Brown Butter Bourbon Pecan Chocolate Chunk Cookies
Chewy cookies made with nutty brown butter, rich bourbon, crunchy pecans, and melty chocolate chunks for a deep, indulgent flavor. A sophisticated twist on a classic treat!
Ingredients
- 1 cup 2 sticks unsalted butter
- 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup dark brown sugar
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 2 tablespoons bourbon
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chunks
- 1 1/2 cups toasted pecans chopped
- Flaky sea salt for topping
Instructions
- First, let’s brown the butter. Put 2 sticks of unsalted butter in a light-colored saucepan over medium heat (light-colored helps you see the browning better). Keep stirring occasionally and watch carefully – you’ll see little golden-brown specks forming at the bottom and it’ll smell wonderfully nutty, like toasted hazelnuts. This usually takes about 5-7 minutes. Pour it into a heat-safe bowl right away to stop the cooking and let it cool for about 20-30 minutes until just warm to the touch.
- While the butter cools, get the dry ingredients ready. Whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt in a bowl. This helps distribute everything evenly so you don’t bite into a pocket of salt later.
- Once the brown butter has cooled but is still slightly warm, add both sugars and mix really well with a wooden spoon or spatula. You want the sugars to almost melt into the warm butter – this gives you that chewy texture later. The mixture will look like wet sand.
- Beat in eggs one at a time, mixing well after each. You’ll see the mixture get smoother and lighter in color. Now add the bourbon and vanilla – the bourbon adds a lovely caramel note that works magic with the brown butter.
- Gradually stir in flour mixture until just combined. Stop as soon as you don’t see any dry flour – overmixing makes tough cookies. The dough will be pretty soft at this point.
- Fold in the chocolate chunks and pecans. Make sure pecans are completely cool from toasting or they’ll melt the chocolate. The dough will be thick and chunky – that’s exactly what we want.
- Here’s the hard part – chill the dough for at least 2 hours or overnight. This lets the flour hydrate and helps prevent flat cookies. I know it’s tempting to skip this, but trust me, it makes a difference.
- When you’re ready to bake, preheat your oven to 350°F and line your baking sheets with parchment. Scoop generous tablespoons of dough (about 3 tablespoons each) onto your sheets, leaving plenty of space between them – these spread a bit.
- Sprinkle each cookie with a little flaky sea salt. The contrast with the sweet dough is fantastic.
- Bake for 11-13 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through. Look for golden brown edges but a slightly lighter center – they might look a tiny bit underdone in the middle but will set up as they cool. The perfect cookie should have a slight dome with crackly top.
- Let them cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes – they’re too soft to move right away. Then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.