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The Best Ever Chocolate Chunk Cookies are made with brown butter, plenty of vanilla, and tons of gooey chocolate! You can chill the dough for up to 2 days, or freeze it! This is a great recipe!
Brown Butter Chocolate Chunk Cookies
So last week I realized the craziest thing… I’ve never shared my favorite chocolate chunk cookie recipe with you. I seriously had to check the archives to make sure I wasn’t mistaken. But nope… no chocolate chunk cookies to be found. So I busted into the kitchen and baked them for you AT ONCE!
Is that love or what?
Ingredients for Chocolate Chunk Cookies:
- butter: unsalted or salted will work! but if you’re using salted, reduce the salt called for in the dry ingredients by 1/4 teaspoon.
- sugar: you’ll use a combination of brown sugar and granulated sugar (also known as white sugar). light brown sugar or dark brown sugar may be used.
- eggs: two large ones, at room temperature!
- vanilla extract: just a dash will enhance all the other flavors in this recipe.
- flour: all-purpose!
- salt: to balance out the flavors.
- baking soda: helps leaven the cookie dough, which in turn gives us soft and chewy cookies.
- and finally, chocolate chunks! you know i’m a lindt lover, so i their 70% chocolate bars. but use your favorite brand! and yes, you can even use chocolate chips, instead.
Tips and Tricks for Recipe Success:
- If you’ve never browned butter before, don’t sweat it! It’s so darn easy. You’ll need a saute pan, 2 sticks of butter, and a touch of patience – that’s it! You’ll start off melting the butter; once the butter has completely melted, you’ll continue to cook the butter, on medium heat (or medium-low if your stove top runs hot), until it’s turned a golden brown and smells slightly nutty. Just be sure you stay stove side once the butter has melted; brown butter can turn into burnt butter very fast.
- You will need to bring your browned butter back to room temperature before incorporating it into the recipe. To do this, simply pour the butter into a heatproof bowl and place it in the fridge for about 1 hour. You want it solid, but soft enough that when you gently press it with your finger it leaves an indentation. Be sure your butter is at the proper temperature before you begin baking. If it’s too warm, you’ll cookies will spread all over the pan 🙁
- I recommend using high-quality chocolate chunks for this recipe. If you can find them at your local grocery store (they’re usually right next to the chocolate chips), you can buy bars of chocolate and chop them into chunks. I prefer this method because it allows me to control the size of the chunks. I like to chop 80% of them small then leave 20% really big so they get all gooey and dramatic. I used Lindt 70% chocolate, but use any brand you know and trust. Of course, in a pinch, you could also use an equal amount of chocolate chips. As far as variety, milk chocolate, dark chocolate, or semi-sweet chocolate all work well, but we love this recipe with dark chocolate!
- Don’t over bake! Your cookies should be set at the edges but still soft in the center.
- Be sure to allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheet for a full 10 minutes before transferring them to a cooling rack. They need the 10 minutes to firm up so they don’t fall apart as your transfer them.
- If you’d like your cookies to look like the ones you see in my photos, press a few chocolate chunks on top of each cookie right after they come out of the oven. You can also sprinkle them with flaky sea salt! I love Maldon sea salt because it’s flaky and delish.
I speak truth when I tell you these are some of the best cookies I’ve ever made – or tasted! ← And I’ve done a lot of both in my life. Bake a batch for yourself and you’ll see taste exactly why.
If you try this recipe for Best Ever Chocolate Chunk Cookies, let me know what you think! Leave a comment below, and don’t forget to snap a pic and tag it #bakerbynature on instagram! Seeing your creations makes my day ♥
More Chocolate Chunk Cookie Recipes:
- Soft Batch Chocolate Chunk Peanut Butter Cookies
- Brown Butter Bourbon Pecan Chocolate Chunk Cookies
- Almond Amaretto Chocolate Chunk Cookies
Best Ever Chocolate Chunk Cookies
Thick and chewy Chocolate Chunk Cookies. Sure to become your new favorite!
Ingredients
- 1 cup (2 sticks or 16 tablespoons) unsalted butter, melted until browned and brought back to room temperature (see post for more on this)
- 2 and 1/3 cups all-purpose flour (plus more ONLY if the dough seems to need it; adding one tablespoon at a time)
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 cup + 2 tablespoons dark brown sugar, packed
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 2 large eggs, at room temperature
- 12 ounces semi-sweet chocolate, roughly chopped
Instructions
For the Brown Butter:
- Place the butter in a small saucepan over medium-high heat and cook for 3 to 4 minutes – stirring almost constantly – until the butter has browned. Pour the brown butter into a heatproof bowl, being sure to scrape all of the "toasted" bits into the bowl as well. Place the bowl in the refrigerator for 1 hour, or until the butter is at room temperature. You’ll know the butter is at room temperature when you press a finger into the top and it makes a slight indentation. It should be solid but soft.
- Once the butter is at room temperature, you're ready to get baking!
- Preheat your oven to 375 degrees (F).
For the Best Ever Chocolate Chunk Cookies:
- In a medium-sized bowl whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt; set aside.
- In a large bowl using a handheld electric mixer, or in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine both sugars, vanilla, and browned butter; cream on medium-speed until light and fluffy; about 2 minutes. Add in the eggs, one at a time, beating for 15 seconds after each addition. Turn mixer off. Using a wooden spoon or sturdy rubber spatula, gently fold in the flour, stirring only until the flour begins to disappear. Fold in the chocolate chunks.
- Roll 3 tablespoon sized scoops of dough between your palms to form a ball (they should be big; almost a 1/4 cup), then place on prepared sheet (make sure to leave enough room in between each cookie for inevitable spreading). Continue this process until all the dough has been rolled. Place baking sheets in preheated oven, one at a time, and bake for 9 to 10 minutes, or until golden at the edges but still soft in the middle. Repeat with all cookie dough. Let cookies cool for 10 minutes on the baking sheet before transferring to a wire wrack to cool completely.
Notes
Total time includes bringing the butter back to room temperature.
Tried it and loved it?Snap a picture and share it with me on Instagram @Bakerbynature and by using the hashtag #BakerByNature
Soft and chewy are the only way I like my chocolate chip cookies! Love all the chocolate chunks in here – I could definitely eat a few of these with a big glass of milk!
I can tell these are chewy to the max just by looking at them! I’ll be getting my CCC fix on with these asap.
Yay 🙂 I know you’ll love these! xo
Hi! Can I let the batter sit in the fridge overnight?
Yes!
Those melty chocolate chunks are speaking to me big time right now…pinning!!
Thank you, Alyssa! xo
COOKIES! These sound so classic and fantastic. Who doesn’t love a cookie full of chunks of chocolate?
I love your cookie enthusiasm 🙂
These sound divine. If my little one decides to take a nap today I might have to make the batter so I can bake up a batch after dinner!
Oooooh that sounds like such a great idea 🙂 I hope nap was a GO!!! xo
These look amazing! Definitely giving me a morning craving. 🙂
Morning cookie cravings are brutal… you gotta bake some 🙂
Do you have directions for high altitude, 7000 feet? Thank you.
Please dear the amount of 2 stick of butter is before or after toasting the butter? Because it evaporize the water in it! Thank you!
It’s 2 sticks total (before).
I’ve made these and they’re amazing. Last time, I used what I had on hand for chocolate; milk chocolate and white chocolate chips and semi sweet bar….Yummy! How would you suggest freezing the dough? We’re on home confinement (thank you, COVID19) and really don’t need them ALL at once. 🙂
When I bake chocolate chip cookies, I ALWAYS freeze at least half of them, for later, as the mood strikes. You have 2 choices: either portion the dough, freeze it on a sheet pan, and then place the portions in a baggie to bake later; or,freeze the cookies after baking – cool them first, then place in freezer bags or containers. Either method works very well – I would estimate quality comparison to fresh as about 90%. Notes: use high quality freezer bags (double bagging is better), remove as much air as possible once they are frozen. It’s wonderful to have cookies on demand!
Woops! Quality is great for about 2 months.
Do we need to put on refrigerator for half an hour before we bake?what about dough consistency? And can we use condense milk to make it vegan?
I roll them into balls and freeze on a sheet pan. Then you can wrap them up and put in a ziploc freezer bag. This way you can pop as many or little as you want into the oven for a quick snack. They come out almost as good as fresh!
I love how thick the middle of these cookies are! These definitely look like the best ever. 🙂
These look totally amazing and the best chocolate chip cookies ever!!
http://youtube.com/addalittlefood
I am all over these! They look awesome!
I just made these and they are very good and look as good as the picture. But why do people leave comments before they make them. Their comments are useless to the readers. Of course they “LOOK” good.
Yes! Thank you! That drives me nuts!
Agree!!!!
There should be two comment sections, one for observations and the other those who actually made them and have something valuable to say.
I totally agree with you
Yes. Make the darn recipe before adding your two cents.
Anyway this recipe is amazing. My son & I love it.
Can i just skip kosher salt?
Yea Ann, Kosher salt is just for the salty taste. It’s totally optional. Although it may not say.
I’ll take some of this chewy chocolate brown butter goodness!