Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies with oat flour are an entirely new level of chocolate chip cookie! The flavor and texture is so amazing! The cookies are made with browned butter and oat flour which adds a nice texture and nutty flavor you don’t get in a traditional chocolate chip cookie.  

We have tons of delicious cookie recipes for you to try. If you love Crumbl Cookies, I’ve got a roundup with all my Crumbl Cookie Recipes! There are some really fun flavors you should check out! If you like this cookie recipe, then I know you will love my Butterscotch Chocolate Chip Cookies too! If you are a big brownie and cookie fan, then you should check out my gooey Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars and Browned Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Bars! And if you love this recipe, then you’ll love my Brown Butter Cookie Dough Cake and Brown Butter Cake!

Why This Recipe Works

• Brown butter elevates flavor. I bet you didn’t think you could take chocolate chip cookies to an entirely new level, but I’m here to tell you that you can! The trick is to use browned butter! Adding a simple step such as browning the butter does wonders for chocolate chip cookies. It adds a toasted nutty flavor and brings a greater richness to the cookie. 
• Oat flour adds amazing texture. Let me tell you that chocolate chip cookies with oat flour is where it is at! Don’t worry, if you don’t have any, you can make your own at home! (See recipe tips below.) The oat flour has a bit of a courser texture than normal flour, so it provides a nice chewy texture to the brown butter cookies. 
• People will keep asking for more! It’s always fun to make a treat for people that they like so much that they’ll ask you for the recipe! Well, this is that kind of treat. Every time I make this recipe for people, they always go for seconds and thirds and end up asking for the recipe! It’s that good!  

Ingredient Notes

• Brown Butter: Browning the butter is an art. When done correctly, the butter tastes amazing when added to baked goods. The brown butter adds a deeper and richer flavor. I go over how to properly brown butter in my pumpkin pancakes recipe for the Cinnamon Brown Butter Pecan Syrup. You can also follow along in the step-by-steps below. 
• Oat Flour: Using oat flour in addition to all-purpose flour helps provide added thickness and chewiness and makes these the best brown butter chocolate chip cookies! I got the idea to add oat flour from my good friend, Kristin at Baker Bettie.
• Dark Brown Sugar: You can use light brown sugar if you’d like. Dark brown sugar has more molasses in it than light brown sugar, so it gives the cookies a slightly deeper flavor. But don’t worry, you can’t taste a molasses flavor.
• Granulated Sugar: The granulated sugar (in addition to the brown sugar) helps in browning and sweetness.

Step-by-Step Instructions

1. Brown the butter. Melt the butter in a skillet or saucepan over low heat, stirring constantly. The butter will melt, bubble, then foam. Keep stirring constantly until you see light brown specks appear at the bottom of the pan. The butter will have a nutty aroma and light amber color. Keep cooking and stirring until the light brown specks are slightly more golden brown. Remove from heat. Do not burn the butter. Remove early rather than late. It just takes seconds to go from perfectly browned to burnt. Transfer to a separate bowl and cool at room temperature or in the fridge until solid.
2. Whisk the dry ingredients. Combine the baking soda, baking powder, salt, flour and oat flour in a bowl until well incorporated. 

3. Cream the wet ingredients. Once the butter is firm, place it in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Add the sugars and beat until creamed, about 3-4 minutes. Scrape the sides of the bowl as needed. 
4. Add the eggs and vanilla. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Then add the vanilla and mix under combined. 

5. Add the dry ingredients to the bowl. Add the dry ingredients and mix until just combined. Stir in the chocolate chips. 
6. Chill the dough. Cover the bowl and refrigerate for 30-60 minutes. 

7. Preheat and bake. Preheat the oven to 375°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat. Roll the dough into balls or use a 3 tablespoon sized cookie scoop. Place 6 dough balls per baking sheet, spaced 2 inches apart. Bake for 8-9 minutes or until the edges have set, are barely golden brown and the middles still appear under baked. 

8. Let cool on the cookie sheet. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before removing them to cool completely on a wire rack.  

Recipe Tips

If you don’t have oat flour, it’s super easy to make it yourself. I made homemade oat flour because I have a lot of old fashioned oats I need to use up. Here’s how to make oat flour: Add the old fashioned oats to a food processor or blender. Pulse until the oats have ground down to a flour. You can see in my photo that there is a nice texture to the oat flour.

Chilling the dough helps the flavor develop and it firms up the dough so when the chocolate chip cookies with brown butter bake they don’t spread as much. You can chill the dough for longer than 60 minutes, I think 12 hours would be great! You’ll get some amazing flavor if you do it anywhere from 1-24 hours. However, if you chill the cookie dough for longer than 60 minutes, you will need to remove the dough from the fridge and let it sit at room temperature for an hour or so, otherwise the cookie dough will be too firm to scoop.

After you’ve chilled the dough, remove it from the fridge and scoop the dough into 3 tablespoon sized cookie dough balls. I use this cookie scoop (affiliate link) — the same scoop I use to fill my cupcake and muffin tins.

Cookies continue to bake after they’re removed from the oven. If you like soft cookies, follow the instructions above. If you prefer a well done crispy cookie, bake until the cookies are golden brown, about 10 minutes.

I like to sprinkle my cookies with some sea salt before baking. If you choose to do this simply sprinkle a pinch of sea salt over each cookie dough ball prior to baking. 

If you prefer a flatter, more spread out cookie, bake at 350°F. Cookies will need to bake a tad longer, so about 10-11 minutes or until the tops are just barely golden. 

Tips for Browning Butter

Always stir the butter. This reduces the risk of burning. 

The specks on the bottom of the panshould not be a really dark brown/black color. It’s better to remove the butter from the heat too soon than too late.

If you’re in a time crunch, place the browned butter in the fridge to set faster. 

For an in-depth look at how to brown butter, along with tips and FAQS, check out my How to Brown Butter post! 

Make Ahead, Storing, and Freezing

You can make these chocolate chip cookies with oat flour ahead of time! Simply make the cookie dough as instructed but then store the cookie dough in an airtight container in the fridge for 1-3 days. The longer the cookie dough chills, the more developed the flavors will be. Keep in mind, I would probably bake the cookies by day 3. If you want to store the dough for longer, see my tip for freezing cookie dough below. 

Store in airtight container at room temperature for 3-4 days or in the fridge for up to 7 days. 

To freeze the cookie dough, form into balls and flash freeze on a baking sheet until firm. Transfer to a Ziplock bag or airtight container. Freeze for up to 3 months. Remove from the freezer and bake from frozen. You may need to add 1 minute to the bake time. 

To freeze the baked cookies, let cool completely and then wrap in plastic wrap and store in a Ziplock bag. Freeze for up to 2 months. Remove and let come to room temperature or eat chilled.  

Recipe FAQs

More Delicious Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipes

• The BEST Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies 
• Double Chocolate Chip Cookies 
• Tahini Chocolate Chip Cookies 
• Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies
• Crumbl Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe

This recipe was originally published on May 21, 2019. It was republished on March 14, 2022, to include additional information and photos.