The Best Fluffy Pancakes recipe you will fall in love with. Full of tips and tricks to help you make the best pancakes.
I’ve always been a little skeptical of brown butter recipes.
Not because browning butter is particularly difficult, but because I couldn’t help wondering if it really made enough of a difference to bother. If I’m adding another step to a recipe, I want that step to earn its place.
Turns out, this one does.
Browning the butter gives these chocolate chunk cookies a deeper, toasted flavor that regular butter just doesn’t have. They’re still classic chocolate chunk cookies at heart, but there’s a warm, almost caramel-like richness underneath all that chocolate that makes them taste just a little more special.
And thankfully, browning butter isn’t nearly as complicated as it sounds. It takes one saucepan and a few extra minutes of watching the butter bubble, foam, and turn golden.
The rest of the recipe stays intentionally simple. No specialty flour, no espresso powder, and no collection of three different chocolates. Just familiar cookie ingredients, plenty of semi-sweet chocolate chunks, and one extra step that actually earns its keep.
Around here, we’re calling them Brown Butter Chunkies.
Brown Butter Chunkies (Chocolate Chunk Cookies)
Course: DessertCuisine: AmericanDifficulty: EasyServings
24
cookiesPrep time
20
minutesCooking time
30
minutesTotal time
50
minutesSoft and chewy chocolate chunk cookies made with browned butter for a deeper, toasted buttery flavor and loaded with semi-sweet chocolate chunks.
Ingredients
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 tablespoon water
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 (11.5-ounce) bag semi-sweet chocolate chunks
Directions
- Place the butter in a light-colored skillet or saucepan over medium heat. Allow it to melt completely.
- Continue cooking the melted butter, stirring or swirling frequently. The butter will foam and bubble as the water cooks away.
- Watch closely as the milk solids at the bottom begin turning golden brown. When the butter smells toasted and nutty and the flecks are a deep golden brown, immediately remove it from the heat.
- Pour the browned butter, including all of the browned bits from the bottom of the pan, into a large mixing bowl. Let cool for 15 to 20 minutes, until warm but no longer hot.
- Stir 1 tablespoon water into the cooled browned butter.
- Add the brown sugar and granulated sugar. Mix until well combined.
- Add the eggs and vanilla extract and mix until smooth.
- Add the flour, baking soda, and salt. Mix just until the dry ingredients disappear. Do not overmix.
- Fold in the chocolate chunks until evenly distributed throughout the dough.
- Preheat oven to 350°F and line baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Scoop rounded tablespoons of dough onto the prepared baking sheets, leaving approximately 2 inches between each cookie.
- Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, or until the edges are set and lightly golden while the centers still look slightly soft.
- Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheet for about 5 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack.
Notes
- Brown Butter: Browning the butter adds a deeper, toasted, almost caramel-like flavor to an otherwise classic chocolate chunk cookie.
Watch the Butter: Brown butter can go from beautifully toasted to burned surprisingly quickly. Once you begin seeing golden-brown flecks on the bottom, stay with it.
Use a Light-Colored Pan: A stainless steel or other light-colored saucepan makes it much easier to see when the milk solids have browned. A dark pan can hide the color change.
Don’t Lose the Brown Bits: Those little toasted milk solids at the bottom of the pan contain much of the flavor. Scrape every bit of them into the mixing bowl.
Why the Water?: Browning butter cooks away some of the butter’s natural water. Adding 1 tablespoon of water replaces some of that lost moisture.
Cool the Butter: Let the browned butter cool until warm rather than hot before continuing with the recipe.
Chocolate Chunks: One 11.5-ounce bag of semi-sweet chocolate chunks keeps things simple and gives the cookies plenty of chocolate. Chopped semi-sweet baking chocolate can also be used.
Don’t Overmix: Once the flour goes in, mix only until no dry streaks remain.
Don’t Overbake: Pull the cookies when the edges are set but the centers still look slightly soft. They’ll continue setting on the hot baking sheet.
Cookie Size: This recipe should make approximately 24 cookies using rounded tablespoons of dough. The final yield depends on how generously you scoop them.
Storage: Store completely cooled cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for several days.
