Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
These Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies are sinfully delicious and an elevated twist on a classic. Brown butter adds a seductive nuttiness and rich flavor to these soft and chewy cookies.
Servings: 24 cookies
Ingredients
- 12 Tbsp (1½ sticks) unsalted butter, divided, at room temperature
- 3/4 cup light brown sugar
- 3/4 cup granulated white sugar
- 1 Tbsp pure vanilla extract
- 1 large egg
- 1 large egg yolk
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips such as Guittard
- 1/2 cup dark chocolate chips such as Guittard
- Fleur de sel for sprinkling on top, optional
Instructions
- First, brown your butter: Place 8 Tablespoons of the butter into a small skillet or saucepan and cook over medium-low heat until melted. Once melted, do not step away as it will brown very quickly! Butter will start to foam, bubble and spit as it cooks, so swirl the pan occasionally and you will soon notice small browned bits at the bottom of the pan. Remove from the heat when it smells nutty and fragrant and is amber in color.
- In a large bowl, add the remaining 4 Tbsp softened butter and pour the hot browned butter (scraping all the browned bits from the bottom of the pan in there, too) into the bowl and combine the two until the softened butter has melted as well. Add in the brown and granulated white sugars and mix well, followed by the vanilla extract, egg, and egg yolk, mixing well after each addition.
- Add the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt to the bowl and mix until the dough just barely comes together. Stir in the chocolate chips. Scoop into Tablespoon-size balls and place on parchment-lined baking sheets. Refrigerate, loosely covered with plastic wrap, for at least 2 hours to allow the flavors to meld and deepen. Or, you can bake straight away.
- Preheat oven to 350° degrees F. Place the dough balls 2" apart on the baking sheets. Bake for 10-12 minutes, rotating pans halfway through baking time to ensure even baking, then remove from the oven and allow to cool on the baking sheets. If desired, sprinkle the tops of the still-warm cookies with fleur de sel.
Notes
I recommend using Guittard or Ghirardelli baking chips. When you're making a simple recipe with simple ingredients, I like to use high quality ingredients to allow the recipe to really shine. Guittard and Ghirardelli are excellent chocolate brands I recommend for baking.