Crispy edges, chewy centers, melty pools of chocolate, and a nutty brown butter base make for the most delicious chocolate chip cookie. Best served warm with a generous amount of flaky sea salt, these cookies only need 1 hour of chill time (or up to 48 hours) to develop the perfect flavor and texture.
As a bonus, the cookies can be baked directly from frozen whenever the craving hits!
Is there anything better than a fresh and hot out of the oven, ooey gooey homemade chocolate chip cookie? This recipe takes a classic chocolate chip cookie and ups the flavor profile with brown butter, two different kinds of chocolate, and flaky sea salt.
I like to make a double batch and freeze one so I can have emergency cookies on hand at any time!
Try these brown butter blondies for a bar version of the cookie, or some brown butter snickerdoodles if you're not a fan of chocolate.
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Why You'll Love This Recipe
Elevated chocolate chip cookie - the addition of brown butter gives this cookie an extra layer of nutty aroma and caramelized flavor, and the flaky sea salt cuts through the sweetness of the chocolate to make every bite balanced.
Two types of chocolate - this recipe uses both milk chocolate and semi-sweet chocolate for the perfect blend of chocolatey sweetness.
The perfect cookie texture - crispy golden brown cookie edges, chewy middles, and pools of melted chocolate in every bite!
Ingredients
- Dry ingredients. All-purpose flour, baking soda, and kosher salt.
- Butter. Unsalted, browned, and re-solidified to room temperature.
- Sugars. Light brown and granulated for a perfect combination of crispy and chewy.
- Eggs. Just one egg, actually! Use it at room temperature so it incorporates nicely into the dough. You can throw the whole egg into a bowl of hot water for about 5 minutes to get it where it needs to be straight from the fridge.
- Chocolate. I love to use a mix of semi-sweet (60-70% cacao) and milk chocolate bars becuase they melt best. Chocolate chips or chocolate chunks can also be used.
- Flaky salt. Non-negotiable! This is necessary to cut the sweetness of the cookies and helps bring out all of the flavors. I typically use Maldon sea salt flakes.
See recipe card for full ingredients list and quantities.
Substitutions and Variations
- Add ¼ cup toffee pieces for a caramel flavor variation.
- Mix in ½ cup chopped pecans, walnuts, or pistachios for added crunch.
- Use a combination of semi-sweet, milk, and white chocolate for a chocolate overhaul.
- Use chocolate chunks or chocolate chips instead of chopped chocolate.
- Don't want to add chocolate to the tops? Just skip that part!
Tips for Browning Butter
Read the full post on how to brown butter for a more detailed walk-through!
- Cut the butter into tablespoon pieces so they melt evenly.
- Use a light-colored frying pan (rather than a pot) to speed up the process and you can visually see the milk solids browning.
- Don't walk away during the process and stir frequently, especially towards the end.
- Use your senses! Listen for the bubbling to quiet, look for the golden brown flecks, and smell for nuttiness.
- Remove the butter from the pan before the milk solids get too dark. They will keep cooking from the residual heat for a bit.
- Scrape out ALL brown bits from the bottom of the pan - that's what holds all of the flavor!
How to Make This Recipe
Start by browning the butter and let it resolidify to room temperature. To speed up the process, pop the bowl in the fridge and stir it every 5 minutes until it's the consistency of stiff peanut butter.
One: Cream together the brown butter and sugars, then add the egg and vanilla and mix until fluffy.
Two: Add the dry ingredients and mix until just combined.
Three: Add the chocolate pieces and mix it in by hand until evenly distributed.
Four: Scoop out even mounds of dough onto a prepared sheet pan.
Five: Roll the balls of dough in between your hands, then make a slight indent in the middle.
Six: Add extra pieces of chocolate into the center.
Seven: Refrigerate the rolled and stuffed pieces of dough for at least one hour, or up to 48 hours.
Eight: Bake, scoot the cookies, and top with flaky sea salt!
Expert Tips
- Use a digital scale to measure the flour or the fluff, scoop, level method if using cups. Adding too much flour will result in puffy cookies that don't spread.
- Press chocolate pieces into top for melty tops & area for flaky salt to stick.
- Scoot the cookies at the end of baking to make them perfectly round and help create the perfect final texture.
- Always under-bake your cookies. The residual heat from the pan and dough will finish setting them into perfectly baked cookies.
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Recipe FAQs
This is likely because too much flour was added. Use digital scale for accurate results, or follow the fluff, scoop, and level method if using cup measurements.
No, but the cookies will be much thinner, spread more, and won't have as pronounced brown butter flavor.
Browning butter makes gives cookies an underlying toasty, caramelized, nutty flavor, and slightly crispier exteriors.
Take the cookies out of the oven once they are set and slightly golden around the edges but still gooey in the center. The cookies will finish cooking and setting up during the cooling process.
Storage
Store the baked brown butter chocolate chip cookies in a sealed container for up to 5 days.
Freezing Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough
To freeze this cookie dough, follow the instructions to roll the dough balls and press the chocolate in. Place all of the dough balls onto a parchment lined plate or cookie sheet and flash freeze for 30 minutes. Then, transfer the dough balls to a Tupperware or ziplock bag and freeze for up to 2 months.
Baking the Cookies from Frozen
To bake these chocolate chip cookies from frozen, reduce the oven temperature to 325℉ and add 3-5 minutes of bake time. If they still look very underdone, continue baking until the edges are set and golden brown (but remember, you want the center to be slightly underdone).
The best part about frozen cookie dough balls? You can bake as few or as many as you'd like!
More Cookie Recipes You'll Love
What to Know When Cooking with The Cozy Plum
- All recipes are created with Diamond Crystal kosher salt, the least salty variety of kosher salt. If using Morton's, you'll need to cut the amount of salt in half as it's 2x as salty. This will be the same for sea salt. Please do not use table salt.
- Switch between Cups vs Metric using the toggle on the recipe card. Baking by weight using a digital scale will always produce the most accurate results.
- Scale the recipe using the '1X' '2X' '3X' buttons on the recipe card. Note that this does not make an adjustment for baking times, only quantities.
Did you make this recipe? Share it with us! Tag @thecozyplum on Instagram & Facebook and leave a star rating ⭐️ below!
📖Recipe
Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
Equipment
- Stand mixer with paddle attachment, or handheld mixer
- Two full-sized cookie sheets
Ingredients
- ½ cup + 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
- 1½ cups all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ cup light brown sugar packed
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- 1 large egg room temperature
- 2 teaspoons vanilla paste or extract
- 1 cup chopped chocolate or chocolate chips 6oz (half semi-sweet, half milk)
- Flaky sea salt for tops
Instructions
- In a medium frying pan or saucepan over medium heat, brown the butter, stirring every 15 seconds so the milk solids don’t stick to the bottom of the pan.½ cup + 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
- Pour the butter into a bowl and allow it to cool and solidify. The butter will turn opaque and the brown bits will settle to the bottom. If you want to speed up this process, place it in the fridge or freezer and stir it every 5 minutes until it solidifies, but is still soft. You want a spoon to effortlessly scoop through the butter.
- Once the butter is ready to go, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt in a bowl and set aside.1½ cups all-purpose flour, ½ teaspoon baking soda, ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- Transfer the brown butter to a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or use a hand mixer), add both sugars and mix on medium speed for two minutes. Add the egg and vanilla, and mix on medium for another 30 seconds.½ cup light brown sugar, ¼ cup granulated sugar, 1 large egg, 2 teaspoons vanilla paste or extract
- Scrape down the sides, then with the mixer on low speed, add in the flour mixture until just combined. Add in ¾ of the chopped chocolate and mix on low until just combined.1 cup chopped chocolate or chocolate chips
- Scoop the cookie dough into heaping 2 tablespoon balls, roll into a ball, and place on a parchment lined cookie sheet.
- Make a well with your thumb in the middle of the dough ball and stuff in a few shards of chocolate and push the dough back in slightly.
- Chill the cookie dough balls for 1 hour, or up to 48 hours.
- Note: Remove the dough from the fridge 30 minutes before baking them to take the chill off. This is only necessary if chilling for more than 2 hours.
- Preheat the oven to 350℉/177℃ and line two full-sized cookie sheets with parchment paper.
- Bake for 10-12 minutes until the edges are slightly golden - the centers will still look underdone. If you are baking both pans at once, switch racks at half.
- As soon the cookies are removed from the oven, scoot the cookies using a vessel with an opening larger than the cookies and press in the edges to make them perfectly round.
- Sprinkle liberally with flaky sea salt, then allow them to rest on the pan for 3 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool.Flaky sea salt
Emily says
Made these for a work cookie contest and won 2nd place! (The 1st place winner made cookie shot glasses with milk...) I had a ton of compliments and everyone loved the sea salt. It's definitely worth the time to brown the butter as well. I will definitely make again and again!
Kayla says
I don't usually have the patience to chill my cookie dough, but it was so worth it! The flavors and texture, mmm - so amazing!! Totally cured my brown butter and chocolate cravings.
The Cozy Plum says
Yay!! So happy you enjoyed these.
sharon alvarenga says
This recipe takes chocolate chip cookies up 10 levels. It’s absolutely delicious! The brown butter. The flaky sea salt. It all comes together so beautifully. Let’s just say I am happy I doubled the recipe on the first batch.
The Cozy Plum says
Haha yes to doubling! Thanks so much for making these, Sharon!
Jess says
Legitimately my new favorite chocolate chip cookie!! The recipe was easy to follow and they turned out incredible!!
The Cozy Plum says
Yay! Thanks so much Jess, love this hear this!
Lisa B. says
Amazing, incredible, wonderful! Not enough adjectives to describe these cookies. The brown butter levels these babies up to a whole other universe!
The Cozy Plum says
Wahoo! Love this - thank you, Lisa!
Alecia says
These bad boys were the bomb! It was my first time making brown butter - super easy and made the house smelly dreamy! We took them to a dinner party as dessert and they were a hit - some said it was the best cookie they had ever had!
I doubled the recipe! Something I learned for next time - make the brown butter well before you need it since it has to refirm after browning. I used the fridge/freezer method to speed up the firming process!
Would recommend, will make again in the future!
Thanks for a great recipe!
The Cozy Plum says
Thanks so much for this review, Alecia! And good tip on browning the butter in advance. So happy to hear they were a hit!