TikTok VIRAL Browned Butter Toffee Chocolate Chip Cookies are loaded with flavor and have a soft yet chewy, ooey gooey texture. These were a HUGE hit!
Yield:
25 large cookies
Prep Time:20minutes
Cook:15minutes
Tessa's Recipe Rundown...
Taste: Possibly the most flavorful chocolate chip cookies I’ve ever tasted. The combination of the nutty brown butter, the rich sweetness of the dark brown sugar, and the caramel-y toffee is INSANELY good. Texture: These cookies are big, thick, chewy, ooey, and gooey. Seriously perfect. Ease: More involved than your standard chocolate chip cookie recipe. There’s the browning of the butter and letting the dough chill for at least 24 hours. Pros: Fantastic chocolate chip cookies that your family and friends will adore. Cons: A little extra work involved, but I promise it’s completely worthwhile. Would I make this again? Oh yes. Once my freezer stockpile runs out I plan on keeping a steady supply of these cookies coming out of my kitchen.
Have I got a cookie recipe for you!! I originally published this recipe in 2014 but just had to update it in 2020 with recipe improvements and new photos. These cookies deserved it. Just as well, because this recipe has gone completely viral. It’s been featured on Good Morning America, and TikTok videos of people making this recipe have gotten millions of views.
In fact, my recipe photographer Ashley, who shot all 50 recipes in my cookie cookbook, said this may just be my BEST COOKIE RECIPE yet. People have been known to fight over these cookies. Yes, they’re that good.
This Browned Butter Toffee Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe is kind of a mouthful to say. But when you actually have a mouthful of one of these cookies I think you’re going to love me.
These are one of the most flavorful chocolate chip cookies I’ve ever tasted, and the texture is absolutely perfect. You NEED to try this recipe. If your friends and family are anything like mine, they plead and beg you to make it again and again.
Yes, this recipe is a little extra work. But the best things in life usually are.
You may even want to make a double batch so you have plenty of dough to freeze for when the craving hits. Trust me… it WILL hit!
How to Make Browned Butter Toffee Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients you’ll need:
All-purpose flour AND bread flour – this combination makes a thicker, chewier cookie thanks to the extra protein bread flour contains. Make sure to weigh your flour accurately. If you add too much flour, your cookies may end up dry, dense, or crumbly and barely spread.
Baking soda and Baking powder – we wanted the best of both worlds with these cookies! Check out my Baking Soda vs. Baking Powder article to learn about the differences between these two leaveners, and learn how to test that your leaveners are still fresh!
Fine sea salt – so important to balance the sweetness!
Unsalted butter – it’s important that your browned butter and sugar mixture is cooled completely to room temperature before adding the other ingredients. Too warm and it will affect the outcome of your cookies, regardless if you plan to chill your dough. This will lead to flat, sad puddly cookies.
Granulated sugar – for sweetness, spread, and preserving the cookies, so they stay fresh and soft longer.
Dark brown sugar – for a butterscotch flavor that can’t be beat! The molasses in the brown sugar draws in more moisture, making the cookies thicker, softer, and chewier. You can use light brown sugar instead, but you may lose some of the additional flavor.
Espresso powder – this is optional, but I really like the way the bitter espresso plays off the sweetness of the toffee and the nuttiness of the browned butter. (you can slightly taste it in the cookies, so leave out if you’re not a fan)
Whole Eggs + a yolk – eggs are essential to forming a beautifully pliable dough and cookies that stay soft for days – and we’re adding an extra yolk for extra richness and added chewiness. Eggs should be at room temperature when beginning your dough, but separate the one yolk from its white while cold for best results (yolks are more fragile and tend to break more easily when warmer).
Vanilla extract – no cookie recipe is complete without vanilla extract!
Chopped chocolate – I like to use semisweet Ghirardelli baking bars and chop them up coarsely for this recipe!
Toffee bits – use Heath toffee bits, or try making your own. It takes just 15 minutes and tastes so much better than store-bought!
Flaky sea salt – Optional, but highly recommended to top your cookies! Flaky sea salt pairs perfectly with chocolate chip cookies. Bonus, it looks amazing, too!
How to brown butter:
Use a stainless steel sauté pan for best results. Nonstick prevents the butter from browning completely and prevents you from being able to visually see how browned it’s getting. Same with the dark color of cast iron. Something with a wider surface area, like a sauté pan over a saucepan, encourages more browning more quickly.
Don’t step away from butter that’s browning after it’s melted. It can go from browned to burnt quickly. At the same time, don’t be afraid of letting that color develop. It should become a rich and fragrant amber. Scrape all the brown bits into the mixing bowl – that’s where the flavor lives!
Do I really need to use bread flour?
You don’t absolutely have to use bread flour, but it adds a ton of chewy texture to these cookies that’s worth the extra trip to the store. If you don’t have bread flour, then use a total of 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour in the recipe.
Why is there espresso powder in this recipe?
I really like the way the bitter espresso plays off the sweetness of the toffee and the nuttiness of the browned butter. It’s totally optional, if you don’t have it or don’t want to use it, feel free to simply omit.
I know, it’s annoying. But I promise you it’s SO worth it. Especially for this recipe which uses melted brown butter. You must chill at least until the dough is firm to ensure your cookies won’t spread too much. But the magic of letting your dough ‘marinate’ for up to 72 hours is detailed in this article here.
Can I make smaller cookies?
Yes, though I much prefer the crisp edges, chewy texture, and soft center 3-tablespoon sized cookies. If you want to bake smaller cookies, scoop into 1 1/2 tablespoon sized balls and bake for 10 to 12 minutes.
Why use a cookie scoop?
Using a stainless steel spring-loaded cookie scoop when portioning out cookie dough is one of the KEYS to beautiful, uniform, evenly-shaped and evenly-baked cookies. My cookie scoop is one of my most frequently used kitchen gadgets. A spring-loaded scoop saves you *so much time* in forming the balls of dough. When using a scoop, you ensure each ball is evenly sized so the cookies bake evenly, meaning you don’t have any small overbaked cookies or large underbaked cookies. Learn more about Cookie Scoops and how to use them here!
Can I freeze this cookie dough?
Yes! After letting the dough marinate in the fridge for at least 24 hours, portion it into balls. Place dough balls on a baking sheet and freeze until solid. Remove frozen balls of dough to an airtight container and store for up to 6 weeks. Click here for my full guide on how to freeze and bake frozen dough.
In a medium stainless sauté pan set over medium heat, melt the butter. Swirling the pan occasionally, continue to cook the butter. It should become foamy with audible cracking and popping noises. Once the crackling becomes quieter, continue to swirl the pan or stir until the butter develops a nutty aroma and brown bits start to form at the bottom. Once the bits are amber in color, remove from heat and pour into a mixing bowl. Be sure to keep the brown bits at the bottom of the pan as well, they hold so much flavor!
Add the granulated sugar and brown sugar to the hot butter, stirring to combine. Set aside to cool to room temperature.
In a medium bowl, combine the flours, baking soda, salt, espresso powder, and baking powder.
To the cooled butter mixture, whisk in the eggs, yolk, and vanilla until combined. Gradually stir in the flour mixture with a rubber spatula. Stir in the chocolate chunks and toffee bits. Wrap dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 24 hours but no more than 72 hours.
Let dough sit at room temperature just until it is soft enough to scoop, about 1 hour.
Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
Divide the dough into 3-tablespoon sized balls using a large cookie scoop and drop onto prepared baking sheets. Dough may be slightly challenging to scoop.
At this point you can portion the dough, place it on a baking sheet and freeze until solid. Remove frozen balls of dough to an airtight container and store for up to 6 weeks.
Bake for 12 to 14 minutes, or until golden brown. Remove from oven and sprinkle flaky sea salt on top of the cookies, if desired. Let cookies cool for 2 minutes before removing to wire racks to cool completely.
Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days.
This post was originally published in 2014 and updated in 2020 with recipe improvements, more tips, and new photos. Photos by Ashley McLaughlin.
November 2022 Baking Challenge
This recipe was one of two November 2022 chocolate chip cookie selections for our monthly baking challenge! Every month you can join the challenge by baking the recipe and snapping a photo for a chance to win prizes! Learn more about my monthly baking challenges here. Check out everyone’s cookies:
I share trusted baking recipes your friends will LOVE alongside insights into the science of sweets. I'm a professionally trained chef, cookbook author, and cookie queen. I love to write about all things sweet, carb-y, and homemade. I live in Phoenix, Arizona (hence the blog name!)
About Tessa...
I share trusted baking recipes your friends will LOVE alongside insights into the science of sweets. I'm a professionally trained chef, cookbook author, and cookie queen. I love to write about all things sweet, carb-y, and homemade. I live in Phoenix, Arizona (hence the blog name!)
The flavor is great, but so far I’ve made two cookie recipes on here an they look nothing like the photos. I measure everything with a scale, and make cookie often. With these they turned out greasy, flat, and pretty dark. Since i measured everything correctly and my ingredients were just purchased; i’m not really sure what went wrong. I’ll keep trying the recipes.
Kiersten @ Handle the Heat
— March 29, 2023 at 10:47 am
Hi Arielle! Hmm, that’s super strange – especially since your ingredients were measured using a scale for accuracy! It’s hard to say exactly what’s going wrong without baking alongside you, but here are a few things that may be going wrong:
– Are you using American-style (80% butterfat) butter? Or possibly using a European-style butter? European-style butters contain a higher butterfat content, so recipes may require a little tinkering with in order to use that type of butter with perfect results.
– What type of baking pan are you baking on? Not all baking pans were created equal! Check out Tessa’s article on this.
– Is your oven perhaps running a little hot? Most ovens are lying to us about the temperature they say they’re at – my personal oven runs about 10°F too hot. Tessa recommends using an oven thermometer to verify that your oven is actually at the correct temperature. Read more about that here.
– Are you chilling your cookie doughs before baking? This is a crucial step in these cookies in particular, but we find it helps immensely with flavor and texture in most cookie recipes! Learn more in Tessa’s post here!
I hope something here helps, Arielle. Feel free to reach back out to us with any further questions – we’re always happy to help 🙂
Kiersten @ Handle the Heat
— March 27, 2023 at 8:48 am
Hi Stella! I’m sorry to hear that these cookies didn’t turn out as they should! Using a scale, as you mentioned, should easily prevent any ingredients from being over-measured, so this shouldn’t be the reason your cookies were cakey. Were any ingredients accidentally missed, or did you make any substitutions? Did you refrigerate the cookies for 24-72 hours? This really helps immensely with the delicious flavor and the consistency of the cookies, too. Also, how old are your leavening agents? If your baking soda and baking powder are not fresh, they won’t do their jobs and your baked goods can not rise properly, fall after baking, and much more – leading to less-than-perfect results and strange textures. Tessa talks about the science behind leavening agents, and how to test for leavener freshness, in this article here! I hope something here helps, Stella, and I hope things go perfectly for you next time you make these! Happy baking 🙂
OMG! WOW!!! Never have I ever had such a flavourful cookie that also ticks the boxes for having such a satisfying texture. That’s including store bought! The crunchy toffee with the chewy, soft, gooey cookie and crispy edges is ADDICTIVE. First time I’ve made a cookie that’s actually chewy, soft with good thickness (usually they turn out flat and I think it’s the bread flour that makes all the difference so it’s worth a trip to the store). So soft even the next day! I got my partner to take it to the office and everyone RAVED about them saying I should start selling them and it’s the best cookie they’ve ever had haha. One guy even took the remaining 3 cookies and kept it aside for himself on his desk!! They couldn’t believe it was all homemade including the toffee!
Chilling the dough for 72 hrs is soooo worth it and I wouldn’t skip that ever.
Just wondering how do you know your cookie is going to be soft and gooey in the middle without it being underdone? Is the cookie meant to still fall apart after 10 mins of cooking or does it need more baking time? Sometimes I take it out when it’s golden brown but it doesn’t stay together and seems underdone. Other times I bake it longer but would prefer it stay even gooier over time.
Also, is there a trick to keep the edges crispy but middle soft the next day? I find the whole cookie becomes soft but I miss the crispyness!
This will be my go to recipe forever!! It’s also very easy to put together after the toffee making and browning butter which becomes very easy after the first time. HIGHLY RECOMMEND!!!
Kiersten @ Handle the Heat
— March 13, 2023 at 10:02 am
Hi there! We are so thrilled to hear that you enjoy these cookies so much, and that they were such a hit at your husband’s workplace!! It definitely takes a little practice to know when your cookies are perfectly done; it’s usually when the middles look just a little underdone, but the edges are set and golden brown. You can always bake off one cookie, let it set up a little on the baking tray, and then test it out – this will give you a good indication to know whether you need to add or subtract a minute or two 🙂 I would also recommend checking out a couple of Tessa’s articles for some more background info on this – this article here on ovens, and this article here on baking sheets.
As for your question on keeping the edges crips and the middles soft, unfortunately, fresh cookies are always going to be the most delish for this reason – and the lovely crispness will always soften as it sits. That’s why Tessa always recommends freezing your dough and baking off as you wish to enjoy them – learn more about that here! The other ‘trick’ is baking the larger, 3-Tablespoon cookies Tessa recommends (and bake those as the recipe recommends, for 12-14 minutes). This larger sized cookie will give you the crisp edges, chewy texture, and soft center we all love from a cookie. Smaller cookies don’t always give you quite that same texture.
I hope this helped! Feel free to reach back out to us with any further questions – we are always happy to help! Happy baking! 🙂
Thanks so much for the tips! I actually made smaller cookies so I’ll definitely try the 3 tbsp size! It’s very weird though because I made 1.5tbsp sizes and baked for 12 mins (still gooey in the middle) and made 25 cookies which was spot on with the recipe but half the size of cookies! Wonder why I got such different results. I didn’t use as much chocolate maybe that’s why? So each ball ended up with more dough hence the same cooking time for a smaller size??
Is there a difference to results when you bake in the shape of the cookie scoop (flat bottom) vs rounding the dough?
Kiersten @ Handle the Heat
— March 15, 2023 at 11:57 am
Yes, the lowered quantity of chocolate would give you a smaller yield, since normally there would be more to expand the dough 🙂
Rounding the cookie dough into perfect balls with your hands before baking can give you a slightly more perfectly-round cookie shape, and it will also smooth the surface more, so your cookies don’t have so many crinkly-crackly wrinkles on top. It’s totally personal preference as to which way you prefer it. Check out Tessa’s article here for more tips on picture perfect cookies 🙂
Kiersten @ Handle the Heat
— March 7, 2023 at 10:01 am
Hi Artur! I’m sorry to hear that your cookies turned out flatter than they should! There are a number of reasons why this could happen, but most importantly, how do you measure your ingredients? By volume (using cups), or by weight (using a digital kitchen scale)? When measuring by volume, it’s so easy to mis-measure ingredients (particularly flour) and throw off the entire chemistry of a recipe. Check out Tessa’s article here, where she talks about how to best measure ingredients to ensure accuracy every time.
Did you chill your cookie dough for at least 24 hours (and please note that this process cannot be rushed by placing the dough in the freezer). This is an important step for a lot of cookie doughs, but especially for browned butter or melted butter doughs. The chilling process is sort of like marinating meats, in that it allows the flavor to fully develop – but it also allows the butter to firm back up, and the moisture from the eggs to fully hydrate the flour, and yield a nice, thick cookie. Learn more about that here!
I hope something here helped, and I hope that you give these cookies another try sometime – they really are amazing! Happy baking 🙂
The hardest part is the toffee and waiting a day for the cookies.
145 c (I read today it should be the color of an almond) it was hard for my thermometer and I think I messed with the heat at the end when I should have known it was done. Even with slight separation of the toffee, I layer it out flat and used it anyway. It worked!
Anyway, I skip the two different flours. I double the recipe with 5 c regular flour. 4 eggs 2 yolks ext.
People love them.
We haven’t tried that, but I wouldn’t recommend it. Making any changes to the sugar content in a recipe will result in a different texture, flavor, size, and shape outcome. Sugar does so much more than just sweeten cookies! You’re more than welcome to experiment on your own, but know that the outcome will not be the same.
Would give more stars if I could!
This is my wife’s new favorite cookie. She is gluten free (GF) and – though I am not – I have only ever made GF, as such, to enjoy life’s cookies with me. If there are any others out there who are looking for that sub. and don’t believe GF can be as good as regular, I recommend the following:
Replace the 1-1/2 Cup all purpose flour with 1-3/4 Cup All purpose GF Flour (I use King Arthur – add a little more flour because I’ve found GF flour is less absorbent than regular flour).
Replace 1 cup of bread flour with Almond Flour OR oat flour (not necessary, but I think the almond flour obviously compliments the toffee/nutty flavor).
Since most almond/oat flours’ in store do not include Xanthan Gum, I will include ~1/4 tsp additional OR 1/2 tsp Psyllium husk. This is not needed if using only all-purpose GF flour though.
Lastly, since GF flour suffers in that glutenous bonding you get with regular flour, to make up for that, I do add ~half of a pack of instant, vanilla pudding *powder* (emphasis on powder to not be confused with actual pudding). And sorry if this makes the cookie purists cringe, but I think this really helps boost the chewiness of a GF cookie; plus – I mean common – its pudding?
Otherwise, I wouldn’t change this recipe for anything!
Thanks, Tessa for the recipe and all the joy that it brings thereafter.
Kiersten @ Handle the Heat
— January 23, 2023 at 9:56 am
Hi Shital! Unfortunately, we have not found anything that can quite replicate the amazing things an egg can do for baking. Feel free to experiment with the variations that can be found online, but we wholeheartedly recommend real eggs for best results. Good luck 🙂
Super rich!Well balanced!I love the combination of espresso,salt,chocolate and toffee bits.I love that it’s gooey but at thesame time its crunchy from the outside.This is my new favorite!My husband and son love these cookies tooThank you for the recipe.
These are seriously the best chocolate chip cookies I’ve ever made. They do take a bit extra work and time to make the toffee, brown the butter, and let them chill, but these are worth every second. I think my husband was ready to marry me all over again when he tried the dough
Hey these came out SUPER bready for me. I did all the measurements not by weight (grams etc) but by tablespoons/cups etc. as written out in the recipe, and the cookies came out puffy, risen, and far too bread-y. Seeing how there aren’t any other comments like this I’m curious where I messed up, maybe too much bread flour? But I measured exact amounts according to the recipe. Why did my cookies come out like puffed up scones? Some weren’t even baked all the way through, yet the outside was golden brown – any further cooking to finish the inside would’ve burnt the outside. Dear god help me, I’m beyond frustrated after spending so much time and money on a double recipe here haha
Ugh I forgot to add baking soda – they are in the fridge and I’m about to bake when I realized- what should I do. They are now too hard to mix so idk…help
Also FYI the baking powder and soda should be together in the recipe. Currently they are separated on either side of the espresso powder so easy to miss. Still my bad I even reread the recipe before I mixed the wet and dry together and still missed it ♀️♀️♀️
Kiersten @ Handle the Heat
— December 22, 2022 at 9:32 am
Hi Michelle! Thanks so much for the feedback on the leavening agent positions in the recipe. I’m sorry you missed the baking soda! It’s unfortunately unlikely that mixing in the missing baking soda now will work, as the dough would likely get overmixed, and it probably would not distribute evenly anyway. Of course you’re welcome to experiment with this, or just bake as it is, but the results won’t be exactly as written unfortunately. You can see in this post how baking soda vs baking powder change the outcome of baked goods. Fingers crossed they’ll still taste good, and if not, you’ll know for next time! I’m sorry, I wish there was more I could do to fix this for you! Good luck!!
I want to make brown butter cookie and you have options lol I’m wondering if I take out the toffee or the butterscotch from you brown butter recipes will they still come out thick and chewy? should I just use the regular brown butter cookie recipe? I don’t know if they all have different texture. I want a thick chewy cookie but just with chocolate chips.
Kiersten @ Handle the Heat
— December 19, 2022 at 1:05 pm
Hi Angel Marie! It’s totally up to you! I would recommend either using our Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe, or instead swapping the toffee for additional chocolate (so add an additional cup of chocolate chips or chopped chocolate). This will help prevent your cookies from spreading more, too. Don’t skip the refrigeration time, either – this is crucial for these cookies! Let us know what you think once you’ve given them a try 🙂
So I just made these. Yummy flavor but were a bit greasy…. Also I did not have bread flour so used the 2.5 AP flour like you suggested and followed the recipe exactly! I will consult my (your) book on why they are greasy. Love all of your recipes so thank you!
Outstanding! It is definitely worth the extra time/steps to make the browned butter and homemade toffee. These will be an extra special treat anytime I make them!
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The flavor is great, but so far I’ve made two cookie recipes on here an they look nothing like the photos. I measure everything with a scale, and make cookie often. With these they turned out greasy, flat, and pretty dark. Since i measured everything correctly and my ingredients were just purchased; i’m not really sure what went wrong. I’ll keep trying the recipes.
Hi Arielle! Hmm, that’s super strange – especially since your ingredients were measured using a scale for accuracy! It’s hard to say exactly what’s going wrong without baking alongside you, but here are a few things that may be going wrong:
– Are you using American-style (80% butterfat) butter? Or possibly using a European-style butter? European-style butters contain a higher butterfat content, so recipes may require a little tinkering with in order to use that type of butter with perfect results.
– What type of baking pan are you baking on? Not all baking pans were created equal! Check out Tessa’s article on this.
– Is your oven perhaps running a little hot? Most ovens are lying to us about the temperature they say they’re at – my personal oven runs about 10°F too hot. Tessa recommends using an oven thermometer to verify that your oven is actually at the correct temperature. Read more about that here.
– Are you chilling your cookie doughs before baking? This is a crucial step in these cookies in particular, but we find it helps immensely with flavor and texture in most cookie recipes! Learn more in Tessa’s post here!
I hope something here helps, Arielle. Feel free to reach back out to us with any further questions – we’re always happy to help 🙂
this recipe is a crowd pleasure. love it! I have a question can I use regular expresso powder or do have to use instant expresso powder?
Hi Daisy! Any espresso powder is fine 🙂 Let us know what you think of these cookies once you’ve given them a try!
I have know idea what I did wrong but they came out like “cake” every ingredient was measured on scale.I will definitely try doing them again .
Hi Stella! I’m sorry to hear that these cookies didn’t turn out as they should! Using a scale, as you mentioned, should easily prevent any ingredients from being over-measured, so this shouldn’t be the reason your cookies were cakey. Were any ingredients accidentally missed, or did you make any substitutions? Did you refrigerate the cookies for 24-72 hours? This really helps immensely with the delicious flavor and the consistency of the cookies, too. Also, how old are your leavening agents? If your baking soda and baking powder are not fresh, they won’t do their jobs and your baked goods can not rise properly, fall after baking, and much more – leading to less-than-perfect results and strange textures. Tessa talks about the science behind leavening agents, and how to test for leavener freshness, in this article here! I hope something here helps, Stella, and I hope things go perfectly for you next time you make these! Happy baking 🙂
If I wanted to halve the recipe how many eggs do I use?
Hi there! To make a half batch of these cookies, simply use 1 whole egg, then measure out 1 Tablespoon of the additional egg yolk. Alternatively, you can make the whole batch and freeze what you don’t want to eat now! Check out Tessa’s article here about freezing cookie dough, including info on thawing and baking from frozen! Let us know what you think once you’ve given these a try 🙂
BY FARRR THE BEST COOKIES I HAVE HAD. They are chewy, crunchy, and gooey. definitely making these ones over and over again.
WOW, what an amazing compliment! We are so excited that you loved these cookies so much, Milena! 🙂
Just just confirming that I can substitute AP flour for bread flour so that means I would be using exclusively AP flour. Does that sound OK?
Hi Caryn! Check out Tessa’s tips on this in the pink tip box above the recipe – she explains in there why it’s worth the extra trip to the store 🙂
Hi ! I would like to know if I can bake all the dough in a quarter or half sheet pan , like a bars.
Thanks
Hi Yamelis! We have not tried that, so I can’t say for sure sorry! Let us know how it goes if you give that a try 🙂
OMG! WOW!!! Never have I ever had such a flavourful cookie that also ticks the boxes for having such a satisfying texture. That’s including store bought! The crunchy toffee with the chewy, soft, gooey cookie and crispy edges is ADDICTIVE. First time I’ve made a cookie that’s actually chewy, soft with good thickness (usually they turn out flat and I think it’s the bread flour that makes all the difference so it’s worth a trip to the store). So soft even the next day! I got my partner to take it to the office and everyone RAVED about them saying I should start selling them and it’s the best cookie they’ve ever had haha. One guy even took the remaining 3 cookies and kept it aside for himself on his desk!! They couldn’t believe it was all homemade including the toffee!
Chilling the dough for 72 hrs is soooo worth it and I wouldn’t skip that ever.
Just wondering how do you know your cookie is going to be soft and gooey in the middle without it being underdone? Is the cookie meant to still fall apart after 10 mins of cooking or does it need more baking time? Sometimes I take it out when it’s golden brown but it doesn’t stay together and seems underdone. Other times I bake it longer but would prefer it stay even gooier over time.
Also, is there a trick to keep the edges crispy but middle soft the next day? I find the whole cookie becomes soft but I miss the crispyness!
This will be my go to recipe forever!! It’s also very easy to put together after the toffee making and browning butter which becomes very easy after the first time. HIGHLY RECOMMEND!!!
Hi there! We are so thrilled to hear that you enjoy these cookies so much, and that they were such a hit at your husband’s workplace!! It definitely takes a little practice to know when your cookies are perfectly done; it’s usually when the middles look just a little underdone, but the edges are set and golden brown. You can always bake off one cookie, let it set up a little on the baking tray, and then test it out – this will give you a good indication to know whether you need to add or subtract a minute or two 🙂 I would also recommend checking out a couple of Tessa’s articles for some more background info on this – this article here on ovens, and this article here on baking sheets.
As for your question on keeping the edges crips and the middles soft, unfortunately, fresh cookies are always going to be the most delish for this reason – and the lovely crispness will always soften as it sits. That’s why Tessa always recommends freezing your dough and baking off as you wish to enjoy them – learn more about that here! The other ‘trick’ is baking the larger, 3-Tablespoon cookies Tessa recommends (and bake those as the recipe recommends, for 12-14 minutes). This larger sized cookie will give you the crisp edges, chewy texture, and soft center we all love from a cookie. Smaller cookies don’t always give you quite that same texture.
I hope this helped! Feel free to reach back out to us with any further questions – we are always happy to help! Happy baking! 🙂
Thanks so much for the tips! I actually made smaller cookies so I’ll definitely try the 3 tbsp size! It’s very weird though because I made 1.5tbsp sizes and baked for 12 mins (still gooey in the middle) and made 25 cookies which was spot on with the recipe but half the size of cookies! Wonder why I got such different results. I didn’t use as much chocolate maybe that’s why? So each ball ended up with more dough hence the same cooking time for a smaller size??
Is there a difference to results when you bake in the shape of the cookie scoop (flat bottom) vs rounding the dough?
Yes, the lowered quantity of chocolate would give you a smaller yield, since normally there would be more to expand the dough 🙂
Rounding the cookie dough into perfect balls with your hands before baking can give you a slightly more perfectly-round cookie shape, and it will also smooth the surface more, so your cookies don’t have so many crinkly-crackly wrinkles on top. It’s totally personal preference as to which way you prefer it. Check out Tessa’s article here for more tips on picture perfect cookies 🙂
I’ve made this recipe twice. Once as is and once with white chocolate and toffee both were so good.
When I made this for some reason all of my cookies turned out flat. Nevertheless they tasted great!
Hi Artur! I’m sorry to hear that your cookies turned out flatter than they should! There are a number of reasons why this could happen, but most importantly, how do you measure your ingredients? By volume (using cups), or by weight (using a digital kitchen scale)? When measuring by volume, it’s so easy to mis-measure ingredients (particularly flour) and throw off the entire chemistry of a recipe. Check out Tessa’s article here, where she talks about how to best measure ingredients to ensure accuracy every time.
If you’re sure your ingredients were accurately measured, another thing could be your leaveners. How old are your leavening agents? If your baking soda/powder are not fresh, they won’t do their jobs and your baked goods can not rise properly, spread too much, and much more. Tessa talks about the science behind leavening agents, and how to test for leavener freshness, in this article here!
Did you chill your cookie dough for at least 24 hours (and please note that this process cannot be rushed by placing the dough in the freezer). This is an important step for a lot of cookie doughs, but especially for browned butter or melted butter doughs. The chilling process is sort of like marinating meats, in that it allows the flavor to fully develop – but it also allows the butter to firm back up, and the moisture from the eggs to fully hydrate the flour, and yield a nice, thick cookie. Learn more about that here!
I hope something here helped, and I hope that you give these cookies another try sometime – they really are amazing! Happy baking 🙂
The hardest part is the toffee and waiting a day for the cookies.
145 c (I read today it should be the color of an almond) it was hard for my thermometer and I think I messed with the heat at the end when I should have known it was done. Even with slight separation of the toffee, I layer it out flat and used it anyway. It worked!
Anyway, I skip the two different flours. I double the recipe with 5 c regular flour. 4 eggs 2 yolks ext.
People love them.
Can I replace the sugar with raw honey? If so how much?
We haven’t tried that, but I wouldn’t recommend it. Making any changes to the sugar content in a recipe will result in a different texture, flavor, size, and shape outcome. Sugar does so much more than just sweeten cookies! You’re more than welcome to experiment on your own, but know that the outcome will not be the same.
What is Tessa’s preferred butter for baking cookies? 🙂
Hi Russell! Tessa love Challenge unsalted butter for baking! You can locate a store selling Challenge butter near you here. Happy baking 🙂
Would give more stars if I could!
This is my wife’s new favorite cookie. She is gluten free (GF) and – though I am not – I have only ever made GF, as such, to enjoy life’s cookies with me. If there are any others out there who are looking for that sub. and don’t believe GF can be as good as regular, I recommend the following:
Replace the 1-1/2 Cup all purpose flour with 1-3/4 Cup All purpose GF Flour (I use King Arthur – add a little more flour because I’ve found GF flour is less absorbent than regular flour).
Replace 1 cup of bread flour with Almond Flour OR oat flour (not necessary, but I think the almond flour obviously compliments the toffee/nutty flavor).
Since most almond/oat flours’ in store do not include Xanthan Gum, I will include ~1/4 tsp additional OR 1/2 tsp Psyllium husk. This is not needed if using only all-purpose GF flour though.
Lastly, since GF flour suffers in that glutenous bonding you get with regular flour, to make up for that, I do add ~half of a pack of instant, vanilla pudding *powder* (emphasis on powder to not be confused with actual pudding). And sorry if this makes the cookie purists cringe, but I think this really helps boost the chewiness of a GF cookie; plus – I mean common – its pudding?
Otherwise, I wouldn’t change this recipe for anything!
Thanks, Tessa for the recipe and all the joy that it brings thereafter.
Hi, after freezing these should you thaw them completely I. The drudge or what do you recommend?
Hi Carly! You can do it either way – Tessa explains more in this article here 🙂
Can you bake them from the frozen balls or do you need to thaw? If so, what is the time adjustment to bake from frozen? Thanks!
Hi Sarah! You can bake these from frozen or thaw in the fridge – Tessa explains how in this article here! 🙂
these cookies are incredible. dont make them. youll eat them all and want more!
substitute for eggs??
Hi Shital! Unfortunately, we have not found anything that can quite replicate the amazing things an egg can do for baking. Feel free to experiment with the variations that can be found online, but we wholeheartedly recommend real eggs for best results. Good luck 🙂
The best chocolate chip cookie recipe. The only con is the refrigerating time but it’s worth it.
Super rich!Well balanced!I love the combination of espresso,salt,chocolate and toffee bits.I love that it’s gooey but at thesame time its crunchy from the outside.This is my new favorite!My husband and son love these cookies tooThank you for the recipe.
These are seriously the best chocolate chip cookies I’ve ever made. They do take a bit extra work and time to make the toffee, brown the butter, and let them chill, but these are worth every second. I think my husband was ready to marry me all over again when he tried the dough
These are a bit of extra prep but ultimately they’re not that hard to make. Completely worth it. 100/10
Hey these came out SUPER bready for me. I did all the measurements not by weight (grams etc) but by tablespoons/cups etc. as written out in the recipe, and the cookies came out puffy, risen, and far too bread-y. Seeing how there aren’t any other comments like this I’m curious where I messed up, maybe too much bread flour? But I measured exact amounts according to the recipe. Why did my cookies come out like puffed up scones? Some weren’t even baked all the way through, yet the outside was golden brown – any further cooking to finish the inside would’ve burnt the outside. Dear god help me, I’m beyond frustrated after spending so much time and money on a double recipe here haha
Hi Ben! It definitely sounds like you accidentally incorporated too much flour. When measuring by volume, it’s so easy to mis-measure ingredients (particularly flour) and throw off the entire chemistry of a recipe. Tessa talks about how to best measure ingredients to ensure accuracy every time, in this article here! Also, how old are your leavening agents? If your baking soda/powder are not fresh, they won’t do their jobs and your cookies won’t spread as they should, brown strangely, and more. Tessa talks about the science behind leavening agents, and how to test for leavener freshness, in this article here! I hope something here helps, Ben! These cookies really are fantastic, so I hope you give them another try sometime! 🙂
Ugh I forgot to add baking soda – they are in the fridge and I’m about to bake when I realized- what should I do. They are now too hard to mix so idk…help
Also FYI the baking powder and soda should be together in the recipe. Currently they are separated on either side of the espresso powder so easy to miss. Still my bad I even reread the recipe before I mixed the wet and dry together and still missed it ♀️♀️♀️
Hi Michelle! Thanks so much for the feedback on the leavening agent positions in the recipe. I’m sorry you missed the baking soda! It’s unfortunately unlikely that mixing in the missing baking soda now will work, as the dough would likely get overmixed, and it probably would not distribute evenly anyway. Of course you’re welcome to experiment with this, or just bake as it is, but the results won’t be exactly as written unfortunately. You can see in this post how baking soda vs baking powder change the outcome of baked goods. Fingers crossed they’ll still taste good, and if not, you’ll know for next time! I’m sorry, I wish there was more I could do to fix this for you! Good luck!!
I want to make brown butter cookie and you have options lol I’m wondering if I take out the toffee or the butterscotch from you brown butter recipes will they still come out thick and chewy? should I just use the regular brown butter cookie recipe? I don’t know if they all have different texture. I want a thick chewy cookie but just with chocolate chips.
Hi Angel Marie! It’s totally up to you! I would recommend either using our Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe, or instead swapping the toffee for additional chocolate (so add an additional cup of chocolate chips or chopped chocolate). This will help prevent your cookies from spreading more, too. Don’t skip the refrigeration time, either – this is crucial for these cookies! Let us know what you think once you’ve given them a try 🙂
So I just made these. Yummy flavor but were a bit greasy…. Also I did not have bread flour so used the 2.5 AP flour like you suggested and followed the recipe exactly! I will consult my (your) book on why they are greasy. Love all of your recipes so thank you!
Outstanding! It is definitely worth the extra time/steps to make the browned butter and homemade toffee. These will be an extra special treat anytime I make them!
So glad to hear that, April!
I love the flavor combo of toffee and chocolate