These brown butter chocolate walnut cookies are soft, thick, chewy, a bit crunching of walnuts and extra flavourful. Infused with the nutty flavour of browned butter, and loaded with semisweet chocolate and walnuts, these cookies are incredibly gourmet and will surely become your new favourite cookie recipe! Did I say no mixer is required? Just two bowls and a whisk!
Am I late to the party?? Brown Butter! How did I not make you before this? After my best chewy chocolate chip cookies, Pinterest flooded my feed with all kinds of cookies, most of which were "Brown Butter cookies". I thought they were referring to "Desi ghee"! My bad! 😬 Apparently, Clarified butter, Ghee and Brown butter are three different things! 🤯
If you are into nerdy reads or the science of cooking, then do check out the article by Epicurious detailing how the three are made and why they are different from each other.
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Ingredients
This brown butter chocolate walnut cookies recipe is so yummy that I bet you can't stop with one unless you have the willpower of an athlete aiming for the Olympics! Brown butter is truly liquid gold and I urge you to try it at least once I am sure you will love this version too! Between F and I, I think I ate more cookies 😄 but you never know - he is too good at making me believe it.
- Butter: You may use salted or unsalted.
- Brown sugar: Light or dark will work.
- White sugar: use regular granulated sugar.
- Egg: use a large one
- Vanilla extract: You may use almond extract
- Flour: All-purpose flour aka plain flour or maida
- Cornflour: This gives the cookies a soft consistency and helps keep the cookies thick so do not skip it.
- Baking soda: Baking soda cannot be replaced with baking powder. They are two different things and react differently.
- Salt: Adjust if using salted butter
- Chocolate chips: use your favourite semi-sweet, dark, milk etc.
- Walnuts: make sure they are not rancid or you may skip and add more chocolate.
What is brown butter?
Brown butter aka browned butter is nothing but the result of slow-cooking regular butter. The French call it beurre noisette and they use it in both savoury and sweet dishes as a sauce.
The melting method gently cooks the butter and turns the milk solids into brown bits while evaporating all the water present in the butter. This develops a nutty flavour and toasted aroma making it liquid gold in the culinary world.
Browned butter has a deeper, richer, and more intense flavour than melted or clarified butter.
Instructions
The first step is the make the brown butter and let it cool. Making browned butter needs your full attention because, in a split second, you can go from brown butter to burnt butter! Once you have the brown butter, you can make this batch of chocolate walnut cookies and eat them guilt-free.
Next, you will whisk the sugar and egg into the brown butter and then stir in the flour items.
Lastly, fold in the chocolate chips and chopped walnuts. Your cookie dough is ready. Reminder! chilling the cookie dough is mandatory. You may chill for 30 minutes or overnight.
Baking time! Preheat your oven and line the baking tray. Scoop the cookie dough and place it on a lined baking tray leaving a gap between each. You may shape the dough into neat balls and then bake until golden to brown edges - approx 13 minutes.
Make sure to remove the tray from the oven and let it cool as the cookies will continue to cook while cooling. So, it is better to remove them at 13 minutes for chewy cookies. Refer below for the detailed cookie recipe.
How to freeze cookie dough?
- Chill the cookie dough balls in the refrigerator for 1 hour
- Place the solid and cold cookie dough balls into a freezer-friendly bag or box
- Label the date and any other details to remember like the baking temp, name of the cookie, etc. and place the bag in the freezer. You may freeze cookie dough for up to 3 months
- To bake the frozen cookie dough balls, remove them from the freezer, preheat the oven according to the recipe's instructions and bake them for a minute or two longer than the required time
Variations
Chocolate walnut cookies are a classic, and there are several variations you can try:
- Double Chocolate: Add unsweetened cocoa powder to the dough and use both chocolate chips and cocoa nibs for an extra rich chocolatey flavour.
- White Chocolate: Replace the chocolate chips with white chocolate chips for a sweeter and creamier cookie.
- Oatmeal: Mix in some rolled oats for a heartier texture and a touch of cinnamon for extra flavor.
- Peanut Butter: Add a dollop of peanut butter to the dough for a tasty twist on the classic combo of peanut butter and chocolate.
- Coconut: Sprinkle shredded coconut into the dough for a tropical flair.
Feel free to get creative and mix and match these ideas to make your own unique chocolate walnut cookies.
Equipment
- Light-coloured saucepan: To prepare brown butter.
- Mixing Bowl: A couple of mixing bowls, one for wet ingredients and one for dry, will come in handy.
- Whisk: You can use a simple whisk to blend the ingredients together.
- Spatula: For mixing and scraping the dough.
- Baking Sheet: To place your cookie dough on. You might want to line it with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat for easy cleanup.
- Cooling Rack: Once the cookies are done, let them cool on a rack. This helps them firm up nicely.
- Cookie Scoop or spoon: To portion out your cookie dough evenly.
Storage
When it comes to storing those scrumptious chocolate walnut cookies, here's what you can do:
- Room Temperature: If you plan to enjoy the cookies within a few days, you can store them in an airtight container at room temperature. They should stay fresh for up to a week this way.
- Freezing: To store baked cookies for a longer period, consider freezing them. Place the cookies in a single layer on a baking sheet and freeze until they're firm. Then transfer them to an airtight container or a zip-top bag. They can last for about 2-3 months in the freezer.
Remember, when you're ready to enjoy the frozen cookies, you can let them come to room temperature for the best taste and texture.🍪😋
FAQ
Browned butter adds intense flavour to the cookies making them no ordinary cookies. But because browning butter process removes the water content of the butter, the cookie dough needs addition of liquid in the form of milk or more sugar or butter.
You can use either light or dark brown sugar for making the cookie dough. You may even use a mix of both.
Yes, you can. My Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies recipe uses melted butter and also has more sugar. You can use that recipe and replace melted butter with brown butter without altering the sugar quantity. In this recipe, I reduced the sugar and added a tablespoon of milk to compensate for the moisture loss that happned while browning butter.
Related
Looking for other recipes using chocolate? Try these:
📖 Recipe Card
Chocolate Walnut Cookies
Ingredients
- ½ cup unsalted butter, (100gms)
- ½ cup brown sugar, (100gms)
- ¼ cup white sugar, (60gms)
- 1 large egg, room temperature
- 1 to 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 tablespoon milk
- 1¼ cups all-purpose flour, (200gms)
- ½ teaspoon cornflour
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup chocolate chips
- ½ cup chopped walnuts
Instructions
Prepare brown butter
- Cut the butter into small pieces and add to a light-coloured saucepan. Melt over medium heat until it foams and crackles. Continue cooking until the foam turns golden, a nutty aroma develops, and brown bits form at the bottom. Remove from heat when the bits are amber and the popping stops. Immediately pour into a large mixing bowl.½ cup unsalted butter (100gms)
Make the cookie dough
- Add both brown and white sugar to the warm brown butter and mix until smooth. Whisk in the milk and vanilla until combined. Once the mixture has cooled slightly, whisk in the egg.½ cup brown sugar (100gms)¼ cup white sugar (60gms)1 to 2 teaspoon vanilla extract1 tablespoon milk1 large egg room temperature
- In a separate small bowl, combine the flour, cornstarch, baking soda, and salt. Gradually stir the dry ingredients into the wet mixture with a rubber spatula until just combined-avoid overmixing.1¼ cups all-purpose flour (200gms)½ teaspoon cornflour½ teaspoon baking soda½ teaspoon salt
- Fold in the chocolate chunks and walnuts until evenly distributed. Cover the dough and chill it in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes.½ cup chocolate chips½ cup chopped walnuts
Shape the cookies
- Scoop 2-3 tablespoons of dough per cookie and roll into balls. For thinner cookies, gently flatten into discs. You can bake immediately, chill again for later, or freeze for future use.
Bake
- Preheat the oven to 170°C-180°C. Line a baking tray with baking paper.
- Place cookie dough balls on the tray, leaving enough space between each and from the edges so they can spread evenly. You may also freeze the dough balls at this stage (see post for details).
- Bake for 12-15 minutes, keeping an eye on them after 8 minutes. Remove as soon as you see golden spots and brown edges-cookies will continue to cook while cooling.
Store
- Let cookies cool on the tray for 10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Serve fresh or store in an airtight container for up to one week (though they rarely last that long!).
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