Brown Butter Sea Salt Chocolate Chip Cookies
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These brown butter sea salt chocolate chip cookies are worth hiding from the kids! Ok, or at least make a double batch so there's more than enough to go around. The crisp edges and buttery soft centers are what dreams cravings are made of.
Also, try these miso chocolate chip cookies for a fun twist on the traditional.
Dramatic? Maybe. But here's why your old standby chocolate chip cookie recipes won't cut it after you try these:
- Flavor: The combo of the nutty brown butter with the big chocolate chunks and sea salt creates the perfect salty-sweet pairing. When it all comes together it creates a caramel-y taste in your mouth. Not sure it gets any better than that!
- Texture: Arguably the best texture for a cookie is one that's just a little crisp around the edge and melt-in-your-mouth in the middle. These cookies are just that.
What's brown butter?
Great question! Brown butter is when you gently cook butter so that it brings out a wonderful nutty flavor and turns a deep amber color. You can use regular butter to achieve this.
When it comes to brown butter sea salt chocolate chip cookies, the brown butter is a worthy extra step that brings warmth, toffee, and caramel flavors to your cookies.
How to brown butter for chocolate chip cookies
All you need to do is:
- Get out a frying pan and get it to medium heat.
- Add your butter.
- As it's cooking, swirl it around a couple of times. Cooking should take 5 minutes.
- It will foam at first, but once the butter settles, you're left with a roasty-toasty golden brown butter sauce.
Ingredients needed
You might just have all of these ingredients in your baking cupboard already! And if not, here's a quick list of what you'll need to make these delightful brown butter sea salt chocolate chip cookies:
- Salted butter: Yes, you'll need 1 whole cup of salted butter for these beauties, but it's totally worth it! That buttery, rich flavor won't let you down.
- All-purpose flour, sea salt, and baking soda: These are all standard ingredients in any cookie recipe; they'll make up the base of your dry ingredients.
- Granulated sugar + brown sugar: Use both kinds of sugar for sweetness, but also to enhance the caramel, toffee flavor.
- Eggs, cold water, and vanilla extract: These will make up your wet ingredients, which you'll add to your brown butter mix.
- Dark chocolate: Go for the dark variety, cut or chopped into pieces, to add a needed deep, bitter taste to the otherwise sweet cookie.
- Flaky sea salt: Sprinkle flaky sea salt on top of the cookies once they're baked. It will bring out and complement the chocolate chunks!
You will quickly come to see that there are a couple of times you'll need to put on your patient pants and let the batter cool in the fridge. The cookies are so worth the wait ā promise!
- Make the brown butter: In a pan, add your butter and let it cook until roasted and a beautiful dark brown color.
- Let the brown butter cool: Move your butter to a bowl and let it cool and firm up in the fridge. Don't rush this part or your cookies will spread too much. The brown butter should be the texture of room-temperature butter.
- Mix dry ingredients: Whisk together the flour, sea salt, and baking soda.
- Add the wet ingredients: To your brown butter, beat in both sugars. Then add the rest of the wet ingredients.
- Combine: Add the dry ingredients to your wet ingredients and stir until just combined. Don't forget to add your chocolate, too!
- Let it rest in the fridge: Ok, this is hard. But! You have to let the cookie dough sit in the fridge for at least 4 hours.
- Bake: Finally, it's time to bake these cookies! Use a cookie scoop or tablespoon and give them space on a parchment paper-lined cookie sheet. Then, pop them into the oven.
- Salt 'em: Once they come out of the oven add your flaky sea salt and enjoy your perfect brown butter sea salt chocolate chip cookies!
Variations and substitutions:
Although this recipe could be referred to as the best chocolate chip cookie recipe out there, you can absolutely play around with it to find your happy place. Here are some ideas:
- Nuts: This recipe is naturally nut-free, so perhaps a good option for school-aged kids. That said, if adding some nuts sounds like perfection to you, go for it! Chopped walnuts or pecans would be great additions.
- Dried fruit: If you want to add some natural sweetness dried cranberries, raisins, or crasins would be a nice touch.
- Coconut: You can add some shredded coconut to this recipe, just know that you will have to adjust for it in your dry ingredients.
- Ice cream: These cookies are fairly thin, however, no one would be opposed to sliding some ice cream between them. All you'll need is a napkin! Try this toasted coconut ice cream or go wild with this beer ice cream!
More brown butter recipes
Did you know that brown butter can be used in both savory and sweet recipes? Here are some more scrumptious options to use that rich, nutty brown butter sauce:
Recipe FAQs
Do I need to chill the batter for a full 4 hours?
Yes, this is not a step you want to rush. We've tested this recipe with a shorter rest in the fridge, and the cookies spread too much. Don't worry, they're well worth the wait!
Why do you bake the cookies at 325 degrees Fahrenheit?
In recipe testing, we found this to be the optimal temperature for these cookies. Raising the temperature to the usual 350 degrees Fahrenheit produced overly dark cookies. Lowering the temperature and keeping the cookies in the oven a few minutes longer than normal made the best cookies.
Can I use unsalted butter?
You can use either unsalted or salted butter to make the brown butter.
Brown Butter Sea Salt Chocolate Chip Cookies Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 cup salted butter
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- Ā¾ cup granulated sugar
- Ā½ cup brown sugar (packed)
- 2 large eggs
- 1 tablespoon cold water
- 1 tablespoon vanilla
- 8 ounces dark chocolate (chunks or chopped from a bar of chocolate)
- Flaky sea salt (for garnish (Maldon works great))
Instructions
- Place the butter in a large frying pan over medium-high heat. Let it cook, swirling the pan a few times, for about 5 minutes, or until it smells roasted and is brown. It will foam up a lot at first and once the foam settles down, it is browned.1 cup salted butter
- Transfer the brown butter to a large, heatproof bowl, making sure to scrape out all the tasty brown specks. Place the butter in your fridge for at least one hour, or until it's solidified but still soft.
- In a medium-sized bowl, whisk together the flour, sea salt, and baking soda.2 cups all-purpose flour, 1 teaspoon sea salt, 1 teaspoon baking soda
- Add both of the sugars to the brown butter and beat using electric beaters for 1 minute. Add the eggs, water, and vanilla and beat until combined.Ā¾ cup granulated sugar, Ā½ cup brown sugar, 2 large eggs, 1 tablespoon vanilla, 1 tablespoon cold water
- Add the flour all at once and beat until it just barely comes together, about 15 seconds. Stir in the chopped chocolate.8 ounces dark chocolate
- Place a piece of parchment paper in the bowl directly on top of the cookie dough. Place the bowl into your fridge for at least 4 hours ā or up to 4 days.
- When you're ready to bake the cookies, preheat your oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit. Scoop the dough into balls using a large cookie scoop. Place 6 balls of dough on each 13 x 11-inch baking sheet. Don't crowd the sheets ā¦ these cookies will spread a lot!
- Bake the cookies for 13-16 minutes, rotating the sheets halfway. When they come out of the oven immediately sprinkle them with a little Maldon sea salt.Flaky sea salt
Notes
Nutrition
We have thoroughly tested this recipe for accuracy. However, individual results may vary. See our full recipe disclosure here.
For more inspiration, check out all of our cookie recipes!
