The Best Chocolate Chip Cookies

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Soft, flavorful chocolate chip cookies — guaranteed to be your new, go-to cookie recipe!

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My go-to, favorite dessert is a classic — chocolate chip cookies. For that reason, I’ve tried a LOT of chocolate chip cookie recipes over the years. Growing up (and even still now!), one of my favorite things to do was to bake a batch of cookies for my friends and family. In the beginning, I started out with pre-made dough from the store and while those were delicious, in the back of my mind, I always knew they could be better. I dreamt of a cookie that stayed soft and chewy for days after baking and was full of flavor. But, where do you start? That led me down a rabbit hole on Pinterest, researching and testing out different recipes. While I haven’t tried them all, I’ve tested out a good amount. I’ve experimented with softened, melted, cold, and brown butter. Cakey cookies, thin and crispy, and bite-sized cookies. And with all of this cookie research, I believe it helped me develop what I consider to be the best chocolate chip cookie recipe.

But, why brown butter? 

In my opinion, the best chocolate chip cookies always include brown butter. The subtle, delicious, nutty flavor that the brown butter adds is so dreamy and the perfect complement. Like I said before, chocolate chip cookies really never disappoint, but that brown butter will make them a 10. 

Read on for the full recipe for The Best Chocolate Chip Cookies.

What is brown butter?

To put it simply, brown butter is butter that is first melted, and then cooked further to bring out a tasty, nutty flavor. Brown butter is a golden, amber color and includes milk solids that have essentially been “toasted”. Don’t leave any of those “toasty” pieces behind — that’s where the flavor is!

I love to use brown butter in my cookie dough, but it can be used in so many different recipes — brownies, banana breads, cinnamon rolls, Rice Krispies treats, and more. The options are endless and I definitely recommend experimenting with it!

How to brown butter

Browning butter is very easy to do — however, it is also very easy to burn your butter which we do not want to do! So, when browning butter, it’s extremely important to pay attention and stir your butter constantly.

I like to use a light-colored small or medium size saucepan (depending on how much butter you’re browning). Using a light-colored pan is key so that you can keep an eye on the color of the butter. I also recommend using a heat-resistant spatula or wooden spoon.

Once you’re ready to brown your butter, set your saucepan and butter on the stove and set the heat to low-medium. The butter will begin to melt as usual, keep stirring to ensure nothing sticks or burns. Within a few minutes, the butter will begin bubbling and get foamy on top. As this happens, you will notice the butter beginning to change color and “toasted” pieces (the milk solids) at the bottom of the pan. Keep stirring. Once the butter is a golden amber color, remove it from the heat immediately. 

The butter can change in color very quickly which is why it’s important to keep a close eye the entire time. The butter will take the most time to get from its normal color to the golden amber color, but once it starts to take on that golden hue, it will change pretty rapidly. So, for me, once I see the butter start to make that change, I know that probably within 45 seconds, it will be done. While you don’t want there to be a lot of the original butter color left, I’ve found that the best brown butter has a mix of a tiny bit of yellow color, but mostly golden/amber. You do not want your butter to be entirely dark brown or else it could possibly be burnt.  

All in all, it should take about 5 minutes to brown one stick of butter.

Ingredients you’ll need

• Unsalted butter
• Brown sugar
• Granulated sugar 
• Vanilla extract
• Eggs 
• All-purpose flour
• Baking soda
• Salt
• Cornstarch
• Semisweet chocolate chips
• Flaky sea salt

Kitchen tools you’ll need (linking my favorites below!)

• Prep bowls
• Measuring cups
• Spatulas
• Whisk
• Cookie scoop
• Baking pan
• Parchment paper
• Cookie turner
• Cooling rack

How to make these delicious chocolate chip cookies

On low to medium heat, brown 1 cup unsalted butter. See above for my tips for browning butter. Set aside to cool for 10 minutes. 

While the butter is cooling, combine 2¼ cups all-purpose flour, 1½ tsp baking soda, 1 tsp salt, and 1 tsp cornstarch in a bowl and whisk together. Set aside.

In a large bowl, add 1½ cups brown sugar, ¼ cup granulated sugar, and the brown butter. Whisk together until it is smooth and combined.

Add 2 eggs and 2 tsp vanilla extract. Whisk until the mixture is smooth and lighter/paler in color.

Add the dry ingredients and fold in with a rubber spatula. Fold in 1½ cups semisweet chocolate chips.

Chill the dough in the refrigerator for 30-45 minutes. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

Scoop out 16 equally sized dough balls. Optional: roll the tops of your cookie dough balls in extra chocolate chips.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and place the cookie dough balls on the sheet. Place in the oven and bake for 10-11 minutes or until the edges are golden and the tops of the cookies still look slightly wet.

As soon as they come out of the oven, shape the cookies and top with extra chocolate chips and flaky sea salt.

Let the cookies rest for about 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool. Then, let the cookies cool and set for an additional 15-20 minutes.

Store in an airtight container for up to 5 days or freeze for up to 3 months.

Tips for success

• Let the brown butter cool for about 10 minutes before combining it with the sugars – pull together all of your other ingredients in the meantime. 
• Whenever you are measuring dry ingredients (i.e. flour, powdered sugar, etc.), use the spoon and level method. Before scooping out dry ingredients, use a spoon and run through them, fluffing them up and removing any clumps. Spoon the ingredient into the measuring cups and use a flat top tool to level off the top and remove any excess. Measuring your dry ingredients properly is the key to creating soft and chewy cookies.
• Do not overmix when combining your dry and wet ingredients. Stop mixing as soon as there are no visible flour streaks! Overmixing can result in tough cookies that are not soft and chewy.
• I highly recommend chilling the dough for 30-45 minutes. Chilling the dough will help the cookies keep their shape and result in a taller, thicker cookie. Another tip to help get thicker cookies is to roll your dough balls to be taller than they are wide. They should be more of a cylinder shape rather than a round, circular ball.
• After baking, your cookies may lose their shape a little bit. As soon as your cookies come out of the oven, use a spoon, cookie cutter, or other circular-shaped object to shape them. I recommend adding extra chocolate chips (if desired) and some flaky sea salt.

How to store

Store the cookies at room temperature in an airtight container for up to 5 days or freeze for up to 3 months. When you’re ready to eat the frozen cookies, take them out of the freezer and let them defrost for 20-30 minutes.

I really love how these cookies turned out and can’t wait to make them again. They have the perfect texture and are packed with chocolate chips. The brown butter flavor combined with the touch of sea salt is everything! Try these out and let me know what you think!

If you try this recipe, share and tag me on socials using @itsbrunchoklock or #itsbrunchoklock.