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This Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe isn’t great, it’s PERFECT! Delicious, crusty crackle, chewy middle, and rich butterscotch undertones!
These Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies cost about $6.07 to make. The recipe makes 16 cookies, so that’s just $0.38 per cookie!
I think every mother, or aspiring mother, strives to find the world’s best chocolate chip cookie recipe, thereby crowning herself the “World’s Best Mother”. Like Monica in a classic Friends episode, I too searched for the world’s best recipe.
I thought I had already succeeded with Cook’s Illustrated Thick and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe, as I’ve made that recipe countless times for different people and they all agreed that the cookies were amazing.
I never imagined another recipe could replace them as the best, but this recipe for the Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookie blows them out of the water, and the folks at Cook’s Illustrated have literally outdone themselves.
Browning the butter and using a larger than usual quantity of brown sugar elevates this cookie to new heights with its rich, buttery, toffee undertones contrasted with an intensely rich yet balanced chocolaty sensation coming from the chips.
At the risk of sounding cliché, I seriously have the world’s greatest mom. She sacrificed a career that she loved and was respected for something she loved, even more, staying home with her children.
Unfortunately, growing up she made, and I’m not going to sugar coat things here, a pretty terrible chocolate chip cookie. She’d use the basic Tollhouse recipe, but instead of using softened and creamed butter.
The butter would go in the microwave until it was melted. This yielded hard, flat disks that crunched loud enough when I bit into them that they were heard clear across the room. I now know melting the butter didn’t work for her because there wasn’t enough brown sugar to soften the mixture, but that’s beside the point.
Although her cookies were less than desirable, my three siblings and I were exuberant whenever she would have them ready when we came home from school.
I still remember when I was five years old, coming home in tears after my first experience with the unthinking cruelty of a close friend. I poured my heart out to my mom over one of her cookies and a glass of milk and slowly but surely began to feel better.
I didn’t realize it then, but it wasn’t the cookie that made the world’s greatest mom, it’s the way my mom shared them that naturally led to a lifelong association of chocolate chip cookies with warmth, love, and comfort.
My own “World’s Greatest Mom” title may still be in the making, but it doesn’t hurt that now I actually do have the most perfect chocolate chip cookie recipe to make for my kids all thanks to Cook’s Illustrated.
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| My daughter, Mia. I think it’s safe to say here that she loves these cookies! |
Recipe FAQs
A trick of the trade to help keep your cookies soft is to place a one-quarter piece of white bread, for every 12 cookies in an airtight container with the cookies. Be sure to only use white bread as it will not transfer its flavor to your cookies. The cookies will, in turn, absorb the moisture from the bread, which will help keep the cookies nice and soft.
Chocolate chip cookies are the ultimate cookie, but other flavors do exist! The flavors of cookies that one can make are almost endless! From double chocolate to oatmeal to sugar, the different kinds of cookies on and on. Some of my most favorite kinds of cookies are Monster cookies which are full of oats, M&M’s, chocolate chips, and peanut butter chips. Yum! I also really love these Cake Batter Cookies. They really do taste like cake batter! Adding some nuts to your cookies is always a great flavor variation. These White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies are divine!
Typically cookies that are flat can be attributed to one of two things. It could be due to not enough flour or too much butter. Both options result in flat cookies. Mother Nature Network is a great resource for troubleshooting what went wrong with your cookies.
Cook’s Note
- Avoid using a nonstick skillet to brown the butter; the dark color of the nonstick coating makes it difficult to gauge when the butter is browned.
- Use fresh, moist brown sugar instead of hardened brown sugar, which will make the cookies dry.
- This recipe works with light brown sugar, but the cookies won’t have as pronounced butterscotch undertones.
Ingredients and Estimated Cost
Per Serving Cost: $0.38
Recipe Cost: $6.07
- 1 3/4 cup (8.75 ounces) all-purpose flour – $0.34
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda – $0.01
- 14 Tablespoons butter – $1.40
- 1/2 cup (3.5 ounces) granulated sugar – $0.12
- 3/4 cup (5.25 ounces) dark brown sugar – $0.33
- 1 teaspoon salt – $0.01
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract – $1.36
- 1 large egg – $0.10
- 1 large egg yolk – $.05
- 1.25 cups bittersweet chocolate chips – $2.35
Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 ¾ cups unbleached all-purpose flour 8 3/4 ounces
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 14 tablespoons unsalted butter 1 3/4 sticks
- ½ cup granulated sugar 3 1/2 ounces
- ¾ cups packed dark brown sugar 5 1/4 ounces
- 1 teaspoon table salt
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 large egg
- 1 large egg yolk
- 1 ¼ cups semisweet chocolate chips or chunks I used Ghiradelli’s Bittersweet Chips
- ¾ cup chopped pecans or walnuts toasted (optional)
Instructions
- Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 375 degrees. Line 2 large (18- by 12-inch) baking sheets with parchment paper. Whisk flour and baking soda together in medium bowl; set aside.
- Heat 10 tablespoons butter in 10-inch skillet over medium-high heat until melted, about 2 minutes. Continue cooking, swirling pan constantly until butter is dark golden brown and has nutty aroma, 1 to 3 minutes. Remove skillet from heat and, using heatproof spatula, transfer browned butter to large heatproof bowl. Stir remaining 4 tablespoons butter into hot butter until completely melted.
- Add both sugars, salt, and vanilla to bowl with butter and whisk until fully incorporated. Add egg and yolk and whisk until mixture is smooth with no sugar lumps remaining, about 30 seconds. Let mixture stand 3 minutes, then whisk for 30 seconds. Repeat process of resting and whisking 2 more times until mixture is thick, smooth, and shiny. Using rubber spatula or wooden spoon, stir in flour mixture until just combined, about 1 minute. Stir in chocolate chips and nuts (if using), giving dough final stir to ensure no flour pockets remain.
- Divide dough into 16 portions, each about 3 tablespoons (or use #24 cookie scoop). Arrange 2 inches apart on prepared baking sheets, 8 dough balls per sheet. (Smaller baking sheets can be used, but will require 3 batches.)
- Bake cookies 1 tray at a time until cookies are golden brown and still puffy, and edges have begun to set but centers are still soft, 10 to 14 minutes, rotating baking sheet halfway through baking. Transfer baking sheet to wire rack; cool cookies completely before serving.
Notes
Nutrition
This post first appeared on Food Folks and Fun on May 6, 2011. I have since updated the pictures. One of the originals is below.
Lisa says
This recipe sounds very similar to my go-to recipe for chocolate chip cookies. But yours are so much cracklier so your recipe must have a little more magic in them.
Hannah at FleurDeLicious says
These look great! One question…is the texture similar to the CI Thick and Chewy cookies? Like you, I’m totally stuck on that one…it seems so perfect to me, and I love the chewy texture. How’s the texture of these?
Katie says
These look absolutely amazing! I can’t wait to try them myself. 🙂
Katie
Bridgette says
I’ve heard the raving. Tried them and they really are the best. Mia looks like triplets. Hope you’re enjoying SD. Miss ya!
Betsy says
Yum~ I’ve always used brown sugar for all the sugar called for in a recipe and it does make them so much better. But..browned butter? Genious! Can’t wait to try it! Thanks!
Anonymous says
this is what I’ve been using ever since I discovered it! I just love the browned butter taste. They are truly,IMO, the BEST Chocolate Chip cookies!
Megan says
If Mia is the judge, I’d say these were winning cookies! Just look at that smile!
Hollie - TheSevenYearCottage.com says
Your daughter’s face says it all!
heather {WhipperBerry} says
yum!!
kisses
Jillian says
Hannah- The texture on these are amazing as well. Still chewy, but a little more crispy…you should try them!
-Jillian
Cathy says
Mia is so cute while eating that cookie. Looks so yummy and I’m sure your daughter just love it! My mom actually don’t love to bake chocolate cookies and any other cookies in particular but I’m proud that for me, she’s the best mom, eh. 🙂
Cheers,
Cathy
Robin G says
I love the addition of brown butter to the recipe it brings such a nice flavor.
Ashley says
These were so perfect and were just the recipe I was looking for. Our entire family loves them!
Pam Greer says
My mom never even made chocolate chip cookies!! Whenever I make them, this is the recipe I use, the browned butter makes all the difference!
Katie says
Wait… WHAT?! Browning the butter?! That’s borderline genius, I tell ya! I’m drooling. Can’t wait to make these beauties with my 9yo aspiring baker daughter!! I love all the helpful tips, really appreciate that. 🙂
Chris Collins says
These do truly look like the perfect chocolate chip cookies! Can’t wait to try the recipe!
Dannii says
These cookies do look perfect. I am craving cookies now.
Noelle says
These cookies were really perfect! Going to be great for an after school snack