Brown-butter chocolate chunk cookies

Toasty, salty, with crackled tops and gooey centres. The brown-butter step is the whole point.

Servings
18 cookies
Prep
PT15M
Cook
PT12M
Total
PT2H
Category
Dessert
Cuisine
American
A stack of golden cookies with chocolate chunks

Ingredients

  • 225 g unsalted butter
  • 200 g brown sugar
  • 100 g white sugar
  • 2 large eggs
  • 2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 325 g all-purpose flour
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • 1 tsp sea salt
  • 300 g dark chocolate, chopped into chunks
  • Flaky salt, for the top

Method

  1. Brown the butter over medium heat — swirl until it smells like hazelnuts, 5–8 min. Cool 15 minutes.
  2. Whisk in the sugars, then eggs and vanilla.
  3. Stir in flour, baking soda, and salt until just combined.
  4. Fold in the chocolate.
  5. Chill at least 1 hour (overnight is better).
  6. Scoop into 60 g balls; bake at 190 °C / 375 °F for 11–13 min until edges are golden and centres still soft.
  7. Sprinkle with flaky salt while hot.

The chill step is mandatory; it lets the flour hydrate and the dough firm up. Cookies baked from un-chilled dough spread thin and lose the cracked-top texture.

#cookies · #baking · #weeknight