I’ve been tweaking this recipe for years and I’ve finally locked it in and make it at least twice a month. The main thing: I brown the butter and make a roux with some of the flour, then dissolve the sugars into it while it’s still warm. You end up with a caramely, browned-butter base that gives the cookies a stronger flavor and chewier texture than anything I’ve gotten from a standard recipe. No mixer, no chill time, and they come out consistent every time.

🧈 Ingredients

Ingredient	Volume	Grams
All-purpose flour (King Arthur)	2 1/4 cups	280g
Baking soda	1 tsp	-
Cornstarch	1 1/2 tsp	-
Salt	1/2 tsp	-
Unsalted butter, browned	3/4 cup (1.5 sticks)	170g
Packed brown sugar	3/4 cup	150g
Granulated sugar	1/2 cup	100g
Egg + egg yolk, room temp	1 large + 1 yolk	-
Vanilla extract	2 tsp	-
Semi-sweet chocolate chips (Guittard)	1 1/4 cups	225g

🍪 Instructions

Brown butter roux

1. Brown the butter in a saucepan over medium heat, stirring constantly. Keep your attention on it the whole time.
2. Once browned, add 1/4 cup of the flour directly into the butter and stir to make a roux.
3. Add both sugars while the mixture is still warm. Stir until completely dissolved, no clumps or granules. You’ll end up with a smooth, caramely mix.
4. Let it cool to room temperature.

Wet mix

5. Add the egg, egg yolk, and vanilla to the cooled roux mixture. Mix until combined.

Dry mix

6. In a separate bowl, whisk together the remaining 2 cups of flour, baking soda, cornstarch, and salt.
7. Add the dry mix into the wet mix, stir until just combined. The dough will be dense and oily. Fold in the chocolate chips by hand, a stand mixer will struggle with how thick the dough is and the chips tend to fall out. You can also press extras into the tops of the prepped dough balls right before they go in the oven.

Bake

8. Preheat oven to 325F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
9. Scoop the dough into medium-sized balls and press down to about 1/3 inch thickness. You can make them any size or shape and they’ll be consistent all the way through.
10. Bake for 5 minutes, rotate the tray, then bake for 5 more minutes.
11. Tap the tray firmly on the counter at the halfway rotation and again when you pull them out. This collapses the cookies so you get a dense, bumpy-with-chips surface instead of a puffy rise.
12. Let them set on the baking sheet for 5-10 minutes. They’ll be gooey when they come out but will firm up into a nice cookie crust with a soft center.

👀 Tips

Check early. Start watching the cookies about 2 minutes before the end of the bake time. If they aren’t looking right at 10 minutes, you can leave them another minute.

Parchment, not silicone. Always use parchment paper. Better edges, less spreading.

No chill required. Unlike most chocolate chip cookie recipes, you can bake these immediately. You can chill the dough, but let it come back to room temperature first since the roux and dissolved sugars leave less moisture in the dough. It’ll be crumbly if it’s too cold.

Storage. Airtight container on the counter. They also freeze well.

Salting the tops. Optional, but if you want to, add the salt about 2 minutes before the end of the bake.