Crunchy or soft baked. Dark chocolate or semisweet. A little bit of chocolate or big pools of melty dark chocolate. We all have our idea of the perfect chocolate chip cookie.
Want to know mine? These Chocolate Chunk Cookies! They’ve got rich browned butter, they’re soft baked and chewy, filled with huge pools of dark chocolate chunks, then sprinkled lightly with a little salt.
When you need a chocolate craving fix, these will definitely do the trick!
Ingredients
Here’s what you’ll need to make these cookies! Scroll down for a few notes about brown butter and the best chocolate to use for these perfectly dark chocolate chunks.
- Salted butter (you’ll use this to make the brown butter)
- Vegetable oil
- Dark brown sugar
- White sugar
- Eggs
- Vanilla extract
- All purpose flour
- Bread flour
- Baking soda
- Salt and sea salt
- Lindt chocolate bars 70% or 78% Dark Chocolate
What is brown butter
So for these you’re going to make browned butter.
I first learned of this when I read this recipe from Two Peas and Their Pod. Brown butter is made from cooking butter to the point where you begin to cook the milk solids in the butter. As the milk participles separate and cook, the melted butter turns a gorgeous amber color, and you’ll see the milk solids settle at the bottom!
It’s a deep rich caramel color, and the smell is warm and often described as nutty. Once you make it one time it will be easy to spot the smell of color perfectly browned butter!
How to make brown butter
Brown butter isn’t hard to make, but it is important you keep a close eye on it towards the end! Brown butter can go very quickly from perfectly browned to burned and unusable.
- First melt the butter in a small sauce pan. Once the butter has melted, it’s time to turn up the heat!
- Next, raise the heat to medium high to bring the butter to a rapid simmer. It will start to get really foamy!
- Whisk, keep whisking! As the butter is getting very foamy, the milk particles are beginning to settle at the bottom of the pan, getting browned. You want to whisk these so they don’t burn.
- You’ll notice the nutty aroma and the butter will be getting…brown! I’ve found this takes about 4-5 minutes after the butter has been melted to bring it to this perfect browned state.
- Pour into a heat safe bowl or measuring cup, then you’re ready to use!
If you noticed in the ingredients, this contains two types of flour: all purpose flour and bread flour. You’re probably familiar with the common all purpose flour, but have you ever used bread flour before?
What is bread flour
The difference between bread flour and all purpose flour comes down to the protein levels!
Bread flour has higher amounts of protein. It doesn’t change the flavor of whatever it is you’re baking, but will have effects on textures.
In cookies, adding the bread flour (and thus the higher protein level) will help result in a softer baked cookie. And since I’m all about that soft baked cookie life, that’s perfectly fine in my book! So, for this I don’t recommend cutting out the bread flour…your cookie won’t be as soft!
Lastly, let’s talk about the best chocolate to use here!
I always reach for a dark chocolate bar that’s between 70%-78% dark chocolate. If you go too high on the percentage over 78%, the chocolate will be way too unsweet and bitter. Being somewhere in the 70% range has always yielded the perfect dark chocolate flavor!
I’ve most often use this bar of Lindt! Ghirardelli also makes a delicious dark chocolate bar that would work here.
Cooking tips
- Let the dough chill for at least 30 minutes before baking the cookies. This allows the melted butter to firm up a bit and help prevent the cookies from spreading too thin when they bake.
- The bread flour really helps give these cookies that unique chewy texture. Don’t skip this ingredient or replace it with all purpose flour! This is the bread flour I use.
- When it comes to the chocolate chunks, you can decide how much chocolate you want in your cookies and how large you want the chunks to be. I love those large pools of dark chocolate so I use a variety of smaller pieces and a few large chunks that will get nice and melty.
- To help get the chocolate pools large on the top, I like to bang the cookie sheet a few times on the counter to help flatten them out and bring the chocolate forward a bit. Make sure you have a towel on the counter when you do this! Sometimes I’ll also use my spatula and press down on the cookies a bit if I want more chocolate to poke through!
Looking for more chocolate treats? Here are a few of my favorite chocolate recipes you might like!
Cookie Dough Pie is like a melty warm cookie, but in a pie! You’ll definitely want to add some ice cream to this.
How about some brownies? Easy Doctored Box Brownies are literally the fudgiest brownie you’ll ever have, and my Gingerbread Brownies are perfect for the Holiday season.
Dessert but no baking? No problem! My No Bake Chocolate Cheesecake is so rich, so chocolatey, and you never had to turn on your oven. Chocolate Mousse with Kahlua is another no bake dessert idea!
Chewy Molasses Cookies are loaded with Fall spices, but I love making these any time of the year! And lastly, this Banana Coffee Cake pairs perfectly with your morning coffee or tea.
If you made these chocolate chunk cookies let me know what you thought in the comments!
Chocolate Chunk Cookies
Chocolate Chunk Cookies combine the warm and fragrant flavors of brown butter in a soft baked cookie. Pools of dark chocolate make these extra decadent. Top with a sprinkle of sea salt for the perfect finish!
- Prep Time: 45 minutes
- Cook Time: 10 minutes
- Total Time: 54 minutes
- Yield: 30-33 cookies
- Category: Baking
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: Dessert
Ingredients
1 cup salted butter
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 1/2 cups dark brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/2 cup all purpose flour
1 cup bread flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 3.5oz Lindt chocolate bars 78% Dark Chocolate, chopped
Optional: Sea salt for garnishing
Instructions
1. Start by making the browned butter, place the butter in a sauce pan or pot and melt. Once the butter is melted, turn the heat up until the butter simmers and cook 4-5 minutes. Whisk constantly and keep an eye on this because butter can burn fast. You don’t want a roaring boil, you want a light bubbly simmer. What you’re doing is browning the milk proteins in the butter. You’ll notice it will get a rich nutty smell and the color will start to turn a caramel brown. I’ve found 4 minutes has worked well for me. Once browned, pour butter into a heat safe bowl and let it cool slightly.
3. With your browned butter in a bowl, whisk in the 3 tablespoons of vegetable oil, both sugars, and the vanilla. Whisk in each egg one at a time. (make sure the mixture is not too hot at this point so you don’t scramble the egg!) In a separate bowl, whisk together the flours, baking soda, and sea salt. Gradually add the flour mixture to the butter mixture. Lastly, stir in as much of the chopped chocolate as you’d like.
4. Form your cookie dough balls and place on baking sheet, chill for 30 min. (don’t skip this step!) While the dough is chilling, preheat the oven to 350. Once chilled, bake for 10 minutes. When they come out of the oven, lightly bang the cookie sheet a few times on the counter, shake it back and forth, to encourage the cookie to settle flat and the melty dark chocolate to spread and pool. I also took my spatula and very very gently give a small press to the tops. Let cool on the sheet for 5 minutes before moving to a plate. (don’t skip this step either, the cookies will be too soft to remove from the baking sheet at first.)
5. Sprinkle the warm cookies with extra sea salt if you’d like, making sure to get some in the chocolate pools!
These are incredible warm! I loved heating them up in the microwave the next day.
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