Browned Butter and Walnut Chocolate Chip Cookies

Thick and chewy chocolate chip cookies filled with nutty browned butter, toasted walnuts, and puddles of dark chocolate. The best simple chocolate chip cookie recipe.

New year, new cookies! You can never go wrong with the classic chocolate chip, and this week, we’re making them my very favorite way—with toasty walnuts, a little rye flour, and browned butter, aka, maximum nuttiness.

We spent last weekend disconnected from the entire world in an adorable little Getaway cabin in the woods of Northern Minnesota. We locked our phones away and spent the weekend roasting marshmallows, cozy-ing up with good books, and teaching ourselves all sorts of two-person card games. Oh, and we cooked. Cabin cooking was such a fun little challenge for me as I prepped like a mad woman before we left on Friday afternoon and played a very intense game of cooler Tetris to get all of my tools and ingredients in as few bags as possible.

I brought along my dutch oven and the theme of the weekend was flavorful, not-boring meals that you can make in one pot. We had great success! I made a roasted potato, rotisserie chicken, and kale hash loaded with lots of bright dill and charred lemons and a blistered tomato, shallot, white bean and sausage stew that we sopped up with crispy pieces of bread. And I made these cookies.

I used this little getaway as an opportunity to test this recipe one more time “for quality control purposes”, ya know? And good thing I did because I completely ruined them. I don’t know if you’ve seen it on the interwebs, but there is this trick where you put flaky salt on the bottom of the cookie before baking instead of sprinkling it on top afterwards so that the salt will stick better. I thought to myself, “Wow, what a smart idea. I’ll definitely do that!” except instead of flaky salt I was using ultra-coarse vanilla infused French grey salt and instead of doing a little sprinkle number, I decided to do sort of a pressing situation resulting in far too much salt. Like inedible saltiness. So we sat in our cute tiny cabin and used a butter knife to slice off the tops of the cookies and ate them like little cookie bites.

But don’t worry! I made them one more time when we got home and went back to my tried and true sprinkle method and they were perfect and delicious and possibly one of the best cookies I’ve made in a long time. Moral of the story, don’t try everything you see on the internet…except for these cookies. You should definitely try these, they’re very good!

how to make browned butter chocolate chip cookies

These cookies are great because they are super straight forward in the methodology, but still pack a bit of a flavor punch (through our walnut + browned butter + rye flour trio). Here’s how you make ‘em!

1. Toast the walnuts! Toasting your nuts for just 5 minutes or so creates malliard browning, which is a reaction between heat and proteins (not sugar, that’s caramelization) that makes brown food brown and imparts that “browned” (aka toasty and delicious) flavor. When you toast your nuts, you’re adding an entirely new depth of flavor so pop them in the oven for a few minutes while you prep the rest of your ingredients.

2. Brown the butter. Browning butter is one of the simplest and most effective ways to add flavor to baked goods. When you brown butter, you are simply cooking it until the milk solids begin to caramelize. Put your butter in a saucepan and set it over medium heat, swirling it every minute or two while it melts. You will continue to cook it as it melts, bubbles, and then begins to foam. When the foam begins to subside, you should be able to see little amber flecks forming on the bottom of the pan and the butter should smell really fragrant (like toasted nuts and vanilla and magic). At this point, quickly remove the butter from the heat and transfer it to another bowl to stop the cooking and let it cool to room temperature.

3. Make the cookie dough. For this recipe, we’ll mix the cooled browned butter and sugars until wet and sandy and then add eggs and vanilla to help homogenize the batter. Next comes dry ingredients, followed by walnuts and chocolate.

4. Chill the dough. This recipe only needs about 30 minutes of chilling time. You can definitely chill the dough longer if you’d like but the cookies won’t spread quite as much and they will be more round than flat. You can read all about why we chill our cookie dough here!

Browned Butter Chai Blondies

This soft, chewy blondie recipe is filled with nutty browned butter and fall chai spices. They are swirled with homemade salted caramel.

We went to the apple orchard this week and it was magical. I was thinking about it last week and I don’t think I’d ever been to an apple orchard before, at least not that I can remember. I’ve been to plenty a pumpkin patches and U-Pick farms, but never an apple orchard and never in prime fall weather.

It was 72° and sunny the day we went to the orchard and all of leaves in Minnesota had just begun to change colors, the edges tinged with reds and oranges. It was just so nice to sit in the sun, amongst the apple trees and grape vines (because yes, this orchard is also a winery and I learned all about hybrid grapes developed by the University of Minnesota to grow in this specific climate and landscape and now I might be a Minnesota-wine connoisseur), soaking up fall like a little autumnal sponge. And no, this recipe really has nothing to do with apples or the apple orchard, I just wanted to tell you about it. So now that I have, let’s talk blondies!

what is a blondie?

I like to think of it as a cross between a brownie and a cookie, blondies are thick and fudge-y in the center, but with less chocolate and more of a cookie-dough flavor. They are super simple to mix up and need no special tools or fancy equipment. The batter consists of melted butter, sugars and/or brown sugars, eggs, flour and leavening agents and the base is super versatile—you can easily swirl in caramel, white chocolate, or nut butters, swap out flavorings, and add or subtract chocolate chunks depending on your mood or preference.

an easy, browned butter and chai blondie recipe

If I could describe these blondies in one word, it would be cozy. They are the definition of cozy and the addition of nutty browned butter, homemade chai spice, and salted caramel kind of just makes you want to curl up in a blanket and eat them straight out of the pan.

We start by browning butter for 6-7 minutes until it is foamy and fragrant and those little brown specks appear on the bottom of the pot. Right when it reaches that golden brown color, we’ll transfer it to a bowl to stop the cooking and whisk in the chai spice blend and some ground espresso. Then it’s just a matter of whisking and baking. Add sugar, vanilla, and eggs, followed by dry ingredients and transfer it all to a baking pan. Before baking, dollop caramel (store-bought or homemade) over the top, swirl it in, and bake them off.

Letting the blondies cool completely is really important, so that they continue to set up and you’re not left with a gooey, doughy, mess (not necessarily a bad thing, but also not what we’re going for). For really clean slicing, chill the blondies overnight and then use a sharp knife to ensure clean cuts.

Yield

12

Author

Anna Ramiz

Prep time

15 Min

Cook time

40 Min

Total time

55 Min

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Browned Butter Chai Blondies

This soft, chewy blondie recipe is filled with nutty browned butter and fall chai spices. They are swirled with homemade salted caramel.

Ingredients US Metric Both

for the blondies

• 1 1/3 cup (200 g) all purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp kosher salt
• 1/2 cup (113 g) unsalted butter, browned
• 1 tbsp chai spice blend
• 1 tbsp espresso
• 2 eggs
• 1 1/4 cup (250 g) brown sugar
• 1 tbsp vanilla extract
• 3 oz dark chocolate, chopped or dark chocolate chips
• 3 tbsp caramel sauce, recipe below
• flaky salt

for the caramel

• 1/2 cup (100 g) granulated sugar
• 1/2 tsp lemon juice
• 2 tbsp water
• 1/4 cup heavy cream
• 2 tbsp unsalted butter
• pinch of salt

Instructions

to make the caramel

1. In a medium saucepan set over medium-high heat, combine sugar, lemon juice, and water. Cook, without stirring, until sugar is completely melted and deeply brown in color. 
2. When the caramel reaches that deep amber color, carefully stream in heavy cream while whisking continually. Cook for 1-2 minutes more, and then remove from the heat. 
3. Whisk in the butter and the salt and transfer to a bowl to cool. You can store leftover caramel in a jar in the refrigerator for about 2 weeks. 

to make the blondies

1. Preheat oven to 325° F and line an 8x8” baking pan with parchment paper.
2. Place butter in a small saucepan and set over medium heat. Cook for 6-7 minutes, until butter is foamy and smells nutty and little brown flecks have appeared at the bottom of the pot, then remove from heat. Stir in chai spice and espresso and let cool to room temperature.  
3. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
4. In a large bowl, combine cooled butter/chai mixture and brown sugar. Whisk to combine and then add eggs and vanilla, whisking until mixture is thick and smooth.
5. Add the dry ingredients and gently stir the batter until no flour streaks remain. Fold in the chocolate pieces, reserving some for sprinkling on top.
6. Transfer the dough to a prepared baking pan and use an offset spatula to spread it into an even layer. Sprinkle with remaining chocolate pieces.
7. Dollop caramel over the blondies and use a knife or skewer to swirl it into the batter.
8. Bake for 25-30 minutes until the edges are deeply golden and there is no wiggle in the center. Let cool completely in the pan before slicing and serving. *For clean slices, chill the blondies overnight and slice cold.*

Similar Recipes

Pumpkin Blondies with Chocolate Ganache

Browned Butter and Chocolate Chunk Skillet Cookie

Dirty Chai Banana Bread

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Tahini Orange Cinnamon Rolls with Browned Butter Cream Cheese Frosting

These warm, buttery cinnamon rolls are filled with cinnamon sugar, tahini, and a bit of orange zest. They are topped with an addictive browned butter and cream cheese frosting.

I am truly, truly soaking up every moment of fall this year. For the first time in a long time, I’m baking cinnamon rolls and drinking apple cider and around me, the leaves are actually changing and the temperature is dropping! In sunny, sweet Florida, fall baking was done from my 90° kitchen, no matter the month, and trees stayed green and palm-y all year long. (I’m not complaining though, because the beach was always close by….just soaking up this new climate while I have it).

In my mind, the number one fall baking project is cinnamon rolls. I have a few different sweet roll type recipes on the blog, but this is the first true and classic cinnamon roll and it is a very good one. They are fairly straightforward and traditional, but you guys know me, so they do have a little tahini mixed into the filling and some orange zest brightens things up. They are finished with a browned butter cream cheese frosting that is one of the best I’ve ever eaten and I wouldn’t judge you one bit for doubling the recipe and keeping some in the fridge for frosting emergencies. You never know.

So let’s dive in!

homemade cinnamon roll dough

This recipe, like a lot most cinnamon roll recipes is made with an enriched, brioche-like sweet dough. Enriched doughs are yeasted doughs that include some sort of combination of eggs, butter, milk, and sugar. A brioche is one that has a very high concentration of eggs and butter and often incorporates milk. It’s exceptionally soft and buttery, but can sometimes be a bit tricky to work with. A sweet dough is basically the same as a brioche dough, but has a lower amounts of butter, eggs, and sugar, and sometimes doesn’t include milk. (If all of this interests you like it does me, Erin McDowell has a great breakdown of enriched doughs that you can read here.)

This dough recipe falls somewhere in the middle of the the brioche-sweet dough spectrum. It doesn’t have quite as much butter as some of my other brioche recipes (like this Cinnamon Swirl Brioche and this Chocolate Tahini Brioche Babka), but it does incorporate buttermilk and decent amount of eggs. It’s also made in a brioche-style of mixing.

Yeast and buttermilk start us off. Then dry ingredients and eggs get added and kneaded into a shaggy dough, before softened butter is added cube by cube. Using a stand mixer is pretty important here since brioche undergoes a pretty extensive kneading process (made a bit stickier by all of the butter). Because this dough is enriched, all of those additions like sugar, eggs, milk, and butter get in the way of gluten formation. This means that it’s going to take a bit longer for sufficient gluten formation to form—a stand mixer makes this so much easier!

chilling the dough

I will forever preach cold-proofing. Cold proofing is simply allowing your dough to complete a long rise in the fridge in order for flavor to fully develop. It’s something that bakers and pastry chefs always do that is often skipped over in home-baking style recipes and I think it makes a really big difference in your final product. If are absolutely pinched for time, you can skip the overnight cold proof (see the recipe notes), but I highly recommend you don’t. The difference is a cinnamon roll where flavor comes from the dough, the filling and the frosting as opposed to one where the filling and frosting takes spotlight and the dough is just a cinnamon-sugar vessel. Try it once for yourself and taste the difference!

filling and frosting

The rest of this cinnamon roll recipe is familiar. The dough is rolled out and filled with a cinnamon, butter, tahini, spice mixture. It is rolled and shaped into a tight log and cute little swirls are sliced, proofed, and baked.

The frosting is a real show-stopper. Brown some butter, chill it, and then beat it into a classic cream cheese frosting. Swoop it all on top of warm cinnamon rolls so that oozes down into the crevices and then eat them immediately with lots of coffee and soak up all that autumnal goodness.

Yield

12

Author

Anna Ramiz

Prep time

30 Min

Cook time

35 Min

Inactive time

12 Hour

Total time

13 H & 4 M

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Tahini Orange Cinnamon Rolls with Browned Butter Cream Cheese Frosting

These warm, buttery cinnamon rolls are filled with cinnamon sugar, tahini, and a bit of orange zest. They are topped with an addictive browned butter and cream cheese frosting.

Ingredients

for the dough

• 70 g (1/3 cup) buttermilk
• 2 tsp active dry yeast
• 345 g (2 3/4 cup) all purpose flour
• 40 g (2 tbsp + 1 tsp) granulated sugar
• 1/4 tsp kosher salt
• Zest of one orange
• 2 eggs
• 113 g (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, softened

for the filling

• 4 tbsp unsalted butter, softened
• 10 g tahini
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1 1/2 tsp cardamom
• Zest of one orange
• Pinch of salt

for the frosting

• 113 g (1/2 cup) unsalted butter
• 8 oz cream cheese, softened
• 1 1/2-2 cups powdered sugar*
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• Pinch of salt

Instructions

to make the dough

1. Heat buttermilk until warm to the touch. Combine warmed milk and yeast in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook. Let proof for about 5 minutes, until foamy, while you prepare the rest of the ingredients.
2. In a medium bowl, combine all purpose flour salt, and sugar. Set aside.
3. Lightly beat eggs and then add them to the mixer with the milk and yeast. Stir with a rubber spatula to gently combine.
4. Add the dry ingredients to the liquid and begin mixing, starting on low speed and gradually increasing speed, for 2-3 minutes, until a thick dough begins to form.
5. With the mixer running on medium-low speed, add the softened butter, one tablespoon at a time, until incorporated. Once all of the butter has been added, increase the mixer speed to medium-high and knead for 6-7 minutes, until a smooth, elastic dough has formed. Turn the dough onto a work surface and knead by hand for another minute and then shape the dough into a ball. Place the dough ball into a greased bowl, cover, and let proof at room temperature for 1 1/2 hours, until swollen and almost doubled in size.
6. After the dough has completed its first proof, punch it down and cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap. Transfer to the refrigerator and chill overnight, or approximately 12 hours*.

to make the filling

1. Stir together all filling ingredients to form a smooth paste.

filling, shaping, and the final proof

1. Remove the dough from the refrigerator and let rest at room temperature for 30 minutes.
2. Turn it out onto a lightly floured work surface and roll out into a large rectangle, approximately 1/4” thick and about 16”x20”.
3. Dollop the filling over the dough and use an offset spatula to spread it into an even layer, reaching all the way to the edges of the dough.
4. Starting from one of the long edges, tightly roll the dough into a log. Use a serrated knife to slice the log into 12 equal pieces. Places rolls cut side down in a 9x13” baking dish. Cover and let proof again for 1-1/2 to 2 hours, until rolls are puffy.
5. Bake at 350° F for 30-35 minutes, until deeply golden. Let cool slightly and then frost while warm.

to make the frosting

1. Place butter in a small saucepan and cook over medium heat for 6-7 minutes, until nutty and fragrant and little brown bits appear at the bottom of the pot.
2. Transfer browned butter to the fridge and let cool completely.
3. Place cooled browned butter and softened cream cheese in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Beat until smooth and well combined.
4. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add the vanilla, salt, and powdered sugar. Continue mixing for 1-2 minutes, until light and fluffy.
5. Spread over warm cinnamon rolls and serve!

Notes:

• If you are pressed for time, you can skip the overnight rest in the fridge and substitute it with a 30 minute chill. Completing a long cold proof helps flavor develop in enriched doughs like this one, so I HIGHLY recommend that you work it in, if possible, but it can be skipped if needed.
• The sweetness of a frosting is highly subjective, so I recommend starting with a lower measurement of powdered sugar, tasting as you go, and adding more bit by bit until you reach your ideal sweetness level. If at any point, the frosting gets too thick, you can loosen it with a teaspoon or two of heavy cream or milk.

Similar Recipes

Cinnamon Swirl Brioche

Einkorn Pecan Sticky Buns

Browned Butter and Spelt Cinnamon Buns

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