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. I always keep a steady supply of these cookies in my freezer!
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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!
What Makes Cookies Chewy, Crisp, or Cakey?
My free guide reveals the ingredients and tweaks that matter.
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!
Sprinkle of Science
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.
- Learn all my tips and tricks for browning butter in my How to Brown Butter article 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 cookies that 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 extra molasses in the dark 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. Sugar does SO much more than simply sweetening your baked goods. Learn more about sugar’s role in baking 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 Cookie 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, so 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 semi-sweet Ghirardelli baking bars and chop them up coarsely for these Browned Butter Toffee Chocolate Chip Cookies. 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 Heath brand toffee chips at many grocery stores, typically located with chocolate 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 they taste 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 browned 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 chilling cookie dough 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 to be safe, 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:
- Large 3-tablespoon size cookie scoop for that bakery-style texture
- Or use a medium 1.5-tablespoon size cookie scoop and bake only for about 10-12 minutes instead
- Nordic Ware Natural Aluminum Baker’s Half Sheet won our side-by-side comparison of the best baking pans
- 12″x16″ non-stick parchment paper for the best bake and easiest cleanup!
- The Ultimate Cookie Handbook: Your Guide to Baking Perfect Cookies Every Time by Tessa Arias (me!)
More Recipes You’ll Love:
- Toffee Brownies
- Bakery Style Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Brown Butter Dulce de Leche Cookie Cups
- Peanut Butter Toffee Chocolate Chunk Bars
- Bourbon Rye Oatmeal Chocolate Chunk Cookies
- Visit my full Cookie Recipes index for more recipes, tips, and insights into the science of cookie baking!
Browned Butter Toffee Chocolate Chip Cookies
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Ingredients
- 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
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1 teaspoon instant espresso powder, optional
- 2 large eggs plus 1 egg yolk, at room temperature
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- 10 ounces (283 grams) semisweet chocolate, chopped
- 1 cup
homemade toffee bits , or Heath brand - Flaky sea salt, for finishing
Instructions
- In a medium stainless steel 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, baking powder, salt, and espresso 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 just 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.
The Ultimate Cookie Handbook
Learn the sweet SCIENCE of cookie baking in a fun, visual way to customize your own recipes frustration-free. Plus, my best 50+ homemade cookies!
This post was originally published in 2014 and updated with recipe improvements, more tips, and new photos. Photos by Ashley McLaughlin.
‘m seeing a lot of negative feedback on how the cookies are turning out and its honestly probably because yall are making them wrong. Which i get, it is a finicky recipe and it took me and my cousins 3 tries to perfect it. You need the proper flour to bread flour ratio and you really do need to chill it. Although I’ve only ever chilled it for 30 minutes. Only crit I have is how greasy the dough is BUT it makes sense cause of the butter and sugar mix but the actual cookies arent too greasy when baked up. and it seems avoidable if you refrigerate them for the full 24 hours. They taste great even without the espresso (never used it in this recipe actually) and they look great too. If its spreading too thin and crispy then you obviously forgot something cause these look just like the pictures.
These cookies look absolutely amazing and I’m going to make them for my family but I was curious what would happened if instead of using bread flour and all purpose flour I used a mixture of cake flour and all purpose flour. And what would be the measurements for it?
I’ve made this recipe 3 times and it’s been WONDERFUL 2 out of those 3 times. The first time, I tried to make the toffee without a candy thermometer and used measuring cups instead of my scale. This effort was not that delicious. The two times I’ve made it recently, I used store bought Heath bits and my scale; I think the latter really made the difference. I think a scale (and following the refrigeration period) would really help some of the raters who suffered from greasy cookies. I matured one of my batches in the fridge for like 4 days (beyond what is recommended) and honestly they were absolutely delicous. I’ve also baked from frozen (formed into cookie dough balls) after thawing while the oven preheats and baking the 12 minutes. Other tips – don’t skimp on the good vanilla. Use a mixture of chopped choc and choc chips in dark and milk chocolate. Top with flakey sea salt. Add the espresso powder. I cut down on the chocolate and toffee b/c the actual dough flavor is just so good.
TLDR: highly recommend this recipe. Use high quality ingredients and a scale for the most delicious and replicable result.
I bake cookies a lot and know what good cookies look and taste like. I was pretty dissapointed with these cookies. The brown butter falvor was nonexistent, and I think it was overpowered by the toffee and chocolate. I froze my cookies and baked them shortly after pulling them from the freezer because the dough was very sticky and greasy. They still spread and became very flat and crispy. I live at higher elevation, so adding more flour may have helped, but these cookies truly looked nothing like the pictures.
Okay. I make a lot of cookies, maybe 3-4 different recipes a week and lots of them are brown butter cookies. I was so excited for these, I made the toffee and measured out to the gram every ingredient. Chilled the dough for about 65 hours, pulled from the fridge, left to sit for about half an hour and then rolled an baked. The cookies are SO greasy, you can’t touch them without getting oily hands. They are also completely raw in the middle and so crisp on the outside. I can’t imagine what I did wrong. Perhaps not letting the brown butter cool enough?
I’m sad because the batter tasted insanely good – the best I’ve ever tasted. I will try again, but any tips would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you so much for trying our recipe and for your detailed comment! It does sound like the browned butter mixture may have been too warm when mixed in, which can lead to greasier dough and over-spreading. Make sure it cools to a soft solid or at least room temp before using — you can pop it in the fridge to speed that up.
If the cookies were raw in the middle but crisp on the outside, your oven might be running a bit hot. Do you have an oven thermometer to double-check the temp? That can make a big difference!
Also, when cookie dough ends up too greasy or spreads too much, sometimes the fat-to-flour ratio is slightly off, which can happen even with careful measuring. We recommend weighing the flour to make sure you’re adding the correct amount, since it’s easy to under- or over-measure by volume.
We’re so glad you loved the batter flavor! Please let us know how it goes when you try again. This is my all-time favorite cookie recipe, and I totally agree the batter is the best! I definitely want you to get cookies you love, too 🙂
Hello 👋
I have a question about your cookie recipe regarding the butter stage. Should the butter be cooled before adding the sugars, or should the sugar be added while the butter is still hot?
My concern is that adding sugar to hot butter could cause the sugar to dissolve prematurely, which might alter the creaming process and affect the cookie’s texture and structure.
Last night, I made the dough and chilled it, but I suspect I incorporated the butter into the flour while it was still too warm. I’m making a backup batch today and want to be sure I’m following your intended method.
Do you recommend letting the butter cool to a soft solid before adding the sugar, or working with it while it’s still warm?
Hi Kathy! As written in the recipe, you’ll add the granulated sugar and brown sugar to the hot butter (step #2), which does help dissolve some of the sugar. This is intentional because the butter and sugar aren’t creamed together in this recipe. You’ll want to set that mixture aside until it’s barely warm to the touch (room temp) before adding the other ingredients. If it’s helpful, you could even place it in the fridge to speed up the cooling process! If you think you might have added the other ingredients too soon, your cookies may spread a bit more when baked. The cookies will still taste delicious, but to thicken them up a bit and make the end result a little prettier, use a round cookie cutter that’s slightly larger than the cookies and swirl it around each cookie as soon as you take them out of the oven (and don’t forget the flaky sea salt!). I hope that helps! What did you think of the final cookies?
Hi there! What is the gram/ weight measurement I need after browning the butter? Thank you.
Hi Megan! Tessa designed this recipe knowing the water content in the butter would evaporate during browning, so there’s no need to weigh the butter afterward. Just measure it before browning, and you’ll be all set. Let us know how your cookies turn out, these are a team favorite! 🙂
These are my favorite cookies, and I always get a lot of fan fare when I bring them to gatherings. I haven’t gone a full 24 hrs before baking. Generally I make the dough at night and then bake in the morning. I highly recommend making your own toffee—it makes a big difference in the final product. If you HAVE to skip a step, it would be the brown butter, but it adds great depth of flavor.
I followed the recipe exactly, made my own toffee, used quality ingredients including the chocolate, and chilled my dough for forty eight hours, baked them and let them cool for awhile. They look good but the taste doesn’t blow me away. I thought the brown butter would be a flavor explosion but I honestly can’t tell it’s brown butter. Don’t get me wrong, they’re good cookies, they’re just not as great as I was lead to believe by the reviews. It’s my humble opinion that the best chocolate chip cookies come from the recipe on the bag of chocolate chips.
Do I really have to let it rest? I only have about 12 hours to spare right now
Hi Bethy! 12 hours of chill time is fine if that’s what you’ve got! These cookies need a longer rest because of the melted butter—baking them too soon can lead to extra spreading. Chilling also helps them develop more flavor and creates a chewier texture. What did you end up doing, and how did they turn out?
I did about 14 hour rest for most of them reserving the rest to a 48 hour mark and did a side by side taste test. The longer rest was way better, and they were darker which surprised both me and my husband. Anyway, the batch he took to his meeting on Monday was a hit and the guys knew no difference. Thanks, I’ll be making these again! And Won’t skip making the toffee myself. My husband loves it and wants me to make more with peanuts in it like peanut brittle.
Yay, I’m so happy to hear they were such a hit! And I LOVE your husband’s idea of adding peanuts to the toffee! Let us know how that goes—I’ve added melted chocolate on top before, which is delicious too! 🙂
This is a fantastic recipe!
These were so delicious! I took them to Book Club and pretty much everyone told me they’re the best cookie they’ve ever tasted. Four out of six friends and that Book Club asked for the recipe thanks so much!
Thrilled to hear they were such a hit, Faith!
hello! would overbaking or even flattening the dough create a crispy cookie all around? I love the flavor of these cookies and want to make them for my mom for mothers day but she prefers a crispy cookie. thank you for this incredible recipe!
We haven’t tested that, so I can’t say for sure—but overbaking a little usually helps make cookies crispier! You could also try flattening the dough to help out. So glad you’re enjoying the recipe and making it for your mom. Let us know how they turn out! I think she’d also enjoy our Thin & Crispy Chocolate Chip Cookies recipe here 🙂