This is my favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe, ever. It’s made with brown butter, malted milk powder, espresso powder, chopped dark chocolate, and flaky sea salt. The cookies are chewy, soft, and so good, you’ll reach back for seconds, thirds…. and just keep going!
Try out my matcha white chocolate cookies!
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🍪 Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- The cookies are SO rich & flavorful! Because of the brown butter, the cookies have a hint of toasty + caramel notes. Plus, the malted milk powder adds the perfect touch of milky butterscotch goodness.
- It’s versatile. I love dark chocolate, but feel free to use milk, semi-sweet, or even white chocolate!
Looking for more easy cookie recipes? Try out my matcha white chocolate cookies!
Ingredients
To make my ultimate chocolate chip cookie recipe, you’ll need the following ingredients:
- The unsalted butter will be cooked in a saucepan until all the milk solids turn golden brown and toasty, aka brown butter!
- For even richer flavor, I like adding malted milk powder and espresso powder.
- Espresso powder complements the brown butter, giving the cookies an additional depth of flavor! If you prefer not to use espresso powder due to the caffeine, you can omit it.
- A mix of both brown and granulated sugars make these cookies soft and chewy. You can opt for light brown sugar or dark brown sugar, either work great in this recipe.
- I love the bitter contrast of the cookie and dark chocolate, but feel free to use semi-sweet, milk, or white chocolate instead! I chopped my chocolate, but you can also use chips.
- Immediately after baking, the cookies are topped with flaky sea salt. This adds the perfect amount of saltiness and balances out the flavors.
For the full list of ingredients and measurements, see the recipe card below.
💡 Baking Tips
- Weigh your ingredients! One of my favorite kitchen tools is a kitchen scale because it’s more accurate than measuring by volume. If you use cups, spoon the flour in gently, then level it with a knife or spatula.
- For rounder cookies, place a large circular cutter or mug on top of a freshly baked, warm cookie. Move it around in a circular motion until your cookie is perfectly round! This step is totally optional and purely for plating purposes! 🙂
How to make My Favorite Chocolate Chip Cookies
Step 1: Add your unsalted butter into a saucepan. Brown the butter on medium-low heat until nice and toasty, then transfer to heat-safe bowl to fully cool. (Full brown butter tutorial here).
Step 2: Stir in espresso powder, malted milk powder, and sugars until full combined. Mix in egg and vanilla until smooth.
Step 3: Stir in dry ingredients and chopped chocolate or chocolate chips until no dry spots remain.
Step 4: Scoop 2-3 tablespoon cookie dough balls onto a lined tray. Chill for 30 minutes, then bake at 350°F/177°C for 9-11 minutes or until the edges are set. Remove from the oven and immediately top with extra chocolate and flaky sea salt. Let cool on wire rack, and enjoy!
For full instructions, see the recipe card below.
Note from Bianca: my friend ate 6 of them in one sitting LOL… they’re that good!
🍪 More Cookie Recipes
Did you try this recipe?
Please leave a review & share it with me on Instagram, Facebook, Tiktok, or Pinterest!
Thank you so much! -Bianca ❤️
📖 Recipe
Bianca’s Favorite Chocolate Chip Cookies
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Equipment
- stainless steel or light-colored saucepan
- heatproof bowl
- medium mixing bowl for dry ingredients
- large mixing bowl for mixing cookie dough
- Medium cookie scoop 2-3 tablespoon capacity
Ingredients
Dry ingredients:
- 1 ⅓ cups (166.67 g) all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon (2 g) baking powder
- ½ teaspoon (2 g) baking soda
- ½ teaspoon (4.5 g) fine sea salt
Wet ingredients:
- ½ cup (113.5 g) unsalted butter cut into tablespoons
- ½ teaspoon (1 g) espresso powder optional
- ½ cup (100 g) granulated sugar
- ¼ cup (55 g) brown sugar light or dark, packed
- 3 tablespoons (21 g) malted milk powder
- 1 (50 g) egg room temperature
- 1 tablespoon (13 g) vanilla paste or extract
Mix-ins:
- ¾ cup dark chocolate chopped chocolate bar, or chips; plus more for topping
Topping:
- flaky sea salt
Instructions
Brown the butter:
- (Feel free to check out my more in-depth post about brown butter)In a light-colored pan over medium heat, add ½ cup unsalted butter. Continuously stir with a silicone spatula.After the butter melts, it will begin to foam. Then, the foaming will subside and brown specks will start to form at the bottom of the pan. Keep stirring. The color change will be fairly quick, so keep an eye on the butter. Remove the pan from heat once you smell a nutty aroma and the butter becomes golden brown. Transfer to a heat-safe bowl and let cool until room temperature, about 10 minutes. Stir in ½ teaspoon espresso powder.
For the cookie dough:
- In a medium bowl, whisk together all of the dry ingredients: 1 ⅓ cups all-purpose flour, ½ teaspoon baking powder, ½ teaspoon baking soda, and ½ teaspoon fine sea salt.
- In a large bowl, mix the cooled, melted brown butter with ½ cup granulated sugar, ¼ cup brown sugar, and 3 tablespoons malted milk powder until smooth.
- Stir in 1 egg and 1 tablespoon vanilla until smooth.
- Dump in all of the dry ingredients and ¾ cup dark chocolate, mixing until no dry spots remains.
Scoop & bake:
- Scoop dough into 2–3 tablespoon balls and place on a lined baking sheet (spacing does not matter). Chill for 30 minutes. Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C) during the last 10 minutes.
- After chilling, arrange dough balls 3 inches apart on a lined baking sheet. Bake for 9-11 minutes or until edges are set.Remove tray from oven. Optionally add extra chocolate on top for aesthetics, then sprinkle with flaky sea salt
- Cool on sheet for 5 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Enjoy!
Notes
- Room temperature: Store cooled chocolate chip cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days.
- Freezing instructions: Store cooled cookies in a freezer-safe container for up to 3 months. You can also freeze cookie dough balls for up to a year and bake as usual—just add a couple more minutes to the baking time.
