Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies with Smoked Sea Salt

If that salty-sweet craving shows up, there’s no better remedy than some brown butter chocolate chip cookies with flaky sea salt. Of course, you could ignore it and instead opt for something “healthier,” but I know you’d rather have the cookie. This brown butter chocolate chip cookie recipe swaps semi-sweet chocolate chips for dark chocolate chunks and adds an extra element with smoked sea salt flakes. Are you ready to get baking? Because this recipe is one you won’t want to skip!

What does brown butter do to cookies?

Brown butter is a quick way to richen up whatever you’re cooking or baking. As the milk solids begin to brown, they develop a toasty, nutty, caramelized flavor and scent. Be prepared for your kitchen to smell amazing! Brown butter has long been used to add richness to baked goods and dishes with a few simple steps.

How to brown butter for cookies

Browning butter is easy, but it can easily go awry. You’ll want to start with:

• One stick of butter at room temperature
• Pairing knife, run under hot water
• Medium-sized stainless or light-colored non-stick pan
• Wood or rubber scraper
• Heat-resistant bowl

Cut the butter into 6-8 pieces using the warm knife. This will keep any butter from sticking to the knife, allowing you to preserve and brown every bit of butter.

Place the pads of butter into a pan on medium heat and immediately lower to medium-low. Continuously stir the butter as it melts, ensuring that it heats up evenly.

Now, you’ll see the butter go through a few phases. First, it will liquefy, and then begin to foam.

Soon, it will begin to separate. Once you notice the milk solids turning golden brown and settling to the bottom of the pan, remove from heat.

Carefully transfer the butter to a ceramic or heat-resistant bowl so it doesn’t continue to cook. Your butter can quickly go from brown to burnt! Notice the transition of butter to golden butter to brown butter.

Using brown butter in cookie dough

Once your butter has been sufficiently toasted, it’s going to be hot. If you have time, you can let the butter cool completely at room temperature. Otherwise, place it in the refrigerator while you prepare your dry ingredients.

Stir the butter every few minutes, allowing it to cool before making your cookie dough.

Creaming sugar with brown butter is quick and easy. However, it's important to ensure that your eggs are at room temperature. Nobody wants scrambled egg bits in their cookies! If you can, remove the butter and eggs from the refrigerator in the morning and let them rest on the counter for a few hours before baking.

What is the best chocolate to use in baking?

The choice is all yours when choosing the chocolate chips or chunks for these cookies. I happen to enjoy them with dark chocolate chunks (I think the chunks are just a bit fancier than the chips), but you can mix, match, or swap.

Try them with half semi-sweet chocolate chips and half dark chocolate chunks, or opt for milk chocolate chips.

The secret ingredient for the best brown butter chocolate chip cookie recipe

I’m sure you’ve had chocolate chip cookies delicately topped with sea salt flakes, but how about smoked sea salt flakes? Smoked Maldon salt is a great addition for brown butter chocolate chip cookies.

It’s salty and smoky, with a hint of sweetness. Yet, when added to the chocolatey goodness of these rich cookies, there’s a decadence that can only be explained with a batch fresh out of the oven.

 After rolling out your cookie dough onto a parchment-lined cookie sheet, you’ll want to press into each cookie using your thumb slightly. This allows each pinch of smoked sea salt to rest on the cookie without falling onto the sheet.

You can use a mortar and pestle to slightly crush the larger pieces of salt flakes, or add a delicate pinch to each cookie before baking.

Baking your brown butter chocolate chip cookies

If you don’t have time to chill the dough, you may notice that your cookie dough is a bit softer than usual. Allow the dough to rest in a bowl for 30 minutes, allowing it to firm up a bit. This will make it easier to scoop your dough using an ice cream scoop.

These cookies will spread out in the oven, so it’s important to stagger your cookies on the parchment-lined cookie sheet. Use two prepared baking sheets and measure out 6 cookie dough balls on each sheet for best results. Doing so will allow them to spread out without crowding, leaving you with a chewy and delightful cookie.

In my experience, baking these at 375º for exactly 9 minutes and 45 seconds is ideal. But your oven, circulation, and elevation will all play a part.

Instead, watch them closely between 9 and 11 minutes of bake time. 

After removing them from the oven, immediately transfer them to a cooking rack. A minute too long can cause the bottoms of the cookies to become too brown, and you risk losing the chewiness of these heavenly cookies.

Can I substitute brown butter for butter in cookies?

Absolutely, you can swap brown butter for regular butter in your cookie recipes! It’s important to follow each cookie recipe accurately, so there are a few adjustments you’ll want to make.

• If the recipe calls for room-temperature butter, let your brown butter cool and come to room temperature before baking.
• If the recipe calls for chilling the dough, ensure that your butter is cool enough to make your dough, allowing it to chill properly.
• Measure your butter in weight. Browning butter evaporates some of the water, which means ½ stick of cold butter will weigh more than ½ stick of browned butter. Convert the measurement from tablespoons or cups to grams. Then, use a kitchen scale to weigh your brown butter before baking.

Now, you’re ready to start baking these elevated brown butter chocolate chip cookies!

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