Browned Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

I first tasted these cookies when Matt Jacobs brought a freshly baked batch to OkCupid’s offices. The cookies are incredibly rich and have a great nutty flavor from the browned butter that’s unlike any other cookies I’ve ever had. Though I was unable to find the original recipe online, I found this adaptation that I’ve copied below:

Ingredients

• 1¾ cups unbleached all-purpose flour (8¾ ounces)
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• 14 tablespoons (7 ounces) unsalted butter (suggested revision: 13-13½ tbsp)
• ¾ cup (5¼ ounces) dark brown sugar
• ½ cup (3½ ounces) granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt (suggested revision: ½ tsp)
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 egg
• 1 egg yolk
• 1¼ cups semisweet chocolate chips

The suggested changes reduce the salt and butter to reflect my own observations and comments from friends. I found the original recipe to be a little too salty for my tastes, while others found them too oily. Your mileage may vary, and it should be noted that I was using kosher salt instead of table salt.

Instructions

I’m not sure why it’s necessary, but it’s recommended that you allow the batter to sit at least overnight in a fridge (up to 36 hours, though I’ve never waited that long) before baking. I usually just leave the finished cookie batter in whatever mixing bowl I was using, cover it in saran wrap and let it chill (haha!) overnight. When you take them it out let it sit for an hour or so before baking so it’s easier to work with. Depending on the size of your cookies you should end up with about 16-20 cookies, which will fill 2 18x12 (standard sized) baking sheets.

Steps

1. Whisk together the flour and baking soda together in a bowl and set aside.
2. Brown 10 tbsp of butter in a saucepan. Do this by placing it in the pan over medium-low heat and swirling or stirring frequently. You’re looking for the milk solids in the butter to turn a dark brown color and give off a nutty aroma. Make sure to keep watching and swirling the butter because the solids go from nice and toasty to burnt very quickly. Check out this video for a more detailed explanation.
3. After the butter has browned remove it from the pan immediately to prevent it from overcooking and put the remaining butter in. Let this melt and come down to room temperature before continuing (~10 minutes).
4. Add both sugars, salt, vanilla, to the bowl containing the butter and whisk until fully incorporated.
5. Add the egg and egg yolk to the sugar and butter mixture and whisk for 30 seconds.
6. Allow the mixture to rest for three minutes, then repeat the 30 second whisking / 3 minute resting procedure three more times.
7. After this there may still be large chunks of sugar left in the mixture; if this is the case then you can use the back of a spoon or a fork to break up the chunks.
8. Fold in the flour and baking soda to the mixture using a spatula until smooth.
9. Add the chocolate chips. Make sure they’re evenly distributed!

Baking

Preheat your oven to 375°F and bake for 10-14 minutes. Look for cookies with golden brown edges and a puffy center. After removing them from the oven, wait until the center has solidified a bit before moving them to a cooling rack.

Eat

Do it while they’re still warm! Otherwise keep them in an airtight container and eat aggressively.