This isn’t regular a chocolate chip cookie recipe, because these bakery style cookies are baked with brown butter. These brown butter chocolate chip cookies are chewy, gooey, and soft like a regular chocolate chip cookies except they are so much richer and taste gourmet. This is the only way to enjoy chocolate chip cookies!
The Best Part About Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
Seriously, the best part about these cookies is the brown butter. Brown butter can make anything taste good, but for chocolate chip cookies it makes it super rich.
Brown butter is melted butter that is browned until milk solids are created. Then, it is browned until it’s an amber color and has a nutty taste and smell.
Why make brown butter? The best way I can describe it is the difference between raw pecans and roasted pecans. The raw pecans are still good, but roasted pecans taste even better and are very flavorful.
Regular butter is obviously amazing, but brown butter has so much more flavor.
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How To Make Brown Butter
Here are my best tips to make brown butter:
- Use a large heavy bottom skillet. The larger the skillet, the faster the butter will brown. You can still use a smaller saucepan, but it will take a lot longer to brown. I recommend using a 12 inch skillet.
- Place the butter in the skillet on medium heat. Melt the butter while stirring occasionally.
- Once the butter is melted, it will start to be bubbly. It will become translucent and more bubbles will appear.
- After 5-10 minutes the butter will start to foam. It will lightly foam at first, then become very foamy. Once this happens make sure you stir consistently.
- Next, the butter will be very foamy and hard to see on the bottom. The milk solids should start to separate and be on the bottom of the pan.
- Once the milk solids begin to turn a light amber color, the rest of the butter will become a light amber color. Take off the heat immediately. Then, keep stirring and the butter will turn into a deeper amber color and have a nutty aroma.
- Pour the butter into a glass container. (I use a glass measuring cup) Then scrape the pan for all of browned milk solids and pour that into the jar. This is where all the brown butter flavor comes from. Get every last drop!
- Place your glass container in the fridge for 1 – 1 1/2 hours. This will help solidify the butter to room temperature. We don’t want melted butter because this will dramatically change the texture of the cookies. The butter should be solid, but not cold to the touch.
- That’s it! Now you can easily make brown butter for any recipe!
Can I Make The Brown Butter Ahead Of Time?
Yes! I actually did this for these cookies. Cover your glass container with cling wrap and keep in the fridge. On the day of making the cookies, pull out the butter and leave on the counter for at least 2 hours. The butter should be room temperature before you use it.
Making The Chewiest Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
What makes these cookies chewy is the addition of cornstarch. Cornstarch makes most baked goods be more tender and therefore chewy. However, these cookies do have a crisp edge which makes them the PERFECT cookie. Adding cornstarch is my number 1 tip to soften the cookie.
First, sift your flour, baking soda, salt, and cornstarch together in a medium bowl. Then, use a mixer to beat the brown butter, sugar, and brown sugar together for 2 minutes on medium.
Next, add in the vanilla and eggs one at a time. Then, mix in the dry ingredients. Once everything is combined, add the chocolate chips.
Now, cover the bowl and stick it in the fridge for 30 minutes. This will help butter solidify a bit and the cookies won’t spread as much.
Tips On Making These Gooey Cookies
- Room temperature butter and eggs- Room temperature butter is much easier to aerate with both of the sugars. Aerated butter makes for a fluffier cookie. The same with room temperature eggs. Cold eggs make a dense cookie.
- Properly scoop the flour- First, take a spoon and fluff up the flour. Then, spoon it into the measuring cup and level it off with a flat edge. For high altitude baking add 2 1/2 TBSP extra flour.
- Chill the dough- If you have a problem with cookies spreading too much, pop the dough in the fridge for at least 30 minutes. This will help to solidify the butter and it won’t spread as much.
- Bake on silicone baking sheets- The silicone baking sheets are genius and help so much with reducing the spread of the cookies.
Baking The Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
Once your cookie dough has chilled for at least 30 minutes, prepare 2 large cookie sheets with silicone baking sheets. If you don’t have those you can also use parchment paper.
This recipe makes large bakery style cookies. The larger cookie allows for the soft chewy center and still has the crisp edges. I use a large ice cream scoop (2oz scoop) to get large uniform cookies.
Next, scoop the cookie dough (make sure it is compact in the scoop). Then, place it immediately on the cookie sheet. The cookie dough should have the beautiful ridges from the ice cream scoop.
Now it is time to bake! Bake the cookies for 14-16 minutes until the cookie is lightly golden brown.
Let the cookies sit on the hot cookie sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.
Can These Cookies Be Gluten Free?
Yes! These cookies can be gluten free. Use a 1:1 ratio gluten free flour. Use the same amount of flour as noted in the recipe
How To Store Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
Store these cookies at room temperature in a storage baggie, or in a Tupperware. They will last 5-7 days at room temperature.
You can also store them in the fridge. They will last up to 10 days in the fridge. I highly recommend heating the cold cookies in the oven for 3-4 minutes at 350F. Warm cookies are always the best.
Can The Cookie Dough Be Frozen?
Yes! To freeze the cookie dough, scoop it into the cookie dough balls and then place them in a freezer safe storage bag. It will last up to 3 months in the freezer.
When you are ready to bake it, pull out however many cookies you would like, then let them sit on the counter for 30 minutes.
Then, bake it the same amount of time as the recipe says.
Other Cookie Recipes To Try
- S’mores chocolate chip cookies
- Monster cookies
- Triple chocolate peanut butter cookies
- Toffee chocolate chip cookies
Make sure to tag me on Instagram @stephaniesweettreats and leave me a review below if you made these cookies. I hope you loved it! To get more ideas follow me on Pinterest.
Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup Plus 4 TBSP unsalted butter
- 1/2 cup White granulated sugar
- 1 cup Brown sugar packed light or dark
- 1 tsp Pure vanilla extract
- 2 Large eggs room temperature
- 2 1/2 cups All-purpose flour
- 1 tsp Baking soda
- 1 tsp Salt
- 2 tsp Cornstarch
- 1 3/4 cup Semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 1/4 cup Mini chocolate chips
Instructions
Brown Butter
- Use a large frying pan ( between 10-12 inches) on medium heat, start melting the butter. The larger the frying pan, the quicker the butter will brown. If you do use a smaller pan it will take 5-10 minutes longer to brown.
- Once the butter is melted, whisk occasionally until the butter starts to foam. It will take 5-10 minutes to get the butter to start to foam. Once it does, whisk continuously because it will be hard to see what is happening underneath it.
- Once it starts to foam, there will be milk solids that will sink to the bottom. Those milk solids will start to turn a light brown after 1 minute. Once the solids turn light brown and the rest of the butter turns light amber, take the pan off the heat.
- Whisk continuously, the residual heat will butter will turn into a more rich amber color. Pour the butter into a glass measuring cup (or a thick glass jar). Make sure to scrape all the brown bits into the cup, that is where the flavor is! There should be exactly 1 cup of brown butter.
- Cover the glass measuring cup with cling wrap, and place in the fridge. Let it solidify for 1 1/2 hours. The butter should be solid, but not too cold. If you make the butter ahead of time, pull the cold brown butter out to get to room temperature for 2 hours before making the cookie dough.
Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
- In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, salt, and cornstarch. Set aside.
- Use a mixer, and beat the brown butter, sugar, and brown sugar on medium speed for 2 minutes. The butter should be light and fluffy. Add in the vanilla and mix until combined. Add in eggs one at a time. Mix until combined.
- Slowly add in the dry ingredients on low. Mix until combined. Add in semi-sweet chocolate chips and mini chocolate chips and mix on low for 10-15 seconds. Cover and place in the fridge for 30 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 350F, and line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.
- Use a large ice cream scoop (2 TBSP) and scoop the cookie dough. Compact the dough into the scoop and then place on cookie sheet. Don't try to manipulate the dough because we want the nice ripples on the cookie dough ball. Place the cookie dough 3 inches apart on the cookie sheet. I usually do 6 cookies per cookie sheet.
- Bake the cookies 14-16 minutes until lightly golden brown on the edges and on top. Let the cookies sit on the pan for 5 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack. Allow them to cool for 10 minutes, then eat!
Mary Walker
Hi. Can this dough be prepared and refrigerated ahead of time?
Stephanie Rutherford
Yes it can! Store it covered in the fridge. Then, take it out of the fridge 1 1/2- 2 hours before baking because it will be cold and very hard to scoop. Once it gets to be more room temperature, you can bake as normal.
Nikki
I’ve tried this recipe 3 times and I can’t seem to get good results. There is so much butter it’s literally oozing puddles out while baking. Thus causing them to spread too much. The edges burn and the center is raw.
I’m going to try one more time and I’ll add a considerable amount more flour.
Stephanie Rutherford
I am sorry to hear that is causing you troubles! Here are a few things that could help
1. If browning the butter, the butter will cook off and when you pour it into the a glass measuring glass it should equal 1 cup. If there is more than that, you only need 1 cup. More butter will cause that problem.
2. Let the butter cool completely in the fridge and then let it come to room temperature. Using warm kinda melty butter will cause the problems you describe. The consistency you want is if you grabbed regular stick butter and then let it come to room temperature for 2 hours. In this case its the brown butter.
3. Chill the dough for at least 30 minutes. This helps to solidify the butter again, which also helps prevent the spreading.
I hope this helps!