These Brown Butter Miso Chocolate Chip Cookies are made with umami-rich miso, warm brown butter and melty puddles of dark chocolate. They’re layered with tons of flavor, making them ultra decadent and outrageously good!
Miso has quickly become a favorite of ours when looking to add a special twist to desserts (ex. this Miso Caramel Millionaires Shortbread). It has a rich umami flavor that, when paired with sugar, adds notes of caramel as well as a delicious combination of sweet and salty.
When combined with the nuttiness of brown butter, its takes desserts like these Miso Chocolate Chip Cookies to the next level.
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Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Unique Flavor: Miso paste adds a subtle tang and a distinct caramel-like flavor that adds a lot of depth to the overall flavor of the cookies.
- Chewy Texture: Besides contributing to the taste, miso paste gives cookies a chewier texture similar to what you would get if using an extra egg yolk.
- Dark Chocolate: This is our go-to for any chocolate chip cookie recipe. The subtle sweetness prevents desserts from being cloyingly sweet, and we always recommend using bars or wafers over chips. Nine times out of ten, the quality is much better.
Ingredient Notes
Ingredient quantities are listed in the recipe card below. Here you’ll find notes on why we chose certain ingredients as well as any substitutions.
- All-Purpose Flour: We recommend using a digital scale since it’s easy to overpack when using cups.
- Baking Soda: To control the rise of the cookies.
- Salt: Miso paste is already salty, but we like to add a touch of fine sea salt to give the cookies an extra boost.
- Unsalted Butter: We recommend using European-style butter since it has a higher percentage of butter fat which is where the brown butter flavor comes from.
- Granulated + Light Brown Sugar: We like to use a combination of both to give the cookies a crisp edge with a soft interior.
- Miso Paste: We use white miso for these cookies. It’s more delicate in flavor than other miso pastes and goes great in all sorts of desserts!
- Egg: Set it out 1-2 hours beforehand or quickly bring it to room temperature by placing it in a bowl of warm water for 5-10 minutes.
- Pure Vanilla Extract: To round out all the flavors.
- 70% Dark Chocolate: We used Valrhona feves for this recipe since they taste amazing and make really good puddles of chocolate. An alternative and another favorite of ours is Guittard.
Kitchen Equipment
- Kitchen Scale
- Oven Thermometer
- Small Saucepan
- Large Baking Sheet
- Parchment Paper
- Mixing Bowls
- 3 Tbsp Cookie Scoop
Step-by-Step Instructions
This section provides a general overview as well as any pictures to guide you through the recipe. The full detailed recipe instructions are in the recipe card at the bottom of the post.
STEP 1: Brown the butter. Melt the butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Then stir frequently until it’s deep amber in color and emits a nutty aroma. Transfer to a heatproof bowl and cool for 20 minutes.
STEP 2: Combine the dry ingredients. Whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt then set aside.
STEP 3: Combine the wet ingredients. Add both the sugars to the cooled browned butter and whisk until slushy. Add the egg, miso, and vanilla extract, whisking until smooth and lump-free.
STEP 4: Add the flour and chocolate. Fold in the flour mixture until just combined then fold in the chopped chocolate.
STEP 5: Chill. Use a 3 tbsp cookie scoop to portion out the cookies and place them on a small parchment lined baking sheet. Chill in the fridge for 1 hour or overnight.
STEP 6: Bake. Place the cookies on a large parchment lined baking sheet and bake for 12-14 minutes at 350°F (180°C) or until the edges are golden brown and the centers look slightly underdone.
Expert Tips
- Use a pastry ring for perfectly round cookies. You can get these on Amazon or any kitchen store like Williams Sonoma and Sur La Table. Use it to swirl the cookies immediately after they come out of the oven. The more they cool, the harder it will be to shape them, so do it quickly!
- Slightly underbake the cookies. The centers should look a bit soft when you take them out of the oven. That way you’re left with a perfectly gooey center that isn’t completely raw.
- Use room temperature ingredients. The miso can be used straight out of the fridge, but the egg should always be room temperature. This helps to create an evenly textured cookie as well as a more homogenous dough.
FAQ
Yes. For best results, we recommend chilling the dough overnight. For cookies that are ready the same day, 1 hour is the minimum chill time. This allows ample time for the dough to hydrate and prevents the cookies from becoming a flat disc in the oven. Most importantly, it allows the flavors to meld together and become more harmonious and delicious.
We haven’t tried them with gluten-free flour, but Bob’s Red Mill 1:1 Baking Flour is usually a pretty solid alternative. If you try it, we’d love to know how they turned out.
Baking in Grams
All of our baking recipes are carefully tested using grams so that you get a beautiful and delicious baked good every time. While we provide cup measurements, we can’t guarantee that they’ll produce good results. There’s more room for error when using cups, and how you pack your ingredients can make a significant difference. This is why we recommend measuring by weight so you’re guaranteed for success in the kitchen! All you need is a kitchen scale and you’re good to go!
Storage & Freezing
Storing: These brown butter miso chocolate chip cookies are best eaten 2-3 days after baking, but you can store them in a sealed bag or container for up to 1 week at room temperature.
Freezing: After chilling the dough balls in the fridge, place them in a sealed freezer bag and freeze for up to 3 months. Keep in mind you may need to add a few extra minutes to the bake time.
If you tried this recipe, let us know how it turned out for you! Leave a star rating and review below and tag us on Instagram @fancifuleats so we can see your amazing kitchen creations!
📖 Recipe
Brown Butter Miso Chocolate Chip Cookies
Equipment
- Kitchen Scale
- Small Saucepan
- Large Baking Sheet
- 3 tbsp Cookie Scoop
Ingredients
- 200 g (14 tbsp) unsalted butter cut into pieces
- 225 g (1 ¾ cups + 2 tbsp) all-purpose flour spooned and leveled
- 1 tsp baking soda
- ¼ tsp fine sea salt
- 100 g (½ cup) granulated sugar
- 150 g (¾ cup) light brown sugar packed
- 60 g (3 tbsp) white miso paste
- 1 large egg room temperature
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 150 g (5 oz) 70% dark chocolate roughly chopped
Instructions
- In a small saucepan over medium heat, melt the butter. Once melted, use a heatproof silicone spatula to frequently stir and unstick any brown bits from the bottom and sides of the pan. Cook until the butter turns deep amber in color and emits a nutty aroma.
- Immediately transfer the browned butter to a large heatproof bowl. Be sure to scrape out every last bit of browned milk solids as that's where the majority of the flavor is. Cool at room temperature for 20 minutes.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt. Line a small baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
- Add both sugars to the lightly cooled butter and whisk until well combined and slushy.
- Add the miso, egg, and vanilla extract and whisk until smooth.
- Fold in the flour mixture until just combined then fold in the dark chocolate.
- Use a 3 tbsp cookie scoop to portion out the cookies and place them side by side on the small lined baking sheet. Chill in the fridge for at least 1 hour or overnight for best results.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C) and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Place the cookies 2-3 inches (5-7.6 cm) apart on the prepared baking sheet. Bake for 12-14 minutes or until the edges are golden brown and the centers look slightly underdone.
- Cool on the pan for 5 minutes then transfer to a wire rack to continue cooling.
Notes
- We used Valrhona Gaunaja 70% dark chocolate feves.
- To get perfectly round cookies, use a pastry ring or a round biscuit cutter to swirl the cookies as soon as you remove them from the oven.
- Storage: Store them in an airtight container and keep them at room temperature for up to 1 week.
Cesar says
Really good, I made these 3 times in the last month and they’ve turned out great all 3 times
Fanciful Eats says
Glad you enjoyed them!
Kris cooks in Maryland says
I’m swooning! This is the chocolate chip cookie of my dreams. The brown butter adds incredible caramel notes and isn’t at all difficult to do. I used 72% dark chocolate chips (from Trader Joe’s), which added the perfect touch of bitterness. 50 gram balls of dough were the right size to yield 18 cookies from the single batch. This is my new signature chocolate chip cookie – it’s absolute perfection. Thanks for a GREAT recipe, and the built-in calculator to double and triple it.
Fanciful Eats says
Thanks so much for your feedback, Kris! We’re glad you enjoyed the cookies. 😊