Jump to Recipe

Imagine, for a moment, that you’re me and it’s been a long day.* There have been many incredibly sweet and joyous moments, but you’ve also dealt with an intermittently screaming 9-month-old who treats diaper changes like they’re the first circle of Dante’s Inferno, who wants food as soon as he sees it, and who also woke you up multiple times in the night because his third tooth is coming through. He also wants to be held a lot, and wants new things to put in his mouth every other minute—anything will do, especially electrical cords and small objects like dust balls and feathers. Your toddler has decided that anytime she disagrees with you (so, constantly), it has to be done in a top-volume scream near your ear. She also wants to physically play with her baby brother all the time but every time she tries, he screams bloody murder because he wants to move his own body, thank you very much, which prompts you to ask her to please let go of him, but his reaction plus your request deeply offends her and therefore the only logical next step is to hold him even tighter with her arms and now her legs. You have to pry her strong little fingers off his wrist while ensuring she doesn’t kick out at you and baby brother with her feet, which she often does, because she’s so mad you had the gall to ask her not to hold him down with her entire body. Rinse and repeat. As the saying goes, the days are long but the years are short! By the time time they’re both finally down for the night your whole being craves something sweet, something just for you that you can quietly enjoy. The only thing you want in that moment of quiet after a tumultuous day is a warm chocolate chip cookie. At least, that’s all I want—you get to decide that for yourself.

*This is an example from a particularly challenging few weeks. Fortunately, children constantly grow and change so we are already on the upswing from that type of behavior, though I’m sure we’ll run into another hurdle soon. These kids certainly keep me on my toes!

Yes, this is the third chocolate chip cookie (henceforth shortened to CCC because who has the time) recipe I have on my blog, and yes, I believe they’re all worthy of being here. You want a softer cookie with some height? The Egg Yolk CCC recipe is your friend. You need gooey, rich CCCs and you have a little time to plan ahead and make a full batch? The Best CCCs recipe is here for you. This new recipe is for those times when the butter is decidedly not at room temperature and you want cookies NOW. There’s no chilling time (except for a short cooling period for the browned butter), and the cookies are the perfect combination of a little crisp on the edges but still fudgy and chewy in the middle. The browned butter gives the cookies an extra buttery toasted boost in flavor, and helps achieve that sublime chewiness. It’s also important to note that these happen to be egg-free—I think it’s paramount that everyone has a solid CCC recipe up their sleeve, no matter what their dietary restrictions are. Our friends’ 10-month-old baby is allergic to eggs (which will hopefully resolve itself by the time he’s 1 year old) and I panic-texted them one night with this recipe before realizing babies don’t actually need to eat CCCs and therefore it wasn’t critical that I get the recipe to them right away. Comedian and actor Jason Mantzoukas is famously literally deathly allergic to eggs, which seems rare and rather tragic; whatever your tolerance level to eggs, these CCCs are for you.**

**Note that these are also easy to make vegan. Use an alternative milk and melted vegan butter (just don’t attempt to brown it) or a neutral oil. I used coconut oil when I was going dairy-free for a couple of months, and it gave the cookie a pronounced coconut flavor (which can be good or bad, depending on your preference), but if you use something with less flavor it should work even better.

This recipe has been adapted from one by Edd Kimber, winner of the first ever season of The Great British Bake Off and overall outstanding recipe creator / food photographer. The recipe in his book, Small Batch Bakes, is for a single “Emergency Chocolate Chip Cookie,” which I have made countless times at 8:15pm once the kids are in bed. I’ve tweaked his recipe to perfectly fit mine and Jonji’s needs—I put less chocolate in Jonji’s and extra on mine because he likes a ratio of more dough to chocolate, like an absolute loon. We can be eating big ol’ cookies on the couch in a happy, post-toy-clean-up stupor within 30 minutes from start to finish. Sometimes all you need at the end of a long day is a treat—that often means a drink for some or, in our case, a warm, gooey cookie. We seem to be eating a lot of cookies lately.

I’m providing quantities for a full batch of 10-12 cookies as well as the measurements for a single cookie. When the craving hits in the evening, it’s so easy to whip up one or two cookies, but having a full batch is super handy for when you simply need more (either for yourself or others). Feel free to make a batch and freeze the balls of dough for when the need arises—you’ll thank yourself for your foresight!

Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies (Egg-Free)

makes 10-12 large 4 to 5-inch cookies / adapted from Edd Kimber’s recipe in Small Batch Bakes

for a batch of cookies:
185g (13 tbsp) unsalted butter, cold from the fridge
140g (½ cup + 2 tbsp) granulated sugar
110g (½ cup + 2 tbsp) lightly packed brown sugar
80ml (¼ cup + 1 tbsp) whole milk
290g (2 cups + 2 tbsp) all-purpose flour
½ + ⅛ tsp fine sea salt
½ + ⅛ tsp baking powder
½ + ⅛ tsp baking soda
250g (1 ¼ cup) chopped dark chocolate, or a mix of chopped chocolate and chocolate chips
flaky sea salt, for sprinkling

for a single cookie:
1 ¼ tbsp (17g) unsalted butter, cold from the fridge
1 tbsp granulated sugar
1 tbsp lightly packed brown sugar
2 tsp whole milk
3 tbsp + 1 tsp all-purpose flour
a pinch (1/16 tsp) of fine sea salt
a pinch (1/16 tsp) of baking powder
a pinch (1/16 tsp) of baking soda
2 tbsp chopped dark chocolate or chocolate chips
flaky sea salt, for sprinkling

Slice the butter into chunks and melt them in a small pot over medium heat. Continue to let the butter sizzle and cook, occasionally stirring and scraping the bottom with a spatula, until the butter is quiet, the foam is mostly gone, and there are lots of brown specks floating around. You want the milk solids (the specks) to be browned and toasty but not black. Scrape into a large bowl and set aside for 20 minutes (or 10 if you’re making a single cookie).*

*The cooling time is actually important here! If it’s too hot, the dough will be too wet and you’ll have to add more flour to get the right consistency, which can be a bit of a guessing game.

Preheat the oven to 325°F. Line two large baking trays with silicone mats or parchment paper.**

**I’ve tested this recipe using both silicone mats and parchment paper; if you use the latter, the cookies will end up a little more spread and crispier. If you want a similar result with silicone sheets, simply cook an extra minute or two.

Once the butter has cooled, stir in 140g granulated sugar and 110g brown sugar. Pour 80ml whole milk into the butter and sugar mixture and stir until satiny smooth and homogenous. Measure 290g all purpose flour plus ½ + ⅛ tsp each of fine sea salt, baking powder, and baking soda into the same bowl as the sugar and butter. Stir together with a spoon or rubber spatula until a dough forms. It should still be soft, but completely moldable. Add 1-2 tbsp of flour at a time if the dough seems too wet (you can also wait a few minutes and then stir again to test the consistency—it will often stiffen as it cools). Fold in 250g chopped chocolate.

Using an ice cream scoop with a ¼ cup capacity, scoop the cookie dough onto the baking trays (no more than 6 balls per tray, as they do spread out. Top each with a couple extra chunks of chocolate, if you’d like. Bake for 13 minutes, then take one tray out of the oven and bang it hard once or twice on the counter or the back of a chair so the cookies flatten out a bit. Return to the oven and repeat with the other tray. Bake for another 3-5 minutes, until the cookies are golden brown. Remove the trays from the oven and immediately sprinkle the cookies with flaky sea salt, then let them cool on the trays for about 5 minutes before carefully sliding them onto a cooling rack.

Enjoy!