Chewy brown butter chocolate chip cookies with crisp golden edges, soft middles and a shiny, crackly top. One bowl, no mixer needed.
- 10 Tbsp unsalted butter for browning
- 4 Tbsp unsalted butter cold
- 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 3/4 cup dark brown sugar packed
- 1 tsp kosher salt Morton
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 large egg
- 1 large egg yolk
- 1 1/4 cups semisweet chocolate chips or chopped chocolate
- 3/4 cup pecans or walnuts chopped, optional
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Heat the oven to 375°F with a rack in the middle and line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Dark nonstick sheets? See Note 1.
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Brown the butter in a light-colored skillet: melt 10 Tbsp unsalted butter over medium-high heat, swirling, 2 to 3 minutes. It foams up, and once the foam starts to settle, watch it like a hawk. When the bits on the bottom turn golden and it smells like toffee, take it off the heat right away.
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Whisk in the cold butter: pour the brown butter into a heatproof bowl, add 4 Tbsp unsalted butter, and whisk until melted.
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Dry ingredients: while the butter browns, whisk together 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour and 1/2 tsp baking soda in a bowl and set it aside.
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Whisk in the sugars: to the brown butter, add 1/2 cup granulated sugar, 3/4 cup dark brown sugar, 1 tsp kosher salt and 2 tsp vanilla extract and mix until it is no longer hot. It will look grainy.
By hand: whisk for a couple of minutes.
With a mixer: mix on high for a couple of minutes, just to cool it, not to whip it. -
Add the eggs: to the mixture, beat in 1 large egg and 1 large egg yolk, one at a time, on low speed, just until the batter turns glossy. Do not beat in air, or the cookies will turn out cakey. For an extra-shiny top, see Note 4.
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Fold in the flour: with a spatula, fold in the flour mixture just until no dry flour shows, then fold in half the chocolate chips and 3/4 cup pecans or walnuts, if using. Save the other half of the chocolate for the tops. Do not overmix.
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Shape the dough into 16 balls with a 3-tablespoon cookie scoop, then squeeze each one into a tall cylinder, taller than it is wide. Scoop while the dough is still warm. Set 8 on each sheet, evenly spaced, and press the saved chocolate into the tops. Bigger cookies? See Note 3.
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Chill the dough balls for at least 1 hour, for thicker, chewier cookies (Note 2).
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Bake at 375°F for 10 to 14 minutes, just until the edges are set and golden. Do not overbake: the middles should still look soft and underdone. If the middle looks set, the cookies are overbaked. I bake mine for 11 minutes.
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Cool the cookies on the sheet for 5 minutes, then move them to a wire rack. For perfectly round cookies, see Note 11.
Recipe Video
- Dark baking sheets: dark nonstick sheets can burn the cookie bottoms. Bake at 350°F instead, or stack two sheets together.
- Chilling: 1 hour gives thicker, chewier cookies, and up to 3 days, covered, deepens the toffee flavor. In a hurry, bake right away. From the fridge, add 1 to 2 minutes.
- Bigger cookies: shape 12 instead of 16 with a #16 cookie scoop (1/4 cup, about 85 g of dough each) and press 2 Valrhona callets into each top. Bake at 375°F just until the edges are set.
- Extra-shiny tops: after the eggs, rest the batter 3 minutes, then whisk 30 seconds; repeat 3 times; more of the sugar dissolves, so the tops bake up glossier.
- Doubling: changing the servings multiplies every amount, baking soda included. Keep the first batch worth whole and add three quarters of it for each extra batch, so 1/2 tsp becomes 7/8 tsp when you double, not 1 tsp.
- To freeze: freeze the shaped dough balls on a sheet, then move them to a zip-top bag for up to 2 months.
- To bake from frozen: 8 per sheet at 375°F for 12 to 15 minutes, no thawing.
- More toffee flavor: whisk 2 Tbsp dry milk powder into the butter as it browns.
- Sourdough discard: add 50 g with the egg, plus 1/8 tsp more baking soda, and chill the dough.
- Salted butter: use half the kosher salt.
- Round cookies: right out of the oven, set a round cutter or glass a little wider than each cookie over it and gently swirl it in small circles to round the edges.