These Salted Brown Butter Chocolate Chunk Cookies strike the perfect balance of salty and sweet. They have crisp edges, a chewy middle and decadent pools of dark chocolate.
Make-ahead
Beginner-friendly
You’ll Learn: How to add rich, toasty depth to a classic cookie
Worth It: It can be baked from frozen
Bonus: Ideas for customizing
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Rich brown butter flavor – Adding brown butter to cookies gives that a toasty, nutty flavor that almost reminds me of toffee. It deepens and elevates the flavor of a standard chocolate chip cookie
- Melty pools of chocolate – Using chopped chocolate bars instead of chocolate chips leaves the finished cookie with thin swirls of chocolate throughout and decadent pools of chocolate on top. The melted dark chocolate is the perfect compliment to the salty, nutty brown butter.
- Crispy edges and a soft middle – These cookies have that perfect mix of crisp buttery edges with a soft, chewy middle. With the dark chocolate puddles and flakey sea salt on top, they are truly the best chocolate chip cookie.
Serving Suggestions
These brown butter chocolate chunk cookies might just become your new go to chocolate chip cookie recipe. They are the perfect thing to bring to a sick friend, new mom or anyone who needs a pick me up.
You can freeze them in dough balls and bake directly from frozen. Drop them off with another freezer friendly meal like these stuffed shells with meat.
They are the perfect addition to a holiday dessert buffet. I would serve them alongside my Christmas chex mix recipe and this chocolate chess pie. I also like to serve them as a sweet afternoon pick me up with a warm caramel brûlée latte.
For another brown butter recipe, try these brown butter rice krispie treats or brown butter sugar cookies!
Ingredients
- Salted butter
- Light brown sugar
- White granulated sugar
- Large egg
- Vanilla extract
- All purposed flour
- Baking soda
- Semi sweet chocolate bar or dark chocolate bar
- Flaky sea salt like maldon salt
Ingredient Substitutions and additions
To make these brown butter chocolate chip cookies gluten free use a 1:1 gluten free flour blend as a replacement for the all purpose flour. If you don’t have salted butter, you can use unsalted butter and add 1/2 tsp of kosher salt to the batter when you add the other dry ingredients.
In my experience, the flavor and texture of a chopped chocolate bar works really well with the buttery cookie base, but you can also use semi-sweet chocolate chips. Use 3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips in place of the chocolate bar. You can also use milk chocolate, but I find it to be too rich with the browned butter.
Add extra sweetness and a deeper caramelized flavor to this cookie by mixing 1/2 cup of toffee pieces into the batter. If you like nuts in your chocolate chip cookies, add 1/2 cup of chopped roasted walnuts or pecans to the batter before baking. You could even add chopped roasted peanuts for that classic chocolate peanut taste!
How to make
Step 1: brown a stick of salted butter
To begin, prepare the brown butter. Place a stick of salted butter in a small sauce pan over medium low heat. Allow the butter to melt completely (Image 1).
Stir occasionally with a whisk until the top of the melted butter looks foamy (Image 2). Once the entire surface is covered with foam, whisk constantly until you start to see small brown flecks at the bottom of the saucepan and immediately remove from heat.
Then, allow the browned butter to cool completely (Image 3). I like to place it in the fridge for 15 minutes.
Cover the bowl and place in the refrigerator. Chill for at least 30 minutes.
Step 2: prepare cookie dough
Next, pour the cooled brown butter into a large bowl. Make sure to scrape in all of those browned bits with a spatula.
Add the brown sugar and granulated sugar to the bowl (Image 4).
Mix them together with an electric hand mixer or paddle attachment of a stand mixer until evenly combined. Add the egg and vanilla to the bowl (Image 5). Mix until light and fluffy.
Then, pour the all purpose flour into the mixing bowl along with the baking soda and mix again with the electric mixer until a smooth dough forms. Fold the chocolate chunks in with a flat spatula (Image 6).
Step 3: Scoop out dough and bake
Then, preheat oven to 325F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Scoop out 2 tbsp of dough with a cookie scoop for each cookie. Roll into a ball.
Place 9 dough balls at a time on the baking sheet and press down lightly. Top with flakey sea salt (Image 7).
Finally, bake at 325F for 12-14 minutes. Allow to cool for at least 5 minutes on the cookie sheet (Image 8). Then, transfer to a wire cooling rack to finish cooling.
Storage and Freezing
Store these in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days. Store in the fridge for up to one week.
Freeze cookie dough balls or fully baked cookies in an air tight container for up to 3 months. If freezing baked cookies, allow to thaw in the refrigerator. Reheat in a toaster oven or oven at 275F until just warmed through.
Expert Tip – Bake From Frozen
These brown butter cookies bake beautifully from frozen. I like to make a batch, freeze it and then bake them 2 at a time whenever the cookie craving hits.
Bake the cookies directly from frozen at 325F for 15-16 minutes.
Other Delicious cookie recipes
You can find the full recipe below. If you make this recipe, please rate and review it in the comments, or share it with me on Instagram!
You can find the full recipe below. If you make this recipe, please rate and review it in the comments, or share it with me on Instagram!
Email Recipe for Later
Recipe
Salted Brown Butter Chocolate Chunk Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 stick salted butter 1/2 cup
- 1/2 cup light brown sugar – packed
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1 egg – room temperature
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 3.5oz semi sweet or dark chocolate bar chopped into small chunks
- Optional: flakey sea salt
Instructions
- Prepare the brown butter – place a stick of salted butter in a small sauce pan over medium low heat. Allow the butter to melt completely. Whisk occasionally until the top of the melted butter looks foamy. Once it looks foamy, whisk constantly until you start to see small brown flecks at the bottom of the pan and immediately remove from heat.
- Allow the browned butter to cool completely. I like to place it in the fridge for 15 minutes.
- Pour the cooled brown butter into a large bowl – be sure to scrape in all of those browned bits with a spatula. Add the brown sugar and granulated sugar to the bowl.
- Mix them together with an electric hand mixer or paddle attachment of a stand mixer until evenly combined. Add the egg and vanilla to the bowl and mix until light and fluffy.
- Pour the all purpose flour into the mixing bowl along with the baking soda and mix again with the electric mixer until a smooth dough forms. Fold the chocolate chunks in with a flat spatula.
- Cover the bowl and place in the refrigerator. Chill for at least 30 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 325F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Scoop out 2 tbsp of dough for each cookie and roll into a ball. Place 9 dough balls at a time on the baking sheet and press down lightly. Top with flakey sea salt.
- Bake at 325F for 12-14 minutes. Allow to cool for at least 5 minutes on the cookie sheet and then transfer to a wire cooling rack to finish cooling.
- ** To bake from frozen: Roll into balls and freeze. Bake directly from frozen at 325F for 16 minutes.
Recipe Notes
- If you only have unsalted butter, add 1/2 tsp kosher salt to the batter when you add the flour and baking soda
- You can use 3/4 cup chocolate chips in place of the chocolate bar
Nutrition Information
This website provides approximate nutrition information for convenience and as a courtesy only. Nutrition data is gathered primarily from the USDA Food Composition Database, whenever available, or otherwise other online calculators.
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