There are a lot of recipes out there for brown butter chocolate chip cookies, and this is one that I’ve adapted from the America’s Test Kitchen and Bon Appetit recipes. Mine uses just standard store bought chocolate chip cookies and no toffee, but I often add toasted pecans or walnuts (make sure to toast them lightly, and of course cool completely before adding if you choose to do so.

Ingredients:

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 kosher salt
1 cup packed dark brown sugar
1/3 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs room temp
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
6 oz of chocolate chips (you can add more or less depending on much chocolate you like!)
Optional - toasted pecans or walnuts, cooled completely
Optional - chopped toffee bars

Cookie Dough:

In a medium saucepan, over medium heat, add butter. Stir often, it will foam as it heats up, so keep stirring to make sure you’re not burning it. Eventually you’ll see little flakes of cooked butter on the bottom of the pan, this is a sign that you’re going the right direction. This will take 5-8 minutes.
In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, kosher salt. Make sure to check that your baking soda is still active, as though they have a long shelf life, they don’t last forever. Also recommend using a fresh box if you’re only source is the baking soda that’s in your fridge helping absorb odors.
In a stand mixer with the paddle attachment (or handheld electric mixer), add brown sugar and granulated sugar, as well as the browned butter. Start at medium speed and combine the sugars and brown butter, about 1 minute. Then add eggs and vanilla extract, and increase mixer speed to medium high for 1 minute. It will begin to lighten in color and thicken when ready, then set mixer speed to low, and add dry ingredients. You don’t need to beat the hell out of it, as the flour and other dry ingredients will hydrate as you let the dough sit and develop flavor.
Now here’s the hardest part. Don’t cook them immediately. Letting the cookie dough sit at room temp for at least an hour will hydrate the flour and other dry ingredients fully, yielding a chewier cookie. I recommend wrapping the cookie dough in plastic and leaving in the fridge overnight (12-24 hours is recommended, with a max of 3 days). When you’re ready to bake, just take the cookie dough out of the fridge and leave on the counter for about an hour before forming your cookie dough balls.

Baking Directions:

Preheat oven to 375 F. Scoop about 1/4 cup of cookie dough (about the size of a ping pong ball) and form into balls, then space dough about 3” apart. Do not flatten the cookies! If desired, sprinkle with a little sea salt.
Bake for 9-11 minutes, or until the edges are golden brown and centers are still soft. When done, let cool on baking sheet for about 10 minutes then transfer to wire cooling rack.
If you don’t use all the dough, it freezes well.