Small Batch Chocolate Chip Cookies
6 perfect chewy brown butter chocolate chip cookies. This Small Batch Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe is great for those late night cravings when you can't be bothered to make a full batch. These cookies are rich, nutty, and rolled in chocolate two types of chocolate.
Servings: 6 cookies
Ingredients
- 4 tablespoons (57g) unsalted butter, browned and chilled in the freezer for 10 minutes*
- ⅓ cup + 1 Tablespoon (80g) packed brown sugar
- 1 large egg yolk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste*
- ⅔ cup (87g) all purpose flour
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ cup (3oz) semi-sweet chocolate chips, plus more for topping (optional)*
- optional: sea salt for topping
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350° and line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone mat. Using a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or a handheld mixer and a medium bowl), beat the butter and brown sugar on medium high for about 2 minutes or until smooth.
- Add the egg yolk and vanilla. Continue beating until well combined.
- Add the flour, salt, and baking soda. Mix on low until combined.
- Add the chocolate chips and mix on low until combined (you can also roll the cookie dough balls in the chocolate after the next step). See recipe notes for more on this. Divide the cookie dough into 6 equal balls (about 1 ½ - 2 tablespoons of dough per cookie). Sprinkle with sea salt if desired.
- Bake for 11-12 minutes or until golden around edges. Allow the cookies to cool (and continue cooking) for 5 minutes on the baking sheet. Transfer cookies to a wire cooling rack to finish cooling.
Notes
Brown butter: Browning butter is the process of heating it until the milk solids in the butter become a golden brown. If you need help browning your butter, check out this tutorial. After it is browned, pour the butter in a bowl and chill in the freezer for 10 minutes.
Chocolate: You use whatever kind of chocolate you have one hand (chocolate chips, chopped chocolate, chocolate chunks). I prefer semi sweet. Just be sure to use 3 ounces of chocolate total.
Egg yolks vary in size. Since this is a small batch recipe there is much less room for error. So you may have to add 1 - 2 ½ teaspoons of water after step 3 if your yolk was on the smaller side. Start with 1 teaspoon if your dough is crumbly and add another if needed. I have never had to add more than 2 ½ teaspoons. You want your dough to be the same as the texture shown above in step 3. If you add too much water, the cookies will run.
Do not over mix the dry ingredients. After you add them, just mix until combined.
Do not over bake the cookies or they will dry out!