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.
These brown butter sea salt chocolate chip cookies are the kind of cookies that make it very hard to go back to regular chocolate chip cookies afterward. The brown butter adds a deep, nutty flavor that tastes almost caramel-like once it’s baked into the dough, while big chunks of dark chocolate and flaky sea salt create the perfect sweet-salty balance.
And then there’s the texture. The edges bake up lightly crisp while the centers stay soft, rich, and almost melt-in-your-mouth tender. The dark chocolate keeps the cookies from tasting overly sweet, and the sea salt on top makes every bite taste even more chocolatey and buttery somehow.
What I love most about this recipe is that the ingredients are simple, but the result tastes bakery-level good. Browning the butter is the little extra step that completely transforms the flavor, giving the cookies warmth and depth that regular melted butter just can’t compete with.
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 craisins would be a nice touch.
- Ice cream: These cookies are fairly thin, however, no one would be opposed to sliding some vanilla ice cream between them. All you’ll need is a napkin!
Answers to your questions
Do I really need to chill the batter for a full 4 hours? Yes, this is not a step you want to rush. I’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, I 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.
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
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- ½ 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.¾ cup granulated sugar, ½ 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 – 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 … 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.
Just ok. Really cakey consistency which isn’t my jam. Dough tastes better than the cookies.
Thanks for giving them a try. ♥
Love it. Cookies work well, but I can never get my butter to brown. It melts and bubbles and stays yellow. What am I doing wrong? I’ve
tried both non-stick and stainless steel skillets.
Are you using butter or margarine? It’s the milk solids in butter which brown. It could also be that you haven’t left it on the stove long enough. It will melt, bubble up, and once the foam subsides, you’ll see some brown flecks in the bottom of the melted butter. You can stop here or keep going until it’s quite brown. The time it takes depends on the heat.
As pastry chef here bahahaha I messed these up too. Beautiful but not dark? Yes I browned to butter.
Hi Amanda! The cookies look great! I think they just needed an extra minute or two in the oven. That can happen as variations such as oven temp or even elevation affects baking. Hope you still enjoyed them!
They came out puffy instead of flat. Not sure what I did wrong.
Thanks for giving the recipe a try! Puffy cookies can sometimes happen if the butter was too cold, the dough was overmixed, or if there was a bit too much flour. Try using room temperature butter and gently spooning and leveling the flour next time—it should help them spread more. I hope your next batch comes out just the way you like! 🍪😊
Can’t wait to try! Could you add in sourdough discard to this recipe? And if so how would you!?
That’s a great question, but unfortunately I don’t have the answer for you. I might have to experiment the next time my husband discards some of the sourdough starter. If I do I’ll let you know!
So amazing!! I also browned the butter with sage and then added cardamom in the dry mix! Soooo heavenly!!
I love that you added sage and cardamom! I have to try that!
Flat- pre melted and re- solidified butter doesn’t like to be baked again
You’re right, brown butter is tricky in cookies. Did you add the water? It’s a strange ingredient in cookies but important when using brown butter. That and making sure the dough is chilled. Quick tip: if you ever bake cookies that spread too much, use a wide glass (like a martini glass) and reshape them as soon as they come out of the oven.
So excited to try these! Can you freeze this dough? Any advice on doing that?
I’ve froze these after baking and they freeze excellent – like most cookies. You can also freeze the dough to bake later. Scoop the dough into balls and freeze them on a parchment paper lined baking sheet. Once they’re frozen, you can transfer them to a freezer bag. To bake them, I recommend thawing them in the fridge first. I’ve baked them from frozen, and while they’re good, they’re better if you have the patience to thaw them in the fridge.
Love these cookies,making them now..
I tried making these cookies but my cookies come up dome-like and not flat and delicious looking as yours. What am I doing wrong?
Hi Jane. The most common reason for cookies not to flatten out is too much flour. Did you use the scoop and level method when measuring the flour? That is the most accurate way – other than weighing the flour. Before you put the next batch into the oven, use your fingers to flatten them out a little. That should help.
I am usually a fan of weighing my ingredients but I think my mistake for this recipe might be not using the scoop and level method! I was packing my flour and then levelling! The cookies come more a bit more… almost cake like and I feel like I’ve wasted my brown butter! I will def try this recipe again! Thank you for the tip!
No problem at all, Jane! I hope the next batch turns out great for you!
It worked! The recipe worked and your flour measuring worked! Thank you!
Oh that’s wonderful news!!
Sounds like a great recipe – I started to make it and then noticed the 4 hours in the fridge wasn’t noted in the amount of time in the recipe ingredients list – adding that would be helpful,
Thank you for the suggestion! I’ll add that in now. 🙂
These cookies look amazing. Sea salt and chocolate…perfect. I’ve never made brown butter, so this is the perfect recipe to try!
Thank you!
You should definitely try your hand at making brown butter. It’s so good!!
Congratulations! The best thing about being pregnant is that you can eat more cookies! lol.
Ha ha that’s what I keep telling myself, too!
What a beautiful photo! Love this recipe too!
Thank you so much!!
This recipe sounds divine! I’m excited to try it!
It really is divine!