Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

Browning the butter first gives these cookies a nutty, toffee-like depth that plain melted butter never reaches. A night in the fridge lets the dough develop flavor and keeps the cookies thick and chewy rather than flat. This is the one to make when you want something simple that tastes like a bakery.

You need

• 1 cup (2 sticks, 226 g) unsalted butter
• 1 cup (200 g) packed light brown sugar
• 1/2 cup (100 g) granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs, at room temperature
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 1/4 cups (285 g) all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon fine salt
• 1 1/2 cups (255 g) semisweet chocolate chips or chopped chocolate

Method

1. Melt the butter in a light-colored saucepan over medium heat. Swirl often as it foams, then starts to crackle. In 5 to 7 minutes it will turn amber and smell nutty, with brown specks at the bottom. Pour it into a heatproof bowl right away, scraping in the specks, and let it cool for 10 minutes.
2. Whisk the brown sugar and granulated sugar into the warm butter until smooth. Add the eggs one at a time, whisking well after each, then stir in the vanilla. The mixture should look glossy.
3. In another bowl, whisk the flour, baking soda and salt. Fold into the butter mixture with a spatula until just no dry streaks remain. Stir in the chocolate.
4. Cover the dough and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes, or up to 3 days. Chilling is what keeps the cookies from spreading too thin.
5. Heat the oven to 350 F (177 C) and line two baking sheets with parchment. Scoop rounded 1/4-cup portions [about 50 g each] of dough, spacing them 2 inches apart.
6. Bake 11 to 13 minutes, until the edges are golden and the centers look just set and slightly soft. Rotate the pans halfway through.
7. Let the cookies rest on the sheet for 5 minutes, then move them to a rack to cool. They firm up as they cool.