These browned butter chocolate chip cookies with fresh milled flour are soft and gooey in the center, slightly crisp on the edges, and packed with caramel flavor from the browned butter. Fresh milled soft white wheat gives these cookies a deep, nutty flavor you simply can’t get from all-purpose flour. If you’ve never baked cookies with freshly milled flour or browned butter before, this is the perfect recipe to start with.

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Chocolate chip cookies were one of the first recipes I perfected after I started our journey into fresh milled flour. This was my original recipe chocolate chip cookie recipe, which I still make all the time. At first I was worried that my family would not like the taste the fresh milled flour in cookies, but thankfully that was not an issue, and in fact it added so much more flavor! These browned butter chocolate chip cookies with fresh milled flour step up that flavor even more than traditional cookies ever could.

Baking cookies with fresh milled flour is different than baking with store-bought flour. Fresh milled flour contains the whole grain, including the bran and germ, making it a thirstier flour. This means the flour will absorb more moisture. That’s why these browned butter chocolate chip cookies with fresh milled flour require a short chill time before baking — it allows the flour to fully hydrate and creates the perfect soft texture.

why you’ll love this recipe

delicious: these cookies are so tasty! The combination of fresh milled flour and browned butter really step up the taste profile. A slight crispy edge and soft gooey center make for a cookie everyone can love
easy: these cookies really are simple to make. Don’t be intimidated by the brown butter, I know you can do it
simple ingredients: once again, besides the browned butter, these cookies have ingredients that are more than likely readily available in your kitchen
easy to customize: you can use whatever chocolate chips you like. Dark, semi sweet, milk, or a mixture of all. Really, anything would taste amazing. You can even play around with a combination of chips and chunks.
easy to freeze dough: don’t want to cook all the cookies at once? This is a great recipe for freezing the pre shaped, uncooked, cookies balls. You can easily bake them from frozen.

Why Browned Butter Works So Well in Cookies Made With Fresh Milled Flour

First we should probably talk a little about what brown butter actually is. When you brown butter you are cooking off the water and toasting the milk solids. If you’ve ever made clarified butter or ghee then you may be familiar with the process of cooking off the water. But in both of these you separate the milk solids.

With brown butter you want those milk solids. After the water has evaporated (you know this has happened when there are barely any bubbles left) those milk solids start to get toasted and caramelized. The smell is absolutely incredible.

The caramel-y, toffee flavor of the brown butter pairs amazingly with the nuttiness of the whole grain present in fresh milled flour. While these cookies will work with purpose flour, the end results just won’t be the same. This is exactly why browned butter chocolate chip cookies with fresh milled flour taste so much richer than cookies made with all-purpose flour.

Ingredients for Browned Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies with Fresh Milled Flour

The ingredient list for these cookies is pretty straight forward. The only one that may throw you off is the browned butter. If you have never browned butter, don’t worry, it’s not hard. You just need to be sure to keep an eye on it as it can go from browned to burnt quickly.

Browned butter: I start with two sticks of butter, by the time the browning process is done there should be about 182 grams of butter.
Sugars: both brown and white sugar are used. I use more brown sugar to keep the cookie soft and gooey with a slightly crispy edge.
Egg: help with binding and structure
Egg yolks: helps create a chewier cookie, and adds fat
Soft white wheat: no need to sift this
Corn starch: helps create a softer cookie
Baking soda and baking powder: help with leavening
Salt: flavoring
Vanilla extract: flavoring
Chocolate chips: you can’t have a chocolate chip cookie without chocolate chips

How to Make Browned Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies with Fresh Milled Flour

How to Brown Butter for Chocolate Chip Cookies

Obviously you need brown butter for brown butter cookies. To brown butter cut up the two sticks of butter into 16 pieces total. Melt in a pan over medium- medium high heat, stirring. The butter will bubble and start foam. As the water evaporates the bubbles will subside, and the milk solids will start to turn brown. You will see brown bits at the bottom of the pan once this start happening. Give it a little more time, then turn of the heat and pour the butter into new dish (making sure to get all of those browned bits). Then, you need let the butter start to solidify again, as you want it softened.

how to brown butter for cookies — How the butter looks as it just starts to melt

browning butter for cookies — The water is starting to cook off

browned butter for cookies — The brown butter transferred to a new dish

Mix the dry ingredients

Mix the four, corn starch, baking soda, baking powder, and salt together in a bowl.

soft white wheat for brown butter chocolate chip cookies

Cream the butter and sugar

Once the browned butter is softened cream it with the sugar.

Add the egg, egg yolk, and vanilla extract

Mix in the egg, egg yolks, and vanilla.

adding eggs to cookie dough with fresh milled flour

Add the dry ingredients to the wet

Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix until just combined.

mixing dry and wet ingredients for brown butter chocolate chip cookies

Fold in chocolate chips

Fold in the chocolate chips. You can use chocolate chips, chocolate chunks, dark chocolate, semi sweet, or a mixture of it all.

Scoop and Chill Cookie Dough Made With Fresh Milled Flour

Using a spoon or cookie scoop, scoop cookie dough onto parchment paper (or silicone baking mat) lined cookie tray. Press down slightly to flatten the cookie. It’s ok if you place these cookies close to each other, as you will be taking them off this tray to bake on another tray.

Cover the cookies with plastic wrap and put the tray with all the cookie dough in the fridge for at least 60 minutes. You can also leave them in the fridge overnight, just be sure they are covered well with plastic wrap. Chilling is very important for these browned butter chocolate chip cookies with fresh milled flour as it gives the flour time to fully hydrate. Skipping this step can cause your cookies to spread when baking.

chilling brown butter chocolate chip cookie dough with fresh milled flour

How to Bake Browned Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

When ready to bake preheat the oven to 350°. Transfer cookies from the fridge to a new tray lined with either a baking mat or parchment paper. Bake for 12-14 minutes. The goal is to have the edges just starting to turn brown. The center will still look a little bit undercooked.

soft center chocolate chip cookies fresh milled flour

Remove and rest

After 12-14 minutes remove the tray from the oven and place on stove or hot pad. Allow the cookies to continue cooking out of the oven for 10 more minutes. Then remove the cookies to a cooling rack to cool.

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FAQ: Browned Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies With Fresh Milled Flour

What are the best wheat berries to use?

Whenever I bake cookies I use soft white wheat. The lower gluten and protein content make for a softer, more tender cookie.

How fine should I mill my flour?

I tend to mill my flour on the finer side. This helps prevent a grainy texture. You can also sift out some of the bran if you would like, but I don’t find it necessary for these cookies.

Can I use all purpose flour instead of fresh milled flour?

You can, but would need to make adjustments, as this was created specifically for use with fresh milled flour, which absorbs more moisture than all purpose flour. I would start by using about 40 grams less flour and see what that does. You may also need to reduce the amount of browned butter used.

Do I really need to chill the dough?

Yes, chilling the dough is a necessary step for these cookies. This helps to hydrate the dough, since fresh milled flour is “thirstier” then all purpose.

How do I store browned butter chocolate chip cookies with fresh milled flour?

Store these cookies on the countertop in an air tight container or zip lock bag. They will stay fresh for 3-4 days.

Can I freeze the dough?

Yes you totally can. After the dough has chilled for an hour in the fridge transfer the dough balls to an air tight container or zip lock bag and place in the freezer. You can bake these from frozen, just add 2-3 extra minutes onto your baking time.

Why do you use weight instead of cup measurements?

Once I started baking with fresh milled flour I realized how wildly inaccurate cup measurements can be. Depending on of you spoon and level, or scoop, they can be a wide rage of how much flour you may use. Even a little extra flour can affect the end result. By weighing, you know that everyone is use the exact same amount.

soft white wheat chocolate chip cookie with brown butter

Pro Tips to the Perfect Browned Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies with Fresh Milled Flour

Mill the flour on the finer side
Be sure to use soft white wheat
Do not skip the chilling step, it is very important
Keep the cookies slightly under baked when you take them out of the oven. They will finish baking for the 10 minutes they sit on the cookie sheet
Be sure the brown butter is not too melted. It needs to be similar to a stick of softened butter