Brown Butter Chocolate Chunk Cookies
Butter cooked past melted into nutty and brown, then a fridge rest so the middle stays soft while the edges go crisp.
- Serves
- 18
- Prep
- 20 min
- Cook
- 12 min
- Written
Method
-
Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat, swirling often, until it foams, turns golden brown, and smells nutty, about 5 minutes.
-
Scrape the brown butter into a large bowl and let it cool until just warm, about 10 minutes.
-
Whisk the brown sugar and granulated sugar into the butter until glossy and no longer grainy.
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Whisk in the eggs and vanilla until the mixture lightens in color.
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Whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt in a separate bowl, then fold into the wet ingredients until just combined.
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Fold in the chocolate.
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Cover and refrigerate the dough until firm, at least 1 hour and up to 3 days.
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Heat the oven to 375°F and line two sheet pans with parchment.
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Scoop the dough into 2-tablespoon mounds, spaced 2 inches apart, and bake until the edges are set and golden but the centers still look underdone, 10 to 12 minutes.
-
Sprinkle with flaky salt while warm, then let cool on the pan for 5 minutes before moving to a rack.
Notes
Browning the butter first is what separates this from a basic cookie — you’re cooking off the water and toasting the milk solids underneath. Let it cool back to just warm before you add the sugar; add it straight off the heat and the sugar seizes into streaks instead of dissolving in. The fridge rest isn’t optional either: cold butter spreads slower in the oven, which is the only thing standing between a thick cookie and a thin, greasy puddle.
Chopped bar chocolate leaves pools of melted chocolate that bagged chips can’t match, but chips work fine if that’s what’s in the cabinet. The dough freezes well as scooped balls, so a double batch means fresh cookies without starting from scratch next time.