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.
Brooklynn
You did something w/ this – my new go to cookie recipe fs
Barb Chambers
Followed the recipe exactly! I’ve made a lot of cookies in my life and these were some of the very best!
Nana
Our granddaughter made them for them for us, The best cookies I have ever had.
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We’re so happy you enjoyed them so much ❤️
Erin
OMG, I haven’t eaten as many cookies as I did with these in forever. These may be the best cookies I’ve ever made.
I wanted to make toffee cookies for my husband and tried one before this one using the brown butter. It told me to cool the butter for 5 minutes and then add the rest of the ingredients. The mixture was gooey just like Sugarspunrun said it would be.
I made these, waited much longer for the brown butter to cool, and you can smell the brown butter in each and every bite. Thank you so much for sharing. Cant wait to make another batch. AWESOME COOKIES!!!!
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
So glad our tips were helpful, Erin! Enjoy those cookies ❤️
Amber
these are so amazing! I only have one question. How did yours not spread? mine spread quite and bit and ended up being really thin. they tasted soooooo amazing!
Sam
Hi Amber! Did you add the sugars to the butter when it was still warm? That will cause your sugars to melt and your cookies to spread. 🙁
Joy
Such a great recipe! Browned butter is my new secret weapon. We used 1 c. of regular Heath toffee bits and added 1/2 c. mini chocolate chips… perfection!!!
Allison
I was wondering if it’s okay to use a mixer instead of stirring.
Sam
Hi Allison! That will work just fine. 🙂
Allison
These cookies taste amazing!! It’s found the balance of sweet and salty.
I’m bringing most of them to work with me tomorrow. I could definitely eat the whole batch!
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We hope they’re a big hit at work, Allison! Thanks for using our recipe ❤️
Alli
I’ve had a bag of Heath toffee pieces in the freezer forever, and was searching for a recipe to use them. (Just toffee pieces, w/o any chocolate.) I decided to try these, using the full 8 oz. bag of toffee pieces + approx. 1/2 a bag of Hershey’s milk chocolate chips. First time browning butter to make cookies — I’m SO impressed. These turned out delicious!
Barbara King
A BIG hit! The brown butter flavor with the toffee is scrumptious! The sea salt sprinkle was great, too. The cookie looks great, as well, and is easy to make . Perfect without refrigeration prior to baking! We tested, just in case!
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We’re so glad you enjoyed them, Barbara! ❤
Jackie
Hi
Can I add chocolate chips to this recipe, ifso, how much.
Sam
Hi Jackie! You could add probably up to a cup of chocolate chips here. 🙂
Arlene
These cookies were absolutely delicious! Followed the recipe exactly, except I did not have the Heath Bar pieces, only had their bits of toffee. Used 1/2 c toffee bits and 1/2 c mini-semisweet chocolate chips, and everyone at the birthday party RAVED about them. Your suggestion to take them out of the oven when the edges were slightly browned was very helpful. Baked three trays on convection 350* for 9″. Thank you so much for this new extra special recipe!
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We’re so happy everyone enjoyed the cookies, Arlene! Thanks for coming back to leave a review 😊
JaWahna
I followed this recipe to the letter. Had never heard of browned butter before now I’m never going back. I baked these and to get them away from me, I took them to work. Now my coworkers want more. Awesome recipe!!!
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We’re so happy you found our recipe, JaWhana! Brown butter truly is life changing! Thanks so much for letting us know how you liked them 😊
yzabel
These cookies are soooo good, my friends always ask me to make some for them :))
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We’re so happy you and your friends like the cookies, Yzabel! Thanks for commenting 🙂
Sylvia
LOVED these cookies! Hubby said they are better than Any other cookies!
Important question! Can you save (refrigerate) browned butter, say for future batch of cookies?
Thank you for an AWESOME RECIPE!
Sam
Hi Sylvia! I’m so glad you enjoyed them so much! You can save browned butter for a few days in the refrigerator. You’ll want to cover it so it doesn’t get ruined. 🙂
Allyssa Lacoste
What would happen if I didn’t have baking powder
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Hi Allyssa! Unfortunately baking powder is necessary here. You can try to make a baking powder substitute, or wait til you have some. 😊
Maureen
These have become one of our favorite cookies in our house! Thanks for sharing
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
That’s great to hear, Maureen! Thanks so much for trying our recipe. Enjoy ❤️
Katie
Hello, can you please confirm if it’s 1 cup or 2 cups of butter? And if 2, is the 1 cup just soft and the other cup the melted brown butter?
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Hi Katie! You need 1 cup (usually two sticks) of unsalted butter for this recipe. You’ll melt and brown it before letting it cool and using it in the recipe. Hope that helps 😊
Chanty
I’ve made these twice and love them but I’m wondering if you can make the dough ahead of time and refrigerate it?
Sam
Hi Chanty! I haven’t tried it, but it’s a pretty dry dough that may dry out a little bit more in the refrigerator making it harder to work with. It may work better to roll the dough into balls and then store them that way rather than storing just the bowl of dough. 🙂
Faith
Hi! I love these cookies so much they were delicious but I have one concern. My cookies came out puffy is that a problem?
Sam
Hi Faith! Typically, if no substitutions were made, the culprit here is a little excess flour. I’m glad you still enjoyed them. 🙂