Toffee Chocolate Chip Cookies are rich, sweet, and a touch nutty thanks to the addition of homemade brown butter! The added toffee bits incorporate a crunchy chewy texture and enhance the caramel-like flavor further. Together, they create these incredibly delicious brown butter toffee chocolate chip cookies that you’ll want to keep on hand.
I was inspired to come up with this recipe after we recently discovered these chocolate chip toffee cookies at a local bakery. Filled with dark chocolate chips and toffee bits, they were so delicious that I had to make them at home so I can have some anytime. That’s the beauty of making things from scratch!
If you’re always looking for more unique chocolate chip cookies recipes to try, I think you’ll love these miso chocolate chip cookies and these biscoff chocolate chip cookies.
Table of Contents
Why you’ll love these brown butter toffee chocolate chip cookies
- Such a tasty flavor combination – the brown butter is full of nutty depth, the dark chocolate chips provide rich sweetness, and the toffee bits add a wonderful texture and caramel flavor. All three together are seriously irresistible.
- Perfect texture – once cooled out of the oven, these brown butter toffee chocolate chip cookies are the ideal balance of soft, crispy, and chewy.
- Fun update on a classic – the brown butter and toffee bits add such a unique touch to the classic chocolate chip cookies. They’re perfect for special occasions, bake sales, or for impressing your party guests.
Tools you’ll need
You’ll need the standard cookie-making equipment you’re used to seeing for most of my cookie recipes! It’s nothing too fancy, but it’s important to have the following on hand:
- A stand mixer or an electric hand mixer to beat the butter and sugar together — as well as combine the other ingredients. A mixer makes the entire process so much easier, and you won’t have to worry about a sore arm when you’re through.
- A baking sheet with parchment paper or silicone baking mats will make cleaning up a lot easier.
- A cookie scoop will give you evenly sized chocolate chip toffee cookies. Not only does this make sure that everyone gets an equal serving, but it also helps them bake more evenly.
- A saucepan to make your brown butter.
Ingredients and substitutions
As always, you’ll find the complete list of ingredients and quantities in the recipe card at the end of this post. Below are some notes and substitution tips:
- Unsalted Butter – I like unsalted butter for my toffee chocolate chip cookies. As a note, if you decide to use salted butter, remember to reduce the amount of salt added by half.
- Brown Sugar – I only use brown sugar for this recipe. It contains molasses, which gives it a rich, caramelized flavor that works incredibly well with the toffee and chocolate chips. Plus, it has more moisture than granulated sugar — resulting in a softer and chewier cookie.
- Eggs – help to bind the cookie dough together.
- Vanilla Extract – adds a warm, sweet, and slightly floral aroma to the mix. Vanilla also complements the brown sugar, toffee, and dark chocolate wonderfully.
- All-purpose Flour – a simple all-purpose flour is perfect for brown butter and toffee chocolate chip cookies. You can also use your favorite 1:1 gluten-free flour option if needed.
- Baking Soda & Baking Powder – I use both leavening agents in these cookies. Baking soda helps with browning the cookies as well as spreading them thinner making them larger and a bit crispier.
- Dark Chocolate Chips – I typically use bittersweet in this recipe. The darker chocolate works well to balance out the sweetness added from the toffee bits.
- Toffee Bits – to add even more toffee, molasses-like flavor. You should be able to find them in the baking aisle, but there is only one brand (Heath) that makes them and they could be difficult to find. In the case you can’t find toffee bits, you can try making homemade toffee bits or use butterscotch or caramel chips though it won’t be quite the same.
- Salt – I use two kinds of salt in this recipe, kosher salt in the cookie dough and flake sea salt for sprinkling on top right when the cookies come out of the oven. The added sea salt really rounds out the flavor, balancing the sweetness and enhancing the complexity of this flavor combination.
How to make toffee chocolate chip cookies
The following instructions, step-by-step photos, and tips are here to help you visualize how to make the recipe. You can always skip straight to the printable recipe card at the end of this post.
Begin by browning the butter. Place one stick in the stand mixer bowl and heat the second stick in a saucepan over medium. When the butter starts to melt and foam and you see clear bubbles, start whisking to keep it from burning. When it turns caramel in color, pour it over the uncooked stick of butter in the stand mixer bowl. Stir to melt, and allow to cool.
Add the sugar and beat with the paddle attachment for about 2 minutes or until it becomes light in color.
Add the eggs and vanilla and beat for another 2 minutes until fluffy and creamy.
Tip: Don’t be afraid to beat the wet ingredients for even longer than 2 minutes here, you’ll want the butter and eggs to emulsify together well.
Sift together the flour, baking soda, and baking powder in another bowl. Stir in some salt and give it a good mix. Add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients and stir until combined.
Tip: I always stir in the salt after sifting the other ingredients because I use kosher salt and the granules are too large to pass through a fine mesh sieve.
Add the chocolate chips and toffee bits and stir.
Use a cookie scoop to form your toffee chocolate chip cookies and place them on a lined baking sheet. Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour before baking.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Bake 6 cookies at a time for about 15 minutes for the best results. It’s better to bake in batches!
Pull your chocolate chip toffee cookies out of the oven and sprinkle a generous amount of flaky sea salt on top. Allow them to cool on the baking sheet for 10-15 minutes before placing them on a wire rack to cool completely. Enjoy!
More baker’s tips
- Measure your flour correctly – adding too much flour can dry out the cookies. Remember to fluff up your flour before scooping, then level it off. Or use a kitchen scale for more exact measurements.
- Don’t overmix – gluten develops during mixing, and overmixing will further develop it. This extra gluten overload will make the cookie dough dry — so make sure not to overmix.
- Chill the dough – this will allow the browned/melted butter to re-solidify and curb overspreading. Plus, the extra time in the fridge allows the flour to hydrate properly and the flavor to develop.
- Shape them – these toffee chocolate chip cookies do spread larger and thinner than my usual cookies, just FYI. To make them perfectly round, use a large round cookie cutter or a spatula to scoot the edges of the cookies toward the center. Shape them while they’re still hot and soft straight from the oven.
- It’s better to underbake – your cookies should come out of the oven with the middle still slightly underbaked. That’s okay! Let them sit on the baking sheet for 10-15 minutes to finish baking. This ensures they are soft, gooey, and chewy with crispy edges.
- Use the same recipe to make smaller cookies – simply use a medium (3 tablespoon) cookie scoop instead, giving you about two dozen brown butter and toffee chocolate chip cookies. Make sure to reduce the baking time to about 12-13 minutes.
Storage
Store leftover cookies in an airtight container, at room temperature, for up to 5 days. You do not need to keep them refrigerated, these will stay soft and chewy at room temperature for quite a long time.
You could also freeze them for longer storage. Place the baked cookies in an airtight container or a freezer bag and freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw at room temperature before digging in.
Better yet, you can freeze the cookie dough once you portion it out. The best thing about frozen cookie dough is that you can have fresh baked cookies at a moment’s notice. Simply bake these from frozen and increase the baking time by about 30 seconds to 1 minute.
FAQs
Yes, absolutely! I do recommend using an electric hand mixer to cream the butter and sugar if you have one, but you can definitely do it by hand if needed. I recommend using a larger mixing bowl and a large whisk, you will have to put in some elbow grease, and rest in between because your arms will become tired. Make sure to beat the wet ingredients for at least the full 4 minutes, or longer if your arms can handle it.
I think these are best with dark chocolate since the bitterness of the chocolate balances out the sweetness of the toffee bits. However, you certainly can use milk chocolate chips, semi-sweet chocolate chips, or even white chocolate chips if you’d like. Just keep in mind that the overall flavor profile will change and the cookies will be sweeter as well.
Yes! As I’ve mentioned earlier, chilling the dough is crucial for this particular cookie recipe. That extra time in the fridge does a few different things: it allows the flavors to meld together and helps curb spreading. These cookies are supposed to be on the thinner side, but not so thin that they turn into one, very flat cookie. Plus, you’ll get rewarded with amazing cookies with even nuttier, more caramelized flavor from the brown butter for that additional time in the fridge.
More cookie recipes
- Matcha White Chocolate Cookies
- Chewy Oatmeal Fig Cookies Recipe
- Kitchen Sink Cookies
- Brownie Cookies
- Oreo Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Raspberry White Chocolate Cookies
Hungry for more?
Toffee Chocolate Chip Cookies (with Brown Butter)
Equipment
- Cookie Scoop
Ingredients
- 8 oz unsalted butter, 227 g, brown 4 oz and add to 4 oz of cold butter
- 1 ⅓ cup brown sugar, light or dark, packed, 273 g
- 2 large egg
- 1 ½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 2 ¼ cup all-purpose flour, 300 g
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- 1 cup dark chocolate chip, bittersweet, 180 g
- 1 cup toffee bits, 157 g
- Flake sea salt for sprinkling on top
Instructions
- Brown the butter: place one stick of butter in the stand mixer bowl and heat the second stick of butter in a light colored saucepan over medium heat. Once the butter melts, it will become foamy. When the foam subsides, you will see clear bubbles, start whisking continuously at this point to keep the milk solids from burning. When the butter is caramel in color and smells nutty, turn off the heat and immediately pour it over the stick of butter in the stand mixer bowl to melt it. Give it a stir as needed to completely melt the other stick of butter. Allow to cool.
- Once the butter has cooled down, add sugar to it, and beat with the paddle attachment for at least 2 minutes until light in color.
- Add the eggs, vanilla extract, and continue beating for at least another 2 minutes until fluffy and creamy.
- In another mixing bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, and baking powder. Stir in the kosher salt and give it a good mix to distribute. Add the flour mixture to the wet ingredient mixture in the stand mixer bowl, stir until incorporated. Stop the mixer and scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl as necessary.
- Add the chocolate chips and toffee bits, stir to distribute evenly. Stop the mixer and use a spatula to scrape the side and bottom of the bowl to ensure good distribution of chocolate chips and toffee bits throughout the cookie dough.
- Portion the cookie dough with a ¼ cup cookie scoop and place them on a lined baking sheet. Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour, and up to 3 days, before baking.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F.
- Place 6 dough balls on a baking sheet, and bake 1 batch at a time for 15 minutes, until the cookies start to turn golden but the middle is still underbaked.
- Remove the baking sheet from the oven, sprinkle a generous pinch of flake sea salt on top, and allow the cookies to sit on the baking sheet to finish baking from the residual heat for 10-15 minutes before removing them to a wire rack to cool completely.
Notes
- Make sure to chill the dough to allow the butter to re-solidify, the flour to hydrate and the flavor to develop.
- To get perfectly round cookies, scoot the edges toward the center using a spatula or a large round cookie cutter, right when the cookies come out of the oven and are still soft.
- You can use a medium (3 tablespoon) cookie scoop to make smaller cookies, this should yield about two dozen cookies. Reduce the baking time to 12-13 minutes.
- The cookie dough can be kept frozen once portioned. You can bake from frozen and increase baking time by 30 seconds to 1 minute.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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These look so good, and I am going to make these for the New Year! Could you use all browned butter for this recipe, and add chopped nuts to the cookie dough before scooping and refrigerating?
Thank you!
Hi Tomi, yes you can brown all of the butter but you may want to add a tablespoon of yogurt or sour cream to make up for the loss water. Otherwise the cookie dough will be a bit drier. And yes you can definitely add chopped nuts, I think pecans would be lovely in this.