These chocolate chip brown sugar cookies are buttery, chewy, molasses and vanilla spiked, with the nutty flavor of brown butter and plenty of melty chocolate chips.
I think you are probably already aware, but might I just say that the combination of brown butter and brown sugar is magical?
Both brown butter and brown sugar add layers of complex flavors which transform simple baked goods like chocolate chip cookies into something so much more interesting and delicious than your typical cookie.
I'll give you five excellent examples:
- These little brown sugar cookies are outrageously soft and chewy with an intense toffee-like flavor that comes from brown butter, brown sugar, and vanilla.
- This brown butter cake has a toasty, complex, almost smokey flavor laced with caramel. How do we get all those delicious flavors in there? Why yes. Brown butter and brown sugar.
- These soft chocolate chip pistachio cookies are filled with the rich, warm, cozy flavors of brown butter and brown sugar plus cardamom, vanilla, and almond.
- Same goes for these massive brown butter chocolate chip pecan cookies which are extra thick with a soft, gooey center loaded with milk chocolate chips and crunchy toasted pecans.
- And these brown butter white chocolate chip cookies are soft and chewy with a rich toffee flavor that just melts in your mouth.
So this recipe is just one more in a long list of delicious treats that get their buttery, toasty, molasses and caramel flavor from the combination of brown butter and brown sugar.
In other words, you already know they are going to be good.
xo
Jump to:
SUMMARIZE AND SAVE THIS RECIPE ON:
Step-by-step photos and instructions
The first thing you want to do is make some brown butter. Start by cutting the butter into chunks and putting them in a light-colored saucepan. (Dark pans make it difficult to tell when the butter is browned.)
Cook the butter over medium heat, stirring constantly, until it's is melted and begins to boil.
As you stir, pay attention to the color of the butter underneath the foam. When it's done, the butter beneath the foam will be golden brown with dark brown specks on the bottom of the pan and will smell nutty.
Pour the butter into a large mixing bowl. Be sure to scrape all the brown flecks from the bottom of the pan into the bowl - those brown specks contain a lot of flavor.
Cut the remaining 4 tablespoons of butter into pieces and stir them into the brown butter until they are melted.
Add the flour, baking soda, and baking powder to a bowl and stir with a wire whisk to combine.
Add the packed brown sugar and salt to the melted butter and stir with a wire whisk until all the sugar is saturated with butter.
Add an egg and an egg yolk plus a generous tablespoon of vanilla and a bit of almond extract if you like.
Whisk until the mixture is completely smooth.
Stir in the flour mixture and some mini chocolate chips.
Form the dough into balls that are roughly the size of ping pong or golf balls and roll them in a mixture of brown sugar and granulated sugar. Lay them on a parchment lined baking sheet, spacing them at least 3 inches apart.
Bake the cookies until they look set but the middle still looks soft and slightly under done. Let them rest on the baking sheet until they firm up a bit then use a spatula to transfer them a wire baking rack.
Make ahead and storage suggestions
The dough for these cookies will keep well in the refrigerator for up to three days. You can also freeze the dough and then bake as many as you like whenever the craving strikes. Here's the best way to do this:
- Shape the cookie dough into ping-pong size balls and lay them out in a single layer on a plate or a tray (do not roll the balls in sugar).
- Cover loosely with plastic wrap and put them in the freezer for a couple of hours, until they feel quite firm. At that point, you can pile them into a ziplock bag or other airtight container and put them back in the freezer where they'll keep well for 3 months.
The cookies can be baked straight from the freezer. Just pull as many cookie dough balls from the freezer as you like, roll them in sugar, lay them out on a parchment covered baking sheet, and pop them in a preheated oven. If baking from frozen, they'll take 4 to 6 minutes longer to bake.
Once baked, the cookies will keep well in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 4 days.
4 more cookie recipes to add to your must-bake list
If you give this recipe a try, let me know! Scroll down to rate this recipe and leave a comment for me.
Happy baking!
📖 Recipe
Chocolate Chip Brown Sugar Cookies
These chocolate chip brown sugar cookies are buttery, chewy, molasses and vanilla spiked cookies with the nutty flavor of brown butter and plenty of melty chocolate chips.
Ingredients
- 14 tablespoons (198 grams) unsalted butter
- 2 cups + 2 tablespoons (255 grams) all purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon baking powder
- 1 ¾ cup (373 grams) packed dark brown sugar + an additional ¼ cup (53 grams) for coating the balls of cookie dough
- ¾ teaspoon kosher salt (or ½ teaspoon of table salt)
- 1 large egg + 1 large egg yolk
- 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract or vanilla paste
- ½ teaspoon almond (optional)
- 1 cup (177 grams) mini chocolate chips
- ¼ cup (50 grams) granulated sugar
Recommended Products
As an Amazon Associate and member of other affiliate programs, I earn from qualifying purchases.
Instructions
- Brown the butter: Cut 10 tablespoons (141 grams) of butter into chunks and put it in a light-colored saucepan. (Dark pans make it difficult to tell when the butter is browned.) Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until the butter is melted and begins to boil. As you stir, pay attention to the color of the butter underneath the foam. When it's done, the butter beneath the foam will be golden brown with dark brown specks on the bottom of the pan and will smell nutty. Once browned, pour the butter into a large mixing bowl. Be sure to scrape all the brown flecks from the bottom of the pan into the bowl - those brown specks contain a lot of flavor.
- Cut the remaining 4 tablespoons (57 grams) of butter into four pieces and add to the bowl with the brown butter. Stir until all the butter has melted then set the bowl aside to allow the butter to cool for 15 minutes.
- Heat the oven to 350 F (177 degrees C). Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Add 2 cups plus 2 tablespoons of all-purpose flour, ½ teaspoon of baking soda, and ¼ teaspoon of baking powder to a small bowl and stir with a wire whisk to combine.
- Add 1 ¾ cup packed brown sugar (be sure to pack it down into the measuring cup) and ¾ teaspoon kosher salt to the melted butter. Beat with a wire whisk until completely combined.
- Add the egg, the egg yolk, 1 tablespoon of vanilla and ½ teaspoon of almond extract (optional) and beat with a wire whisk until the mixture is completely smooth.
- Add the flour mixture and stir with a wooden spoon or rubber spatula just until barely combined. Add the chocolate chips and stir until mixed evenly throughout the dough.
- Add ¼ cup brown sugar and ¼ cup granulated sugar to a small bowl and stir to combine.
- Form the cookie dough into balls that are roughly the size of ping pong or golf balls - about 40 grams of dough per ball. Roll the cookie dough balls in the sugar and place on your parchment lined baking sheet. Space the cookies at least 3 inches apart.
- Bake the cookies in the center of the oven for 12 - 14 minutes. When done, they will appear set but still slightly underdone in the center.
- Allow the cookies to rest on the baking sheet for a few minutes, until they've firmed up enough to be transferred with a spatula to a wire rack. Allow to cool completely then store the cookies in an air tight container at room temperature for up to 5 days.
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 27 Serving Size: 1 cookieAmount Per Serving: Calories: 156Total Fat: 8gSaturated Fat: 5gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 3gCholesterol: 36mgSodium: 97mgCarbohydrates: 20gFiber: 1gSugar: 15gProtein: 1g
SAVE THIS RECIPE
We'll email this post to you, so you can come back to it later!
This site is protected by the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
Jackie says
I think ur grams for the flour are off? I don't know how it can be 135g when 1 cup flour is 121g-145g I'm making them now and will have to measure the flour without a scale because I don't trust the grams on that. these look great though!
Jackie says
Just an update for anyone baking these I checked several other of her cookie recipes and noticed all of them are 120g per 1 cup flour. so I adjusted the grams of flour on this recipe to be 240g plus 2 tbsp which for me 1 tbsp is 10g so total I uses 260g of flour as I knew the 135g as listed wasn't correct. I also lessened the chocolate chips to 100g total and with the chocolate chips my dough weighed 1005g total so I measured out 27 balls that were 37g each and rolled them then chilled the dough balls for 1 hour minimum before rolling in the sugar mix and baking as I was worried about how soft the dough was. the cookies are amazing. I used expensive vanilla bean paste and browned the butter and the dough was so good. I was surprised the vanilla and brown butter didn't really show up at all in the baked cookie flavor wise however it was still an amazing cookie crispy on the edges chewy in the middle and I loved the texture on the outside. thank you for the recipe!
Rebecca Blackwell says
Hi Jackie! The weight of ingredients can be tricky - different kinds of flour can weigh slightly different amounts and even when using the same ingredients, the weight can differ from day to day. Also, things like humidity will affect the weight of flour and sugar even when stored properly. For all those reasons, I use the King Arthur weight chart for all the ingredients in every recipe here. It's the only way I can think of to standardize the weights of everything for everyone. I hope that helps clarify the discrepancy!
Jackie says
hi Rebecca thank you for updating the flour measurment in grams from 135g to 255g! and for replying. I totally get all the things your saying and I also use king Arthur's measurements I just didn't know this when I went to make ur cookie so I used your other cookies as a reference. seems I was only 5g off on guessing the correct weight so not bad! I hope I wasn't confusing you I was just talking about how at first when I went to bake these your grams for the flour in these cookies was listed to be 135g not 255g so I had to guess how much it was supposed to be as I knew it was a typo! glad to see it's all fixed now and thank you again the cookies were wonderful!