By Millie Peartree
Updated Oct. 11, 2023
- Total Time
- 1 hour 50 minutes
- Prep Time
- 15 minutes
- Cook Time
- 1 hour 50 minutes
- Rating
- 5(942)
- Notes
- Read community notes
There is nothing more magical than a gooey-centered, crispy-edged chocolate chip cookie. What makes this particular recipe especially enchanting is the inclusion of brown butter. It mixes right into the dry ingredients, infusing the batter with its nutty flavor without the need for a mixer or any other special equipment. An optional dash of cinnamon has a warmth that feels like a hug, and the brown sugar gives you that chew with a slight molasses taste. Whether for a holiday or an afternoon snack, these cookies may become your go-to.
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Ingredients
Yield:About 16 cookies
- 1cup/226 grams unsalted butter
- 2½cups/320 grams all-purpose flour
- 1teaspoon baking soda
- 1teaspoon fine sea salt
- ½teaspoon ground cinnamon (optional)
- 1cup/220 grams light brown sugar
- ¼cup/50 grams granulated sugar
- 1large egg plus 1 egg yolk, at room temperature
- 2teaspoons vanilla extract
- 12ounces semisweet chocolate, preferably from a bar, roughly chopped (or use 12 ounces chocolate chips)
- Flaky sea salt (optional), for topping
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (16 servings)
354 calories; 17 grams fat; 10 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 4 grams monounsaturated fat; 1 gram polyunsaturated fat; 47 grams carbohydrates; 1 gram dietary fiber; 30 grams sugars; 4 grams protein; 179 milligrams sodium
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
Powered byPreparation
Step
1
In a medium saucepan over medium heat, melt the butter, stirring and swirling the pan often, until the butter foams, turns golden brown and smells nutty, about 5 minutes. Pour into a large bowl and set aside to cool.
Step
2
In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon, if you like. Line 2 rimmed sheet pans with parchment paper.
Step
3
Add the sugars to the melted brown butter; mix until combined. Add the egg, egg yolk and vanilla extract and stir until combined. Add the flour mixture and stir until well combined.
Step
4
Stir in the chocolate. Working one at a time, scoop out a ¼ cup of the dough and roll into a ball. Place the balls on the prepared sheet pans, and chill for 1 hour and up to 24 hours.
Step
5
When ready to bake, heat oven to 350 degrees. Bake just until the edges start to turn golden, rotating halfway through, about 15 minutes.
Step
6
Remove from the oven and bang the pan on the counter. (This creates a flatter, chewier cookie.) Sprinkle cookies with flaky sea salt, if you like. Let sit on the baking sheets for 5 minutes before moving to a cooling rack to cool completely. Store cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days.
Ratings
5
out of 5
942
user ratings
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Cooking Notes
Laura
Suggest that the baking time with cookies this large is going to be more like 19-20 minutes for me.Love the tip about banging the tray on the counter. That is a boss move and I did it. The recipe really isn’t that salty, so the flaky salt on top is definitely welcome.And the verdict: these are great cookies! Love the chocolate to cookie ratio, and the cinnamon and brown sugar in the background just elevate the toastiness of the brown butter. Where has this been all my life?
Val
As for not enough room to chill on a sheet pan, I roll dough into balls and just use the mixing bowl to chill them in the fridge.
Terri O
If your cookie sheets won't fit in the refrigerator, I have placed the shaped cookies in a plastic container with parchment paper between the layers
NAM_WA
This is one of many recipes that I've noticed include placing something in the refrigerator before baking. I wonder if I am alone in not having a refrigerator empty enough to get a pan of cookies in it? Could one refrigerate the dough (in its much smaller bowl) into the fridge before scooping into balls for baking and still get satisfactory results?
Ann O’Neill
Same fridge issue with an alternative to placing pre-scooped balls into a smaller container. Try rolling the dough into a log and refrigerating the log. Cut into the same number as the recipe’s yield and they’ll be a like size.
RL
Melting the 2 sticks of unsalted butter is step 1, but you want to take it to step 2, where you keep it on the heat until it toasts/browns - a good indicator that it's near ready is when you stop hearing sizzling sounds (keep scraping the pan with a spatula so that the milk solids don't stick and burn). In the end, you'll have a liquid that's the color of amber or even caramel - some like to go even darker, but once it gets to dark coffee, it's burnt. Your nose is a good guide throughout.
TL
Underbaking these is key. I overbaked the first few and they had all the appeal of hockey pucks. I underbaked the next ones and then smashed them a bit with a spoon to flatten them and give the flaky salt somewhere to stick. They were so good they made my husband lose his train of thought.
JC
Brown butter is what happens when you melt the butter over the stove top until the milk solids fall to the bottom of the pot and begin to brown. The solids can go from light brown to burnt pretty quick, so remember that carry-over heat will help them get to golden brown. Brown butter just imparts more flavor. Start with unsalted butter so that you can control the amount of salt that goes into the cookies, since you can't control the amount that's in the butter.
Beth
I've found that when I have covered cookie dough in a bowl and left it in the fridge that it results in a drier cookie. I'd personally recommend wrapping the entire ball of dough in plastic/beeswax wrap before refrigeration.
Laura
These were fantastic! They were so buttery and oily going into the fridge that I thought I did something wrong. I left them uncovered hoping to dry them out a touch. But they turned out beautifully! I did add the touch of cinnamon and loved it. Very subtle, but enjoyable. I also agree that the flaky salt on top is a must! Ours were very much best warm. The next day they were quite dried out, even after spending the night in a covered container.
Julie
Well. I devoured the comments, then made the cookies. Can't remember the last time I mixed cookie dough w a wooden spoon. Used c. 1/2 bag of Ghirardelli semi sweets and half tsp of cinnamon. Possibly the best ccc recipe I've ever tried, thank you.
D. Yorkin
the chocolate chips melted when i put them in - need to let the brown butter cool
Sean
Since you have to refrigerate the dough first anyway, might it be easier and faster to just roll the dough into a log in plastic wrap and freeze that, then cut disks? It would save space in the freezer as well, for those of us in Europe who don't have walk-in freezers like everyone in the US (kidding, but our refrigeration is super small).
Ldsse
Baked exactly according to the recipe. I don’t care for the cookies. The texture is quite dry — almost sandy. The dough was crumbly and did not hold together well. The finished cookies are too salty for my taste (I did not even sprinkle salt on top). The intense butter flavor is cloying and after eating 2 cookies I have indigestion. They also took quite a bit longer to prepare than other chocolate chip recipes. Lightly browning the butter took about 10 minutes not 5 as the recipe states.
Lauren
I enjoyed these a lot but didn’t find that the banging of the pan changed the shape of them at all - maybe I baked them too long? I froze some of the dough balls and am curious to see how they do baked from frozen.
Jessica
Let the butter cool enough not to melt the chocolate chips- mine were a bit soft oops! I used pumpkin pie spice instead of cinnamon and the flavor was very yummy still. I do recommend the salt on the top to balance flavor. I used both milk and dark chocolate and it helped with folks who didn't love lots of dark chocolate. Definitely undertake these so they don't get too hard and smush them down a bit when they come right out of the oven. Yummy!
msgcook
The cookies as the recipe is written come out closer to a shortbread despite the method. They’re great, and you definitely need to underbake, but since we’re mixing these by hand and the mixing isn’t rigorous I added the full 2nd egg and not just egg yolk. Much more moist cookie, still buttery, great texture, and the additional egg white didn’t have a negative effect of making the cookie tough.
cattails
Took a cue from the other comments and flattened them with a silicon spatula midway through baking, because mine also didn't spread much. Flavor really good, but they were too sandy for my liking. I prefer the BA BBCCC recipe, which are more chewy/tender.
Stephanie
I must be missing something major because this dough was nothing but crumbs. 1 cup of butter, a yolk and an egg, to 2 1/2 cups of flour…it was not wet enough to form a dough. Additionally, making cookies with a 1/4 cup of dough? Refrigerating a 1/4 cup ball and then putting the ball in the oven for 15 minutes creates an uncooked tennis ball. They did not spread or melt. Very disappointing waste of ingredients.
Too much sugar
I think that there’s too much brown sugar in this recipe. The cookies are overly sweet and the grainy texture also reflects too much sugar. They did come together quickly without a mixer. I might try again altering the ingredients or stick to my favorite, more time consuming recipe.
K in Oakland
I love this cookie recipe — as is, it is a perfect vegan cookie. It feels like a nutritious breakfast and satisfies that after dinner cookie craving since it takes about 5 minutes to prep, the only negatives- my golf balls make a dozen baked for 15-20 minutes and then it seems like they’re gone in 24 hours. Not sure what I’m doing wrong here :)
McKenzie
Flavor is great, but super dry and crumbly if you bake until the edges are golden brown (20 min). I froze half the dough, so will try them again at a higher temp (375) with less baking time to see if that does the trick.
Kim D
I'm going to try this recipe again as I LOVE browned butter, but this round wasn't awesome. The dough was very crumbly, almost sandy, so next time, I'll add up to a 1/4 c more butter and maybe reduce the flour by 1/4 cup. I used a 12oz bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips, which was WAY too much for a decent dough-to-chocolate ratio. When I try again, I'll reduce the chocolate by at least half. PS I'm at 7,000 ft so maybe the high altitude is a factor.
Kayleigh
I found that 12 oz of chocolate was too much, will reduce next time.
dan
Too many chocolate chips for my taste but I like it a lot
KT
I recommend skipping the cinnamon and using 70 percent chocolate bars cut into chunks. Finish with smoked flake sea salt, which enhances the flavor of the brown butter.
emily
My new go-to chocolate chip cookie recipe. Instead of chilling the dough on a tray, I roll them and put them into a baggie in the freezer. I find that when they are frozen first, the cookies come out a bit taller and with more depth. I also add a little extra salt and a combination of semisweet mini chips and dark chocolate rounds. SO GOOD!
Laurie K
These cookies are delicious! I followed the lead of several others and rolled the dough into two rounds then sliced them - the second time I made them! The first time they were so big! Didn’t change anything else. Do yourself a favor and make these.
Suzy
I used a standard size cookie scoop and got 23 cookies. Baking this size for 15 minutes was the perfect time to size ratio. I've made this recipe 3 times and actually prefer it without the cinnamon.
Dallas
Great recipe for chocolate chip cookies, I think the brown butter really adds a depth of flavor. Per other comments I purposely underbaked them (around 13 min total at 350F) and they came out perfect. I only used 9 ounces of semisweet chocolate chips and these were borderline over-chocolately so you probably don't need 12 ounces.
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