Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

Our Test Kitchen pros were wild for these brown butter chocolate chip cookies from first bites. And it all comes down to the one very important step: browning the butter.

Our instructions call for putting six ounces of salted butter in a saucepan, and heating it over a medium flame. Watch how the butter transforms from a creamy yellow to a beautiful golden-brown hue, which ultimately gives the classic cookie dough its signature taste and chewy, crisp texture.

Learn how to brown butter and use that nutty ingredient for your next batch of brown butter chocolate chip cookies.

Ingredients for Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

These ingredients aren't too different from what you use for classic chocolate chip cookies. It's just how you use them that makes them so special.

• Browned butter: The browned butter is what really sets these cookies apart from your standard chocolate chip cookies. It adds a rich, nutty flavor to the cookies.
• Brown sugar and white sugar: The ratio of brown sugar to white sugar will impact the overall texture and flavor of your cookies. In this recipe, we opt for more brown sugar than white sugar (a 2:1 ratio). A higher percentage of brown sugar draws out the rich flavor of the brown butter, yielding a cookie with notes of butterscotch.
• All-purpose flour: No fancy flours here. All-purpose flour is the perfect choice for these cookies. After adding the wet ingredients to the flour mixture, be sure to mix the dough until just combined—more on the dangers of overmixing below.
• Chocolate chips and pecans: Semisweet chocolate chips are our top pick for this recipe, as they don't overwhelm the dough with sweetness. However, this dough would also taste great with chopped dark chocolate. The pecans are optional, but they bring a touch of Southern flair to these anything-but-average chocolate chip cookies.

How To Make Brown Butter

Brown butter is made by melting butter and caramelizing the milk solids, turning the butter a lovely golden-brown hue and imparting a deep, nutty flavor. The trickiest part of making brown butter is choosing just the right moment to remove it from the heat. Too early, and your butter will be pale and lack flavor; too late and the milk solids will burn, creating ash-like flecks as opposed to the desired caramelized hue.

• Step 1. Melt the butter, and stir. Start by melting your butter in a small, heavy saucepan over medium heat. Using a thick-bottomed saucepan will prevent the butter from scorching—we want it browned, not burnt. Resist the urge to crank the heat up; maintaining a medium heat throughout the cooking process (roughly 6 to 8 minutes) yields even browning. Constant stirring will ensure that milk solids don't stick to the bottom of the saucepan—a metal whisk is particularly useful here, as it helps scrape up the solids that have settled.
• Step 2. Stir, and watch the color change. Once the butter melts, bubbles will begin to form along the sides of the saucepan, a sign of the water evaporating off. From here, the browning process will happen very quickly. Continue to stir until the butter begins to turn golden brown. If your butter is bubbling violently, it might be difficult to gauge the color. You can remove it from the heat for a moment to allow the bubbling to subside and properly detect the color. Scent is another great way to determine when your butter has browned: Your kitchen will smell gloriously of toasted graham crackers.
• Step 3. Remove from heat. As soon as you notice trails of golden-brown flecks in the butter, remove it from the heat, and transfer it into a heatproof bowl, which will stop the cooking process. Keep in mind that the butter will brown further as the milk solids settle, so if you're new to browning butter, err on the conservative side. If it's not sufficiently browned, you can always return it to the stove.

Congratulations—you've conquered the most challenging part of the recipe. Now it's just a matter of waiting for the butter to cool to assemble the cookie dough.

How To Make Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

If you've made cookies before, the steps of this recipe will be familiar. The most complicated part is browning the butter, and that's easy. The full recipe with instructions is further below, but here's a brief recap before you get out your cookie scoop:

• Step 1. Brown the butter, and empty into a bowl to cool for about 1 hour.
• Step 2. Make cookie dough by first creaming together butter and sugars, then adding the egg and vanilla extract. Combine the dry ingredients—flour, baking soda, and table salt—then beat into the sugar mixture. Lastly fold in the pecans (optional) and chocolate chips.
• Step 3. Using a cookie scoop, portion out individual cookies onto baking sheets lined with parchment paper.
• Step 4. Bake cookies until they're golden around the edges and the center is no longer glossy.
  
• Step 5. Move cookies to a cooling rack to cool entirely—or only slightly if you're craving a warm cookie.

Tips for the Best Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

Get your best batch of cookies with these important tips:

• Let the brown butter cool sufficiently. In this recipe, we brown the butter, then let it cool to room temperature and partially solidify before mixing it into the cookie dough. It's crucial to let the butter cool for approximately 1 hour before adding it to the dough. Using hot, melted butter will yield greasy dough and cause the cookies to spread too much when baked. By allowing the butter to solidify before adding it to the dough, you're able to bake the cookies immediately—no chill time required.
• Plan ahead. Since the butter requires at least one hour to chill (this time will depend on the temperature of the room), you'll want to plan to brown the butter a bit ahead of time to allow it sufficient time to cool.
• Freeze the butter if you're in a hurry. To speed up the process, you can store the browned butter in the freezer until it's chilled. Just be sure to keep an eye on it, as you don't want the brown butter to get icy.
• Don't overmix the cookies: Mix all of the ingredients until they're just combined. Overmixing will encourage gluten development, leading to a dry, crumbly cookie dough. Stir the flour, baking soda, and salt together with a whisk, then add the brown butter mixture in 2 or 3 additions, taking care to beat on low speed until just combined. When there are only a few streaks of flour remaining, add in the chocolate chips and pecans. At this point, you can combine the mix-ins with a quick paddle in the stand mixer or fold them in with a spatula. The latter method safeguards against overmixing.

Can I Make Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies Ahead of Time?

Great news: You can make brown butter chocolate chip cookie dough ahead of time and store pre-scooped balls in the freezer. No more grocery store tubs of cookie dough for us—we'll be freezing our homemade cookie dough and baking it just in time for company.

You can also bake and freeze cookies to have a snack ready to go.

How To Freeze Cookie Dough

This recipe yields 2 1/2 dozen cookies. If you don't need to bake all of the cookies immediately, we recommend scooping and freezing half of the batch to bake off at a later date.

To freeze the cookie dough:

• Scoop the cookies onto a sheet pan lined with parchment paper.
• Place the sheet pan in the freezer for one hour, or until the cookie dough balls have solidified.
• Transfer the frozen balls of cookie dough into a zip-top bag.
• Store in the freezer for a rainy day.

More Favorite Cookie Recipes

If you're adding to your list of cookie favorites, try these next:

• Peanut Butter-Chocolate Chip Cookies
  
• Chewy Molasses Cookies
• Gingersnap Cookies
• Chocolate-Mint Cookies
• Preacher Cookies
• Peanut Butter-Oatmeal Cookies

Editorial contributions by Zoe Denenberg.