Salted Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies are thick, chewy, and full of rich toffee-like flavor with perfectly crisp edges. The brown butter adds incredible depth, and the cookies hold up beautifully for dunking in milk. Best of all, they can be baked right away—no chilling needed!
Love More Cookies Desserts? Try My Brown Butter Pumpkin Snickerdoodle Cookies or this Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies next.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
These cookies strike the perfect balance of salty and sweet, with flaky sea salt enhancing the rich brown butter flavor. They smell absolutely irresistible while baking and taste even better fresh out of the oven. Thick, chewy, and indulgent, they’re the kind of cookies everyone asks for seconds of.
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Salted Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Total Time: 12 minutes
Description
Thick, bakery-style chocolate chip cookies made with nutty brown butter and finished with flaky sea salt for the perfect sweet-salty balance.
Ingredients
Stuff You Need:
- 2 sticks butter (unsalted, trust me on this)
- 2½ cups flour (just regular all-purpose)
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt (the fine kind)
- 1½ cups brown sugar (pack it down hard)
- 2 eggs (leave them out for an hour so they’re not cold)
- 1 tablespoon vanilla (real vanilla, not the fake stuff)
- 4 oz chocolate bar chopped up messy
- 4 oz chocolate chips
- 2/3 cup walnuts chopped up (throw these out if you hate nuts)
For the top:
- Flaky sea salt (don’t skip this part)
Instructions
Put butter in pan. Turn heat to medium. Stand there and stir because it burns fast. Butter melts, bubbles up, then gets quiet and starts smelling like nuts. Brown chunks show up at the bottom. Take it off heat right then. Throw in one ice cube to cool it down.
Put flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in bowl. Stir it up.
Wait five minutes or hot butter cooks the eggs. Mix brown sugar into cooled butter until smooth. Add vanilla and eggs. Mix until it looks the same color.
Stir in flour mixture but don’t mix too much. Stop when you barely see white flour streaks. My mom mixed cookie dough forever and they came out tough. Add chocolate and nuts. Save some big chocolate pieces for later.
Make golf ball sized scoops. Put them on cookie sheet with parchment paper. Stick in fridge for 2 hours minimum. Cold dough doesn’t spread out flat when it bakes.
Turn oven to 350°F. Put dough balls far apart on cookie sheets because they get bigger. Press saved chocolate pieces on top.
Bake 10-12 minutes until edges are brown but middles still look soft. Don’t cook them until they’re hard. They keep cooking after you take them out.
Put salt on cookies right when they come out of oven while they’re hot. Salt sticks better to hot cookies. Let them sit on the cookie sheet for 5 minutes then move to cooling rack. Don’t eat them right away even though they smell good.
Notes
- Use a scale for flour if you have one. Too much flour makes cookies puffy and weird. If using cups, fluff flour first then scoop and level.
- Don’t bake too long. Edges brown but middles look raw. They finish cooking on the hot pan.
- Make brown butter ahead of time. Just heat it up again before using.
- Add cinnamon if you want. Tastes good.
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 2 hours
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Ingredient List
Stuff You Need:
- 2 sticks butter (unsalted, trust me on this)
- 2½ cups flour (just regular all-purpose)
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt (the fine kind)
- 1½ cups brown sugar (pack it down hard)
- 2 eggs (leave them out for an hour so they’re not cold)
- 1 tablespoon vanilla (real vanilla, not the fake stuff)
- 4 oz chocolate bar chopped up messy
- 4 oz chocolate chips
- 2/3 cup walnuts chopped up (throw these out if you hate nuts)
For the top:
- Flaky sea salt (don’t skip this part)
Why These Ingredients Work
Brown butter is just regular butter cooked too long until it smells nutty. The milk stuff in butter turns brown and tastes good. I don’t know the science but it works.
Brown sugar keeps cookies soft. White sugar makes them crunchy like store cookies. Brown sugar has molasses which is sweet and dark.
I chop up a chocolate bar because chocolate chips are boring. Some big pieces, some small pieces. They melt different and look better. Room temperature eggs mix easier and don’t make butter lumpy.
Essential Tools and Equipment
- Pan for melting butter
- Big bowl
- Spoon for stirring
- Cookie scoop or big spoon
- Cookie sheets
- Parchment paper
- Cooling rack
- Scale if you got one
How To Make Salted Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
Step 1: Brown the Butter
Put butter in pan. Turn heat to medium. Stand there and stir because it burns fast. Butter melts, bubbles up, then gets quiet and starts smelling like nuts. Brown chunks show up at the bottom. Take it off heat right then. Throw in one ice cube to cool it down.
Step 2: Mix the Dry Ingredients
Put flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in bowl. Stir it up.
Step 3: Make the Cookie Dough
Wait five minutes or hot butter cooks the eggs. Mix brown sugar into cooled butter until smooth. Add vanilla and eggs. Mix until it looks the same color.
Stir in flour mixture but don’t mix too much. Stop when you barely see white flour streaks. My mom mixed cookie dough forever and they came out tough. Add chocolate and nuts. Save some big chocolate pieces for later.
Step 4: Chill the Dough
Make golf ball sized scoops. Put them on cookie sheet with parchment paper. Stick in fridge for 2 hours minimum. Cold dough doesn’t spread out flat when it bakes.
Step 5: Bake to Perfection
Turn oven to 350°F. Put dough balls far apart on cookie sheets because they get bigger. Press saved chocolate pieces on top.
Bake 10-12 minutes until edges are brown but middles still look soft. Don’t cook them until they’re hard. They keep cooking after you take them out.
Step 6: The Finishing Touch
Put salt on cookies right when they come out of oven while they’re hot. Salt sticks better to hot cookies. Let them sit on the cookie sheet for 5 minutes then move to cooling rack. Don’t eat them right away even though they smell good.
You Must Know
Put dough in fridge for 2 hours or cookies turn into flat pancakes. Cold dough stays thick when it bakes. I skipped this once and they looked terrible.
Personal Secret: Ice cube in hot butter adds water back that cooked away. My grandma showed me this trick. Makes cookies softer.
Pro Tips & Cooking Hacks
- Use a scale for flour if you have one. Too much flour makes cookies puffy and weird. If using cups, fluff flour first then scoop and level.
- Don’t bake too long. Edges brown but middles look raw. They finish cooking on the hot pan.
- Make brown butter ahead of time. Just heat it up again before using.
- Add cinnamon if you want. Tastes good.
Flavor Variations & Suggestions
- More chocolate: Add caramel pieces with chocolate
- Coffee taste: Put instant coffee powder in with flour
- Different nuts: Try pecans instead of walnuts
- Extra chocolate: Add cocoa powder and more chocolate chips
Make-Ahead Options
These cookies are perfect for meal prep! You can:
- Dough balls: Make them up to 48 hours ahead and keep chilled, or freeze for up to 3 months
- Baked cookies: Store in an airtight container for up to 5 days
- Brown butter: Make it up to 3 days ahead and store in the fridge
Recipe Notes & Baker’s Tips
- Room temperature eggs matter – they incorporate much more easily into the brown butter mixture
- Don’t skip the ice cube step – it really does improve the final texture
- Large cookies are key – the 70-gram size gives you that perfect crispy edge, chewy center combo
- Salt timing is everything – apply it immediately when cookies come out of the oven
Serving Suggestions
These cookies are perfect on their own, but they’re absolutely divine with:
- A tall glass of cold milk (obviously!)
- Vanilla ice cream for an epic cookie sandwich
- A cup of coffee or hot chocolate
- Crumbled over vanilla pudding or yogurt
How to Store Your Salted Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
Room Temperature: Store in an airtight container for up to 5 days. Place parchment paper between layers to prevent sticking.
Freezer: Baked cookies freeze beautifully for up to 3 months. Thaw at room temperature for about 30 minutes.
Cookie Dough: Freeze portioned dough balls for up to 3 months. Bake directly from frozen, adding 1-2 extra minutes to baking time.
Allergy Information
Contains: Eggs, dairy, gluten, tree nuts (if using walnuts)
Substitutions:
- Gluten-free: Use a 1:1 gluten-free flour blend
- Dairy-free: Substitute with vegan butter (browning process works the same way!)
- Egg-free: Try flax eggs (1 tbsp ground flaxseed + 3 tbsp water per egg)
Questions I Get Asked A Lot
Can I use salted butter instead of unsalted?
I’d stick with unsalted so you can control the salt level, especially since we’re adding flaky salt on top!
What if I don’t have flaky sea salt?
Regular kosher salt works in a pinch, but flaky salt really makes a difference in both texture and flavor distribution.
Q: Can I make these smaller? A: Absolutely! Just reduce the baking time to 8-10 minutes and keep an eye on them.
Why are my cookies spreading too much?
Make sure your dough is properly chilled and your oven is fully preheated. Also check that you’re not using too much butter.
💬 Tried this recipe? Leave a comment and rating below! I love hearing about your baking adventures and any tweaks you made.
