Once you’ve tasted these Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies, you won’t want to go back to the classic version, I promise. These chewy cookies are loaded with milk chocolate chips with a hint of toffee from the brown butter.
Who doesn’t already love a classic chocolate chip cookie? If you don’t, I might be able to convince you to change your mind with these brown butter chocolate chip cookies.
Adding brown butter takes these sweet treats up another notch, and if you blink, you’ll completely miss how quickly these cookies disappear.
Ingredients and Substitution
- Brown butter – there is no substitution for brown butter! This is what gives these cookies their amazing flavor profile, deep, nutty, intense, and toffee like. If you don’t know how to make brown butter, then check out my tutorial here.
- Brown sugar – light or dark brown sugar will both work, but the darker the better. Brown sugar contains molasses which gives the cookies their softer and chewier texture. You can substitute granulated sugar but the texture may not be ideal.
- Egg – we will use 1 whole egg and 1 egg yolk in this recipe. No, you cannot use 2 whole eggs, it will throw off the ingredient proportions. The additional egg yolk is used for additional fat and richness.
- Sour cream – this is used to add a little bit of liquid back into the cookie dough because when you brown butter, it will evaporate all of the water in the butter, which could make the dough a little bit crumbly. You can use yogurt or milk. If using milk, use 4 teaspoons in place of the 2 tablespoons of sour cream.
- Vanilla – as always, use pure vanilla extract to enhance the flavor of your cookies.
- Flour – I use all-purpose flour, but sometimes you’ll see bread flour used for even chewier cookies.
- Salt – just like vanilla, salt is used to balance out the flavor and the sweetness of your cookies.
- Leavening agents – both baking powder and baking soda are used in this recipe. Since brown sugar and sour cream are acidic, you’ll need the baking soda to neutralize them.
- Chocolate chips – we prefer milk chocolate chips in these brown butter chocolate chip cookies as well as our classic chocolate chip cookies. But you can use any type of chocolate chips or chocolate chunks you’d like, you can even use a mixture of your favorites.
How to make Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Add cooled brown butter and brown sugar to a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment.
- Beat for 2 minutes until thoroughly combined.
- Add the whole egg, egg yolk, vanilla and sour cream to the mixture.
- Beat for another 2 minutes until smooth and creamy.
- Sift together flour, baking powder and baking soda in another mixing bowl. Stir in the salt and add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients mixture.
- Stir until just combined.
- Add the chocolate chips and stir to incorporate.
- Use a spatula to scrape the side and bottom of the mixing bowl to ensure even mixing.
- Portion the cookie dough with a large ice cream scoop onto a lined baking sheet. Refrigerate while the oven preheats. Bake 6 cookies to a baking sheet, and one baking sheet in the oven at a time.
Baker’s Tips & FAQ
If you want smaller size cookies
You can use a medium cookie scoop to make smaller cookies. Smaller cookies will bake faster, so make sure to reduce the baking time by 2 – 3 minutes.
Do I need to chill the dough?
I only chill this cookie dough very briefly while I preheat the oven, maybe about 10-15 minutes before the first batch goes into the oven. You can chill for longer but I found it is not necessary, since the later batch will automatically be chilled for longer.
How do your cookies come out so perfect?
To make the cookies come out rounder, you can roll them into dough balls before baking.
Another trick for rounder cookies is to use a round cookie cutter, larger than your cookies, place it over a baked cookie and swirl it around in a circular motion as if swirling a glass of wine. Make sure to do this right when the cookies come out of the oven and are still soft.
How to store brown butter chocolate chip cookies
Baked cookies can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for 3 – 5 days. If you keep them around longer, the cookies will start to harden, but will still be tasty.
Once portioned, the unbaked cookie dough can be kept refrigerated for 2 – 3 days if you’re making them ahead of time, or frozen for 3 – 6 months.
How to freeze these cookies
To freeze the dough, simply portion them out on a parchment lined baking sheet and freeze until hardened. Then transfer the dough balls to a freezer bag and keep them frozen.
You can also freeze baked cookies. Wait until they are completely cool before storing them in a freezer bag. However, I much prefer freezing the cookie dough and bake fresh cookies every time I need a quick chocolate chip cookie fix.
How to bake frozen cookie dough
You can bake these brown butter chocolate chip cookies from frozen, do not thaw! Simply increase baking time by about 1 – 2 minutes.
More brown butter cookies
- Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Pecan Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Island Banana Cookies
- Macadamia Snowball Cookies
- Peanut Butter Cookies
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Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
- 8 oz unsalted butter (227 g, yields ~6 ½ oz brown butter)
- 1 ½ cup brown sugar (light or dark, packed, 300 g)
- 1 large egg
- 1 large egg yolk
- 2 tablespoon sour cream (26 g, see note for substitution)
- 1 ½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 2 ¼ cup all-purpose flour (300 g)
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- 2 cup milk chocolate chip (or one 11.5 oz bag, 326 g)
Instructions
- To brown butter, heat unsalted butter in a light colored saucepan over medium heat, whisking occasionally. The butter will melt, become foamy, and then form clear bubbles, keep whisking continuously at this point to keep the milk solids from burning. When the butter is caramel in color and smells nutty, turn off the heat.
- Allow the butter to cool completely before making the cookie dough. It’s okay if the butter re-solidifies, but is still soft.
- Add brown sugar to the cooled brown butter and beat with the paddle attachment for 2 minutes until lighter in color.
- Add the egg, egg yolk, vanilla extract, sour cream and continue beating for another 2 minutes until fluffy.
- In another mixing bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, and baking powder. Stir in the kosher salt and give it a good mix to distribute. Add the flour mixture to the wet ingredient mixture in the stand mixer bowl, stir until incorporated. Stop the mixer and scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl as necessary.
- Add the chocolate chips and stir to incorporate. Stop the mixer and scrape down the bowl with a spatula and give it another good mix as needed.
- Portion the cookie dough with a large cookie scoop and place it on a parchment lined baking sheet. Refrigerate while the oven is preheating. (Optional: If you want the cookie to be rounder, roll the portioned dough into balls.)
- Preheat the oven to 350°F.
- Place 6 dough balls on a baking sheet, about 2 inches apart, and bake 1 batch at a time for 14 – 15 minutes, until the outer edges of the cookies are golden brown.
- Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes before removing them to a wire rack to cool completely.
Video
Notes
- You can substitute 4 teaspoons of milk instead of 2 tablespoons of sour cream. 4 teaspoons is not a typo, use less milk if substituting because milk has higher water content.
- Semisweet chocolate can be substituted if you prefer, but I like the sweeter milk chocolate for this recipe.
- You can use a medium cookie scoop to make smaller cookies. Smaller cookies will bake faster, reduce the baking time by 2 – 3 minutes in this case.
- The cookie dough can be kept frozen once portioned. You can bake from frozen and increase baking time by 1 – 2 minutes.
- For more tips, check out the baker’s tips & FAQ section in the post.
Nutrition
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