Brown butter cocoa cookies in a bowl on a yellow napkin.

Let me start off by saying that brown butter adds a whole other level to baking and cooking! The flavor adds satisfying depth and is just so dang yummy! If you haven’t tried it before then I recommend starting here with these easy to make brown butter chocolate cookies, especially if you love chocolate. Browned butter has a nutty caramelized flavor and smell. It is not only used in baking, but savory dishes as well. My dear bestie, Alli, introduced me to the magic of brown butter, and when your friend introduces you to the good stuff, that’s how you know they’re your best friend.

Is Browning Butter Difficult?

Not at all! The main thing is you have to watch it carefully because it can go from browned butter to burnt butter before you can say, “So help me Julia [Childs] there goes the butter!” So keep an eye on the cooking butter like you would watch a dog sniffing around the house looking for a spot to do something they’re not supposed to.

Some Simple Steps to Browning Butter

First, let the butter come to room temperature if it is coming right out of the fridge. I then cut the butter into about tablespoon sized slices so that it will melt more evenly. Melt the butter in a light colored pan if you have one so you can see what is happening with the butter. I just used a stainless steel pan, warmed up over medium heat first. Then I place the butter slices in the pan and brown the butter, it takes about 3 minutes. Constantly stir the butter, it will get bubbly and foamy. When the foam subsides, there should be brown specks at the bottom of the pan (these are the toasted milk solids) and the butter smells nutty. Now you can remove the butter from the heat and immediately transfer to a heat-proof mixing bowl so the butter does not keep cooking. Voila! Brown butter magic.

Other Ingredients

Ingredients for brown butter cocoa cookies. Shown is almond flour, coconut flour, Navitas cacao powder, maple syrup, celtic sea salt, vanilla extract, and Vital farms butter.

You will also need:

Almond Flour
Coconut Flour
Maple Syrup
Cocoa Powder
Vanilla Extract
Baking Soda
Sea Salt

Whisk the flours, cocoa powder, baking soda and sea salt in a bowl separate from the browned butter. In the bowl with the butter, add the maple syrup, vanilla extract and whisk together. Gradually stir in the flour mixture to the butter mixture. I then recommend chilling the dough for 30 minutes in the fridge to let the flavors develop more and to make the dough a little firmer. You can still make the cookies without chilling it, however.

Almond flour, coconut flour, cacao powder, sea salt, and baking powder mixed in a bowl.

Very tightly pack a tablespoon scoop with dough and place disc on baking sheet. Press cookie down with palm of hand until about ½ inch in height. The cookies do not really spread, so having them an inch apart should be fine. Lightly sprinkle tops of the brown butter chocolate cookies with sea salt flakes. Bake in the oven at 300 degrees Fahrenheit for about 8-12 minutes.

Cocoa cookie dough with sea salt on parchment paper.

Note, they will be soft when they come out of the oven (this is normal for almond flour baked goods), let it cool completely. You don’t want to over bake these, that being said, I know it is difficult to tell when these are done since they are already brown in color. My advice would be to bake at the lowest recommended time, 8 minutes and go from there. These cookies will firm up as they cool and can be stored in the fridge. Enjoy!