I brown a full cup of butter on the stove before it ever meets the sugar for these brown butter chocolate chunk cookies, then chill the dough for at least an hour so it doesn't spread thin in the oven. Chopped bittersweet chocolate goes in over chips, and a pinch of flaky sea salt finishes each one right out of the oven.
I've made a lot of chocolate chip cookies in my life, and most of them start the same way - soften the butter, cream it with sugar, move on. This one doesn't skip that step so much as replace it entirely. The butter gets browned first, which means five to seven minutes of standing at the stove watching it foam, then turn golden, then finally show those small dark flecks on the bottom of the pan that tell you it's ready.
The best flavor sometimes comes from the step everyone else skips.
That's why I don't use a stand mixer at the start of this recipe. Browning butter needs your attention and a wooden spoon, not a paddle attachment, and it's not a step you want to walk away from. Once it's done and cooled slightly, everything moves fast - the sugars go in, then the eggs, then the flour, then the chocolate. What comes out the other end is a cookie with a toasty, nutty flavor that a regular butter cookie just doesn't have.
The Decisions Behind This Recipe
- Brown the butter completely, rather than partially browning it or using melted butter as a shortcut. The full 5 to 7 minutes on the stove is what produces those dark brown flecks on the bottom of the pan, and that's a must if you want the flavor this recipe is actually built around.
- I chill the dough for a minimum of an hour, though I'd rather you go overnight - some things need to rest before they can hold their shape. The dough comes together quite loose right after mixing, and it needs that time in the fridge to firm up enough to portion and to keep the cookies from spreading too thin once they hit the hot oven.
- I use both baking soda and baking powder rather than picking one. That combination is deliberate - it gives the cookies enough lift without making them cakey, and keeps a little spread without losing shape entirely.
- The flaky sea salt goes on right after baking, while the cookies are still warm, not before - a little salt at the very end says more than a lot of it mixed in early. Salting the dough itself would season it evenly throughout, but salting the top afterward gives you that occasional bite of pure salt against the sweetness, which is the effect I'm actually after.
Ingredients & Substitutions
- Unsalted butter - Browned on the stovetop first. This is the ingredient the entire recipe is built around, so don't substitute melted or softened butter here.
- Light brown sugar and granulated sugar - The brown sugar keeps the cookies chewy and adds a faint molasses note that plays well against the browned butter. The granulated sugar helps the edges turn crisp.
- Eggs - Room temperature, so they blend smoothly into the browned butter and sugar instead of seizing it up.
- Vanilla extract - Added with the eggs, doing exactly what vanilla always does.
- All-purpose flour: Spoon it into your measuring cup and level it off rather than scooping directly from the bag, or you'll end up with more flour than the recipe intends and a drier cookie.
- Baking soda and baking powder: Used together here rather than just one or the other, which gives the cookies the right amount of lift and spread.
- Bittersweet chocolate, chopped: I chop bittersweet chocolate bars into chunks instead of using chocolate chips. Two 4-ounce bars gets you the 1½ cups needed, and the irregular pieces melt unevenly in a way that pools across the top of the cookie, which chips are too uniform to do.
- Fine sea salt - Goes into the dough itself, balancing the sweetness from the inside.
- Flaky sea salt: Sprinkled on right after baking. It's a small step, but it makes a real difference against the sweetness of the cookie, and I wouldn't skip it.
How to Make Brown Butter Chocolate Chunk Cookies
1. Brown the butter. Add the butter to a medium saucepan over medium heat. Stir continuously with a wooden spoon as it melts, foams, and eventually turns golden.
You'll see dark brown flecks forming on the bottom of the pan after about 5 to 7 minutes. Keeping the butter moving is what prevents it from burning. Once browned, remove from the heat and transfer immediately to a large mixing bowl. Let it cool for 10 minutes before moving on.
2. Mix the sugars. Add the brown sugar and granulated sugar to the browned butter. Beat with a handheld electric whisk for about a minute, until well combined.
3. Add the eggs and vanilla. Beat again for about two minutes, until the mixture turns thick and glossy.
4. Combine with the dry ingredients. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Add this to the wet ingredients and beat on the lowest speed until just combined.
5. Fold in the chocolate. Add 1¼ cups of the chopped chocolate, reserving the remaining ¼ cup for topping, and fold in by hand.
6. Chill the dough. At this point the dough will look and feel quite loose. Chill it for at least an hour, though overnight makes a real difference in both flavor and texture.
7. Shape the dough. Preheat the oven to 350°F and line two baking sheets with parchment. Scoop the dough into 2 to 3 tablespoon portions, press a little of the reserved chopped chocolate on top of each, and space them at least 2 inches apart. If you're baking in batches, keep any extra dough balls in the fridge until ready.
8. Bake. Bake for 14 minutes, or until the edges are golden and the centers look just barely set. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet until firm enough to move to a cooling rack.
9. Finish. Sprinkle each cookie with a pinch of flaky sea salt while still warm.
Brown Butter Chocolate Chunk Cookies
Equipment
- medium saucepan
- Wooden spoon
- large mixing bowl
- Handheld electric mixer
- Medium bowl (for dry ingredients)
- Baking sheets
- parchment paper
- Cookie scoop (2-3 tablespoon size)
- Cooling rack
Ingredients
Cookie Dough
- 1 cup unsalted butter room temperature and cubed
- 1 ¼ cups packed light brown sugar
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs room temperature
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 ¼ cups all-purpose flour spooned and leveled
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1 ½ cups chopped bittersweet chocolate or chocolate chips divided
For Topping
- flaky sea salt for sprinkling
Instructions
Brown the Butter
- Add the butter to a medium saucepan set over medium heat. Stir continuously with a wooden spoon as it melts, foams, and turns golden - you'll see dark brown flecks forming on the bottom of the pan. This takes 5-7 minutes; keep the butter moving the whole time so the heat disperses evenly and it doesn't scorch.
- Once the butter has browned, pull it off the heat right away and pour it into a large mixing bowl, scraping in every last brown fleck since that's where the flavor lives. Let it cool for about 10 minutes before moving on - it should still be liquid but no longer hot to the touch.
Mix the Dough
- Add the brown sugar and granulated sugar to the bowl with the cooled brown butter. Beat with a handheld electric mixer until well combined, about 1 minute.
- Add the eggs and vanilla, then beat again until the mixture turns thick and glossy, about 2 minutes.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients and beat on the lowest speed until just combined - stop as soon as the streaks of flour disappear.
- Fold in 1 ¼ cups of the chopped chocolate by hand, reserving the remaining ¼ cup for topping the cookies before baking.
Chill the Dough
- The dough will look loose and glossy at this stage - that's expected with melted brown butter. Cover and chill for at least 1 hour, or overnight for deeper flavor and a chewier bite.
Shape and Bake
- When ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350°F and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Scoop the dough into 2-3 tablespoon portions, or use a large cookie scoop. Press a few pieces of the reserved chopped chocolate onto the top of each dough ball.
- Space the cookies at least 2 inches apart on the baking sheets. If you're baking in batches, hold any extra dough balls in the refrigerator so they stay cold until their turn in the oven.
- Bake for 14 minutes, or until the edges are golden and the centers look just barely set - they'll finish setting as they cool. Let the cookies rest on the baking sheet until firm enough to move, then transfer to a cooling rack.
- Finish each warm cookie with a small pinch of flaky sea salt.
Notes
Tips for the Best Brown Butter Chocolate Chunk Cookies
- Watch for the dark flecks. You'll know the butter is properly browned once you see small dark brown specks collecting on the bottom of the pan. Using a light-colored pan makes this much easier to spot. The smell shifts too - nutty and intense, somewhere between fresh popcorn and butter.
- Don't skip weighing or properly spooning-and-leveling the flour - brown butter already runs a bit leaner on moisture than regular melted or softened butter, so a heavy-handed flour measurement is the fastest way to end up with a dry, cakey cookie instead of a chewy one.
- Resist baking straight from mixing. The dough needs the hour minimum to firm up enough to scoop into balls that hold their shape, and the resting time also gives the flour a chance to fully hydrate, which is what keeps these from turning into thin, greasy puddles in the oven.
- Pull the cookies while the centers still look slightly underdone and glossy - they carry over and finish setting on the hot pan for the next several minutes, which is exactly what keeps the middle soft while the edges stay set.
- Adjust bake time for cookie size. Smaller cookies are usually done closer to 10 to 12 minutes, while larger ones need the full 12 to 14.
- Let them cool before judging the texture. The centers look underdone right when they come out of the oven, but that's exactly right. The real chewy texture sets in as they cool on the baking sheet.
- Don't skip the flaky salt. It's a small finishing step, but it changes the whole flavor of the cookie by cutting through the sweetness.
How to Store Brown Butter Chocolate Chunk Cookies
Room temperature: Store baked cookies in an airtight container for up to 5 days. Layering with parchment paper between cookies helps keep the texture from getting sticky.
Freezer (baked cookies): Let the cookies cool completely, then freeze in a single layer on a baking sheet. Once frozen solid, transfer to a zip-top bag or airtight container. Reheat from frozen at 300°F for 5 to 7 minutes to bring back that fresh-baked warmth.
Freezer (cookie dough): Scoop the dough into portions, freeze on a tray until solid, then transfer to a zip-top freezer bag for up to 3 months. Bake straight from frozen, adding 1 to 2 minutes to the bake time.
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