These cookies. You guys. These cookies are so worth the extra little bit of effort it takes to put them together. Brown butter – sounds crazy right? Sounds high maintenance? Or fancy pants? Or some other term you may not prefer to be associated with? Well let’s all just take a moment to get over ourselves and change our minds about this. Browning butter is NOT hard to do. It does give these cookies a little dose of magic though. Learning a little something new to end up with magical cookies? I’d say that’s worth it.
The first time I made these, I started heating the butter and quickly remembered I didn’t actually know how to brown butter. YouTube to the rescue – I pulled up this video and watched it as the butter melted. It’s definitely worth the watch if you’re unfamiliar with browning butter and are going to let that stop you from trying this recipe.
I’ve made these cookies several times now, and I especially love making them for groups – they always get a good response! Sometimes I use semi-sweet chocolate, sometimes milk chocolate, but I always recommend buying the good chocolate chips. We’re a little partial to the Ghiradelli brand because that’s what our little podunk grocery store carries. Just don’t go for the cheapest ones. Your taste buds will thank you later! You could also buy bars of semi-sweet or bitter-sweet chocolate and chop them up if you’re wanting chocolate chunk cookies instead – that’s next on my list to try!
Along with our simple bread recipe, these cookies made it into a styled wedding photo shoot we did a couple months ago! Check out the feature on The Lovely Find!
Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 14 tablespoons unsalted butter 1 ¾ sticks
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- ¾ cups packed brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 large egg
- 1 large egg yolk
- 1 ½ cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt for garnish
Instructions
- Melt butter in a medium sauce pan over medium-high heat. Continue to heat as butter starts to bubble - the bubbling sounds will get louder as the butter heats up. Stir constantly, scraping the bottom and sides of the pan with a spatula as you go. Keep a close eye on it as it will change color quickly. Once the butter turns a nice dark golden brown and has a nutty aroma, remove it from the heat. Transfer butter to a heat-proof bowl and let cool. You may place it in the fridge for 15-20 minutes to speed up the process.
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
- Combine flour and baking soda in a medium bowl and set aside.
- Once butter is cooled, but not hardened, place in the bowl of a stand mixer, along with both sugars, salt, and vanilla. Mix until light and fluffy, about 3-5 minutes.
- Add egg and egg yolk and mix until combined.
- Mix in flour mixture until just combined.
- Stir in chocolate chips with a spoon or spatula.
- Scoop 2 Tbs of dough at a time onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. You'll need to do at least two separate batches in the oven. Should make about 24 cookies.
- Bake for 9-12 minutes, till the edges just start to brown. [UPDATE: Definitely aim to bake these on the lower end of that timeframe, depending on how big your cookies are and how your particular oven bakes. I usually bake mine 8 minutes, check on them and rotate the pan and only bake them one additional minute. These cookies are divine when removed from the oven when the edges are starting to brown. Letting them cool on the pan for a bit while salting them will ensure they're baked through.] Remove from oven, sprinkle with additional salt, and let cool a few minutes before removing from the pan.