This is my go-to chocolate chip cookie recipe! I’ve been perfecting this recipe for years and finally have it exactly how I want it. Tender, soft, chewy cookies, with a huge flavor boost from browning the butter. Oh, and tons of chocolate chips. Duh. Originally published November 7, 2016.
We had a baby! Her name is Valentine!
Isn’t she so cute?? If you don’t think so, don’t tell me. Also, you’re wrong. She’s perfect!!
Charlotte thinks so too. I’ve never seen a kid more obsessed about anything. This is what she looks like pretty much all the time:
Poor Truman developed croup a few days after she was born, so his introduction to being a big brother has consisted of, “Don’t cough on the baby!” “No, it’s NOT okay to put your fingers in her mouth!” Poor kid. He’s being a good sport about it.
All the ups and downs of having a newborn are quickly coming back to us. The baby smell. The crying. The tiny hands and toes. The lack of sleep. The impossible expansion of your heart. There’s really nothing quite like it. We are so lucky!
Also, can I just tell you my favorite part about having a baby: it’s not being pregnant anymore. Can I get an amen.
These Browned Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies are my favorite!
I could go on forever, but I promise I have a recipe for you today! It’s a classic. I’m embarrassed that it’s not on the blog, because I make these ALL the time. It’s slightly adapted from a recipe which years ago I called My Favorite Chocolate Chip Cookies. But now that’s a lie. This one is my new favorite. I mean how can you argue with browned butter?
This stuff is where the magic happens, guys. It just adds this incredible layer of flavor that you don’t get in normal chocolate chip cookies. It’s not a different flavor; they still taste like buttery chocolate chip cookies. They just taste like the best chocolate chip cookies you’ve ever had. So soft! So tender! So chocolate-y! So, so flavorful.
What you’ll need for Browned Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
Here’s a quick shopping list to help you gather your ingredients. See the recipe card below for the full ingredients and instructions!
- Salted butter
- White sugar
- Brown sugar
- Eggs
- Vanilla extract
- Flour
- Baking soda
- Semi sweet chocolate chips
How to make Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
Here’s a quick overview of how to make this recipe. Full instructions can be found in the recipe card below!
- Add the butter to a medium pot or skillet, turn the heat to medium, then cook until browned, stirring every 1-2 minutes with a wooden spoon. Immediately pour the browned butter into a large bowl or stand mixer. Add the white sugar and brown sugar and beat well.
- With the beaters on, add the eggs. Add the vanilla and stir.
- Add half the flour, but don’t stir. Use a small spoon to stir the baking soda and salt into the flour, then beat the flour into the dough. Add the remaining flour and stir, but stop when the dough is still dry and you can still see flour.
- Add all the chocolate chips. Stir together just until the flour is incorporated. Do not over beat. Chill the dough for 1-2 hours minimum.
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Line baking sheets with silpats or parchment paper.
- To shape the dough, use a 1/4 measuring cup. Form the dough into an egg shape (as opposed to a sphere). Place the dough on the prepared cookie sheets, with at least 2 inches between each cookie.
- Bake at 350 for about 11-14 minutes. Immediately after taking them out of the oven, use your fingers to push several chocolate chips into the tops of each cookie.
- Let them set up on the pan for 5 minutes, then remove to a cooling rack.
These are BIG cookies. I use a 1/4 cup measuring cup to shape the dough. I shape the dough as shown above. It’s an oval, not a sphere, meaning they don’t spread quite as much, and you get a perfectly thick and chewy cookie. Chilling the dough also helps them keep their shape in the oven. Since we start the recipe with hot butter, you will have a warm cookie dough. (It’s delicious and I eat the stuff with a spoon. No apologies.) But warm cookie dough can’t go straight into the oven; you have to chill it. You can either throw it in the fridge for a couple hours, or shape the dough and freeze for half an hour. Either way works great.
Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe tips
I almost never bake an entire batch of cookies. I make the dough, bake up a pan to eat right away, then shape the rest of the dough and freeze it in a ziplock. We almost always have frozen cookie dough in the freezer, shaped and ready to go. I don’t even thaw them before I bake, just throw them on the pan completely frozen and add 2-5 minutes to the normal bake time. It’s a dangerous habit, let me tell you. I’m always a 350 degree wait time away from warm chocolate chip cookies.
Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies Recipe storage
These cookies can be stored at room temperature for up to 3 days. After that, it’s best to freeze them to preserve their flavor and texture (you know, if you actually have any left after 3 days).
You can also freeze balls of dough and bake them from frozen anytime you like (or snack on balls of frozen dough, straight from the freezer, shhhh).
Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie FAQs
Brown butter is your chocolate chip cookie’s best friend. It doesn’t take over, it just helps out. It takes a regular chocolate chip cookie–buttery, chewy, chocolatey–and adds nutty, caramel notes that bring out the other flavors.
Both have their place! In some cookies, other flavors are taking precedence, so brown butter isn’t ideal. But brown butter’s nutty flavor goes perfectly with chocolate, so it’s absolutely fantastic in a chocolate chip cookie.
Brown butter is done when it stops hissing and sizzling and turns brown (tiny brown specks in the bottom of the pan). The smell will turn nutty. You might not be able to see the color under the foam very well, but you can tilt the pan to the side and use your spoon to move the foam. Once it is brown and it looks silty at the bottom, it is done.
Chill that dough. I get impatient too! But it’s necessary if you want cookies with awesome chewy texture and not sad flat cookies. You can cover the bowl of dough and throw it in the fridge for 1-2 hours. (or up to 24 hours!) Or you can shape the dough into ¼ cup balls and freeze for 30 minutes (or refrigerate for 30-45 minutes.) Shape the dough and place it right on the pan.
Let me know if you try these out! I hope you love them as much as I do.
More chocolate chip cookies
Mint Chocolate Chip Cookies << these are so perfect for Christmas!
Skinny Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies << These are perfect for when you need to cut calories but need a chocolate fix!
Texas Cowboy Cookies << These cookies have been so popular this fall! You will love them!
My Favorite Chocolate Chip Cookies << It’s a lie. Today’s recipe is my new favorite. The two are quite similar, but those few changes make a big difference!
Salted Chocolate Chip Cookies from Baked from Scratch
Vanilla Pudding Chocolate Chip Cookies from Yummy Healthy Easy
Potato Chip Chocolate Chip Cookies from Hip Foodie Mom
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Best Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 & 1/2 cups salted butter, 3 sticks
- 1 cup white sugar
- 1 & 1/2 cups dark brown sugar
- 3 eggs
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 4 & 1/2 cups all purpose flour, spooned and leveled*
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 1 & 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt, **
- 2 & 1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips, plus more to top cookies
Instructions
- Add the butter to a medium pot or skillet, preferably one that is light in color (so you can see the color of the butter). Turn the heat to medium.
- Cook, stirring every 1-2 minutes with a wooden spoon. After a couple minutes, the butter will start to foam. Keep watching it. Eventually the butter will turn brown and you will see tiny brown specks. The smell will turn nutty. You might not be able to see the color under the foam very well, which is part of the reason you need to stir. Once it is brown and it looks silty at the bottom, it is done.
- Immediately pour the browned butter into a large bowl or stand mixer. Add the white sugar and brown sugar and beat well.
- With the beaters on, add the eggs. (If you don’t have enough hands for this, then wait a few minutes to let the butter mixture cool so you don’t curdle your eggs. Or you could beat the eggs in a separate bowl and then add them all at once.)
- Add the vanilla and stir.
- Add half the flour, but don’t stir. Use a small spoon to stir the baking soda and salt into the flour, then beat the flour into the dough.
- Add the remaining flour and stir, but stop when the dough is still dry and you can still see flour.
- Add all the chocolate chips. Stir together just until the flour is incorporated. Do not over beat.
- At this point you need to chill the dough. You can cover the bowl and throw it in the fridge for 1-2 hours. (or up to 24 hours!) Or you can shape the dough as described below and freeze for 30 minutes (or refrigerate for 30-45 minutes.) Shape the dough and place it right on the pan if you have room in your freezer, otherwise put them in ziplocks to freeze them.***
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Line baking sheets with silpats or parchment paper.
- To shape the dough, use a 1/4 measuring cup. Form the dough into an egg shape (as opposed to a sphere). Place the dough on the prepared cookie sheets, with at least 2 inches between each cookie.
- Bake at 350 for about 11-14 minutes. Your bake time will depend on your method and length of chilling, so keep an eye on them so they don’t get overdone.
- Take the cookies out when they are just barely starting to turn golden on top, and the centers are not shiny (or, if you like really soft cookies, a little shine is okay.)
- Immediately after taking them out of the oven, use your fingers to push several chocolate chips into the tops of each cookie.
- Let them set up on the pan for 5 minutes, then remove to a cooling rack.
- Eat these cookies with milk!!
This is the only chocolate chip cookie, I make now.
I use gf free flour, & they turn out perfect. I use a mixture of chocolate chips. Yesterdays were dark chocolate mixed with milk… typically it’s milk chocolate mixed with semi sweet. So, so good! Thank you for sharing this recipe!
I love the idea of mixing chips like that SK! And happy to hear these turn out well with gf flour, good to know :) Thank you so much for taking the time to review!
This is truly the best chocolate chip cookie recipe. I made these for a Christmas party at work and had people coming from out of the wood work that I had never met before to get cookies because they heard about how amazing they were. I literally got a standing ovation when I walked in to the after work party at the restaurant next door. The first thing everyone says when they first pick up one of these cookies is “wow, that’s a heavy cookie” as they hold it in the palm of their hand and “weigh it” by moving their hand up and down. Haha 😄 I also got a lot of “that’s the best chocolate chip cookie I’ve ever had” and “do you sell these because you could sell these” Don’t hesitate to try this recipe and definitely do not skip browning the butter.
Haha!! I love this Pickleton! You could definitely sell these, sounds like you’ve already got a niche market ;) I’m so glad it was a success, thank you so much for taking the time to leave a review! That helps me out so much!
I love these cookies!!!! I’ll never make them without brown butter ever again!
yay! Brown butter for the win!
Since I found this recipe I only use this one for Chocolate chip cookies. I almost cried when I thought I lost it and couldn’t find it in my pinterest pins. I found it! So glad. Thanks for sharing this yummy recipe!
WHEW! What a relief Trish! Seriously there is nothing worse than losing a beloved recipe! It’s why I started my blog years ago, now I have them all in one place ;) Thanks for much for reviewing, glad you’re loving the cookies!
how long can these cookies last frozen? thinking of pre making these for a party! thanks!
Hey Jasmine! I’m not in the habit of freezing already baked cookies. What I would recommend doing is making the dough, shaping and then freezing in ziplocks bags until a couple hours before your party, then bake from frozen. It will take just a couple minutes longer bake time than the recipe says.
If that sounds like too much trouble, you can of course freeze the already baked cookies, I just don’t think they will taste quite as fresh. I hope you love the recipe!
whoops! so sorry. i meant if i were to pre make the dough. haha
Oh well perfect then! Then to answer your original question I would say they should last at least 3-6 months :)
I made these cookies yesterday for the first time. They turned out picture perfect!
My grandchildren loved the size of them!
I sprinkled them with raw sugar on the top….I don’t know why, i just like it..
Thanks so much for this recipe!
I loooove raw sugar on top of my cookies Stephanie, you’re not alone! I recently published another chocolate chip cookie that has raw sugar in the dough for a little bit of crunch, I bet you will love them: https://thefoodcharlatan.com/best-chocolate-chip-cookies/
I’m so glad the grandkids loved them! Thanks for commenting, so good to hear from you!
they look great have you make a cookie cake thanks
Hey Adela! I haven’t made this recipe into a cookie cake but I bet it would work fine. I would look up some other cookie cake recipes to get an idea of how long to bake it. Let me know how it goes!
Hi! What if I only have unsalted butter at hand? Will I keep the recipe as is or should I add salt? (Don’t want the cookies to be too sweet!)
Hey Terry! Yeah just add a little more salt. I would be conservative and add about 1/8 teaspoon salt per stick of butter. Up to 1/4 t if you love salt. Let me know how it goes!
I forgot to leave a suggestion about making these wonderful cookies (and everything else). Invest in a kitchen scale. You dirty less things and you can be sure you have the exact amount of flour (and other stuff) needed.
Amazing! I’m making them again today. If you have a dough scoop with a “20” on it, that’s a 1/4 cup. Quick and easy and I left them round. It’s my new favorite cookie recipe! Thank you, thank you. It’s all your fault if I get fat! 😉
Haha, I take all the blame Tinker! Hopefully we can all get enough cardio in that we won’t die of cookie-induced heart attacks. ;) Good tip, I need to find a cookie dough scoop with the twenty on it. And thanks for the tip about weighing ingredients, if only Americans baked that way!!!