Adapted from my super popular chocolate chip cookies, these Best Ever Brown Butter Chocolate Chunk Cookies are extra flavourful thanks to the browned butter! Soft, chewy and stuffed with pools of melty dark chocolate, one bite of these cookies will have you hooked!
This post may contain affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Please see my full disclosure policy for details.
This all started two years ago when I posted the greatest chocolate chip cookie recipe I’ve ever made! I called those the Best Ever Chocolate Chip Cookies, and 2 years later, nearly everyone who’s made them has confirmed that they are the BEST chocolate chip cookies they’ve ever had! Here’s a few of the reviews I found on Pinterest:
Erin said:
“Best recipe I’ve ever used and I’ll never use another CC recipe!!!!!! Overnight is definitely best for chilling the dough!!!”
Lindsay said:
“One of the best chocolate chip cookie recipes — and I went to culinary school so that’s saying something! Added to my recipe book!”
D said:
“Tested and approved! This is now my go-to cookie recipe.”
There’s so many more reviews, but one thing most of them have in common are the words “BEST CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIE RECIPE EVER!” So today I’ll be bringing that recipe back, with a twist!
Best Ever Brown Butter Chocolate Chunk Cookies
One thing that made my chocolate chip cookie recipe so amazing was the method of using half melted and half softened butter. That created the most perfect texture!
This time, we’re doing something different with the butter so we can make some CCC’s with a bucket of flavour! Instead of melting that butter halfway, we’re gonna melt it full-on, them take it even further and brown it to give our cookies a nutty, caramelized taste!
What is Brown Butter?
Brown Butter, also known as Beurre Noisette, is a sauce used in both sweet and savoury French dishes. Sounds fancy, right? Well, it’s actually easy enough for newbies to make because it’s just melted butter!
Ok it’s not JUST melted butter. It’s an intensified, magical, super flavourful version of melted butter. We melt down the butter enough to cook the milk solids until they’re caramelized. This one simple ingredient can make any dish miles better!
How to Brown Butter
For my regular chocolate chip cookie recipe, we just microwave the butter in 20 second intervals until it’s only half melted.
Browning butter is very different. We can’t just microwave the butter until it’s browned, we’ll need to do it on the stove top.
Baker’s Tip: Use a pan with a light coloured bottom. I’ve tried browning butter in a non-stick pan before and it was very difficult to tell if it had browned because the pan’s surface was too dark. A stainless steel pan will work just fine.
Now place your butter into your pan and stir it slowly over medium heat as it melts. Once it’s melted, the butter will start to bubble up and create a foam. This is where you’ll need to keep your eyes on it at all times.
Keep stirring and in a few minutes, the butter will begin to brown and let off a nutty aroma. Immediately take it off the stove and pour it into your mixing bowl to cool for a few minutes.
Making the Cookies
Once the brown butter has cooled, add the brown sugar and white sugar. The brown sugar adds moisture, softness and chewiness to the cookies while the white sugar add sweetness and helps in spreading.
Throw in some eggs for structure, vanilla for flavour, flour, cornstarch, baking soda and salt. The cornstarch softens up the proteins in the flours, resulting in a more tender cookie.
What Kind of Chocolate Should I Use?
Pure dark chocolate bars. The best quality you can find. This isn’t a suggestion, it’s a MUST! I mean you can use chocolate chips if that’s all you’ve got, but nothing will ever beat the pools of melted dark chocolate swimming throughout a cookie.
I chopped 12 ounces (yes, 12 whole ounces) of real dark chocolate and added 10 of those ounces to the browned butter cookie dough. I kept the chunks pretty big because when you scoop it out and roll it into a ball, the chocolate will be poking out which will give us spots of melted chocolate all over the top of the baked cookies.
Chill the Dough!
Everyone hates this part, right? Being taunted throughout the entire cookie dough making process and you want nothing more than to hurry up and bake them and enjoy a batch of warm browned butter cookies.
But you can’t! If you baked the cookies right away you’ll be left with a batch of flat, crispy cookies. You want them to be thick and chewy and even more flavourful, which is what they’ll be after you let them chill for 3 hours or overnight.
The cookie dough is pretty hard to scoop when chilled, so I actually recommend you scoop out the cookie dough and shape them BEFORE chilling. That way once you’re ready to bake, all you need to do is take out the cold cookie dough balls, place them onto your baking sheet and bake!
This method + multiple baking sheets and your entire batch of cookies will be ready in under an hour! You can also freeze the cookie dough balls in a freezer safe bag and just bake them straight away when you’re ready.
When the cookies come out of the oven, you’ll need to do two more things. First, take the reserved 2 oz. of chopped dark chocolate and press a few pieces into the tops. Then sprinkle on some coarse sea salt!
Sea salt + dark chocolate make an outstanding flavour combo, and it balances the sweetness in the cookies! After a couple of minutes, the chocolate on top will melt, but it’ll hold it’s shape. If you want to get that runny melted chocolate look I have in the photos, use a toothpick and run it through the chocolate.
I guarantee you’ve never seen anything more gorgeous than this.
More Cookie Recipes
- Salted Dark Chocolate Cranberry Walnut Cookies
- Soft and Chewy Oatmeal Raisin Cookies
- White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies
- Salted Caramel Chocolate Chip Cookies
SHARE YOUR PICS!
Follow me on Instagram and tag #queensleeappetit so I can see and share all of your Queenslee Appétit creations in my stories and the QA Newsletter!
>>PIN ME FOR LATER<<
FOLLOW QUEENSLEE APPÉTIT
Like what you see? Make sure you‘re following Queenslee Appétit for more tasty recipes!
Pinterest | Instagram | Facebook | Twitter |
Have any questions about the recipe? Contact me here, and I’ll be happy to help!
SWEETEN UP YOUR INBOX!
SUBSCRIBE to the Queenslee Appétit Newsletter to recieve new recipe notifications, monthly baking tips, sneak peeks to upcoming recipes, exclusive recipes and more!
Let’s get baking!
Best Ever Brown Butter Chocolate Chunk Cookies
Adapted from my super popular chocolate chip cookies, these Best Ever Brown Butter Chocolate Chunk Cookies are extra flavourful thanks to the browned butter! Soft, chewy and stuffed with pools of melty dark chocolate, one bite of these cookies will have you hooked!
Ingredients
- 1 cup unsalted butter, cold
- 1 cup light brown sugar, packed
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs, room temperature
- 1 and ½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 2 and ½ cups all purpose flour
- 2 teaspoon cornstarch
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 12 oz. dark chocolate, chopped + divided
- Coarse sea salt, for topping (optional)
Instructions
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silpat mat. Set aside.
- Add the butter to a small saucepan, preferably one with a light bottom so you can easily see the colour change.
- Heat over medium heat until butter has melted.
- Once melted, the butter will begin to bubble and foam. Continue to stir, cooking until the butter turns a golden brown. This can take about 3-5 minutes, but don’t rely on time. Keep your eyes on the butter to see when it starts to turn brown.
- Immediately remove the browned butter from the stovetop and pour it into the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, or in a large mixing bowl if using a handheld mixer. Allow to cool for 5 minutes.
- Add both sugars. Beat on medium speed until fully combined, about 1-2 minutes.
- Turn the mixer to medium-low speed and add eggs one at a time and mix until just combined. Add vanilla and mix until combined.
- In a separate bowl, add flour, cornstarch, baking soda and salt. Whisk to combine.
- Add dry ingredients to the stand mixer bowl and mix until incorporated. Fold in 10 ounces of chopped chocolate. Reserve 2 ounces for topping.
- Using a 3-4 tablespoon cookie scoop, scoop out the dough and shape into balls. Place on lined baking sheet. Repeat with remaining dough and place them side by side on the baking sheet.
- Cover baking sheet with plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for at least 3 hours or overnight.
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Once preheated, line a second baking sheet with parchment and place on a few cookies, spacing them about 2 to 3-inches apart on the cookie sheet so they have space to spread.
- Bake in preheated oven for 10-12 minutes, or until edges are set and the center of the cookies still look undercooked. Rotate the sheet at the 6 minute mark so the cookies can bake evenly.
- Remove from oven and immediately press on more chopped chocolate and sprinkle a bit of coarse sea salt on top. Allow to cool on baking sheet for 15 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Repeat with remaining cookies.
- These cookies are best served warm, but you can store the leftovers in an airtight container at room temperature.
Notes
- Freezing: (1) Baked cookies can be stored in a freezer safe bag and kept in the freezer for up to 3 months. (2) Cookie dough balls can also be frozen for 3 months. Just bake straight from the freezer for an additional minute.
- Chocolate: feel free to replace the chopped chocolate with 2 cups of chocolate chips or chunks.
Recommended Products
As an Amazon Associate and member of other affiliate programs, I earn from qualifying purchases.
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 24 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 232Total Fat: 13gSaturated Fat: 8gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 4gCholesterol: 37mgSodium: 186mgCarbohydrates: 29gFiber: 1gSugar: 23gProtein: 2g
BON APPÉTIT!
Love, Dedra
©QUEENSLEE APPÉTIT. All images & content are copyright protected. Please do not use my images without prior permission. If you want to republish this recipe, please re-write the recipe in your own words, or link back to this post for the recipe.
Leave a Reply