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These Browned Butter Toffee Chocolate Chip Cookies are about to be the BEST cookies you’ve ever tried.
This Browned Butter Toffee Chocolate Chip Cookies 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.
I originally published this recipe in 2014 but just had to update it with recipe improvements and new photos. These cookies deserved it!
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 when the craving hits. Trust me… it WILL hit!
How to Make Browned Butter Toffee Chocolate Chip Cookies
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 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!
- I highly recommend using unsalted butter – learn why here.
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 Browned Butter Toffee Chocolate Chip 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. 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.
Granulated Sugar + Dark Brown Sugar
- To make these Browned Butter Toffee Chocolate Chip Cookies extra delicious, we’re using a combination of granulated white sugar and dark brown sugar.
- This combination brings sweetness, a fantastic texture, and a butterscotch flavor that’s so rich and delicious.
- 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.
- Whatever you do, don’t lower the sugar in this recipe. Find out why here.
Eggs + an Extra 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).
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 it.
What Kind of Chocolate for Browned Butter Toffee Chocolate Chip Cookies?
I like to use semisweet Ghirardelli baking bars and chop them up coarsely for this recipe. Feel free to use chocolate chips, but note that you won’t have the same delicious marbled result you get from chopping your own chocolate.
Where to Find Toffee Bits?
You can find them at many grocery stores in the Heath brand with the other chips in the baking aisle. If you can’t find them, I have a super easy recipe to DIY Homemade Toffee Bits which I used for these cookies here. It takes just 15 minutes and tastes so much better than store-bought!
Do I Really Have to Chill the Cookie Dough?
I know, it’s annoying, but I promise you it’s SO worth it, especially for this recipe which uses melted brown butter. Both the taste and texture of the cookie improve during this time. Think of it as a marinating time where everything just gets better and better!! Freezing does not work the same as chilling, so there are no shortcuts here. Learn more about this process, and why it’s so important, 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 Browned Butter Toffee Chocolate Chip Cookies. If you want to bake smaller cookies, scoop into 1 1/2 tablespoon-sized balls and bake for 10 to 12 minutes.
Portioning the Cookie Dough Before vs. After Chilling
- I recommend following the directions in the recipe for chilling the dough in one big mass, and then portioning the dough because it prevents the dough from drying out while chilling.
- However, if you’re finding it too challenging to scoop the Browned Butter Toffee Chocolate Chip Cookie dough at this point, feel free to scoop before chilling.
- There’s a bit more risk that your dough will dry out in the fridge this way, so just be sure to store the cookie dough balls in an airtight container or good quality ziptop bag, to prevent them from drying out.
- Then simply bake the pre-portioned Browned Butter Toffee Chocolate Chip Cookies straight from the fridge after the 24-72 hour chill time!
Can I Freeze This Cookie Dough?
Yes! Freeze the portioned Browned Butter Toffee Chocolate Chip Cookie dough balls after letting the dough marinate in the fridge for at least 24 hours. 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.
Tessa’s Favorite Tools for This Recipe
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-
2
sticks (227 grams) unsalted butter
-
1/2
(100 grams) cup granulated sugar
-
1
cup
(200 grams) lightly packed dark brown sugar
-
1 1/2
cups
(190 grams) all-purpose flour
-
1
cup
(127 grams) bread flour
-
1
teaspoon
baking soda
-
1
teaspoon
fine sea salt
-
1
teaspoon
instant espresso powder,
optional
-
1/2
teaspoon
baking powder
-
2
large eggs plus 1 egg yolk,
at room temperature
-
2
teaspoons
vanilla
-
10
ounces
(283 grams) semisweet chocolate,
chopped
-
1
cup
toffee bits,
homemade or Heath
-
Flaky sea salt,
for finishing
-
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!
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Add the granulated sugar and brown sugar to the hot butter, stirring to combine. Set aside to cool to room temperature.
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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.
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Let dough sit at room temperature just until it is soft enough to scoop, about 1 hour.
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Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
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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.
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At this point, you can portion the dough, place it on a baking sheet, and freeze just until solid. Remove frozen balls of dough to an airtight container and store for up to 6 weeks.
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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 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:
hi!
can these be made without toffee? I don’t like how it feels on my teeth
Hi Nikki! We haven’t tried that ourselves, but it should work just fine – but I would recommend adding about the same amount of additional chocolate chips or another similar mix-in, to keep the cookies the same texture. Let us know how it goes!
Fantastic!!!
I’m not sure if there is something I accidentally left out or I measured something wrong but the cookies tasted really bitter and we’re not a crowd pleaser. Thankfully I made another cookie to bring as well because no one liked them, including me! I’m going to have to try them again some other time to really see if it was me or the cookie. The only thing I omitted was the espresso powder but that was optional anyways.
Any ideas where I went wrong?
Hi Sara! I’m sorry to hear that these cookies did not turn out as they should. They should have a rich, complex flavor thanks to the nutty browned butter, toffee, and dark brown sugar – but they definitely should not be bitter. It’s always possible that something was accidentally mismeasured (it’s happened to us all!) and that would have thrown off the flavor and possibly even the texture. Adding too much baking powder/soda can cause bitterness, as can reducing the sugar. Also, be sure to keep a close watch when browning your butter, as it can go from nicely browned to burned very quickly. I hope you’ll try these cookies again – they really are fantastic! Happy baking!
So the taste is there but I feel like I did something wrong! Every time I do a recipe with browned butter the cookies don’t spread out, they stay thick and pretty close to the round ball I shaped them in! Is there something that I did that may have caused it like over mixing?
Hi Jaime! I’m sorry to hear that you have trouble with brown butter cookies. Overmixing will typically result in tough cookies, but it shouldn’t impact the cookies’ ability to spread. 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 – and is is a super common cause of cookies not spreading. Check out Tessa’s article here, where she talks about how to best measure ingredients to ensure accuracy every time. I hope this helps! Feel free to reach back out with any further questions!
I’m super excited to make these but I’m in Denver Colorado and worried about the high altitude messing them up! I’ve made ingredient adjustments to my cookies in the past based on the elevation and have turned out great (like decreasing the amount of sugar which you say to def not do, more liquid, more flour, etc). Do you have any specific recommendations for adjusting the recipe based on high altitude? Thanks!
Hi Ally! Unfortunately, no one at Team Handle the Heat has experience baking at high altitudes, but this King Arthur Baking resource has some great tips. I hope that helps! Happy baking 🙂
super yummy! I may try dark chocolate next time to get an extra chocolaty flavor. I’m a little confused by the storage instructions for the dough. once you freeze them you leave them at air temperature for up to 6 weeks?
Hi Ashlie! Please don’t leave your cookie dough at room temperature! This will cause the dough to spoil. The instructions talk you through how the cookie dough needs to be chilled for 24-72 hours, and then it can be frozen up to 6 weeks inside an airtight container, or a freezer bag is fine too. Glad to hear that you enjoyed these! Happy baking 🙂
this recipe is a 4.5 for me. be warned that the toffee melts into the cookie, giving them a tough and chewy texture that sticks to your teeth. clearly that is what a lot of people like, since this recipe went viral. it just wasn’t for me. otherwise, the flavors of the cookie are well-balanced and delicious.
i used around 140 grams each of 60% and 70% dark couverture chocolate, and i made sure to use the bread flour as well. i also added about a cup of pecans into my recipe, but that is the only change i made. the cookies cane out gorgeous, to a professional level.
lastly, i have a tiny beef with this website. there is soooo much happening on the page, it crashes on me as i’m trying to read through all the important tips. it also crashed on me when i first attempted to write my review, so i had to start over. i totally get it that advertisements are what help blogs like this keep their legs, but perhaps you could have one or two less of them so there is less risk of crashing on someone in the middle of a recipe.
Hello. These sound delicious. Could I make this recipe in one pan as cookie bars? Has anyone tried that? How would you change the baking temp/time? Thanks, Michele
Hi Michele! We haven’t tried that, so I can’t say for sure. Feel free to experiment and see how it goes, but just be aware that in turning cookies into bars, some adjustments may need to be made. Some bars turn out a little cakier than the cookie does (flour needs adjusting slightly), and some will collapse a little in the middle (leavening agents need to be adjusted slightly). Good luck and let us know how it goes!
It was very good! Unfortunately didn’t have dark brown sugar available, so used my light brown — so excited to try this recipe again to use the dark brown! They were a hit.
However, was a little frustrated that the “time” section doesn’t have mention the chilling time (or cooling time for the butter part, for that matter). Most recipes I’ve seen that does require chilling or misc. time, have it in parentheses so we can plan ahead. So I started this 4 hours before I needed them for a party and realized 25 mins into cooking that I can’t even bake them until at least 24 hrs later! So had to quickly come up with something else. I feel this should be updated.
Hi Angela! Apologies for the confusion here! We have updated this recipe to reflect the chill time. Thanks so much for taking the time to mention this, and we’re so glad to hear that you enjoyed these cookies 🙂
I love this recipe and have made these cookies many times.
Could I add espresso powder to give the cookies a coffee hit?
Thanks for a great recipe.
Hi Leslie! These cookies actually contain 1 (optional) teaspoon of instant espresso powder, but feel free to add a little more if you wish to up the coffee flavor. Happy baking!
Oops! I forgot that there is espresso powder, but could I add as much as 1/4 cup for a very distinct coffee flavour?
Hi Leslie! I would recommend starting by adding just another tablespoon or so, and see how that goes. 1/4 cup is a lot of excess dry ingredient that will impact the texture of the final cookie, so start small and build from there slowly until you reach your desired outcome. It will be a super fun and delicious experiment! Enjoy 🙂
Hi, a question can I make this with APF only? and what’s your suggestion putting cornstarch on this as well. Thanks
Hi Gabriel! As Tessa mentions in the pink tip box (above the recipe), “You don’t absolutely have to use bread flour, but it adds a ton of chewy texture to these Browned Butter Toffee Chocolate Chip 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. 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.”
Cornstarch makes cookies thick and extra soft – which isn’t quite the texture we’re aiming for with these specific cookies (chewy is the goal here!) but feel free to experiment with adding a teaspoon to a tablespoon, if you like. Check out Tessa’s Soft Chocolate Chip Cookies, which contain cornstarch, for comparison. Happy baking 🙂
So sorry I have must have missed out the APF only flour. Thanks for all the tips as well 🙂
is it okay to ommit the toffee and replace it fully with chocolate chip?
Hi Anne! We actually have a Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe that I think you’d love 🙂
I’ve made these 3 times now! I was on a cookie kick, but now if I make cookies, people always ask if I’m making “the” cookies. I usually make a double batch, and also make the homemade toffee bits too (worth it!)
If you’re questioning the chill time – it’s worth it! At the insistence of my partner I made a few cookies when the very first dough was mixed – but the dough itself didn’t have too much flavour. While the warm gooey cookies were nice, I’m so glad I reserved most of the batch for the fridge! 24 hours later the dough had so much delicious flavour, and the cookies were phenomenal. An absolute crowd favourite.
My partner and I tried them after the chill and we just looked at each other and laughed – because we knew no other chocolate chip cookie could ever top this.
Hi, question!! What is bread flour??
I live in New Zealand and we have plain flour, self raising and high grade flour. High grade is usually used to make bread… would this be what you used??
(We don’t have cake flour)
Hi Andrea! While I cannot speak to your varieties of flour available, I can tell you that the key differentiating factor between bread and all-purpose flour in the US is protein content. Our bread flour has 12-14% protein. Check the labels of your flours at your local grocery store (or specialty kitchen supply store, if possible!) and pick the highest protein content (preferably around 12-14%) for best results. If you cannot find anything close to this, check out the tips Tessa included in the pink tip box (above the recipe) for how to substitute, and tons of other great tips! Happy baking 🙂
I made these and they were absolutely amazing, but I did have a small question. I followed your toffee recipe but it seems all the toffee melted into the cookies during the bake and make them spread a ton- what would be your remedy to this issue? Use store bought next time? Or marinate the cookies in the fridge for longer (I did 24hrs) so they’re super cold and bake them with no sit out time?
If I only have salted butter on hand, would I omit the salt required for the recipe? Or maybe take out half? Also, would instant coffee work in replacement for the espresso powder? Thank you!
Hi Ashley! Yes, just omit the salt if using salted butter 🙂 As for the coffee, instant coffee may work, but we haven’t tried that to verify! It will likely just give a much more subtle coffee flavor. Feel free to omit it if you’re unsure. Let us know what you think once you’ve given these cookies a try! 🙂
Hi! I am so excited to make these. If we made these into minis (1 tablespoon size ball) would you still say to cook them at 350? How many minutes?
Hi Aimee! 350°F is still just fine to bake smaller cookies, I can’t tell you exactly how long they’ll need in the oven, as we haven’t tried these as mini cookies! I would recommend baking one for 8-10 minutes, and checking to see how that goes, to give you a guide for the rest of the batch. Please also note that smaller cookies often have a slightly different texture than larger cookies, and may not develop the slightly crisp exterior and chewy middles we all enjoy in the larger cookies. I hope that helps! Happy baking!
hi, i made these and it turns out to sweet, can i reduce the amount of sugar? or what should i do to make it less sweet? thanks!
Hi Sarah! We really recommend sticking with the original quantity of sugar in any recipe for many reasons. Sugar doesn’t just sweeten baked goods; it moistens, provides tender structure, assists with gluten formation, extends the shelf-life (meaning it will be fresh and moist longer), and assists with texture – just to name a few things! Reducing the sugar content in a recipe doesn’t just lower sweetness; it messes with the recipe’s chemistry and creates a totally different baked good. Of course, feel free to lower it a little to experiment, if you wish – but know that it will change the texture of the cookies. Alternatively, you can try using a dark, bittersweet or even unsweetened chocolate, adding a little more salt, and topping the cookies with flaked sea salt after baking, to help balance the sweetness. I hope that helps! Happy baking!
hi, i made these and they are SO deliciousssss, i have 1 question ,if i made these smaller like 45grams each, should i higher my oven temperature or keep it at 350° still? thank you
Hi Daren! 350°F is still just fine to bake smaller cookies, but it may take a little tinkering to perfect the amount of baking time they need, as it will be a much shorter bake time. Please also note that smaller cookies often have a slightly different texture than larger cookies, and may not develop the slightly crisp exterior and chewy middles we all enjoy in the larger cookies. I hope that helps! Happy baking!
I read the recipe wrong and put my dough in the freezer instead of the fridge!! It’s been in there for just under 24 hours and I’ve just moved it to the fridge. Will this ruin the dough??
Hi Ali! No, it won’t ruin the dough, you just technically skipped out on the marination process! Go ahead and bake them from frozen, and they’ll still be delicious.