The Best Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

Heat a small nonstick skillet over medium heat and add 1 stick of butter. Once butter has melted completely, continue stirring every minute or so and watch it turn from a light yellow to golden to a deeper amber color. While butter browns, chop remaining butter into small cubes. When butter reaches the deep amber color, turn off heat and add cubed butter. Stir and let this melt completely. Finally, transfer browned butter to a ceramic bowl to let it cool.

In a large mixing bowl, combine eggs, cooled browned butter, turbinado sugar, and vanilla extract and beat on high until smooth. You’ll see it turn from a dark caramel color to a light maple-y color. Granules of turbinado sugar will remain, but they should be sparse. Set aside.

Stir dry ingredients in a medium bowl until well-incorporated. You shouldn’t see any lumps of flour or baking soda. In small batches, slowly add dry ingredients to wet and stir until just combined after each addition. Add chocolate chips and stir again. Cover and refrigerate for 45–60 minutes. Do not skip this step! Without refrigeration, the cookies will flatten when they bake and you’ll miss out on a delicious textural element here.

Preheat oven to 350ºF and line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Use a medium-size cookie scooper to transfer dough to the baking sheets and top each portion with a sprinkle of sea salt and 4 to 5 additional chocolate chips. Bake for 8–9 minutes, rotating baking sheets halfway through. I placed both my sheets on the same shelf by sliding them into the oven lengthwise. Halfway through, I rotated the baking sheets 180 degrees because the back of the oven is hotter than the front, so each cookie should experience the same amount of heat.

Remove from oven and let cookies cool completely on baking sheets. This step is essential to allow the cookies to finish the baking process and firm up. Give them at least 10–12 minutes of cooling time on the baking sheets.

Finally, serve and enjoy! Store leftovers in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 weeks.