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Soft and chewy brown butter chocolate chip cookies – made perfect for Valentine’s Day!

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Flat lay of the valentine's day chocolate chip cookies stacked on top of each other, surrounded by purple flowers

valentine’s day chocolate chip cookies

Hello hello! If you’re looking to spruce up your chocolate chip cookies for Valentine’s Day, you’ve come to the right place. These are simply my *perfect* small batch chocolate chip cookies modified for Valentine’s Day! They’re soft and chewy with crisp edges, filled with brown butter flavor, loaded with Valentine’s Day sprinkles, and topped with chocolate hearts.

why you’ll love these valentine’s day chocolate chip cookies:

  • Brown butter: brown butter is truly a cheat code to a more delicious, flavorful cookie.
  • The white chocolate hearts: the chocolate hearts pressed on top of the cookies after baking adds the perfect touch of love to these cookies.
  • They’re super easy to make: the cookie dough comes together in one bowl, no stand mixer or hand mixer required.
Close up of one of the valentine's day chocolate chip cookies which has been torn in half, with melted chocolate in the center.

expert baking tips

Weigh your ingredients:

My recipes are all written in grams because it is the most accurate way to bake. When you use a kitchen scale, you ensure that your baked goods turn out as close to the written recipe as possible. Plus, the cleanup is way easier when using a scale! I will provide standard cup measurements but please note that I have not tested the recipe using cup measurements and therefore can not guarantee your recipe will come out how mine did. Here is my favorite kitchen scale.

Mix the dough carefully:

When adding in the flour, only fold the mixture just until no flour streaks remain. Over mixing the dough leads to more gluten formation, which can make the cookies thicker and more tough in texture.

chill the cookies prior to baking

I know, I know – it’s frustrating to have to wait! However, because we’re using melted brown butter, we want to give the dough time to firm up. Letting the cookie dough chill just a little bit in the fridge means that the cookies will bake up thicker. This also gives the flavors a little bit of time to meld together.

Under bake for perfect cookies:

Cookies continue baking after they have been taken out of the oven. Once the edges turn slightly golden brown, and the cookies look just a little wet on top still, they are ready to come out. Let the cookies rest on the baking sheet for an additional 5 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to cool.

The secret to perfectly round cookies:

Wanna know the secret to perfectly round cookies? It’s cookie scooting! Right when the cookies come out of the oven, take a bowl, cup, or biscuit cutter that is just slightly larger than your cookies and place it over one of the cookies. Gently swirl the bowl around the cookie to make the cookie perfectly round (and slightly thicker). And that’s all there is to it!

A note on oven temperature:

Ovens vary and fluctuate in temperature and might not always actually be at the temperature they claim to be at. If you love to bake like I do, I highly recommend getting an oven thermometer. They are super helpful for letting you know when your oven might be lying to you! I use this one.

Flat lay of the valentine's day chocolate chip cookies stacked on top of each other, surrounded by chocolate hearts and purple flowers

ingredients for valentine’s day chocolate chip cookies:

  • All purpose flour: for structure and chewiness.
  • Baking powder & baking soda: for helping the cookies rise.
  • Salt: to help balance and bring out the sweetness of the cookies
  • Unsalted butter: for tenderness and flavor. You can use salted butter in place of the unsalted, just be sure to omit the extra salt from the cookies. We’ll also be browning the butter for some extra delicious toasty flavor. If you’re looking to make this dairy-free, Miyoko’s Creamery vegan butter has the ability to brown just like regular butter and works like a charm.
  • Granulated sugar & dark brown sugar: a combination of both gives us cookies with crispy edges and soft and chewy centers.
  • Egg: for binding and for moisture.
  • Vanilla: for flavor. I use and love this vanilla extract!
  • Semi-sweet chocolate: I recommend semi-sweet or dark chocolate. For the big chunks/melty pools you see in the cookies, I used valrhona feves. I also love and recommend Guittard super cookie chips, and the next best thing after that is using chopped chocolate. Please note that if you use all chocolate chips, the cookies will bake up a little thicker, and if you use all chopped chocolate, they will be a tad thinner.
  • Valentine’s day sprinkles: use your favorite type/blend of valentine’s day sprinkles here.
  • Chocolate hearts: I used Ghiradelli’s chocolate heart assortment!

how to make valentine’s chocolate chip cookies

Here’s a little look into the process of making these valentine’s day chocolate chip cookies. The full recipe is at the end of this blog post!

Brown butter in a saucepan.
The cookie dough in a mixing bowl with the butter, sugars, egg and vanilla mixed in.
  • Brown the butter, then let it chill for 10 minutes.
  • Mix together the slightly chilled brown butter, brown sugar and granulated sugar. Then, beat in the egg and vanilla.
The cookie dough in a mixing bowl with the dry ingredients mixed in until only a few streaks of flour remain.
The finished cookie dough in the mixing bowl before being baked.
  • Mix in the dry ingredients until only a few flour streaks remain, then fold in the chocolate chips and valentine’s sprinkles.
  • Chill the dough for 30 minutes, then bake, press a chocolate heart into the cookies, and enjoy!

valentine’s day chocolate chip cookies recipe q&a

What is brown butter?

Brown butter is super simple to make so don’t worry! It’s just regular butter that is cooked on the stove until some of the moisture evaporates, allowing the milk solids in the butter to be toasted. The result is this butter with an amber hue and little speckles that has a toasted and slightly nutty aroma.

can I double this recipe?

Definitely – I’ve tested this recipe up to quadrupling it with no problem. Please be sure to use grams for the best results.

can I make these cookies ahead of time?

Definitely – cookie dough really only gets better with time. You can keep the cookie dough tightly covered in the fridge for up to 2 days before baking. For longer term storage, you can also freeze the cookie dough balls. Just be sure to take the dough out of the fridge at least 30 minutes to 1 hour before you want to bake, so that it becomes soft enough to scoop again.

How to store chocolate chip cookies

Store these cookies in an airtight container at room temperature. They will keep for up to 5 days, but will taste the best 1-3 days after baking.

Flat lay of the valentine's day chocolate chip cookies

valentine’s chocolate chip cookies troubleshooting

Measuring error: Typically, the #1 culprit for this is always not measuring the flour properly. If you use cup measurements, you run the risk of adding too much flour to the dough which can make it super dry. If you’re using cup measurements, make sure that you fluff up your flour and then spoon it into your measuring cup, rather than scooping up the flour with the measuring cup. Measuring will also be sure that you end up with the right amount of brown butter and that you cooked it for the proper amount of time.

Overmixing: if you over-mix the dough, you will introduce more gluten into the cookies which will lead to tougher, thicker cookies. Make sure to only fold in the flour just until that last streak of flour disappears into the dough.

Oven temperature: Like I said before, it’s possible that your oven isn’t at the temperature that it claims to be at – which is, unfortunately, more common than it should be. If your oven is hotter than 350F without your knowledge, you’ll end up with thicker, more dry cookies.

Chilling the dough: The #1 reason for this would be that you didn’t chill the cookie dough. Although it can be frustrating to wait, the cookie dough does need to chill to give time for the butter to firm up and the ingredients to meld together so that they don’t completely spread out in the oven.

Browning the butter: Another reason I recommend measuring your ingredients. When you brown the butter, moisture cooks off of it. So, if it wasn’t cooked for long enough then there would be extra moisture in the dough, which would make the cookies spread out more.

Oven temperature: It could also be that your oven temperature is running lower than it claims to be. For that reason, I recommend always using an oven thermometer. The one I use was ~$6 and is linked under “baking tools” in my amazon storefront below!

tools and ingredients:

You can find all my favorite tools and ingredients that I use on my Amazon Storefront page, here!

other recipes you might enjoy:

did you make this recipe?

I’d love to see and know your thoughts! please leave a comment and review below, and tag me on instagram @freshbeanbakery. #freshbeanbakery

Valentine’s Day Chocolate Chip Cookies

5 from 3 votes
Soft and chewy brown butter chocolate chip cookies with crisp edges, valentine's sprinkles throughout, and chocolate hearts on top!
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Prep Time30 minutes
Cook Time15 minutes
Chilling Time 30 minutes
Total Time1 hour 15 minutes
Servings8 cookies
Calories335 kcal

Ingredients 

  • 113 g unsalted butter (8 tbsp.)
  • 100 g dark brown sugar* (½ c.)
  • 50 g granulated sugar (¼ c.)
  • 1 egg room temperature
  • ½ tsp. vanilla
  • 160 g all purpose flour (1 ⅓ c.)
  • ¾ tsp. baking powder
  • ¼ tsp. baking soda
  • ½ tsp. salt
  • 150 g semi-sweet chocolate** (¾ c. + 2 tbsp.)
  • 3 tbsp. valentine's day sprinkles
  • 8 chocolate hearts

Instructions 

  • In a small saucepan set over medium heat, brown the butter. Stir the butter occasionally until it turns amber in color and develops little brown specks.
  • Transfer the brown butter to a medium sized mixing bowl and set it in the freezer for 5 minutes to chill. You should be left with at least 90g of brown butter, if you have a little less, just add in some water until you reach 90g.
  • Once the butter has cooled down a bit, whisk in both sugars.
  • Whisk in the egg and vanilla until well combined.
  • Add in the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Use a rubber spatula to fold the mixture together just until a few flour streaks remain.
  • Add in the chocolate and sprinkles, and fold the mixture together just until no flour streaks remain. Cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap and place it in the fridge for 30 minutes to firm up.***
  • Preheat the oven to 350°F / 175°C.
  • Scoop out heaping 3 tbsp. scoops of the cookie dough. (If you chilled the dough for longer, you may need to wait 10-20 minutes for it to become soft enough to scoop.)
  • Evenly space out the cookie dough balls on a parchment lined cookie sheet and top them with extra chocolate.
  • Bake for 12-14 minutes, or until the edges of the cookies start to turn golden brown.
  • Once the cookies come out of the oven, I recommend "scooting" them. This just means take a bowl, cup, or biscuit cutter that is slightly larger than the cookie, place it on top of the cookie, and swirl the bowl around to make the cookie a little more round.
  • Let the cookies sit on the hot baking tray for at least 5 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to cool. Press a chocolate heart into each of the cookies while they are still warm. Serve and enjoy!

Video

Notes

Affiliate links: Kitchen Scale (my favorite) | Kitchen scale (great starter option) | | Oven Thermometer | Cookie Scoops | Cookie Sheet Pan | Milk Pan
The #1 culprit for cookies that are too thick, puffy or dry is adding in too much flour. I highly, *highly* recommend always using a kitchen scale for the best, most consistent results. However – if you don’t have access to one, here is how to properly measure flour: Fluff up your flour with a fork, then carefully scoop it into your measuring cup and level off the cup with a knife.
*I recommend dark brown sugar for the best flavor but light brown sugar will work in a pinch!
***I used valrhona feves for those melty pools of chocolate. The next best thing is using a chopped chocolate baking bar. Note that if you use chocolate chips the cookies may end up a bit thicker.
***At this point you could transfer the dough balls to an airtight container and keep them in the fridge for up to 2 days before baking, or in the freezer for 1 month.

Nutrition

Serving: 1cookieCalories: 335kcalCarbohydrates: 49gProtein: 4gFat: 8gSaturated Fat: 5gPolyunsaturated Fat: 0.4gMonounsaturated Fat: 2gTrans Fat: 0.02gCholesterol: 22mgSodium: 224mgPotassium: 153mgFiber: 2gSugar: 30gVitamin A: 39IUCalcium: 55mgIron: 2mg

Please note that the nutrition facts are only an estimate and may vary based on different brands of ingredients and any substitutions made.

5 from 3 votes (3 ratings without comment)

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