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(Kind of like) Mom’s Brown Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies. Homemade chocolate chip cookies made with browned butter, sweet brown sugar, and oats. A classic cookie made better with the addition of brown butter and, of course, plenty of melty chocolate. These cookies can be lightly sprinkled with sea salt for a salty-sweet cookie bite. Sometimes you just need to bite into the classic oatmeal chocolate chip cookie we all know and love.
I have so many memories of baking my mom’s oatmeal chocolate chip cookies. She’d make them once a week and even became a little famous for them. She certainly knew the recipe by heart! Oats, flour, baking soda, salt, sugar, brown sugar, vanilla, canola oil, and a ton of chocolate chips.
Her recipe called for canola oil, which I prefer not to use. So basically what I’ve done with these cookies is replace the canola oil with browned butter.
I mean, brown butter? Canola oil? I’m going to pick brown butter 100% of the time!!
The details are simple
As with a lot of my cookie recipes, start with browning the butter.
I like to use a medium skillet and brown both sticks of butter over medium heat. Then simply let the butter cook until it bubbles up and foams on top. This is when I turn the heat off and continue to allow the butter to cook in the pan.
Little brown bits will form on the bottom of the pan. Those are the nutty little bits that will make your recipes extra delicious. Especially with the oats. I found the pairing to be really special.
When the butter has browned, the rest goes pretty much as you would think. I don’t use a mixer for these, just a good old-fashioned spatula will do the trick. Mix the butter with brown sugar, eggs, and vanilla. The only difference from my mom’s recipe is that I nixed the granulated sugar completely.
I don’t think it’s needed for sweetness and I love the flavor brown sugar adds over granulated sugar. I will say that if you love a traditional really sweet cookie, you might want to add 1/2 cup of granulated sugar. It’s up to you, but we think the cookies are sweet enough as written!
So after you’ve got your wet ingredients (+ brown sugar) together, then add the dry. Flour, oats, baking soda, and a small pinch of salt.
Mix in the chocolate chips. Or do it like me and mix chocolate chunks with chocolate chips. I usually use 1 1/2 cups of chocolate chunks and 1/2 cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips.
Either way, it will be delish!
We love a flatter cookie, so I gently press the dough balls down, then bake.
While the cookies bake, you’ll smell the wonderful scents of rich butter and vanilla. All the scents we love most. I highly recommend enjoying a cookie straight off the pan with a sprinkle of sea salt.
Holy freaking yummm! So simple, so delicious, and the classics never go out of style!
Looking for back-to-school recipes? Here are a few ideas:
Cookies n’ Cream Chocolate Chip Cookies
Vegan Double Chocolate Chunk Cookies
Healthier Homemade Nutter Butter Cookies
Lastly, if you make these Brown Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies. be sure to leave a comment and/or give this recipe a rating! Above all, I love to hear from you guys and always do my best to respond to each and every comment. And of course, if you do make this recipe, don’t forget to tag me on Instagram! Looking through the photos of recipes you all have made is my favorite!
Brown Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
Servings: 24 cookies
Calories Per Serving: 279 kcal
Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
Ingredients
- 2 sticks (1 cup) salted butter
- 1 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 2 large eggs
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 cups old fashioned oats
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 2 cups chocolate chunks or chips
- flaky sea salt, for sprinkling (optional)
Instructions
- 1. Preheat the oven to 350° F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.2. Add the butter to a skillet set over medium heat. Cook until the butter begins to brown, about 3-4 minutes. Remove from the heat and transfer to a heatproof bowl. Let cool 5 minutes or so.3. To the brown butter, mix in the brown sugar, eggs, and vanilla, mixing until smooth. Add the flour, oats, baking soda, and salt. Gently fold in the chocolate. 4. Roll the dough into rounded tablespoon size balls and place 2 inches apart on the prepared baking sheet. Gently flatten the dough down. Bake 8 minutes. Remove from the oven, rotate and tap the baking sheet on the counter 1-2 times to flatten. Bake another 2-3 minutes or until the cookies are just beginning to set on the edges.5. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet. They will continue to cook slightly as they sit on the baking sheet. Sprinkle with flaky salt (if desired). Eat warm (highly recommended) or let cool and store in an airtight container for up to 4 days.
The flavor using browned butter is delicious and like other people mentioned, I liked that the cookies weren’t overly sweet. They were, however, a bit dry and crumbly. Something is off with the recipe. I only made 6 cookies tonight, so tomorrow I’ll brown some more butter to add, plus possibly another egg white? Not quite a home run yet, but has potential.
Hi Susan,
Thanks for making these cookies and sharing your review. I’ve tested this recipe time and time again, so all of the measurements are correct. The oatmeal does make for a crumbly cookie, but you could try adding more butter next time. Let me know how they turn out! xx
These cookies turned out amazing!!! Put in chunks from a chocolate bar (as you suggested in one of your comments) and chocolate chips, YUM!! The browned butter gave it a nice flavour and they were not overly sweet, which I liked. Pressed the balls down prior to baking and they cooked consistently throughout. They were a hit and would definitely make them again! Looking forward to trying some of your other recipes.
Hi Carol,
Fantastic!!🌻 I appreciate you making this recipe and sharing your review, so glad to hear it turned out well for you! xT
Like some others have noted, these were pretty dry and they didn’t flatten when I dropped the pan. It was my first time browning butter so maybe I didn’t do it right, but I think I did. Next time I might cut the amount of oats and see if that makes them less dry. Regardless, they were all gone by the end of the day, so no real complaints. We always love your recipes and have all your cookbooks!
Hey Wendy,
Thanks so much for your kind message and giving this recipe a try! So sorry to hear it didn’t turn out the best for you, they are definitely crumbly! You could try more butter next time to see if that helps! xx
These cookies were good- had great flavor and texture. However, mine came out more dry/baked through (which could be the new oven I’m using). But they also didn’t flatten out, so they were more ball shaped, even after slapping the tray. Any suggestions on how to make sure they flatten out?
Hey Spencer,
Thanks so much for giving this recipe a try and sharing your feedback! Next time, I would reduce you bake time and gently press the dough down with your hand before baking. I hope this helps! xx
What brand of chocolate chips/chunks do you bake with? What tastes the best?
Hey Kelcy,
I really love using Chocolove bars! Please let me know if you have any other questions, I hope you love this recipe! xx
These cookies were so good. They had a great texture and I loved that they weren’t overly sweet, since they didn’t have any granulated white sugar in them. I have yet to try a HBH recipe I don’t like!
Hey Jacy,
Thanks so much for making these cookies and your kind message! So glad to hear they turned out well for you! xx
Do you use light brown or dark brown sugar? Does it make a difference? Thank you!
Hey Andrea,
Either will work just fine for you here! Please let me know if you give this recipe a try, I hope you love it! xx
Perfect snowy/rainy day cookies with the grandlittles. They even love the sprinkle of salt on top.
Hi Jenn,
Amazing!! So glad to hear that this recipe was enjoyed, thanks for making it!! Have a great weekend! xx
Second time making these – they turned out a little dry but delicious still. Always love your recipes!!
Hey Shandra,
Happy Monday!! 💘 Thanks so much for making this recipe, I love to hear that it turned out well for you! xx
Made these today for a party tomorrow. My family loved them so much I hope there’s enough left for tomorrow. Love the richness the browned butter adds – it’s almost like caramel when you mix it up with the sugar. Definitely a drier dough than I’m used to bc all of the oats and wet proportions but they came out amazing! Used the chocolate chunks and chip ratio that you recommend and my kids loved how chocolaty they are. Definitely our new go to cookie recipe
Hey Kristen,
Happy Sunday!!🏈 I appreciate you making this recipe and sharing your review, so glad to hear it turned out well for you! xx
Brava, Tieghan! You hit another one out of the park. It is truly amazing to me how you your recipes can be so great every single time. I made these cookies gluten-free. The only change I made was the flour, to Bob’s 1-to-1. The texture was perfect, the flavor fantastic. My new go-to chocolate chip cookie recipe and it wasn’t even “designed” for gluten-free. Thank you so much for all that you do!
Hey Latia,
Happy Sunday!!🏈 I appreciate you making this recipe and sharing your review, so glad to hear it turned out well for you! xx
Great texture!! The perfect amount of sweetness (I love chocolate but am not crazy about too much sweetness, so this was perfect for us)!! We mixed chunks and chips for the chocolate and did not squish them flat, but did drop the pan on the counter before putting them back in and rotating them!
Hey Hannah,
Happy Sunday!!🏈 I appreciate you making this recipe and sharing your review, so glad to hear it turned out well for you! xx
I made these today and o.m. Goodness!! So delicious!! They were a huge hit and now I get make them again for the Superbowl!! Thank you for sharing this recipe!
Hey Jen,
Wonderful!! I love to hear that this recipe was enjoyed and appreciate you giving it a try! Have a great weekend! 🏈
Just made these with my 3yo toddler. Yum! I used GF flour and added 1 cup of peanut butter chips in place of chocolate chips. I love them so much! My toddler loves them too, but said the salt on top isn’t good to her. Oh well. Mama likes it. Thank you for your recipe!
Hey there,
Awesome!!🌼 I love to hear that this recipe turned out well for you and appreciate you giving it a try! xT
Love these so much !!
Hi Danielle,
Happy Sunday!!💕 Thanks so much for trying this recipe out and sharing your feedback, so glad it was a hit! xx
Wanted to love these. But I had trouble getting the chocolate chips to mix in well with the batter. And it seems dry.
Maybe I over mixed?
Hi Sara,
So sorry to hear this recipe was not enjoyed. Was there anything you adjusted in the recipe? These don’t need much mixing. Let me know how I can help! xx
I made a big batch of the dough a while back and froze it. How would you suggest thawing/cooking?
Hey Audrey,
You can just scoop and thaw and then bake as directed:) Please let me know if you have any other questions! xx