I don’t think it’s wise to play favorites, but in this case I’ll just have to concede. When it comes to butter, sometimes browned is just better.  There is something so special about the nutty, complex taste of butter that’s been almost burned.  That’s really what you’re doing, burning the milk solids in the butter to bring out a new flavor.  Okay, I’ll stop saying burning because you totally can burn butter – and it is not complex and delicious – it’s gross.

I digress.  My all time favorite cookie involves browned butter.  You can try it with just about any cookie recipe, but the nuttiness of browned butter really compliments chocolate.

Browned Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 c unsalted butter
1 c brown sugar
1/2 c sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla
2 1/2 c flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1-1 1/2 c mini chocolate chips

Take your butter and get it into a small sauce pan.  Start by melting it over medium heat.  While the butter is melting I like to prep my other ingredients.  Once the butter is completely melted you really can’t pay attention to anything else, so budget your time wisely. 

In one bowl stir together your sugars and set aside.  In another bowl stir together the flour, baking soda, and salt and set aside.  See – that didn’t take long, and now you can devote all you attention to the most important ingredient – butter!

Your butter should be completely melted by now, so take a whisk and start whisking.  You want to keep everything moving around so the solids don’t burn too quickly. 

This whole browning process should only take between 5-8 minutes, although I must warn you that if you didn’t use unsalted butter this process takes longer.  I’ve made this mistake before, so just do yourself a favor and get the unsalted butter – it’s what you should be baking with all the time anyway :) 

There we go – nice and golden brown.  If you’re not careful this will start to get dark fast, so once you reach this point turn everything off.  You should also be able to smell the butter by now which is of course a perk of being the chef – all the delicious smells.

Pour you browned butter into the bowl with the sugars and whisk until everything is combined.  After all the butter is incorporated whisk in the eggs and vanilla until everything is smooth. 

Add you dry ingredients to the sugar mixture and stir until everything is just combined. 

You could go ahead and dump all the chocolate in right now, but I’d wait.  The cookie dough will still be fairly warm at this point and you’ll end up with melted chocolate chips.  Not the worst thing in the world, but if you can wait 20 minutes while everything cools down you’ll get a nice dough with distinct chips. 

I also recommend placing all of this dough into the fridge for maybe 30 minutes before you decide to bake the actual cookies.  A firm cookie dough tends to yield cookies that spread less.

Once you’re ready to bake preheat your oven to 350°F. Dish out your dough onto a pan lined with parchment and place them in your oven.  These should bake off for about 10-12 minutes depending on your oven.  

You should let these cool, but if you’re willing to sacrifice your fingers and mouth there’s nothing quite like a fresh, hot chocolate chip cookie (or three) – and these are so hard to resist.