My soft and chewy brown butter toffee cookies are packed with toffee pieces and flavored with vanilla, brown butter, and sprinkling of sea salt. Never browned butter before? I’ll show you how! Recipe includes a how-to video!
The BEST Toffee Cookies
I first shared these brown butter toffee cookies over 7 years ago. Since then, they’ve remained one of my favorites, a guaranteed-to-please go-to that everyone, without fail, asks me for the recipe for.
The inspiration for these cookies came to me via the cafeteria of the hospital where Zach and I used to work. The original was quite a bit underwhelming–too artificial, dry, and not enough butter flavor–but it provided me with some good starting points for my own creation.
My version is anything but underwhelming; we’re talking slightly crisped exteriors, crunchy milk chocolate toffee bits, and a nutty, buttery flavor in every bite (especially in those soft centers!). These cookies are so good!
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Makes a fantastic fall cookie that’s both pumpkin and pumpkin spice free (if you’re not into that kinda thing). Something about the warm, buttery flavor just makes me think of fall in all the best ways. Feel free to make them year-round though–I certainly do!
- Brown butter provides the best, butteriest flavor that complements the toffee add-ins so well. If making brown butter seems intimidating to you, just know that it’s a simple process. I’ll walk you through every step below!
- No chilling or mixer required! Though you can always cover and chill the dough if you would like; this would likely give the cookies an even richer, more buttery flavor. Keep in mind that that the dough gets a bit crumbly when chilled and will need to come to room temperature before you can scoop and bake.
- Soft and chewy texture that lasts for days, thanks to my tried-and-true baking technique. On the other hand, if you like crunchy cookies, try my butter crunch cookies!
What You Need
- Brown sugar. I recommend a blend of dark and light brown sugar, though you can use all light brown sugar if that’s all you have on hand.
- Toffee bits. Use the crushed milk chocolate toffee bits (Heath bar bits). You can usually find these near chocolate chips in the baking aisle of your grocery store.
- Vanilla. A hefty pour of vanilla (half a tablespoon!) adds SO much flavor to these cookies. I love using homemade vanilla extract in this recipe; if you haven’t made your own yet, you need to!
- Salt. While we are using regular table salt in the dough, I recommend sprinkling flaky sea salt on the cookies just after removing them from the oven. This really intensifies all of the already robust flavors of these brown butter toffee cookies.
- Butter. We’re using a full cup (two sticks) of butter today. We’ll brown this and let it cool completely before adding it to the dough. Note that unless otherwise indicated, you should measure your butter before browning it.
SAM’S TIP: Since we are using room temperature butter, it’s best if you use room temperature eggs as well. I have a trick to quickly bring eggs to room temperature if you forget to set yours out ahead of time.
This is just an overview of the ingredients I used and why. For the full recipe please scroll down to the bottom of the post!
How to Make Brown Butter Toffee Cookies
Brown the butter
Browning the butter is the key to adding truly incredible, jaw-dropping flavor to this recipe. It’s a key ingredient in my brown butter frosting, brown butter chocolate chip cookies, and pistachio cake and it’s every bit as important here, too.
To make it, add the butter to a light-bottomed saucepan over medium-low heat. Once melted, increase the heat to medium and stir constantly as the butter bubbles, foams, and pops. Pay close attention, and once you notice a toasty aroma and see brown bits forming on the bottom of the pan, remove from the heat and pour into a heat-proof bowl. You’ve just made brown butter!
Make sure to let the butter cool for 25-30 minutes before adding your other ingredients, otherwise you run the risk of melting your sugars and creating a seriously runny, unusable dough.
Make the dough
The dough comes together like most standard doughs. Once the butter has cooled (completely! Make sure the bottom of the bowl that it’s cooling in doesn’t feel even a little warm), you can add the sugars then the egg and vanilla.
Whisk the dry ingredients together separately then gradually fold it into the wet ingredients. This is a stiff dough, so I do this in 3-4 parts for the easiest combining.
Fold in your toffee bits until evenly incorporated, then you’re ready to scoop! No more chilling needed, you waited long enough for the browned butter to cool so you’re ready to go now!
Bake the cookies
Scoop and roll the dough into 1 ½ tablespoon balls, then place on parchment lined baking sheets.
Bake until the edges are just starting to turn golden brown (the centers will still look a bit underdone, then remove and sprinkle with sea salt (you need to do this while the cookies are still warm, so it sticks). The cookies will continue baking outside the oven on the hot cookie sheets. This is my favorite trick for soft and chewy cookies that stay soft for days!
SAM’S TIP: The toffee bits tend to stick to the baking sheets as the cookies cool, so I like to gently wiggle the cookies with a spatula after they’ve been out of the oven for a few minutes.
Frequently Asked Questions
It’s not ideal with this recipe as the dough doesn’t spread as much after a prolonged period of time in the refrigerator and can even become crumbly. However, if you absolutely must save the dough, you can cover and refrigerate it for up to 3 days. Note that you will likely need to let it completely come back to room temperature before attempting to scoop and roll it, and the dough might be a bit crumbly even with thawing. You may be better off chilling the dough in pre-portioned balls instead.
You don’t have to, but your cookies won’t be quite as soft and tender or thick if you skip it. I recommend substituting flour for the cornstarch if you must leave it out.
The most likely cause is adding the sugars to the butter while it is still just a bit too warm. The butter melts the sugars and creates a super greasy dough which unfortunately cannot be remedied (even chilling won’t help).
This can also happen if you put your cookie dough on hot baking sheets–never do that!
I highly recommend that you re-heat your toffee cookies briefly in the microwave before enjoying (about 9-seconds per cookie, in my microwave). Warm cookies are the best cookies!
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Brown Butter Toffee Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup unsalted butter
- 1 cup (200 g) brown sugar (light or dark is fine, I like to use a blend of the two)
- ⅔ cup (135 g) white sugar
- 2 eggs room temperature preferred
- 1 ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 ¾ cups (350 g) all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon cornstarch cornflour in UK
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ¾ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup (170 g) milk chocolate toffee pieces (Like Heath Milk Chocolate Toffee Pieces)
- sea salt for sprinkling on top of the cookies (fine or coarse, your preference)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F (177C) and line cookie sheets with parchment paper. Set aside.
- Cut your butter into Tablespoon-sized pieces and place in a medium-sized saucepan. Melt over medium-low heat.1 cup unsalted butter
To Brown the Butter (It’s easy, I promise!)
- Once butter has melted, increase heat to just above medium heat.
- Swirl and scrape the sides of the pan frequently with a wooden spoon or heatproof spatula – the butter will bubble and pop. Once the bubbling/popping slows, the butter will begin to turn brown, it will look like this once it’s finished:
- Watch the butter very carefully at this point, and once it begins to brown and you smell the nutty aroma of browned butter, remove from heat quickly and pour into a large, heatproof bowl.
- Allow butter to cool for 25-30 minutes before proceeding with the recipe.
Cookie Dough
- Add sugars into cooled browned butter, stir well.1 cup (200 g) brown sugar, ⅔ cup (135 g) white sugar
- Stir in eggs, one at a time, stirring well after each addition.2 eggs
- Add vanilla extract and stir.1 ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- In a separate, medium-sized bowl, whisk together flour, cornstarch, baking powder, baking soda and salt.2 ¾ cups (350 g) all-purpose flour, 1 teaspoon cornstarch, 1 teaspoon baking powder, 1 teaspoon baking soda, ¾ teaspoon salt
- Gradually add flour mixture to butter mixture, stirring until ingredients are nearly completely combined.
- Add milk chocolate toffee bits and stir until ingredients are well-incorporated.1 cup (170 g) milk chocolate toffee pieces
- Drop by heaping, rounded 1 ½ Tbsp (45g) scoops onto prepared cookie sheets, placing at least 2" apart.
- Bake on 350F (177C) for 9-10 minutes or until edges are just beginning to turn golden brown (cookies should still be quite soft when you remove them from the oven, and may even appear slightly underbaked in center).
- Sprinkle lightly with sea salt.sea salt
- Allow cookies to cool on baking pan for about 3 minutes and then use a spatula to gently scoop beneath them and carefully wiggle them free from the parchment paper, as the toffee tends to stick.
- Allow to cool several more minutes and then transfer to cooling rack to cool completely.
Notes
Storing
Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 4 days.Nutrition
Nutritional information is based on third-party calculations and should be considered an estimate only. Actual nutritional content will vary based upon brands used, measuring methods, cooking method, portion sizes, and more.
Jill Christensen
While my cookies, turned out delicious, they are really flat. I’ve tried the recipe twice with the same results both times. Any ideas why?
Sam
Hi Jill! I’m so sorry this is happening. Is your butter cool enough when you add the sugars to it? If it isn’t cool enough the butter will melt the sugars and cause spreading like this. I hope this helps. 🙂
Debbie
I’m about to make these for the third time. Brought them to the office and got RAVE reviews. One of the best cookie recipes I’ve tried. I had only regular toffee bits so added them and a chopped up a milk chocolate bar.
Sam
I am so happy to hear this! Thank you for letting me know what a hit they’ve been, Debbie, I really appreciate it!!! 🙂
Suzanne Fioravanti
These cookies are delicious! They are just the right combination of soft-chewy and sweet-salty. The crisp edges and cruncy toffee bits — YUM!
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed the cookies, Suzanne! 🙂
Katie
Hello! Wondering if you put the browned butter in the fridge at all? What consistency is it when you add the sugar? Room temp? Slightly melted? Been playing around with browned butter and I’m trying to get it just right! Thanks!
Sam
Hi Katie! I don’t, I let it sit at room temperature until it is cooled to room temperature (or close to it). It’s still liquid when I use it, though sometimes the top or around the edges of the bowl have started to re-solidify. I hope that helps!
Deborah Jean
I “accidentally” made homemade toffee (one of those happy things that happen when you’ve utterly failed an attempt to make something else!) and found your recipe for these cookies. They turned out to be utter perfection. The browned butter and Maldon salt flakes (my favorite salt) brought in beautiful depths of flavor.
Thank you!
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed them so much, Deborah! I hate when I accidentally make desserts! 😂
Joh
I only had salted butter on hand so I used that. Still very good taste but a drier cookie not the soft batch yumminess. Definitely will use the unsalted next time
Sam
The salted butter shouldn’t cause dryness in these cookies. It would make them slightly saltier. Typically when a cookie is dry, it is because it was over-baked or there was too much flour used. I hope this helps! 🙂
Karean
I was craving a scratch cookie but didn’t want to wait to soften butter as needed for most. This recipe looked perfect for the moment. And indeed it was! What a great flavor, and so easy. Family says it’s their new favorite. For the last of the batch I thought I’d try adding chopped macadamia nuts and coconut …. that works, too, but the original recipe is amazing.
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed the cookies Karean! 🙂
Debra
Love browned butter. These are good with other additions…I added chopped walnuts and white chocolate bits. The toffee keeps them real good and chewy, so I don’t think ill leave that out. Crab raisins would be good with the white chocolate. All I know is these are heaven!
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed them, Debra! 🙂
Cara
Just made these cookies. They are delicious! The browned butter gives a marvelous flavor. Wasn’t sure if I would like the salt on top, so tried half of the first sheet of cookies with turbinado sugar instead and Maldon sea salt on the remaining half. Everyone liked both, so I added a little of both to the remaining cookies. Everyone loves them! Will absolutely make again! Five stars!!!!!
Sam
I am so glad everyone enjoyed them, Cara! 🙂
Debbie
Do you know if there’s a way to adapt them to bar cookies? They sound delicious, but I’m looking for bar format at the moment.
Sam
Hi, Debbie! The recipe may actually work as is. I don’t know how long it would need to bake though. If you try it, let me know how it goes. 🙂
Carla Masopust
This is my go to cookie recipe base! I omit the toffee and replace with milk chocolate chips and I also add 1tsp of cinnamon to the dry ingredients (flour mixture). I bake for exactly 11 mins and they come out perfect!!
Sam
I am so glad you enjoy them, Carla! 🙂
Rhiannon
Wanted almond flavoring so subbed 1/8c almond paste for 1/4c brown sugar. They came out really good! Thanks for the recipe!
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed them, Rhiannon! 🙂
Anna
Omg!!! Just made these only I swapped the chocolate for just regular toffee & added almonds! My best friend is going to love these. I make him cookies & almond brittle for the holidays and this was like the best of both worlds!
Sam
That sounds delicious, Anna! I am so glad you enjoyed them. 🙂
Julia
I just made these and man, they are AMAZING. Perfectly sweet and salty, chewy yet crispy, just great all around. I was worried because the dough was a bit crumbly but they came out perfect!
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed them, Julia! 🙂
Melanie Bentley
i ate julia’s cookies and they are delish! i’m going to make some tonight!
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed them, Melanie! 🙂
Laure E
I am so excited to try these! I just tried making toffee for the first time and the mixture of butter and sugar separated. However the texture and flavor is still good enough to use in another way so I decided I needed to find a recipe to use the broken toffee. I can’t wait to make these cookies with my toffee!
Sam
I hope you love them! ☺️