These sweet and salty brown butter toffee chocolate chip cookies are soft and chewy in the centers with deliciously crisp edges. Brown butter is melted butter with a nutty caramelized flavor brought on by gently cooking it on the stove. And it tastes absolutely phenomenal in cookies, especially when you add toffee and sea salt. Because of these flavorful additions, these fancied-up chocolate chip cookies will fly off the serving tray!
Can you make a perfect thing even better? Sometimes you just don’t mess with classic chocolate chip cookies, but in case you feel fancy and want to experiment, these brown butter toffee chocolate chip cookies are consistent crowd-pleasers. (I’m writing this nearly a decade after this recipe was originally published in 2012 so yes, I say from experience that these cookies are always a hit!) They’re a spin on my popular chewy chocolate chip cookies with the addition of brown butter, toffee chips, and sea salt.
These Brown Butter Toffee Chocolate Chip Cookies Are:
- Loaded with a buttery caramelized flavor
- Extra soft and chewy in the centers
- Crisp on the edges
- Chock-full of sweet and salty toffee chips*
- Packed with chocolate chips
*I just use Heath bar “Bits O’ Brickle” English toffee bits found near the chocolate chips in the baking aisle.
Brown Butter
If you’ve never browned butter before, take a minute to review my How to Brown Butter guide. It’s a very quick and easy process. After you brown it, let it cool for a few minutes before working on the rest of the wet ingredients.
Unlike in my regular brown butter chocolate chip cookies, we do not have to chill the browned butter to solidify it before working on the cookie dough. That step takes extra time especially since we have to chill that cookie dough too– but it does promise thicker cookies since the butter has been chilled. However, I appreciate that this recipe is quicker and that it produces thinner, crispier cookies. We use the same cookie dough when making dark chocolate pecan cookies, too.
Brown Butter Toffee Chocolate Chip Cookies Success Tips
- Expect a crumbly dough: This cookie dough is very crumbly as you try to combine the wet ingredients, dry ingredients, and add-ins. It’s not nearly as crumbly if you leave out the toffee chips. They’re so small that it makes the dough break apart easily. Continue mixing until it all comes together– it will, I promise!
- Use a cookie scoop: Scoop and roll the cookie dough into balls after it comes together. This medium size cookie scoop is perfect because each dough ball should be around 1.5 Tablespoons of dough.
- Chill the cookie dough balls: Cover and chill the cookie dough balls in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours before baking. Remember that chilling cookie dough helps guarantee that your cookies won’t overspread. Because of the melted (browned) butter in this cookie dough, the dough will spread into greasy puddles if you do not chill the dough balls prior to baking. Chilling cookie dough also enhances its flavor– the nutty brown butter flavor seeps into every last morsel of dough.
Toffee pairs wonderfully with the caramel and butterscotch undertones in the brown butter. I added it all to the cookie dough and the result is an amazingly chewy, caramel-y, chocolate-y, buttery cookie with an incredible toffee crunch. A regular chocolate chip cookie, but elevated. You’ll love that!
Bake a double batch because these always go quickly!
Print
Brown Butter Toffee Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Prep Time: 2 hours, 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 12 minutes
- Total Time: 3 hours
- Yield: 32-36 cookies
- Category: Cookies
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
These sweet and salty brown butter toffee chocolate chip cookies are soft and chewy in the centers with deliciously crisp edges. Brown butter is the secret to their unbeatable flavor.
Ingredients
- 1 cup (230g; 16 Tbsp) unsalted butter
- 1 cup (200g) packed light or dark brown sugar
- 1/2 cup (100g) granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs, at room temperature
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 2 and 1/2 cups (313g) all-purpose flour (spoon & leveled)
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 and 1/4 cups (225g) semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 1 cup (150g) Heath Bar Bits O’ Brickle English Toffee
- optional: coarse sea salt
Instructions
- Brown the butter: Set out a medium heat-proof bowl because you’ll need it at the end of this step. Slice the butter into Tablespoon-size pieces and place in a light-colored skillet or large pot. Light colored helps you determine when the butter begins browning. (See note if using a dark skillet or pot.) Melt the butter over medium heat and stir or whisk constantly. Once melted, the butter will begin to foam. Keep stirring/whisking. After 5-7 minutes, the butter will begin browning and you’ll notice lightly browned specks begin to form at the bottom of the pan. It will have a nutty aroma. Once browned, remove from heat immediately and pour into the bowl, including any solids that have formed on the bottom of the pan. (You want those solids for flavor.) Cool brown butter for 5 minutes. Don’t cool longer than that because the butter will begin to thicken and, as a result, the cookie dough will be difficult to mix and its texture will be too crumbly.
- Whisk the brown sugar and granulated sugar into the brown butter and then whisk in the eggs and vanilla extract. Set aside. In a large bowl, whisk the flour, baking soda, and salt together. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, add the chocolate chips and toffee, then stir together with a large spoon or rubber spatula. The dough will seem too dry at first, but keeping stirring until it comes together. Dough will be greasy, thick, and a bit crumbly.
- Scoop dough into balls, about 1 and 1/2 Tablespoons of dough each, and place on a large plate or baking sheet. I like to roll each cookie dough ball between my hands to smooth them out since they can be a little crumbly. Cover and chill the cookie dough balls in the refrigerator for 2 hours and up to 3 days before baking. (You can also freeze the dough balls, see Freezing Instructions below.)
- Towards the end of chill time, preheat oven to 350°F (177°C). Line large baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. Set aside.
- Arrange cookie dough balls 3 inches apart on prepared baking sheets. If desired, lightly sprinkle coarse sea salt on top of each. Press the salt down into the cookie dough balls if it’s not sticking.
- Bake for 12-13 minutes or until the edges are lightly browned. Remove from the oven and allow cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. While the cookies are still warm, I like to press a few more chocolate chips or toffee pieces into the tops– this is only for looks! Cookies are extra soft out of the oven, but become chewier as they cool.
- Cookies stay fresh covered at room temperature for up to 5 days or in the refrigerator for 1 week.
Notes
- Make Ahead & Freezing Instructions: Baked cookies freeze well up to three months. Unbaked cookie dough balls freeze well up to three months. Bake frozen cookie dough balls for an extra minute, no need to thaw. Here’s how to freeze cookie dough.
- Darker skillet/pot when browning butter: I recommend using a light-colored skillet or large pot when browning butter so you can see when the butter is done. (It’s only a quick few seconds between browned butter and burnt butter.) Towards the end of 5-7 minutes, check for doneness by spooning some butter into a glass bowl to determine if it has browned.
- Be sure to check out my top 5 cookie baking tips AND these are my 10 must-have cookie baking tools.
Keywords: brown butter toffee chocolate chip cookies
Delicious flavor, but a bit cakey. Would reducing the baking soda make them a little denser and chewier? And spread a little more? I am assuming it’s baking soda instead of powder b/c of some chemistry with the browned butter? Don’t get me wrong, the first batch was gobbled up before it was even cool, but I’m ever in search of dense, chewy drop cookies
★★★★
Hi Caroline, how did you measure your flour? Be sure to spoon and level (or use a kitchen scale) to ensure the flour isn’t over measured—that can often cause cookies to be a bit dry and cakey. We don’t recommend reducing the baking soda or swapping with baking powder. Have you tried our chewy chocolate chip cookies yet? That may be just what you’re looking for!
These are some of the best cookies I’ve ever had. I made some and brought them into work and they disappeared almost immediately. This may have been a mistake because now I am frequently being asked to bring more.
★★★★★
Extraordinary flavor! The browned butter makes a huge difference in the flavor… the toffee and chocolate blend perfect! I have made many cookies in my life. This cookie comes in the top 2!!!!
★★★★★
If I want larger cookies, could I make these with 3Tbsp dough balls?
Hi Beatrice, that should be fine!
Delectable, crunchy chewy toffee and chip-laden cookies! I used dark chocolate…
★★★★★
Can this recipe be made into bar cookies?
Hi Sue, We are sure the recipe could be turned into cookie bars, but we are unsure of the best bake time. Let us know if you give it a try!
Amazing combination of chocolate and toffee magic! The sweet and salty topped with just a pinch of sea salt per cookie is just perfect. The cookies baje up big and stay soft even over several days (if they last that long). Great recipe!
★★★★★
These were amaaaaazing! I am a beginner and move slowly through recipes. Between steps 2 and 3, my dough got warm and difficult to work with (sticky). As a result, the rolled cookies were a bit misshapen before I put them in the fridge.
Can I chill the dough for ~10 minutes before rolling? Or partway through the chilling take them out and reshape? Would one work better than the other?
Thanks!
Hi Debbie, you can absolutely do either — both great options! So glad you enjoyed this one.
Happy New Years Sally & Team!
Hi everyone,
I’ve baked this recipe a number of x now,and we all love it!
I’ve wondered though if I could bake this cookie recipe using more Heath chips and either MILK or WHITE chocolate chips?
What do guy think and do you have any suggestions?
Thanks!
Lisa
★★★★★
Hi Lisa! You can absolutely use milk or white chocolate chips in these cookies. Keep the total amount of add-ins to 2 and 1/4 cups, so if you increase the amount of heath chips, we would decrease the amount of chocolate chips by the same amount. Yum!
This is the BEST cookie recipe EVER!! I have used white chocolate, milk chocolate, and butterscotch, chips. I have also used all of them together in the recipe.
SO, SO GOOD. We don’t have Heath bar bits where I live, but I was at IKEA and saw their DAIM bars (crunchy almond caramel covered in milk chocolate). A lightbulb went off and thought of this recipe. I cut them up into bits, and because it’s Christmas, I used the red & green M&M for the chocolate chips.
DEE-LICIOUS! Thank you!
★★★★★
I spent several weeks perfecting a brown butter chocolate chip cookie very similar to this a couple years ago. My goal was to then incorporate English toffee bits into the cookies. I own a toffee company and was looking for a use for the leftover small bits. I can’t get them to not melt. They melt going in frozen, even. Suggestions? Toss them in flour? Bear in mind, my toffee is not super hard like the bits you use. Cheers!
Hi Michele, I’m really unsure. Homemade toffee is likely to melt in the cookies (not necessarily a bad thing, but I know it’s not what you want), unless you cook the toffee longer initially.
My thought exactly, and then the point of my toffee is lost as one of its appeals is that it doesn’t stick to teeth. Perhaps I will simply stick some bits on top when they come out of the oven. Thanks so much for your reply. Your site is so enjoyable. I am bookmarking recipes right and left. The croissant bread is most likely my next give-it-a-go
The recipe was written very clearly
The texture was excellent. However they were far too sweet for my taste Maybe too much sugar, chocolate chips and toffee
★★★★
While the cookies tasted good, they were extremely greasy for some reason.
★★★★
I followed the recipe exactly except for the mixing steps. I started by beating the eggs and sugar together for a couple minutes until thick and glossy, and then slowly streamed in the melted butter while mixing to make a stable emulsion before moving on to the next steps. The cookie dough came out perfect, not crumbly or greasy at all, and the dough balls were easy to shape. The flavor on these is unbelievable, especially with a nice sprinkle of salt on top! I made a second batch replacing half the heath bits with chopped pecans and they were also amazing. This recipe is a keeper.
★★★★★
I made the dough for these cookies tonight using this method with beating the eggs and sugar till thick and glossy and then streaming the brown butter to create an emulsion. It worked out perfectly. Thanks for posting this comment!
This is literally THE trick for this recipe!!! Just tried it after making them a couple times the way the recipe said and this definitely made a difference!!! Thank you!!!
i absolutely LOVE these cookies!! first few times i made them, i didn’t have the heath bits so i used pecans, and it’s tastes so good!!! reminds me of toffee a bit because of the nutty brown butter. trying this today with the heath bits and irish butter, and i know they’ll still taste amazing!!
★★★★★
One of my new favorite recipes! Was a little intimidated with browning the butter, but the recipe was very detailed and left no room for error. The timing 12 minutes in the oven with five minutes to cool on the pan resulted in perfect chewy cookies with the slightest crisp on the outer edges.
★★★★★
The only thing I would say is that 5 minutes of cooling on the brown butter is not nearly enough! I usually follow recipes on here to the letter and they work out well, but the butter was still way too hot and melted the chocolate in the dough and made the cookies nearly impossible to scoop. I would say let it cool to near room temp. (However long that takes for each person) but to make the dough before the butter hardens. I’ll make them again doing this and see if they work any better.
★★★★
This cookies are fabulos. I have learned how to handle the dough and how to brown butter. The first time they were great! The second time i used a new product called OOPS! They are Almond Roca candy Bites not perfect enough ti go in the tins. I chopped their goodly size up, and used the best semi-dark chocolate chips I had which are Belgium made. They are perfect. Love the recipe and directions.
Has anyone made these gluten free?