Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

Professional Tips for Making Perfect Brown Butter

The key to the best chocolate chip cookies is perfect brown butter that is allowed to cool until solid again.

• Cook the butter over medium-low heat. It is tempting to rush the browning process but then some solids will burn before the rest of the butter has a chance to take on the ideal nutty flavor.
• Stir the butter while browning. Every so often during the browning process, stir the butter with a silicone spatula to scrap up the milk solids on the bottom. This will allow more moisture to evaporate and more solids to brown evenly without burning.
• When done pour into a clear or white bowl. This will let you see the color of the butter. If it is too light and only smells like butter, put it back in the pot and keep cooking. This also starts the cooling process immediately.

Ingredients Needed

• All-purpose flour
• Cake Flour: The cake flour has cornstarch, less gluten and a finer texture. It makes for extra soft, tender cookies.
• Baking Soda
• Baking Powder
• Kosher Salt
• Cornstarch: Adding cornstarch to cookies helps make them chewy and thick.
• Unsalted Butter: I use unsalted butter in baking to control the saltiness. In this recipe I measure the butter before browning to simplify the process.
• Cream Cheese: Cream cheese in cookies gives them a soft, chewy texture. It also adds a nice tang and rounds out some of the sweetness. I always use full fat cream cheese, but you could use reduced fat as well. Just not whipped!
• Light Brown Sugar: Using light brown sugar adds sweetness along with a little moisture. This will keep the cookies softer while adding a nice, rich molasses flavor. You can use dark brown sugar if it’s what you have on hand.
• White Sugar: Granulated sugar is obviously here for sweetness, but if you add too much in proportion to the butter and flour, the cookies will spread rather than stay tall and chewy.
• Whole Egg: The eggs are here to add fat, moisture and leavening. The fat from the yolk adds richness and helps keep the cookies chewy. Beating in the eggs just enough will add a little or a lot of leavening depending on the desired texture. Eggs also emulsify the batter and keep everything texturally perfect.
• Vanilla Extract
• Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips
• Bittersweet Chocolate Chips: I love bittersweet chocolate chips because they balance some of the sweetness in the cookies. They are also extra melty and will give you that melted chocolate pull that we live for!

See the recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities.

Variations & Substitutions

• Change the chips: Use all bittersweet chips, dark chocolate chips, chop a chocolate bar or use M&Ms for a fun variation. Sometimes you will even catch me using milk chocolate chips, like I do in these pumpkin chocolate chip cookies!
• Add nuts: If you enjoy nuts in your chocolate chip cookies, then add some chopped walnuts, pecans or toasted hazelnuts to really lean into the brown butter flavor.
• Cream Cheese: If you don’t have cream cheese it would be best to make these bakery style chocolate chip cookies instead and brown the butter called for in that recipe. They are similar but call for only pantry items.
• Cake Flour: If you don’t have cake flour then substitute all-purpose flour. The cake flour has extra cornstarch and a finer texture. It makes for extra soft and chewy cookies.

How long do I brown butter for cookies?

I measure my butter for this recipe (and all cookies) before it is browned. The extra step and stress isn’t necessary. Brown your butter until it is a rich golden brown and smells nutty. There will be small flecks in the butter, which are browning milk solids. This is the flavor!

Don’t stress about the time, watch the butter, swirl and pour it into a clear or white bowl when you think it is done. If it isn’t brown, put it back in the pot and keep cooking.

How to Make Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

Use these instructions to make chewy brown butter chocolate chip cookies! Further details and measurements can be found in the recipe card below.

Brown the butter:

Step 1: In a saucepan melt the butter over medium heat and continue to cook and swirl, stirring occasionally, until the butter turns light brown, brown bits stick to the bottom of the pan and smells delightfully nutty. Transfer to a bowl to cool (make sure you get all those yummy brown bits too!)

Step 2: In a large bowl combine dry ingredients: flours, baking soda, baking powder, cornstarch, and salt. Whisk together and set aside.

Step 3: Once the butter has cooled and resolidified (it will be at room temperature), combine butter and sugars in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and beat until creamy and lightened, 3-4 minutes. Add the eggs one at a time, beating between each addition. Add the vanilla with the second egg.

Step 4: Reduce the mixer speed to low and gradually add the flour mixture. I usually do 4-5 additions, scraping down the bowl as necessary. Make sure you add the next addition as soon as most of the flour has been incorporated from the last one.

Step 5: Add the chocolate chips either with the mixer or with a wooden spoon.

Step 6: Preheat oven to 350° and line several baking sheets with parchment paper or silpat.

Step 7: Roll or scoop cookie dough balls approximately the size of a golf ball. Place on a cookie sheet 2 inches apart and bake for 10-12 minutes or until the sides begin to brown and the edges are set. The centers will look matte but still soft.  

Step 8: Let cool 5 minutes on the baking sheet and then remove to a wire rack to cool completely. If you are impatient and you eat a cookie too soon, it will seem way underdone.

Frequently Asked Questions

Before You Go

I hope you enjoyed this professional chef tested recipe. Check out our other delicious, pastry chef-created cookie recipes, or head over to my Red Velvet Cookies first!