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. Same ones I use for salted vanilla toffee cookies.
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 (16 Tbsp; 226g) 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 (spooned & 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 silicone 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.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): Light-Colored Skillet or Stainless Steel Skillet | Whisk | Glass Mixing Bowls | Wooden Spoon or Silicone Spatula | Medium Cookie Scoop | Baking Sheets | Silicone Baking Mats or Parchment Paper | Cooling Rack
- 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.
I find it hard to believe that the pictures of your cookies are from this recipe. Mine are thick and didn’t spread in the least. I followed your recipe to the tee, and got mounds.
I can’t figure out why I’m struggling with these. I’ve made these 5 times now. The first two times I made them, they were absolutely perfect. The best cookie recipe I’ve ever made. But the third time was awful. The dough was soft and greasy and the cookies spread out and burned on the pan. I assumed I mismeasured something but I’ve made them two more time with the same bad results. I cannot figure out why my first two batches were so great but the last three were so bad!
Hi Kristin, sorry to hear they didn’t turn out well recently. We’d recommend extending the chill time if you’re experiencing excess spreading when the cookies bake. Do you have an oven thermometer? You may find that your oven is hotter/cooler than it reads, and an oven thermometer will be helpful for detecting that. Have you changed any ingredients/brands? This post with our best tips to prevent cookies from spreading may also be helpful to review.
These turned out exactly as promised and were delicious!
I bought your Cookie Addiction book and was going to make this recipe and then saw it here too. In the cookbook you have 1t baking powder as well, but not in this online recipe. Has this been updated? Which recipe should I follow?
Hi Tammy, This is a newer recipe and it’s a little chewier than the cookies in the book.
Hi sally, just wondering if i can shorten the chill time for these cookies to one hour
Hi Ariel! We recommend sticking with the instructed chill time to prevent excess spreading when the cookies bake.
I made these with dark chocolate morsels and Maldon salt. It’s the best cookie I’ve ever made. Thank you so much for the recipe. It’s a keeper! Mmmm…
Made for a friend, said it’s the best cookie they’ve ever had. Thanks for the recipe! The brown butter makes it special.
Gah, the flavor was amazing!! I am an avid Sally’s baker, I only bake with her recipes and have made countless of them. I also weigh every ingredient with a kitchen scale, and every recipe I have made comes out perfectly. This one, upset me a little. I read a lot of the comments and many of them stated that these cookies wouldn’t spread. I thought I could make these work since I am very precise about baking. My cookies didn’t spread either. I thought my dough felt great, a little crumbly as mentioned it would, but not dry. I chilled them for 2 hours exactly. I did double the batch, so I had to do multiple rounds of baking to finish the entire batch. I tried changing the temperature, leaving the cookies out for 20-30 minutes prior to baking, increased baking time – nothing. They all spread very little and left me with big thick cookies, which still tasted AMAZING. I know I weighed everything right (including the flour – not scooped) as mentioned in the recipe. Just kinda sad they don’t look as good as the video – at least they taste perfect. Maybe I’ll try again with these another day?
These cookies probably would’ve turned out better had I followed instructions better. I didn’t allow much time for the browned butter to cool, so despite chilling the cookie dough overnight and baking to specified time and temp, crunchy and slightly overbaked bottoms resulted. In hindsight, I think the hot butter partially dissolved the sugar, which yielded a dissolved, crunchy sugar glaze in the dough even prior to baking. About 8 minutes into baking I could smell caramelized sugar, but the edges hadn’t even set so I continued to bake them for 12 minutes total. Crunchy, buttery cookies with almost-burnt bottoms. I’ll have to try again because had they been soft and chewy, they would’ve went over well with my family.
Followed the recipe to a ‘T’ and sadly mine look absolutely horrible and nothing like the photos. I’m so bummed. I never bake and usually just get premade dough. Looks like I have no baking abilities. My friend made them and they looked amazing— so it’s basically just me I suppose.
I have your recipe for white sandwich bread, LOVE IT, and when I was looking it up i saw this recipe for brown butter chocolate chip cookies. I made them and my son, who is visiting from Seattle loved them. He said it was his new favorite cookie. He took what was left back home with him, plus the recipe. He doesn’t bake but he said he is going to bake these. They are that good that you have made a grown man want to bake! Thank you!
So glad to hear that these cookies were a hit, Teresa!
I had opposite results from the others who commented. My cookies turned out thin and geasy. I was careful not to overbake. I weighed my ingredients carefully, followed directions closely and used high quality ingredients. I let the brown butter cool for 5 minutes before mixing in the sugar. I shaped the dough taller and narrower rather than in balls. I baked them right out of the freezer. They were frozen solid. I used KA flour, Kerrygold butter and Guittard chocolate chips. I was careful not to over bake. Why do you think they over spread? It just doesn’t make sense. I’m very disappointed!
Hi Marilyn! Could have been the butter. Kerrygold has a higher butterfat content. It’s a lovely product and fantastic for cooking, but we don’t recommend it for most baking recipes.
Thanks for your response to Marilyn’s question! I had the same exact experience that she did and I used Kerrygold as well. However, everyone still enjoyed them the evening that I baked them.
Terribly disappointed with this recipe. It started out well, I followed the directions and the consistency of the cookie dough was similar to what was described. The problem arose when I put the cookie balls in the fridge for two hours as directed. What a mistake that was! They came out of the fridge rock hard like golf balls and although I let them sit out for a half hour they never softened. Consequently, the cookies did not spread as depicted in the photos and were rounded and thick with an odd color to them as they wouldn’t brown. I respectfully feel you should revise your recipe and the fridge time should be reduced to five to ten minutes, if at all.
Hi! I’m planning on bringing these to a cookie exchange and some of the attendees would prefer frozen dough to bake closer to the holiday. What would be your suggested baking instructions for frozen dough balls? Thank you!
Hi Ashley, bake frozen cookie dough balls for an extra minute, no need to thaw. Hope they’re a hit!
These were delicious! But The next day they were hard! What did I do wrong
Hi Rosa, we’re so glad you enjoyed the cookies! 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, which can leave the cookies a bit dry and hard. It’s possible they were over baked a bit—for next time, you can try reducing the bake time by a minute and that should help. Thank you for giving these cookies a try!
Any adjustments for high altitude? I live at 7000 feet and baking is always a challange.
Also any nutritional information
Hi Susan, we wish we could help, but we have no experience baking at high altitude. Some readers have found this chart helpful: https://www.kingarthurflour.com/learn/high-altitude-baking.html We don’t usually include nutrition information as it can vary between different brands of the same ingredients. Plus, many recipes have ingredient substitutions or optional ingredients listed. However, there are many handy online calculators where you can plug in and customize your exact ingredients/brands. Readers have found this one especially helpful: https://www.verywellfit.com/recipe-nutrition-analyzer-4157076
These cookies are HANDS DOWN phenomenal. I have friends that I made these for and everyone was asking for the recipe! These are my go to chocolate chip cookies recipe now. JUST SO DELISH.
Hi Sally, love your recipes. Would bourbon be good in this cookie. If I add bourbon (probably about 3T) do I meed to add more flour to make up for the additional liquid in the recipe?
Hi Missy! Bourbon would be great in these cookies, but adding that much liquid to the dough will cause them to spread. It would take some testing to get right – let us know what you try!
Love this recipe! Question – what brand of flour and butter do you use? My dough does not come out crumbly like yours and I use the weight measurements for everything. Still so tasty just curious what your favorites to use are
Hi Hayley! We usually use King Arthur Flour and whatever butter is on sale! Store brand or Land o lakes.
I just took the first batch out of the oven and man are they delicious! I’m freezing them and taking them to my daughters house for Thanksgiving.
I usually love all your recipes but this one was so sweet that I could not even finish half a cookie. 🙁
great cookies. the first time i made them they did not spread enough. i freeze the dough so i ended up having to lower the oven temperature to 325 and thawing the frozen dough for a half hour before baking. takes 14 mins in the oven. i made the balls about half the size that your recipe calls for, could this be why they did not spread as much? i spooned and leveled the flour
Hi Dolly! Yes, smaller cookies that have been frozen will likely not spread as much. Glad you enjoyed them!
These cookies are delicious and always well received. I do sprinkle the tops with the optional sea salt and highly recommend to anyone not sure about putting salt on their cookies. Thank you for the wonderful recipe!
Hi There! I’m about to make this recipe and was reading notes about how to brown butter and you mentioned that it removes moisture from recipie and you suggest adding a couple of tablespoons of milk to add back the moisture. The recipie for brown butter chocolate chip cookies calls for this extra milk but not this one? Why?
Hi Mary, We’ve already accounted for the loss of moisture in the measurements provided. So no need to add any more. In recipes where brown butter is not called for but you’d like to use instead, the general rule of thumb is an extra 1/2 – 1 tablespoon of butter or two tablespoons of milk to account for the lost moisture. Hope this helps!
My cookies did not spread and flatten enough. Also took extra baking time making them hard and dry. Was the dough too cold?
Hi Lisa, how did you measure your flour? It sounds like there was too much flour in the dough, which can prevent cookies from properly spreading and cause them to taste dry. Be sure to spoon and level or use a kitchen scale to ensure the flour isn’t over measured. Hope this helps for next time!
Wondering if you think these would work with caramel bits instead of toffee. Also, why do some of your cookie recipes use an egg snd an extra yolk and some ese 2 eggs. Love your recipes. This us my go to site for everything baking.
Hi Wendy! Caramel bits would be great. It just depends on the recipe and ingredients involved. A lot of our cookie recipes are based on our chewy chocolate chip cookies recipe, that uses 1 egg + 1 yolk for extra chewiness.
Hi! I was wondering if I could substitute butterfinger bits instead of the toffee bits?
Hi Piper, you certainly can. Hope you enjoy!