If you like sweet and salty treats, you’ll fall in love with these Brown Butter and Fleur de Sel Chocolate Chip Cookies. These easy cookies are made with browned butter, chocolate chips and sea salt!
Brown Butter and Fleur de Sel Chocolate Chip Cookies
Wondering what the heck Fleur de Sel is? Well, it’s simly a fancy French sea salt. No need to panic. If you can not find this gorgeous salt, you can substitute sea salt or even kosher salt and be just fine:)
A couple weeks ago, I was creating salted carmels that some of you may have caught on my Facebook page. That is when I picked up Fleur de Sel sea salt. I will warn you, it is a little pricey, but yowza it made the perfect salted caramels that you will see in the cookbook and it was the perfect touch to these chocolate chip cookies!
Have you ever made brown butter chocolate chip cookies? Well, if you haven’t do yourself a favor and do it…..now 🙂 It is much easier than you might think. The nutty aroma that comes from brown butter is really unbelievable and it makes a gorgeous buttery crisp yet chewy in the center cookie.
Hope you all enjoy!
Here’s that gorgeous sea salt. Found mine at a local grocery store here in CA.
How to Make These Sweet & Salty Cookies
Here are the stages of browning butter….see below for the color you are looking for.
Here you have it. A nice golden brown with little bits that form at the bottom. Let the butter cool for a good 5 minutes before adding to the sugars. I’ve done it without waiting and it melts your chocolate chips if you don’t wait, which makes for a not as pretty cookie.
So, you’ll add your brown butter right to your sugars. Make sure you add those little brown bits too, in the second picture. You’ll mix just like normal, but it will look much different that you are used to. Don’t panic 🙂 You’ll add your eggs and vanilla, mixing as usual.
Get your dry ingredients ready. I add 1/2 teaspoon sea salt to the dough then I add a little on top.
Time to mix. Add your chips right after the flour.
Here’s your dough. Sneak a little bite. I can never pass up that opportunity 🙂
Pretty little things aren’t they?
Don’t be afraid to add a pinch of sea salt to the tops. It’s the perfect sweet and salty combo 🙂
Brown Butter and Fleur de Sel Chocolate Chip Cookies
Equipment
- Oven
Ingredients
- 2 sticks butter 1 cup
- 1 1/4 cups packed light brown sugar
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 2 tsp vanilla
- 2 3/4 cups all purpose flour
- 1 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp Fleur de Sel or sea salt
- 10 oz bag chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. and line a large baking sheet with a silpat liner or parchment paper
- Place butter into a medium saucepan over medium heat, swirling pan to melt. Once melted watch carefully. Butter will foam, boil then little brown bits will start to form around sides and bottom of pan.
- Once butter turns a golden brown and has a very nutty aroma, remove from heat. I transfer mine to a bowl so cooking stops. Let cool for 5 minutes.
- Place both sugars into stand or electric mixer. Add brown butter and mix until well combined. Add eggs and vanilla, mixing until well combined.
- Place flour, baking soda and Fleur de Sel/sea salt into a large bowl. Slowly add to wet ingredients then add in chocolate chips, mixing until just combined.
- Scoop dough onto prepared baking sheet with a medium sized cookie scoop and sprinkle tops with additional Fleur de Sel/sea salt. Bake for 9 to 11 minutes, until cooked through. Let cool for 5 minutes then transfer to cooling rack.
Nutrition
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Have a great rest of your week! Come back soon 🙂
Very descriptive post, I liked that bit. Will there be a part 2?
I’m curious what the browning of the butter does. What difference does it make? Just curious. I’m always on the lookout for better cookies!
What is a girl to do at 1 in the morning when she can’t sleep? Bake cookies of course! I should be studying for finals but I couldn’t resist, I had all the ingredients on hand and that’s a rarity for a unviversity student like me. It was super easy and super delicious. I left them on the table and my roommates have been loving them! Hopefully there are still some cookies left for me in the morning. Cookies for breakfast? That’s okay right? 😉
Haha don’t judge me, I’m running on lack of sleep.
Anyways, thank you! Your recipes are always my favourite.
These were so yummy! It was my (foreign) sweetie’s first time to have cookies warm from the oven 😀
Oh, my…made these tonight – you’re my hero! They are fabulous and this will probably replace my old chocolate chip cookie recipe. (I used “dark” chocolate chips…but they’re really only just slightly darker than semi.)
Made these today and can I say yum! first attempt with browning butter, was a little nervous that I would burn it, but it was totally easy! Thanks for the step by step photos!
I just made these and oh my, they are amazing! I used half whole wheat flour, and milk chocolate chips! Thanks for a lovely new cookie for my repertoire.
I’ve been meaning to try browning butter – and using salt on cookies – for a while. While I couldn’t get Fleur de Sel around where I live (sigh), I used regular ol’ Atlantic sea salt and ohhh my gosh these were amazing. I’ll probably never not-brown butter now. I could tell just by looking (and who are we kidding, tasting) the batter that these would be phenomenal. I made mine quite large by overloading my large cookie scoop and my oh my, they’re just so chewy and delicious with that hint of saltiness and the nutty flavor from the brown butter. Hands down, my new favorite cookie.
Thank you times a million from me and my entire family (who are munching on cookies as I type this)
So glad you enjoyed the cookie!! Thanks for the feedback!!
These are so good! I had never tried browned butter before. I can’t believe what a difference it makes. This is my new favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe. Thank you so much for sharing!!
Jenny, These cookies are so good and the dough itself had such an amazing aroma, I had a hard time trying not to eat the dough! LOL What a special treat for my family:) I’m freezing most of the cookies for them to enjoy during the humid summer days when my oven in shut off! Thank you for another wonderful recipe:)
Candice at Bookish Penguin had a link to this recipe on her blog, so I came over to check it out. I was so intrigued that I made them within hours of reading this recipe–delicious combination of salty and sweet! Thanks so much for sharing–I will definitely be checking out your blog for more goodies 🙂
These sound insane Jenny, love them!
Made and loved these! I was wondering if you ever tried to brown butter in the microwave? Is it possible?
Hi Margie,
I don’t think you can brown butter in the microwave, can’t imagine how it would work. If you hear about it, let me know, lol!!
i made these last weekend and they were absolutely DELICIOUS. thank you SO MUCH for this recipe!
Thanks Rachel, so glad you enjoyed them!
I made these cookies on Sunday and they were so good! My husband thought they were even better the next day.
P.S. I will be using brown butter in tons of recipes moving forward. So delicious! Thanks for the tip.
-C
These look amazing, Jenny! I was going to ask if you used milk chocolate chips, but read the comments first and found out you DID! I love that that! 🙂
Nothing’s better than adding sea salt to cookies! Looks delicious!
I made these as soon as I saw the post and they were incredible! So soft and chewy with a perfect buttery, nutty crisp outside. One of my favorite cookies so far. However, I would recommend eating these within the first 24 hours. By the second day they had lost their wonderful texture and already tasted a bit stale.
Glad you enjoyed them and thanks for the tip 🙂 We enjoyed ours the next day with no problem, but I had them in an airtight container.
hi~~my name is wendee riffe~~i do stumble and stumbled upon your site!! i like it and the recipe as well as the fleur-de-sel~~i have been looking for it bc i see sarah use it on the cooking channel!! do you like using it and is it worth me ordering some?? i live in a very small town where they really dont even know what sea salt is–let alone that!!LOL!! i found it on amazon and wondered if i should order??? is it worth the splurge?? also–i am going to be following your blog–i like it!!!
Hi WenDee,
I think the Fleur de Sel is absolutely worth it. You will love it on cookies, caramels, chocolate, brownies, you name it 🙂 Give it a try!!
These look sooooo good! Beautiful mix of ingredients, beautiful photos.
I made these cookies yesterday and they were fantastic. I couldn’t wait to procure fleur de sel , I only had fine sea salt so I used what I had. I suspect kosher salt would have worked as well. I do want to try it with fleur de sel as it seems like a mere refined. Or perhaps grey sea salt which I see eveerywhere but don’t know what to use it for… The cookies salty/sweet flavor notes came through well. I’m keeping this recipe in my chocolate chip cookie rotation.
I love your work! Is that too cheesy? Anyway, I am literally having a love affair with these cookies! They are my official go to chocolate chip cookie. They make the most simple ingredients into what I believe to be the most elegant chocolate chip cookie, especially since I used the Ghiradelli semi-sweet chocolate chips! Yummy!!!!
So glad you enjoyed the recipe Jennevieve! Makes me so happy to read this 🙂 Thanks!
These look absolutely delicious, in fact I think I’m going to have to make them! Your blog is fantastic and the photography is really lovely. Thanks for sharing and inspiring the rest of us!
Mary x
I’ve just fallen in love with browned butter, so this recipe is definitely on my list!
Wow!! Must be one amongst the best cookies I have seen on the net recently! Never tried brown butter..and salt in cookies. Lovely, innovative and awesome post 🙂
Thank you Sanjeeta! Glad you like them 🙂
Wonderful photos. Thank you for sharing this recipe.
These look so yummy! It must be chocolate cookie day, I posted and have seen several around the net, I’m grabbing this recipe though for my next bake, thanks!
-Brenda
These look so fabulous, I can almost taste them. 🙂 Love the brown butter and sea salt combo!
THESE LOOK AMAZING ok i think i’ve made up my mind about what to bake today!
These look great! I’ve never used browned butter, but I sure want to try!
Brown Butter makes everything better! I am so glad I came across this recipe and cannot wait to test it out!
Hope you enjoy!!
I love your cookie recipes!
I LOVE browned butter chocolate chip cookies…. I have a recipe for some similar on by blog with browned butter, fleur de sel and homemade brown sugar! YUM!!! I also love to use milk chocolate chips in them – it pairs so so well.
These are torturing me, I must make them as soon as I have time! Question, do you like your sil pat mats? I have some on my wedding registry and hope they’re as great as I think they’ll be.
I could not survive without my collection of silpat mats!! I use them almost daily, no joke 🙂 You can also use parchment paper, but I like my silpats!!
These look AMAZING and I am going to make them this weekend! Silly question, but do you use unsalted butter or salted? I am afraid to make it too salty! Thanks again for making so many yummy treats! Can’t wait for your cook book 🙂
Hi Sandy,
I always use unsalted butter so I have control over the salt 🙂 Enjoy!!
you are killing me with all these amazing cookies…cookies are my “thing” so i’m thrilled to find more for my collection. will definitely make these. i’ve been making cookies for years and lately mine are getting so flat…these look beautiful…any idea why these are such a nice shape?
Hi Rebecca,
It’s a finicky thing, but I’ve found that when I use real butter and my flour/butter ratio is right, they turn out beautifully. I just play around with a bunch of different measurements 🙂