Brown Butter Sea Salt Chocolate Chip Cookies

So this one time! At band camp! Not really, but that’s how I feel starting this post out. So this one time! I had a recipe go viral on Pinterest! Brown butter sea salt chocolate chip cookies, to be precise. And honestly, I thought the recipe was lost in the dark abyss of the internet, as it lived on a forgotten food blog that I had back in circa 2013-2014. That’s right, I’m a former food blogger. A few different iterations of food blogger, actually. I had my first healthy living blog in 2011 and used to write daily, then wanted to get into more recipe-specific writing. I switched gears and started a food blog called Rustic Brooklyn (great name, RIP that blog) and only posted around 20 recipes before shutting it down unintentionally. And by unintentionally, I mean I straight up stopped writing and then let the domain lapse.

But no matter! I was able to track down this banger of a recipe through the Way Back Machine (yay internet!) and while I might tinker with it a bit, I’m reposting the original here because it’s just downright ah-maze-ing.

ingredients

brown butter + sea salt chocolate chip cookies
makes 30-36 cookies

• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
• 1 cup light brown sugar
• ½ cup granulated sugar
• 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 large egg + 1 egg yolk
• 2 ¼ cups whole-wheat flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
• ½ cup milk chocolate chips
• ½ tablespoon coarse sea salt for sprinkling
  

directions

1. To brown butter, heat 1 stick of butter in a pan over medium-high heat until melted, about 2 minutes. Continue cooking and swirling the pan constantly until the butter is dark golden brown with brown flecks on the bottom of the pan, and you can smell a nutty aroma. Pour it into a bowl and allow to cool completely.
2. Mix the other stick of butter with the brown sugar and granulated sugar on medium speed for a few minutes.
3. Add the vanilla to the mixer.
4. Slowly add the brown butter, then mix on medium speed for another 2 minutes.
5. Add the egg and egg yolk and mix.
6. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, and baking soda. Add the dry mixture to the butter mixture and mix on low until the flour is just incorporated.
7. Add chocolate chips and mix for a few seconds.
8. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees, then cover and chill the dough in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
9. Line cookie sheets with parchment paper and place dough 2 inches apart.
10. Sprinkle each ball with some sea salt.
11. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, rotating the trays halfway through.