie scoop, drop the dough about 3 inches apart on the baking sheet. Feel free to add more chocolate chips on top of the cookie dough balls.
Bake for 10-12 minutes. Top each cookie off with a pinch of sea salt and enjoy!

Notes

Don’t overbake the cookies; they may look a bit undercooked but will be perfectly set around the 10-12 minute mark. This ensures a chewy center.
Use good quality chocolate chips and good quality butter! Irish pure butter is an excellent choice for its superior flavor and fat content.

Nutrition

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

Additional Info

Author:
Julie Maestre

Prep Time:

15 minutes

Cook Time:

10 minutes

Total Time:

25 minutes

Course:
Dessert

Cuisine:
American

Servings:
24

Calories:
250

Keyword:
brown butter chocolate chip cookies, chocolate chip cookies, how to make brown butter chocolate chip cookies

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