Brown Butter Chocolate Chunk Cookies
These chocolate chunk cookies are chewy with a rich gooeyness and a balance of nutty and caramel-like flavours. Made with simple ingredients, you can enjoy them with a cup of tea or coffee.
Equipment
- Chopping Board & Knife
- Weighing Scale
- Light Coloured Saucepan
- Whisk
- Spoon and fork
- Spatula
- Mixing Bowls
- Stand-Mixer or Hand-held Mixer
- Baking Trays
- Parchment Paper or Silicon Baking mat
Ingredients
Dry Ingredients
- 290 grams All-Purpose Flour
- 10 grams Cocoa Powder*
- 4 grams Baking Soda
- 3 grams Salt
Butter*
- 90 grams Unsalted Butter, Browned
- 60 grams Unsalted Butter, Soft
Sugars
- 100 grams Castor Sugar or Superfine Sugar
- 100 grams Dark or Light Brown Sugar
Liquid Ingredients
- 30 ml Whole Milk
- 50 grams Whole Egg
- 20 grams Egg yolk
- 5 ml Pure Vanilla Extract
Other
- 250-300 grams Dark Chocolate*
- 5 grams Sea Salt (optional)
Instructions
Preparing the Brown Butter
- Bring the butter to the right texture.
- Weigh the butter for browning (90g) and follow the instructions here.
- Once the brown butter is prepared, let it cool at room temperature for about 15 minutes.
Preparing the Ingredients
- In a bowl, weigh the all-purpose flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt. Mix well with a spoon.
- Weigh the chopped soft butter in the stand-mixer bowl or mixing bowl and set aside*.
- Weigh the castor sugar and brown sugar in another bowl and set aside.
- In a bowl, weigh the whole egg, egg yolk and vanilla extract and in another bowl weigh the whole milk.
- Weigh and roughly chop the dark chocolate and set aside.
Making the dough
- In the stand-mixer bowl fixed with the paddle attachment or using a hand-mixer, mix the browned butter (don't leave out the caramelized milk solids at the bottom of the bowl) and soft butter (medium speed) till just combined about 30 seconds. Avoid creaming.
- Add the sugars and mix till its just incorporated with the butter (do not cream).
- Whisk the whole egg, egg yolk and vanilla extract and then incorporate for 10 seconds or until just incorporated.
- Add the dry ingredients into the bowl and mix at low speed for 10 seconds and then increase to medium speed for 30 seconds or till very small nuggets of dough form.
- In a slow and steady stream, add the milk and incorporate till large nuggets of dough form.
- Once the dry ingredients have just been incorporated, fold in the chopped chocolate chunks. The dough will be soft but will not stick to your fingers.
- Transfer into a mixing bowl and chill for a minimum of 30 minutes preferably overnight*.
Rolling the dough (refer to notes)
- Preheat your oven to 180°C or 350°F.
- While the oven is preheating, line a tray or cookie sheet with parchment paper and weigh the dough (44g-45g or about 3 tablespoons) and pat to bring together into a rough ball. If you feel the dough has become too soft during rolling you can further chill the cookie dough for 15 minutes or till firm.
- Baking - Place the rolled cookie dough on the tray with 2 inches gap in between. Bake at 180°C for 15-16 minutes or till firm at the edges.
- Cooling - Remove from the ovenand allow cookies to cool on the baking tray for 10 minutes. Sprinkle sea saltand then transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely. Once cooled, transferthe cookies into an air-tight container.
- Cookies stay fresh at roomtemperature (in an air-tight container) for 5-7 days. For freezinginstructions, refer to the notes given below.
Notes
- Cocoa powder - I love using cocoa powder in these cookies for extra flavour. You can skip the cocoa powder entirely or if you do not have it on hand make sure to add in extra flour in an equal amount.
- Dark Chocolate - I make these cookies with 55% dark chocolate chunks for the best flavour but feel free to use any chocolate you prefer. Avoid using chocolate chips as they do not melt while baking giving you the mouth-watering melted chocolate pockets in the cookies. Avoid using compound chocolate. Read more about it here
- Chopping the butter - If you live in a hot country, after chopping the butter into even-sized cubes, transfer the butter (for the soft butter) into the refrigerator while you weigh or measure the other ingredients so it does not become too soft. Remove it from the refrigerator 10 minutes before you are ready to prepare the dough.
- Chilling the dough - You can refrigerate the dough for a minimum of 30 minutes or till firm enough to roll. I prefer chilling the dough overnight for better structure and flavour.
- Freezing instructions - The cookie dough can be refrigerated for four days before rolling and baking. If you want to freeze the cookie dough, roll the cookie dough and store them in a Ziplock bag or air-tight container (Label the box/bag with the name and date of preparation) and freeze them. Cookie dough lasts for three months in the freezer. Before baking, thaw it in the refrigerator till the cookie dough is firm to touch. Bake immediately.
- Ingredient Substitution & Weighing Guide - Read it here