These brown butter oatmeal cookies are packed with chocolate chips! Made in just a couple of bowls with a whisk and a rubber spatula, these brown butter oatmeal chocolate chip cookies don't need a stand mixer. The brown butter gives these cookies a delightful nutty and toasty flavor that is perfect for fall!
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Oatmeal cookies are one of my favorite things to make, and I've been making them for over 20 years now! I made a similar cookie (but with toasted pecans) for my husband the first time we met, and he still talks about them.
These brown butter oatmeal cookies might even be better than those (I said what I said!), thanks to a mixture of browned butter, molasses, and warm spices, making them seriously next level!
I also love that these chewy oatmeal cookies don't need a mixer. Not having to pull out the stand mixer or my trusty handheld mixer is always a win for me!
I've added chocolate chips to these oatmeal cookies because that's my jam, but you could always add toasted nuts, dried cranberries or raisins, or a different kind of baking chip! If you're a coconut lover, then try my coconut oatmeal chocolate chip cookies.
If you want even more oatmeal cookies, you gotta try my oatmeal cranberry walnut cookies or oatmeal walnut chocolate chip cookies! Love brown butter? Then try my brown butter espresso chocolate chip cookies or Christmas oatmeal cookies!
Why you'll love this recipe!
- Simple & Easy: these oatmeal cookies are super easy to make. The hardest part is going to be waiting for them to chill in the fridge or making the brown butter! I'm also using simple pantry ingredients, I bet you already have everything you need.
- Warm Flavors: the combination of molasses, cinnamon and brown butter is perfect for cozy nights in the fall and winter.
- Super Chewy: slightly underbaking these cookies means you're going to have super soft cookies. I'm not a big fan of dry or crispy cookies!
Grab your ingredients
- Oats: you'll want to use rolled oats or old fashioned oats, and not quick oats. Quick oats are more processed and will make these cookies dry. I don't recommend using steel cut oats. Oats pair so well with cinnamon which is why I love putting the two together in this recipe!
- Molasses: This is totally optional to add but it really gives these cookies an extra oomph of flavor! Molasses is a slightly sweet syrup that's actually what's leftover after sugar has been boiled and most of the sugar has been extracted. I recommend using unsulphured molasses.
- Ground Cinnamon: Adding some ground cinnamon is going to warm up these cookies, it's one of my favorite spices to use because it's just so cozy!
- Ground Nutmeg: You only need a pinch of nutmeg as it's quite a strong spice! It's often paired with cinnamon because they work so well together.
- Ground Cardamom: I feel like cardamom really isn't used enough in baking! I love using it in cookies or cakes (like my super popular cardamom cake!) It's a sweet spice that is used a lot in Scandinavian baking (I use it in my Swedish cinnamon rolls). If you can't find it, feel free to leave it out.
- Baking Soda: This is the leavener for these cookies, so it's what will help lift these cookies and make them nice and chewy. Make sure your baking soda hasn't expired!
- Flour: I've only tested this recipe with all-purpose flour. I recommend using a kitchen scale to weigh it out, that way you aren't adding too much (which will make the cookies tough and dry) or too little (then there isn't enough structure in the cookies and they'll spread too much or fall apart).
- Sugar: I'm using a combination of light brown sugar and granulated sugar, which is going to sweeten the cookie dough. Using more brown sugar is going to give more of a caramel flavor which I think is perfect for fall.
- Chocolate Chips: My go-to chocolate chips for cookies are semisweet chocolate chips. I love the Guittard brand or the Kirkland chocolate chips, but use whatever you've got on hand!
Substitutions & Additions
- Nuts: Add toasted walnuts, hazelnuts or pecans in addition to the chocolate chips (or omit the chocolate chips!) for a nice crunch.
- Baking Chips: Swap out semisweet chocolate chips for milk, dark, peanut butter, or caramel baking chips! Trader Joe's sometimes has these amazing caramel sea salt baking chips which would be so delicious in these cookies.
- Pumpkin Spice: making these in October or November? Swap out the spices for two teaspoons of pumpkin pie spice!
- Ginger: if you don't have cardamom on hand you can swap it out for ground ginger.
How to make brown butter oatmeal cookies
- Step 1: Start by browning your butter. Place the butter in a small saucepan over medium heat, letting the butter melt. Once it melts, stir with a wooden spoon or rubber spatula. You'll see white milk solids forming and the butter will be foaming, turn the heat to low. Continue cooking until those milk solids turn light brown and there is a toasty and nutty aroma. Pour into a large bowl and let cool.
- Step 2: Once the butter has cooled, mix the flour with the spices, baking soda and salt in a separate bowl. Set aside.
- Step 3: Add the granulated sugar, light brown sugar, vanilla extract, and molasses (if using) to the cooled brown butter. Whisk until smooth. Whisk in the two eggs.
- Step 4: Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, mixing until just combined.
- Step 5: Stir in the rolled oats, and then the chocolate chips. Cover with plastic wrap and place in the fridge for at least 45 minutes. Line large baking sheets with parchment paper and preheat the oven to 350℉.
- Step 6: Using a large cookie scoop or spoon, scoop out 3 tablespoons of cookie dough and place on the prepared cookie sheet. Bake one sheet at a time for 9-12 minutes, or until the edges are golden brown but the middles are slightly underbaked. This is going to give you a chewy cookie! Let cool for 10-15 minutes before moving the baked cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.
My Baking Tips & Notes
- Kitchen Scale: I always recommend using a food scale to weigh out your ingredients, especially your flour and oats! It's really easy to add too much flour, or too little sugar, if you're using a measuring cup and then your cookies won't turn out well. You can even buy kitchen scales for just 5 dollars now!
- Scoot Cookies: My biggest tip to get perfectly round cookies - scooting! As soon as the cookies come out of the oven, use a large biscuit cutter or a mug to gently scoot the cookies into a perfectly round shape. Works every time!
- Brown Butter: Make sure when you're pouring the brown butter into your bowl, that you scrape out all of the brown bits on the bottom of the pan! That's the browned butter and is what will make your cookies taste so delicious and nutty.
- Adding Chocolate Chips: My next big tip to get bakery style cookies is to add more chocolate chips to the tops of the cookies as soon as they're out of the oven. Once I've scooted them, I gently press on extra chocolate chips on top. They'll start getting a little bit melty and will look perfect!
- Chilling Overnight: You can chill the cookie dough overnight, but I recommend taking it out for 20-30 minutes before scooping the dough as the cookie dough will be too hard to scoop straight out of the fridge.
Serving Suggestions
- Ice Cream Sandwich: Let the cookies cool completely, then use them to make ice cream sandwiches with vanilla ice cream!
- Cookie Swap: Making these brown butter oatmeal cookies for a cookie swap? Make them along with my browned butter pecan cookies, chewy pumpkin cookies, browned butter snickerdoodles and pumpkin cookies with white chocolate chips!
Storage & Freezing
Keep the cooled cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 4-5 days. To freeze, place the cookies in a freezer bag, ziploc bag or airtight container in the freezer for up to 2 months. Let thaw at room temperature before enjoying.
Try these cookies next!
Made This Recipe?
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Thank you!
Ella
Recipe
Chewy Brown Butter Oatmeal Cookies with Chocolate Chips
Soft and chewy brown butter oatmeal cookies loaded up with semisweet chocolate chips! These oatmeal cookies don't even need a mixer and are the coziest cookies for Fall and Winter!
Equipment
- 2 Bowls
- Whisk
- Rubber Spatula
- 2 Baking Sheets
- Cooling Rack
- Kitchen Scale
- Measuring Spoons
- Large Cookie Scoop
Ingredients
- 1 cup (227 grams) unsalted butter
- 1 ¾ cup (210 grams) all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ¼ teaspoon ground cardamom
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 cup (205 grams) light brown sugar
- ¼ cup (50 grams) white sugar
- 1 tablespoon unsulphured molasses
- 2 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 ½ cups (222 grams) rolled oats
- 1 cup (180 grams) semisweet chocolate chips
Ella's Baking Tip!Weigh your ingredients with a kitchen scale for the best results!
Instructions
- Start by browning the butter. Add the butter to a small saucepan and place over medium-low heat. Stir as the butter begins to melt. As the butter melts it will start to foam and sputter. Stir until the butter completely melts and the sputtering starts. You should see small dairy solids at the bottom, and those should start to turn golden brown. The butter will smell nutty and toasty. Take off the heat and pour into a bowl to cool completely.1 cup (227 grams) unsalted butter
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, baking soda and spices. Set aside.1 ¾ cup (210 grams) all purpose flour, 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon, ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg, ¼ teaspoon ground cardamom, 1 teaspoon baking soda, 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- Add the light brown sugar, white sugar, molasses and vanilla extract to the cooled brown butter. Whisk until smooth.1 cup (205 grams) light brown sugar, ¼ cup (50 grams) white sugar, 2 teaspoons vanilla extract, 1 tablespoon unsulphured molasses
- Add the 2 eggs into the melted butter, and whisk until just combined.2 large eggs
- Pour the flour mixture into the sugar mixture and stir until just combined. Stir in the rolled oats.2 ½ cups (222 grams) rolled oats
- Stir in the chocolate chips. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and place in the fridge for at least 45 minutes, or up to overnight.1 cup (180 grams) semisweet chocolate chips
- After 45 minutes, preheat the oven to 350℉/175℃ and line two baking trays with parchment paper.
- Using a large cookie scoop or a tablespoon, scoop out 3tablespoons of dough. Place on the prepared baking sheets, keeping the cookie dough balls about 3-4 inches apart.
- Bake 1 sheet at a time for 9-12 minutes. The edges will have set and turned golden brown but the middles might look underbaked which is fine. Add extra chocolate chips on top of the cookies if you wish. Let cool for 10 minutes on the baking sheet before tranferring to a wire cooling rack to cool completely.
- I recommend keeping the cookie dough balls that aren't being baked right away in the fridge! That way they don't get too warm. If they get too warm they will spread out while baking.
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Notes
My recipes have been developed and tested in metric grams. I highly recommend using a weighing scale and measuring out your ingredients the metric way.
Chocolate Chips: I'm using semisweet chocolate chips but you can use milk chocolate chips or dark chocolate chips if you prefer. You can also use butterscotch chips or peanut butter chips.
Overnight Chilling: if you're chilling the cookies for more than a few hours you may need to let the cookies come to room temperature for 15-20 minutes before scooping out the cookie dough.
Oats: make sure you're using rolled oats or old-fashioned oats. Instant oats will make the cookies too dry!
Cardamom: If you can't find ground cardamom you can swap it out for ground ginger.
Salt: If you don’t have kosher salt, halve the amount of salt called for in the recipe. 1 teaspoon kosher salt = ½ teaspoon fine salt. Please note I am using Diamond Crystal Kosher Salt and not Morton Salt, which is a coarse kosher salt. Coarse kosher salt is much too salty for this recipe.
Storage: keep the baked cookies in a tupperware for up to 1 week at room temperature. Freeze cookies in an airtight container in the freezer for up to 2 months. Let thaw before enjoying. Tried this recipe?Leave a comment below! You can also tag me on Instagram @alpineella so I can see what you made!
Abiola says
I made this today and OMG it's soooo good. Thank you for sharing your magic.
Ella says
Thank you so much for your review!! ✨ (a little bit of magic here!!)
Duncan Archer says
Thank you for this easy to follow recipe, and what great delicious result !!
These will be gone in no time.
So already browsing the other recipes - building a reputation as black belt baker 😊
Jules says
I have always loved oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, and these are incredible. The addition of brown butter, nutmeg and cardamon makes them nutty, warm and cozy. It’s a perfect cookie. My husband and I devoured them.
Ella says
Hi Jules! Thank you so much for your review!