Meet your new go-to: brown butter chocolate chip cookies. This classic recipe gets a gourmet upgrade thanks to the rich, nutty flavor infusion of browned butter. They’re thick, gooey, loaded with melty chocolate and topped with a sprinkle of sea salt. A longtime reader favorite (with hundreds of rave reviews)!
Browned Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies (Chewy & Gourmet)
Not to be dramatic, but this isn’t your standard chocolate chip cookie recipe. Brown butter chocolate chip cookies have one game-changing, not-so-secret ingredient that takes them from good, to gourmet. If you’ve been paying attention, I’m sure you’ve guessed it by now: it’s brown butter.
To brown the butter, we cook it on the stovetop until the water evaporates and the milk solids are toasted. Might sound complicated, but it’s an easy process once you get the hang of it and I’ll walk you through it step by step. These extra few minutes of your time are well worth it to infuse a deep, nutty, toffee-like flavor onto every bite of your cookies.
Why You Need to Try These:
- Browned butter adds incredible flavor. By taking the extra time to brown the butter, we unlock deep nutty flavor with toasty notes of caramel and toffee that you can’t get from just plain melted butter.
- Pools of melty chocolate in every bite. We opt for chopped chocolate for rich chocolate puddles throughout the cookies. While some browned butter chocolate chip cookies will overwhelm the dough with chocolate, I was intentional about not doing that here and carefully striking just the right balance so the chocolate is present but highlights the dough without overwhelming it.
- Flaky sea salt puts things over the top. It’s a simple addition, but it elevates the cookies to gourmet status. Don’t go overboard, though, a light sprinkling is perfect.
Ingredients
Despite their gourmet flavor, brown butter chocolate chip cookies use humble, everyday ingredients (it’s all about how we use them that sets this recipe apart). Here’s what you need:
- Butter. We start with regular butter, then brown it on the stovetop (we’ll talk in more deatil about this below). The process only takes a few minutes, but it’s very important that you let the butter cool after browning, which usually takes about 30 minutes to an hour. It’s not necessary for the butter to re-solidify, but it should not feel warm to the touch.
- Sugar. We’ll use a blend of brown and granulated sugar. For the brown sugar, you can stick with all light brown or level things up (my recommendation) by using an even split of light brown and dark brown. The extra bit of molasses from the dark brown sugar adds an extra something to the cookies (all about that depth of flavor here!).
- Eggs. We need all of our ingredients to be the same temperature so they combine properly. This means our eggs and butter both need to be room temperature. I usually set my eggs out the night before I’m going to be baking. If you forget to set yours out, read my tip below!
- Chocolate. I know I call these brown butter chocolate chip cookies, but I honestly prefer to use chopped semisweet (or even dark) chocolate bars. I include instructions in the recipe for using regular chocolate chips, if that’s your preference.
SAM’S TIP: If you tend to forget to set out your eggs ahead of time, read my post on how to quickly bring eggs to room temperature! It can help save you a lot of time.
Remember, this is just an overview of the ingredients I used and why. For the full recipe please scroll down to the bottom of the post!
How to Make Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
Step 1: Brown the butter
Brown butter (more formally known by its French name: Buerre Noisette…fancy!), is simply butter that’s been cooked until all of the water evaporates and the milk solids begin to turn brown. The end result is a rich, flavorful butter with a nutty, toffee-like aroma.
Cook the butter over medium heat, stirring constantly. It will foam, sizzle, and pop after melting, keep it moving so nothing burns (just stirring with a spatula works fine). Once the sizzling stops, pay extra close attention. You’ll notice browning beginning to occur on the bottom of the pan. Once you see plenty of brown (not black!) bits, remove from heat and immediately pour it into a heatproof mixing bowl (if you keep it in the pan, it could continue to cook from the residual heat and burn).
The browned butter needs to cool completely before you move on to the next step. It doesn’t need to re-solidify, but it should not feel warm to the touch.
Once you master this technique, you’ll be using it all the time… I recommend you use your new skill in my butter pecan cake or brown butter snickerdoodles next 😉
Step 2: Make the dough
The brown butter chocolate chip cookie dough comes together pretty quickly and easily. I’ll reiterate (because it’s important) that your butter must be cooled, or it’ll melt the sugar and you’ll have a greasy, thin dough that spreads all over your cookie sheet.
Eggs and vanilla go in with the butter and sugar, the dry ingredients are whisked separately then added, then add your chopped chocolate. While chocolate chips work, trust me and make your cookies that much more gourmet by swapping them out for chopped chocolate (the chocolate is way more melty and delicious this way).
Step 3: Chill, scoop, and bake
No one loves waiting for their dough to chill, but it’s a worthwhile step. It helps develop the flavor, helps the cookies stay thicker and spread less, and isn’t just in the recipe to annoy you. So, chill your dough.
Then, scoop your cookies into 2-Tablespoon scoops, roll them in to smooth balls between your palms (not mandatory, but makes them bake up prettier), and bake. Give your cookies breathing room on the baking sheet or they’ll all run into each other and make a mess (2″ is good).
While the cookies are still warm, sprinkle with a bit of flaky sea salt (I like Maldon, I’ll link to it in the recipe card), then let them cool.
SAM’S TIP: Slightly underbake your cookies! When they are ready to come out of the oven, the edges will be just starting to turn a light golden brown, and the centers may still look a bit underdone. The cookies will finish cooking outside the oven on their cookie sheets and will stay soft and chewy for days.
Frequently Asked Questions
Browned butter chocolate chip cookie dough can be made up to a week in advance. If you’d like to do this, just store it in your refrigerator (in an airtight container or tightly covered with plastic wrap) until ready to use. The flavors will actually develop even more as the dough sits.
Keep in mind that if your dough has chilled for longer than 30 minutes, it will likely be pretty firm when you go to scoop it, so you’ll likely need to let it sit at room temperature for a bit before it’s scoopable. Because of this, I prefer to roll the dough into balls right after making it and chill the balls in an airtight container. Note they don’t always spread as much after chilling this way… but I like a good cookie.
The most likely cause is your butter being too warm when you added your sugars. The warm butter can melt the sugars and leave you with a greasy, messy cookie dough that will spread like crazy. Unfortunately there is no way to fix this (even chilling the dough won’t help 😞). This is why it’s very important to let your butter cool before moving forward with the recipe!
If you don’t think your sugar is melted , I would recommend adding a bit more flour, a spoonful at a time, until the dough matches the consistency shown in the video.
On the other hand, if your cookies aren’t flattening out at all, you may have over-measured your flour. I can’t stress enough how helpful it is to use a kitchen scale!
I’ve received a lot of questions about this (on most of my browned butter cookies, actually), but no, you do not need additional liquid or to add water to this recipe. The loss of water is accounted for and important for this recipe to work as it is.
I’d love to hear what you think of these browned butter chocolate chip cookies, please let me know what you think!
Enjoy!
More Ways to Use Brown Butter:
Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup (225 g) unsalted butter cut into Tablespoon-sized pieces
- 1 cup (200 g) light or dark brown sugar¹ see note
- ⅔ cup (135 g) white sugar
- 2 large eggs room temperature
- 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 ¾ cups (340 g) all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon cornstarch
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- 10 oz (285 g) semisweet chocolate² see note
- flaky sea salt for sprinkling <- (click the link for the Maldon salt I use)
Recommended Equipment
- Kitchen Scale (not required, but recommended for best results)
Instructions
Brown the butter
- Place butter in a medium-sized saucepan (preferably a light colored one–this will make it easier to tell once your butter has browned) and melt the butter over low/medium-low heat.1 cup (225 g) unsalted butter
- Once melted, increase stovetop heat to just above medium heat.
- Swirl and scrape the sides of the pan constantly with a wooden spoon or heatproof spatula – butter will foam and pop. Once the this noise slows, you should notice brown bits beginning to form on the bottom.
- Once you notice browning (and you smell that beautiful nutty aroma of browned butter), remove from heat quickly and pour into a large, heatproof bowl.
- Allow butter to cool at room temperature until no longer warm to the touch before proceeding with the recipe.
Cookie Dough
- Once your butter has cooled, add sugars and stir well.1 cup (200 g) light or dark brown sugar¹, ⅔ cup (135 g) white sugar
- Add eggs and vanilla extract and stir until dough is uniform.2 large eggs, 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
- In a separate, medium-sized bowl, whisk together flour, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda and salt.2 ¾ cups (340 g) all-purpose flour, 1 teaspoon cornstarch, 1 teaspoon baking powder, 1 teaspoon baking soda, ¾ teaspoon salt
- Gradually add the flour mixture to butter mixture, stirring until ingredients are completely combined.
- Add chocolate and stir well so that chocolate is well distributed through the batter.10 oz (285 g) semisweet chocolate²
- Cover cookie dough bowl with plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.
- About 15 minutes before dough has finished chilling/before you are ready to bake, preheat oven to 350F (175C) and line cookie sheets with parchment paper.
- Once dough has finished chilling scoop by about 2 Tablespoon-sized portions. Gently roll the dough between your palms so that you have a round ball, then place cookie dough at least 2″ apart on prepared cookie sheet.
- Bake on 350F (175C) for 10-12 minutes or until edges are just beginning to turn golden brown (cookies should still be quite soft when you remove them from the oven, and may even appear slightly underbaked in center).
- Let cookies cool for about a minute then sprinkle lightly with flaky sea salt. Allow cookies to cool completely on baking sheet before removing, then enjoy!flaky sea salt for sprinkling
Notes
¹Brown sugar
I like to use half light and half dark brown sugar, just because I usually have both on hand and like the blend. Either variety will work fine in this recipe, though. Cookies made with light brown sugar will be lighter in color, cookies made with dark brown sugar will be darker in color and slightly richer in flavor.²Chocolate
You can substitute chocolate chips instead, you’d need about 1 ¾ cups chocolate chips.³Brown Butter Note
If you’ve never browned butter before and are nervous about the process, make sure to watch my video at the top of the recipe card so you can see exactly how I do it. Very important: make sure it cools until no longer warm to the touch before using.Storing
Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to a week.Nutrition
Nutritional information is based on third-party calculations and should be considered an estimate only. Actual nutritional content will vary based upon brands used, measuring methods, cooking method, portion sizes, and more.
I originally published this recipe May 2017. Post updated to be more helpful and a new video added January 2026, recipe remains the same.
Ally
This recipe is amazing, and I really love that it’s so easy to follow! I’ve made it twice now and have received positive feedback both times. I mixed dark chocolate with milk chocolate and the flavour of the cookies was really rich. I let my dough sit overnight in the refrigerator and took them out to bake the next morning. Browned butter is a wonderful touch, and I topped my cookies off with smoked sea salt. So, so good! Thank you so much for sharing the recipe, Sam!
Sugar Spun Run
I am so glad that you loved the cookies, Ally! The browned butter really does add a nice extra level of flavor. I am so happy you that you loved it. Thank you for trying my recipe and for commenting. 🙂
Kristi Robbins
I was sure these cookies would fail. Who melts butter? Mix by hand? Cornstarch?? I’ve been baking cookies since cookies since I was 8, in 4-H, 1967, over 50 years of chocolate chip cookies. I consider myself the queen of good cookies, until now. I made these last night, they were great warm, but cookies usually are. Thought they would be hard the next day, haha.
How to describe? The complex flavors really came through. Heaven. The best cookie ever!! A slight flavor of that maple sugar candy from Vermont, rich buttery dark caramel, perfect texture, crackled tops…
Thank you Sam! I’m so glad I found your website! I’ll be checking out more of your recipes for sure!
Sugar Spun Run
What an amazing compliment to receive, thank you so much! I am so glad that these cookies exceeded your expectations and were such a hit, Kristi! I appreciate your feedback and look forward to seeing what recipe you try next. 🙂
makayla
Hi,
I am getting all my ingredients together and I don’t seem to have corn starch will this ruin the whole cookie or am I amble to still use this recipe and get great cookies?
Sugar Spun Run
Hi, Makayla! You can omit the cornstarch but the cookie won’t be as soft, however, it will still taste delicious. 🙂
Sara Khan
These were delicious and I’m never going back to any other chocolate chip cookie recipe. Mine only needed 9 minutes and left on the pan to cool. More people should know about this recipe, Thank you so much!
Sam
I am so glad everyone enjoyed the cookies, Sara! 🙂
Donna Stewart
Hmmmmmm!! Delicious. I can’t even describe the feeling I’m having. My first chocolate chip cookie and I am not even a fan of chocolate. My children can’t get enough. Thanks again sam.
Sugar Spun Run
I am so glad that your family loved them, Donna! Thank you so much for trying my recipe. 🙂
Esther
I made these and froze them to bake a couple of days later. I took 6 cookie balls out to thaw. They were at room temp when I put them in the oven. I have to use an oven thermometer to make sure it’s at the right temp and I have to keep watching the oven. I forgot to watch the oven and the cookies baked at 375 instead of 350. They still turned out delicious and chewy and I baked them for a shorter time period. Yay! I baked the cookies again but I placed the frozen cookie balls in the fridge to thaw and then baked at 350 and they were still good. If people want to skip chilling the dough they can bake at 375 minus a couple of minutes or so. The room temp cookie dough at 375 spread 1/4″ more than the chilled dough at 350. In addition to the chocolate chips, I also added milk chocolate toffee bits and walnuts to these cookies. Yum!
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed the cookies, Esther. 🙂
Susan
For sure a wonderful recipe. Somehow my dough was clumpy, not smooth..
Had to grab up dough and form..
Am baking a tray as I write this..
Sugar Spun Run
Hi, Susan! I am so sorry to hear that you are experiencing an issue. If the dough is crumbly it is usually the result of over measuring your flour. This is a common mistake in baking so I have created a guide on how to measure flour that can be used as a reference for next time. Regardless, I do hope that they still taste delicious once they have baked. 🙁
Sugar Spun Run
Hi, Susan! I am so sorry to hear that you are experiencing an issue. If the dough is crumbly it is usually the result of over measuring your flour. This is a common mistake in baking so I have created a guide on how to measure flour that can be used as a reference for next time. Regardless, I do hope that they still taste delicious once they have bake. 🙁
Annie
If you use chocolate chips don’t go by the chocolate weight, it’s too much. I used about 1/2 the amount. Browning the butter makes a difference, I will do it that way from now on.
Sugar Spun Run
Thank you for trying the recipe, Annie! I appreciate your feedback. 🙂
Sophia
They were a success! I used mostly milk chocolate, with some dark and some white chocolate.
Sugar Spun Run
I am so glad that they turned out perfectly, Sophia! Thank you for commenting. 🙂
Ashley
I love these cookies! I have made them a few times and they always turn out great.
I like the edges of my cookies to be crisp. My only concern is when I leave them sitting in the microwave for a few hours or store them in an airtight container, the edges become chewy instead of remaining crisp. Can you assist with this?
Sugar Spun Run
I am so glad that you enjoyed the cookies, Ashley! If you wish to keep the edges crisp, you will just want to bake them a min or two longer so that the edges are more done. I hope that helps! 🙂
Adrienne Szafranski
Super easy and some of the best chocolate chip cookies I have had. My first batch didn’t look done enough at the 12 min mark, so I gave them two additional minutes. The next day, they were dry and hard. For the batch I’m making now, I will trust the 12 minutes!
Sugar Spun Run
I am so glad that you enjoyed the brown butter chocolate chip cookies, Adrienne! I am sorry that your cookies were hard the next day. Even if the cookies look “undone” at the 12-minute mark they turn out perfectly once cooled. I hope that your second batch is even better! 🙂
Tkal
So I made these cookies today and they were a total hit!!! Thank you for posting the recipe. I think this officially the best movie I’ve ever made
Sugar Spun Run
I am so glad that the cookies were such a hit, Tkal! Thanks for trying my recipe! Enjoy! 🙂
Lynne Sandler
I made these cookies last week and they were wonderful. I made them today (Thursday) and will need them for Sunday. Is it better to just keep them at room temperature, or would it be better to freeze them and take them out on Sunday? Thank you.
Sugar Spun Run
Hi, Lynne! I am so glad that you enjoyed the chocolate chip cookies, Lynne! They will be fine stored in an airtight container at room temperature until Sunday. 🙂
Cecilia
Hello!
I am going to try your recipe very soon! I wanted to ask if you have ever tried it using salted butter and still adding the 3/4 tsp salt. I have been experiencing using salted butter instead of unsalted. I realize using the unsalted butter helps to be able to control the amount of salt, but do you think it changes the flavor of the cookie drastically using salted butter? Do you have experience using salted butter vs unsalted for chocolate chip cookies? Would love to hear your thoughts!
If I wasn’t using the sea salt on top, do you think the dough/cooked cookies would be too salty if using salted butter?
Wanda
I made these cookies yesterday and they are absolutely the best chocolate chip cookie! I had on hand mini semisweet chips and milk chocolate chips. My husband said there is no need to make ant other kind of chocolate chip cookies! I want to make another batch today. Do these freeze well after baked? My sister says she makes the best chocolate chip cookies but wait till she tries mine! Thank you so much and keep the recipes coming!
Sugar Spun Run
Thank you so much, Wanda! I am so glad that you enjoyed the cookies and I hope that your sister finds them to be the BEST too! As far as freezing goes, yes they freeze well. Thanks for trying my recipe and for commenting. 🙂