These Brown Butter Spelt Chocolate Chip Cookies are made with spelt flour, brown butter, and rich dark chocolate chunks. With their crisp edges, chewy centers, and nutty flavor, it’s impossible to eat just one! Top them with flaky sea salt for a luxurious combination of sweet and salty.
These Brown Butter Spelt Chocolate Chip Cookies are a twist on a tasty classic. They’re made with a combination of spelt flour, tipo 1 (whole wheat pastry) flour, and delicious brown butter. The edges are crisp and crunchy while the insides are soft and chewy. It’s the best of both worlds!
If you’ve never baked with spelt flour before, the flavor is slightly nutty and a bit on the tangy side. Like whole wheat flour, it contains the whole grain which carries more nutrients than standard all-purpose flour. That doesn’t necessarily mean these cookies are healthy, but it’s good to get a little extra fiber in where you can.
As with most of our chocolate chip cookies, we opted to use dark chocolate since it has the most depth of flavor and doesn’t add too much extra sweetness. The low chill time for these spelt chocolate chip cookies is another thing we love so much about them. They’re super simple to make and take little to no time at all. You’ll have freshly baked cookies in no time!
Ingredients
- European Style Unsalted Butter: European-style butter has a larger percentage of fat than American butter, resulting in more flavorful baked goods. It’s also good to have more of those fat solids when making brown butter like we are here.
- Spelt Flour: This should be available at most grocery stores. Bob’s Red Mill or Arrowhead are popular brands that sell it.
- Tipo 1 Flour (or Whole Wheat Pastry Flour): We used tipo 1 flour in this recipe but you can swap it for whole wheat pastry flour. Read the FAQ section below to learn more about tipo 1 flour.
- Baking Soda: You’ll need ½ tsp.
- Salt: We use fine sea salt.
- Light Brown Sugar: This adds a bit of moisture from the molasses in the sugar and gives it a nice golden color.
- Granulated Sugar: You’ll need 100 g or ½ cup.
- Egg + Egg Yolk: The extra egg yolk adds a bit of moisture and chewiness. Make sure to set out your eggs at least 30 minutes beforehand so they incorporate into the dough better.
- Vanilla Extract: You’ll need 1 tsp.
- Dark Chocolate: We use Guittard’s 70% dark chocolate bars. They’re rich in flavor and don’t overpower the cookie with too much sweetness.
- Flaky Sea Salt: For sprinkling over your freshly baked cookies!
How to Make Spelt Chocolate Chip Cookies
- First, brown your butter in a saucepan over medium heat. We suggest cutting it into tablespoon sized pieces beforehand so it melts faster and more evenly. Once it has browned, let it cool for 15-20 minutes while you prepare the rest of the ingredients.
- While the butter is cooling, chop the dark chocolate and whisk together your dry ingredients.
- Next, make the dough by whisking the sugars into the brown butter. Then add the wet ingredients followed by the dry ingredients.
- Fold in the dark chocolate chunks then cover the bowl with plastic wrap and chill for at least 30 minutes.
- While the dough is chilling, preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C) and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Use a 3 tbsp cookie scoop to measure out the cookies and place them on the baking sheet.
- Bake for 12-14 minutes then cool for 5 minutes on the pan before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
Tips
- Measure in grams. This is super important especially for flour. Though we provide cup measurements, we highly recommend you use a kitchen scale since it’s very easy to overpack your flour when using cups. You’ll get more accurate results that way and reduce the risk of having dry, crumbly cookies. If you only have cups on hand, we recommend the spoon and level method. Just be aware that the results could differ.
- Use room temperature ingredients. In this case, all you need to worry about is the eggs. Cold eggs won’t mix as well into the batter and could stiffen your butter. Set them out at least 30 minutes beforehand to get them to room temperature.
- Separate the yolk while the egg is still cold. It’s easier to separate cold eggs and minimizes the chance of your yolk breaking. Place it in a small bowl and cover it with plastic wrap before leaving it on the counter to get to room temperature. If you don’t cover the yolk, it could solidify into a thick gel, making it harder to get out of the bowl.
- To get perfectly round cookies, take a large round biscuit cutter or flan ring and place it over the cookies as soon as you take them out of the oven. Give each cookie a little swirl inside the circle until they form a round shape. It’s important to do this when they’re fresh out of the oven since they’re still soft and have yet to set.
FAQ
Tipo 1 flour or type 1 flour is a soft Italian stone ground flour that still contains a large amount of the bran and wheat germ. It has more nutrients than plain flour and contains more gluten due the proteins from the grain. The closest alternative is regular whole wheat pastry flour which you can substitute with a 1:1 ratio. Don’t use regular whole wheat flour though as that is made with hard, red wheat which will give your dough a grittier, drier texture and your cookies will be crunchy.
Chilling the dough allows the flour to properly hydrate and the flavors to meld together. Since we’re using brown butter, it’s always best to chill for at least 30 minutes to really enhance the warm, nutty flavor. If you have the patience, chilling overnight is best. If your dough is too hard, leave it on the counter for a few minutes until it’s just loose enough to scoop out. Make sure it doesn’t thaw too much or your cookies could spread really thin.
Yes. After chilling the dough for at least 30 minutes, measure the cookies with the cookie scoop like you would if you were baking them right away. Place the dough balls into a sealed Ziploc bag and freeze them for up to 3 months. We recommend writing the date, temperature, and time on the bag so all the info you need is right there.
Place them in an airtight container or sealed Ziploc bag and store them at room temperature. They’re good for up to 4-5 days after baking but are best after 2-3.
📖 Recipe
Brown Butter Spelt Chocolate Chip Cookies
Equipment
- Kitchen Scale
- 3 tbsp Cookie Scoop
- Large Baking Sheet
Ingredients
- 200 g (14 tbsp) European-style unsalted butter cut into pieces
- 100 g (1 cup) spelt flour spooned and leveled
- 120 g (1 cup) tipo 1 flour or whole wheat pastry flour spooned and leveled
- ½ tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp fine sea salt
- 150 g (¾ cup) light brown sugar packed
- 100 g (½ cup) granulated sugar
- 1 large egg room temperature
- 1 large egg yolk room temperature
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 150 g (5 oz) 70% dark chocolate roughly chopped
- Flaky sea salt for sprinkling
Instructions
- In a saucepan over medium heat, melt the butter, swirling the pan occasionally.
- Once melted, continue to heat and swirl the pan (it will start to bubble and crackle at this stage). Scrape the sides and bottom of the pan with a silicone spatula to unstick any brown milk solids that have formed. Continue cooking until the butter reaches a deep amber color and emits a nutty aroma.
- Immediately transfer to a large heatproof bowl being sure to include all the brown bits/milk solids. Allow it to cool for 15-20 minutes while you chop the chocolate and prepare the other ingredients.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the spelt flour, tipo 1 flour (or whole wheat pastry flour), baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
- Once the butter has cooled, whisk in the brown sugar and granulated sugar.
- Add the egg, egg yolk, and vanilla extract. Whisk to combine.
- Using a silicone spatula, fold in the flour mixture until just combined. It might seem like a lot of flour at first, but it should come together after a minute or so.
- Fold in the dark chocolate until combined.
- Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and chill in the fridge for 30 minutes or overnight.
- Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C) and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Using a 3 tbsp cookie scoop, measure the cookies and place them onto the prepared baking sheet 1 ½-2 inches (4-5 cm) apart.
- 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 before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
- Sprinkle with flaky sea salt if desired.
Notes
- Measure in grams for more accurate results. While we provide cup measurements, we can’t guarantee that your cookies will come out the same. We highly recommend using a kitchen scale when baking so you don’t overpack your flour and other ingredients. If cups are all you have, please use the spoon and level method for better results.
- Store the cookies in a sealed Ziploc bag or airtight container at room temperature. They’re good for up to 4-5 days after baking, but are best after 2-3.
Leave a Comment