Thin Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
These thin brown butter chocolate chip cookies have a nutty, caramelised flavour with a soft, chewy texture and crispy edges. They're easy to make & can be made with any type of chocolate.
Servings: 12 Cookies
Equipment
- Stand Mixer
- Saucepan
- Sieve
- Baking Trays
- Large Round Cookie Cutter
Ingredients
Brown Butter Cookie Dough
- 150 g Unsalted Butter (120g Once Browned - See Notes)
- 2 tsp Toasted Milk Powder (Optional - See Notes)
- 130 g Caster Sugar
- 100 g Dark Brown Sugar
- 2 tsp Vanilla Extract
- 1 Large Egg (55g Out Of The Shell)
- 2 Egg Yolks
- 20 g Milk (Whole Or Semi Skimmed)
- 180 g Plain Flour
- ½ tsp Bicarbonate Of Soda
- ½ tsp Table Salt
- 75 g Dark Chocolate (Roughly Chopped)
- 75 g Milk Chocolate (Roughly Chopped)
For On Top
- 50 g Dark Chocolate
- 50 g Milk Chocolate
Instructions
Brown Butter Cookie Dough
- Start by browning the butter. To do this, chop the butter into evenly sized pieces then place into a medium saucepan. Place over a medium heat & allow to melt, stirring regularly with a spatula. Keep cooking, until the butter starts to foam, smells nutty & you can see that the milk solids in the bottom of the pan have turned golden brown.
- Once the butter has browned, take it off the heat & immediately stir in the toasted milk powder. Transfer the butter to a bowl & leave to cool to room temperature. The butter will take around 30 minutes to cool. It's key to let the butter cool completely before using it, otherwise the cookies may be greasy.
- Add the brown butter, caster sugar, brown sugar & vanilla into the bowl of a stand mixer then using the paddle attachment, mix on a medium-low speed until just combined. Make sure not to over mix the butter. It will look a bit sandy at this point but will come together when you add in the eggs.
- Next, add the egg, yolks & milk into a separate small bowl then beat together with a fork. Then with the mixer running a medium-low speed, gradually pour in the eggs. Make sure to let each addition of egg mix in fully before adding in more then stop mixing once all the egg has been incorporated.
- Sift the flour & bicarbonate of soda into a separate bowl, add in the salt then whisk to combine. Then add into the butter & mix on a low speed until just combined. A few streaks of flour is fine here!This just ensures that the bicarb & salt is evenly distributed through the flour.
- Take the bowl off the mixer, add in the chopped chocolate then use a spatula to fold into cookie dough. Chill the cookie dough in the fridge for 45 minutes.Any streaks of flour will now be mixed in.
Rolling & Topping
- Whilst the cookie dough is chilling, cut the dark & milk chocolate into 24 chunks (12 of each). You'll also need to preheat an oven to 175°c/350°f (155°c/311°f fan).
- Once the cookie dough has firmed up slightly, use a cookie scoop (or a spoon), to portion it into 12 equally sized portions. Each should weigh around 65 grams.
- With your hands, roll a portion of cookie dough into a ball then press a dark & milk chocolate chunk into the top. Repeat with the remaining dough, placing them onto a lined baking tray as you roll.There's no need to chill the cookies before baking, they need to be cooked straight away!
Baking
- Place 3-4 balls of cookie dough onto a large baking tray that's been lined with baking parchment. Make sure to leave plenty of space between each cookie as they will spread in the oven.
- Bake the cookies for 6 minutes then open your oven door, lift up the baking tray inside the oven by a few inches then let it drop down against the oven rack. Use enough force so that the cookie starts to deflate. (This is the “Pan Banging” method.)
- Bake for a further 3 minutes then repeat the pan banging process.
- Bake for another 3 minutes (bringing the total bake time to 12 minutes) then remove from the oven. Tap the tray on the counter when you set it down, to knock any air out of the cookies.
- As soon as the cookies come out of the oven, use a large round cookie cutter to scoot each cookie into a more uniform round shape. Sprinkle each cookie with sea salt then leave to cool completely on the tray.
- Repeat the cooking process with the remaining cookies, baking 3-4 cookies at a time. Make sure to use a cold tray for each batch.
Notes
1. To Bake In An Aga - Bake the cookies on a grid shelf placed onto the floor of the baking oven, with a cold plain shelf slid onto the third from bottom set of runners. Use the boiling plate to brown the butter.
2. Brown Butter - I'd recommend weighing out the butter once it has been browned. Just the brown butter should weigh 120 grams, if you've added in toasted milk powder, it will be around 130 grams.
3. Eggs - A large egg should weigh around 55 grams out of the shell. Yolks tend to weigh between 15-18 grams & are added in for moisture & fudginess.
4. Toasted Milk Powder - Adding toasted milk powder to the brown butter, amplifies its’ flavour. This is optional though! If you’d like to learn more about toasted milk powder & how to make it, check out our toasted milk powder guide.
5. Chilling Before Baking - As we want these cookies to be as thin as possible, we don't need to chill them before baking. The only chilling step that we're doing is before shaping, as it will make the dough easier to handle.
6. Chocolate - Make sure to use bars of chocolate for these cookies but feel free to use milk, dark or white chocolate. Or a mix of all 3! Make sure to keep the total amount of chocolate the same though.
7. Storage - Once baked & cool, store the cookies in an airtight container. They're best eaten within 3 days.