These brown butter chocolate chip cookies take a familiar favorite and elevate it with rich, nutty brown butter. Browning the butter adds deep caramel-like notes that pair perfectly with melty chocolate chips and soft, chewy centers. Note that this recipe requires 2 chill times, but I promise these cookies are worth the wait!
I originally shared this recipe in 2014, and I’ve updated it with new photos, clearer instructions, and more success tips. One minor but helpful change: shape the cookie dough balls before chilling instead of after, which makes the process easier and helps the cookies bake up evenly.
These brown butter chocolate chip cookies take my fan-favorite chewy chocolate chip cookies and elevate them with rich, nutty depth. Browning the butter transforms the flavor like magic, adding subtle caramel-like, toffee notes that pair perfectly with melty chocolate chips. The result? Thick, chewy cookies with soft centers, golden edges, and irresistible depth in every bite.
One reader, Mackenzie, commented: “These cookies are amazing! Well worth the effort to brown the butter, and they’ve become my go-to cookie recipe. ★★★★★”
Another reader, Amie, commented: “I’ve been looking for that ooey-gooey delicious bakery recipe for years—FOUND IT! If you want a warm, soft chocolatey cookie that has that professional bakery flavor—this is it. This is now my ONLY chocolate chip recipe!!!! ★★★★★”
Why These Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies Work
These aren’t just regular chocolate chip cookies with browned butter swapped in. The entire dough is built to support it. Here’s what makes them stand out:
- Cornstarch: Adding cornstarch helps make the texture extra soft and tender. Use it in my shortbread cookies and brown butter marshmallow crispy cookies, too.
- Milk: Browning butter reduces moisture, so adding a splash of milk brings that balance back without weighing down the dough.
- Sugars: Use more brown sugar than white for a chewier, softer cookie.
- Egg + Egg Yolk: An extra egg yolk equals a richer-tasting cookie.
- Quality Chocolate Chips: I love using Ghirardelli semi-sweet chocolate chips and Callebaut chocolate morsels, or a mix of both. The latter is definitely a splurge, but the flavor and melt are incredible if you’re feeling fancy.
- Flaky Sea Salt: An optional topping, this adds the most incredible salty-sweet flavor combo that works wonders with the toffee-like notes of brown butter!
What Is Brown Butter?
Browning butter simply means melting it and continuing to cook it until the milk solids toast. As it cooks, moisture evaporates, the milk solids sink to the bottom of the pan and turn golden brown, and the butter develops a deep amber color. This small extra step completely transforms the flavor, creating a beautifully complex, nutty richness with subtle caramel-like notes that regular melted butter just doesn’t have. It’s a simple technique with a big payoff. If you’d like a detailed walkthrough, I wrote an entire tutorial on how to brown butter.
Try it in recipes like brown butter apple blondies, brown butter pound cake, brown butter cream cheese frosting, and brown butter pecan pie bars.
How to Brown Butter
The first step in this recipe is, you guessed it, browning the butter.
Cut the butter into uniform pieces and place it in a light-colored pan over medium heat (this helps you monitor the color). Stir as it melts, then continue cooking. The butter will foam as the water evaporates and the milk solids toast on the bottom of the pan.
Watch and listen closely as you stir. The butter will turn deep golden amber in color, smell a little nutty, and the sizzling will quiet down. Immediately remove from heat and pour into a heatproof bowl. Don’t leave behind any of the browned bits… they’re packed with flavor!
Brown Butter & Moisture Loss
Browning butter can turn a good cookie into a great one, but you can’t simply swap it into any recipe without adjustments.
Why? Moisture loss. During browning, butter loses about 20–35% of its water content. That’s a significant amount, and if you don’t account for it, your cookie dough may be crumbly and/or the cookies may spread too much. Adding extra butter won’t fix the issue either—you’d just be increasing the fat.
The solution is simple: add a little liquid to the dough. Browning butter delivers unbeatable flavor, but the dough needs moisture added back intentionally. In my brown butter pumpkin oatmeal cookies, the moisture-rich pumpkin does the job.
In this recipe, 2 Tablespoons of milk restores that balance without weighing the cookies down.
The Butter and Dough Need to Chill
This recipe requires a little planning ahead—there are two chill times, and both matter.
Chill the browned butter: After browning, pour it into a bowl or shallow dish and refrigerate until solid, about 90 minutes. Once firm, cream it with the sugars just as you would softened butter.
This is solidified browned butter:
Here is the creamed browned butter and sugars:
Chill the dough balls: Scoop the dough into 45g (about 2 Tablespoons) portions, roll/shape, and refrigerate for at least 2 hours before baking.
Chilling prevents the cookies from spreading into greasy puddles and intensifies the flavor as the brown butter settles into the dough. The result? Thick cookies with soft, buttery centers and lightly crisp edges—well worth the wait!!
Once you’ve browned your butter and chilled both it and your dough, these cookies bake into beautifully thick rounds with soft, buttery interiors and edges that crisp ever so slightly. Over the years, we’ve found that baking these at 375°F (191°C), slightly warmer than usual, helps set the shape quickly so the cookies stay thicker.
Make-Ahead Tip: This is an excellent freezer-friendly dough. Freeze the shaped cookie dough balls and bake straight from frozen (add 1 extra minute). Fresh brown butter chocolate chip cookies whenever the craving hits? Yes, please! 🙂 See how to freeze cookie dough.
Looking For The Right Chocolate Chip Cookie?
- Want a classic, no-brown-butter version? Try my Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies.
- Looking for extra buttery brown butter and toffee flavors? Try my Brown Butter Toffee Chocolate Chip Cookies.
- In the mood for oatmeal cookies? Try my Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies.
- Want pure brown butter flavor in a thick, chewy cookie? You’re in the right place.
Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Prep Time: 45 minutes
- Cook Time: 13 minutes
- Total Time: 5 hours (includes chilling)
- Yield: 26-28 cookies
- Category: Cookies
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
These brown butter chocolate chip cookies are thick, soft, and chewy with deep caramel-like flavor from toasted butter. The dough includes an extra egg yolk for richness and a touch of milk to replace lost moisture. Plan ahead for two chill times—your patience is rewarded with bakery-style cookies every time.
Ingredients
- 1 cup (16 Tbsp; 226g) unsalted butter
- 1/2 cup (100g) granulated sugar
- 1 cup (200g) packed light or dark brown sugar
- 1 large egg + 1 egg yolk, at room temperature
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 2 and 1/2 cups (313g) all-purpose flour (do not scoop; weigh or spoon & level)
- 1 teaspoon cornstarch
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 Tablespoons (30ml) milk, warmed or at room temperature
- 1 and 1/2 cups (270g) semi-sweet chocolate chips
- optional: flaky sea salt, for topping
Instructions
- Brown the butter: Slice the butter into pieces and place in a light-colored skillet. The light colored helps you determine when the butter begins browning. Melt the butter over medium heat and stir or whisk constantly. Once melted, the butter will begin to foam. Keep stirring/whisking. After 5–7 minutes, the butter will begin browning and you’ll notice lightly browned specks begin to form at the bottom of the pan, which are the milk solids toasting. Cook until it is golden in color. Once browned, remove from heat immediately and pour into a heatproof bowl, including all of the browned bits (flavor!). Let cool for 10 minutes, then place in the refrigerator and chill until solid, about 90 minutes. After about 30 minutes, tightly cover the bowl.
- Remove the solidified brown butter from the refrigerator and spoon it into a large bowl (or the bowl of your stand mixer). Using a handheld mixer or stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat on high speed for 1–2 minutes until smooth and creamy. It may look slightly grainy at first—keep beating and it will come together. If the butter is too firm to cream, let it sit at room temperature for 5–10 minutes. You can also microwave it for 5–8 seconds to slightly soften it, but do not melt it; it should remain solid, just softened enough to beat smoothly.
- Add the brown sugar and granulated sugar and beat on medium-high speed until lightened in color and combined, about 2 minutes. Add the egg, egg yolk, and vanilla extract and beat until combined. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl as needed.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, cornstarch, baking soda, and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture and mix on low speed until just combined. With the mixer running on low, drizzle in the milk and mix until incorporated. The cookie dough will be thick and soft. Add the chocolate chips and mix until evenly distributed.
- Scoop and roll the dough into balls, about 2 Tablespoons or 45g each. Shape them taller rather than wide—almost like a cylinder. This helps the cookies bake up thicker. Place the dough balls on a lined baking sheet or plate, cover, and refrigerate for at least 2 hours or up to 3 days.
- Preheat oven to 375°F (191°C). Line large baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. Set aside. Arrange 8 dough balls per baking sheet, spacing them about 3 inches apart. Sprinkle sea salt, if using, on top of the dough balls.
- Bake for 12–14 minutes, or until the edges are lightly golden brown. The centers will look soft when you remove them from the oven. Cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes. During this time, you can press a few extra chocolate chips into the tops (just for looks!). The cookies will slightly deflate as they cool. After 5 minutes, transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
- Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days.
Notes
- Make Ahead Instructions: You can make the cookie dough and chill it in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. Baked cookies freeze well for up to 3 months. Thaw at room temperature. Unbaked cookie dough balls freeze well for up to 3 months. Bake frozen cookie dough balls for an extra minute, no need to thaw. Read my tips and tricks on how to freeze cookie dough.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): Light-Colored Skillet or Stainless Steel Skillet | Electric Mixer (Handheld or Stand) | Baking Sheet | Silicone Baking Mat or Parchment Paper | Medium Cookie Scoop | Cooling Rack | Flaky Sea Salt
- Why Do I Solidify the Browned Butter? Solidifying the browned butter allows you to cream it with the sugars, which creates structure and gives the cookies a thicker texture. Using melted brown butter will produce a thinner, denser, and possibly greasy cookie.
- Extra Egg Yolk: The extra yolk adds richness and chewiness without making the cookies cakey; do not skip.
- Why Add Cornstarch? Cornstarch helps create a softer, thicker cookie by tenderizing the crumb. If needed, you can leave it out.
- Milk: Browning butter reduces moisture, so adding a splash of milk brings that balance back without weighing down the dough. I recommend reduced-fat milk, though whole milk and nondairy milks work in a pinch.
- Oven Temperature Update: Over the years, we’ve found that baking these at 375°F (191°C), slightly warmer than usual, helps set the shape quickly so the cookies stay thicker.
- Be sure to check out my top 5 cookie baking success tips AND these are my 10 must-have cookie baking tools.
Reader Comments and Reviews
I love this recipe and the end result is worth the process. I have tweaked my oven temp and cooking time but they still turn out a bit darker on the bottom. I use a light colored pan with baking mats. It’s not a big deal but is there anything else I can change to maybe get a lighter cookie? Also, can this recipe be doubled? I’d love to make bigger batches.
Hi Shelagh, it could certainly be your oven temperature – are you using an oven thermometer by chance? Many ovens run a little (or a lot!) off. Cookies will bake faster on the bottoms when baked on a dark pan, but it doesn’t sound like the pan is the issue if you’re using a light pan with baking mats. You can try reducing the temperature a bit more next time to see if that helps. This cookie recipe should double well, as long as you have a mixer large enough to handle the volume. We’re so glad you enjoy them!
I can’t believe how good this came out- literally the best thing I have ever baked. I think I browned the butter a little too much and it still came out divine. I can’t get over how rich the flavor is. I will be making this again and again.
I’m sorry, my english is bad, so i’ll be writing in french.
La recette est incroyable, j’ai eu peur pour le beurre mais en allant doucement et en surveillant, il n’y a aucun risque.
Ici, en France, on a des beurres labellisés, le plus connu est celui d’Isigny utilisé dans les patisseries, ça reste du beurre mais il y a un savoir faire à valoriser.
Je n’avais pas de cassonade donc j’ai remplacé avec du miel et j’ai rajouté de la cranberries séché avec des pépites de chocolat noir.
Je suis venu suite à un post sur reddit : https://www.reddit.com/r/Baking/comments/1iface3/after_a_bunch_of_testing_i_finally_found_the_best/#lightbox
Il me reste à faire de la propagande au travail et tenté subtilement avec certaines personnes de ma clientèle en Boucherie.
Could I use 1:1 gluten free flour for this recipe?
Hi Amber, we haven’t tested this recipe with gluten free flours but some readers have reported success. If you try it, let us know how it goes!
I’ve tried these cookies three times! I love the flavour and the texture isn’t bad! but i just wish they would flatten out a little bit. My cookies always seems to come out the same size and shape they went into the oven as.
Hi Taylor, thank you for giving this recipe a try. Usually a cookie that doesn’t spread is caused by too much flour soaking up the other ingredients. How did you measure the flour? Make sure to spoon and level (instead of scooping) to avoid packing in too much flour into your measuring cups – or use a kitchen scale. You can read more about properly measuring baking ingredients in this post.
If you slam the cookie sheet right as they come out of the oven they’ll flatten! I usually do this on my gas cooktop with the cast-iron grills.
Have you experimented with smaller cookies? How should I adjust the bake time/temp if I make the dough balls half the size?
Hi Sarah, you can certainly make smaller cookies. Same temperature, but baking time will be shorter, although we’re unsure of the exact time. Hope you enjoy the cookies!
Gave this recipe a second shot thinking I may have messed something up the first go around. Still a dud. Way dry and crumbly. Hardly spread at all. Chocolate chip cookies shouldn’t be this complicated. Going back to tollhouse recipe lol.
Hi Marcus, I’m sorry these didn’t turn out for you. These cookies are definitely a little more involved than a classic Toll House cookie because of the brown butter, cooling time, and chilling time. Since they came out dry, crumbly, and didn’t spread much, it sounds like there may have been too much flour in the dough. If you ever decide to give them another try, be sure to scoop and level the flour, or weigh it if you have a scale. Thank you very much for the feedback!
Can this be used for a cookie cake?
Can’t see why not!
Doubled the recipe and baked it in a 14-in cake pan with parchment paper lining and baking strips. I baked it at 350F for 45 minutes and it came out perfectly! This is for my son’s wedding rehearsal dinner.
Hi would I be able to make these double chocolate? And if so what would be the measurements of flour: cocoa powder? Thank you!
Hi Mel, you could definitely use browned butter that has been chilled back to a solid state, then brought to room temperature again in our Double Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe. Using warm or melted butter will result in greasy, flat cookies. Hope you enjoy them!
Hi! I just made the dough while being in a rush and totally forgot to add in the milk… would it ruin the whole batch or would they come out fine?
Hi J, they may be just a tad crumbly, buy you can definitely go ahead and still bake them. They’ll be delicious nonetheless!
Can you bake these as a bar cookie? I want the brown butter flavor, but would prefer the easy of bar cookies.
Hi Rebecca, we’re sure you could! Or you could use this recipe for M&M Cookie Bars instead (made in a 9×13-inch pan and you can swap the M&Ms for more chocolate chips). In the post, there is a section titled: “Can I Make These With Brown Butter?” You can follow those directions. Enjoy!
I baked these today. Added toasted hazelnuts. They are delicious! Thank you for another great recipe! I want to put brown butter in everything!
Sally’s recipes never fail me! It made 24 dough balls for me, and I froze them all to just have homemade cookies on-hand. When baking from frozen, I found that baking at 350 for 13-15 minutes gave me the best result (I prefer my cookies fully golden brown and crispy on the edges).
Made these today. Followed the recipe, and they turned out perfect! I added pecan bits to mine, and they were delicious! Definitely recommend!
Is there any way to make these into 1/4 or 1/2c oversized cookies? If so, can you recommend a baking temp?
Hi Jessi, you definitely can try that, yes! Same baking temp, they will just take longer, so keep an eye on them. Hope they turn out great!
I’ve had the brown butter in the fridge for three hours and it is not solid, still very liquidy. Any pointers on how to proceed? Thanks.
Hi Sky, we would wait longer! The butter will solidify when it cools.
These cookies were horrible. They had these white bits, either from butter or something else, and dont taste like brown butter cookies at all, they taste like a whole other dessert and it was not good. Another thing, I cooked my first batch for 13 mins, and they were well cooked, but my second batch was also cooked for the same amount of time and were burnt (they were the same size cookies). Dont waste your time.
Usually, when a recipe has been tried many times, then put up on Sally’s website. You can be sure it’s a good one. Perhaps it was the baker and not the recipe.
Did you make sure that the butter was completely cool? I think those white bits are egg that got partially cooked from warm butter. Using room-temp eggs instead of cold ones will also help prevent the egg accidentally getting cooked. If that wasn’t the problem, make sure that you’re sifting your flour so it isn’t leaving small clumps.
As for the second batch getting burnt, your oven probably got hotter as it was baking. That or you used a still-warm pan. A good rule of thumb is to plan to take your cookies out one or even a few minutes earlier than previous batches.
Excellent recipe and nice way to elevate your chocolate chip cookies by browning the butter first! I take my “cookie game” very seriously and love it when a recipe is spot on! My cookies look and taste amazing! Thank you!
Hello! I’m wondering if I can brown the butter a day before, let it chill overnight and continue with the recipe the next day?
Hi Bojan, yes! Absolutely.
I am a big Sally fan but these didnt do it. Too much sugar and cookies are super flat. The dough rested overnight in the fridge. Could use 1/4 less of white sugar IMO. I am a seasoned baker and have taken countless baking classes.
I followed the recipe exactly and these cookies turned out beautifully! They are delicious and they look like they came from a specialty bakery. I watched the video of how to brown butter, which was very helpful and mine were done in 11 minutes. This will be my go-to chocolate chip cookie recipe from now on!
My one question is if the results would be the same if you used plain chilled butter. That probably wouldn’t be very often, but maybe if there were time constraints.
Thank you!
Hi Jean, we would recommend our regular chocolate chip cookies recipe. So glad you love this one with brown butter!
Is it necessary to chill the dough balls for two hours? What does this do?
Hi Ali, chilling is required to prevent the cookies from overspreading. Without chilling, the dough would spread into puddles.
I only have one salted and one unsalted butter, can I use them like that?
Hi Janelle, that should be just fine.
These are perfection! My new go-to recipe!
I followed the directions to the letter. My oven doesn’t overheat, I have an internal thermometer. 45g cookies at 375 was too high a temp. Cookies looked nothing like your photo. They were much darker. And too crispy.
Hi Lourdes, I’m so sorry to hear that, and happy to help troubleshoot. What kind of pan were you using? Is it a dark metal baking sheet, or a light silver baking sheet? And did you line it with silicone baking mat or parchment?
I use USA pans for baking. It’s light coloured and I use unbleached parchment paper. Your other chocolate chip cookie recipe where we bake at 325 without browned butter turn out perfectly. I left my butter in the frig for about 2.5 hours (while I baked bread) and I added the milk and followed all instructions.
It would be helpful to me also, if you could put the pre browned butter amount and post browned butter amount in recipe because different butters have varying amounts of water and fat. So maybe list what we should start with and what we should have at the end (example brown 2 sticks of butter – 228g and you should have 165g for the recipe). I wanted to save the recipe so bad that I tinkered with 325 and 350 and 60g instead of 45g.
The best brown butter cookies I’ve had! I also prefer not letting the dough chill, they end up a little more flat and crispy if you don’t chill the dough.
Cookies taste great, but am having a problem with how evenly they baked. The bottoms were really crispy, just a hair away from being burnt, and the insides were still pretty doughy. Wondering if maybe my oven runs hot and I should try at 370 instead of 375?
Hi Lily, it could certainly be your oven temperature. Are you using dark pans by chance? Cookies will bake faster on the bottoms when baked on a dark pan. You can try reducing the temperature next time to see if that helps. We’re glad you enjoy them!
I’m not a fan of dark or semi-sweet chocolate, so I’d prefer to use something less bitter, like milk chocolate. However, I’m worried it may make the recipe too sweet. Would it be possible to reduce the sugar without affecting the texture, or perhaps add a bit more salt to balance the sweetness? Please let me know what you would recommend.
Hi Emanuel, you can use milk chocolate instead without any other changes to the cookies. They shouldn’t be too sweet.
Easy to make and pop them into my mini muffin tin to make perfect round cookie dough chill overnight and then place them on a parchment paper lined cookies sheet and they came out perfect!
So I have been a hobbyist baker for a long time. I always avoided recipes with browned butter because of the time commitment for 2 chill times, but after I read the explanations in this recipe I decided to bite the bullet and try it out. Let me just say, I’ve NEVER BEFORE had cookies spread just the right amount and come out so PRETTY! Pinterest worthy shapes!! And the taste? Best I’ve ever made. I added a pinch of MSG and really. Chef’s kiss on this recipe. Brava.
Hi! Best tasting cookies I’ve ever made, just did noticed dough “balls” didn’t “flattened” while baking and texture was more like a dry cookie it crumbled rigth away. I did left them overnight on the try before baking and set them right from the fridge to the oven. Any tips? Planning on doing another bacth tomorrow
Hi Alejandro, It sounds like there may be too much flour soaking up the wet ingredients, preventing the cookies from spreading. How are you measuring your flour? It’s best to weigh with a kitchen scale or spoon and level flour. This post on 5 tips to improve your next batch of cookies (see “What to do if my cookies AREN’T spreading?) will be helpful for more troubleshooting. Thanks so much for giving this recipe a try!
I love Sally’s, I use it frequently and am always successful with lovely results. I followed this recipe exactly and my dough turned out so crumbly that I couldn’t even shape it into balls to bake. Not sure what I did wrong. Flavor was lovely, but texture was extremely gritty and sandy.
Hi Grace! It sounds like there may be too much flour soaking up the wet ingredients, making the dough dry. How are you measuring your flour? It’s best to weigh with a kitchen scale or spoon and level flour. This post on 5 tips to improve your next batch of cookies (see “What to do if my cookies AREN’T spreading?) will be helpful for more troubleshooting. Thanks so much for giving this recipe a try!
I only have whole wheat flour, can i use that?
Hi Megan, we don’t recommend it. All-purpose flour is best for these cookies, though you could also use bread flour if that’s what you have. Whole wheat flour will yield a crumbly and dry cookie.