Best High Altitude Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

These delicious high altitude brown butter chocolate chip cookies melt in your mouth with every soft and chewy bite. The brown butter adds a beautiful caramelized flavor that goes perfectly with the semi-sweet chocolate chips in the cookie.

Welcome fellow high altitude bakers! We know that the basic cookie recipe that works at sea level is not going to work for us. But have no fear! These are the BEST chocolate chip cookies and work amazing at high elevation. I have taken the classic chocolate chip cookie recipe and elevated it to a new level with rich, magical brown butter. Plus the perfect balance of flour, sugar, and oven temperature produces delicious chewy chocolate chip cookies. (Note: this recipe will make perfect cookies at low altitude also.)

Throw away your recipes that make lifeless cookies and be prepared to be blown away when you taste these UNFORGETTABLE high altitude chocolate chip cookies with brown butter.

Because let’s be honest, most chocolate chip cookies are forgettable.

Find out how to make magical brown butter here

Tools you may need:

• Sauce pan & whisk – for brown butter
• Measuring cups and spoons
• Cookie sheet
• Parchment paper or non-stick silicone mat – optional
• Medium cookie scoop – 1 1/2 Tablespoon
• Large bowl and spoon or electric mixer / stand mixer

Find all of my favorite kitchen tools here and check them out on Amazon.

Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie ingredients:

• Butter – I use salted or unsalted butter; both make delicious brown butter. The salted butter can give a slightly saltier taste, which I think balances nicely with the richness of the cookie
• White sugar – can’t have mouth-watering cookies without sugar
• Light brown sugar – the molasses in the sugar blends beautifully with the brown butter. Dark brown sugar will also work and add extra molasses.
• Flour – I always use all-purpose flour
• Baking soda – this adds a lightness to the cookie
• Table salt – don’t skip the salt! Surprisingly salt actually brings out the sweetness in the recipe. There is no need to adjust the salt if using salted butter.
• Large eggs – eggs help bind all the ingredients together and create a softer cookie
• Vanilla extract – small amounts help to enhance the flavors and adds a very subtle vanilla flavor (let’s be honest, in my opinion more is better when it comes to vanilla)
• Chocolate Chips – I use semi-sweet chocolate chips to help balance out the richness of the brown butter. Feel free to use milk chocolate or dark chocolate chips depending on your preference.

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How to make the best high altitude chocolate chip cookies:

1. Melt the butter in a sauce pan over medium heat. Whisk continually until the butter turns a nice brown color and smells of a rich, nutty flavor.
2. Pour butter into the bowl to be used for mixing ingredients. Let cool for 30 minutes.
3. Add white sugar and brown sugar to the brown butter. Mix and cream together.
4. Add flour, salt, and baking soda to the butter and sugar mixture. Mix until the texture becomes crumbly.
5. Add eggs and vanilla to the mixture. Mix together until it forms a dough.
6. Add chocolate chips to the dough. Mix only long enough to incorporate all the chocolate chips.
7. Cover the mixing bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate the dough for 2-3 hours.
8. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place parchment paper or non-stick silicone baking mat on baking sheet.
9. Use a medium cookie scoop to create cookie dough balls. Place cookie dough balls on the baking sheet and parchment a few inches apart.
10. Place the cookie sheet in the middle of oven and bake for 12-13 minutes until golden brown.
11. Allow cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 3-5 minutes. Enjoy!

Substitutions:

• Don’t have time to make brown butter? That’s ok! You can still make delicious cookies with just melted butter. Still use 1 cup of butter but change the flour to 3 1/4 cups and use only 2 eggs.
• I know that some people are not chocolate fanatics like me. So feel free to decrease (or increase) the amount of chocolate chips to your liking.

Cookie storage:

• Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie dough can be stored in an airtight container for up to 48 hours in the refrigerator.
• Baked cookies need to be eaten within 1 week (but let’s be honest, there’s a good chance they will be eaten WAY sooner than that). They can also be stored in an airtight container for up to 3 months in the freezer.
• This cookie dough recipe stores fantastically in the freezer. Use the medium cookie scoop and place the dough balls on a baking sheet close together. Make certain they aren’t touching or else it will be difficult to separate. Place the baking sheet in a flat spot in the freezer for 30 minutes to 1 hour. Then place the dough balls in a freezer container. Take cookies out of the freezer 30 minutes before baking them, and you will have delicious, soft, chewy cookies every time. Freeze for up to 3 months.

Check out more high altitude recipes:

High Altitude Moist Sour Cream Banana Bread Recipe

Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Muffins – Fluffy & Moist, Oil Free

High Altitude Pecan Pie

Flaky Pie Crust – 4 Ingredients

Moist Cornbread Recipe – perfect for high altitude

High Altitude Strawberry Pie

High Altitude Oatmeal Cookies

Chocolate Espresso Brownies

My best tips for the best results:

• Allow the brown butter to cool to room temperature before adding the other ingredients. This usually takes around 30 minutes. If I’m in a hurry, I will pour it in a small bowl and place it in the refrigerator to speed up the process.
• Brown butter can be made ahead of time and stored in the refrigerator but be sure to slowly warm it so it is a melted/liquid.
• Allow the cookies to cool on the pan for 3-5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack. I know it’s hard to wait to eat cookies that are fresh out of the oven, but cooling cookies on the pan creates a softer, chewier cookie. Quickly transferring cookies to a cooling rack creates a crispy or possibly even hard cookie, and nobody wants that.
• Refrigerate the chocolate chip cookie dough at minimum 2-3 hours before baking. These cookies are especially great to make ahead of time because they can be kept in the refrigerator 24-48 hours or the freezer up to 3 months before baking.
• Storing chocolate chips in the freezer keeps your chocolate chips tasting fresh. It can also help to cool your cookie dough down if the brown butter is still slightly warm.

Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie

Rebekah S.

Melt in your mouth soft, gooey cookies with the richness of brown butter and chocolate

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 40 minutes mins

Cook Time 12 minutes mins

Additional Time 2 hours hrs

Total Time 2 hours hrs 52 minutes mins

Course Desserts

Cuisine American

Servings 36

Calories 464 kcal

Ingredients

  

• 1 cup butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 3 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 3 eggs
• 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

Instructions

 

• Cook butter in a sauce pan over medium heat. Whisk continually until the butter turns a nice brown color and smells of a rich, nutty flavor.
• Pour butter into the bowl to be used for mixing ingredients. Let cool for 30 minutes.
• Add white sugar and brown sugar to the brown butter. Mix and cream together.
• Add flour, salt, and baking soda to the butter and sugar mixture. Mix until the texture becomes crumbly.
• Add eggs and vanilla to the mixture. Mix together until it forms a dough.
• Add chocolate chips to the dough. Mix only long enough to incorporate all the chocolate chips.
• Cover the mixing bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate dough for 2-3 hours.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place parchment or silicone baking mat on baking sheet.
• Use a medium cookie scoop to create cookie dough balls. Place cookie dough balls on the baking sheet and parchment a few inches apart.
• Bake for 12-13 minutes.
• Allow cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 3-5 minutes. Enjoy!

Notes

• This cookie dough can be store in the refrigerator up to 48 hours.
• This cookie dough does great in the freezer. Use the medium cookie scoop and place the dough balls on a cookie sheet close together. Make certain they aren't touching or else it will be difficult to separate. Place pan in freezer for 1 hour. Then place cookie dough balls in freezer safe container up to 3 months.
• Store baked cookies in airtight container for up to a week or in the freezer for up to 3 months.

Keyword best high altitude chocolate chip cookies

If you make these amazing Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies, leave a comment below and let me know how they turned out.