Butter Crunch Cookies are thin, crispy cookies made with browned butter and toffee bits. My recipe is super easy (just 15 minutes of prep!) and incredibly flavorful. Recipe includes a how-to video!
The BEST Butter Crunch Cookie Recipe
We’ve sort of established ourselves here as a soft & chewy kind of blog. Most of the time, that’s my go-to. Give me gooey butter cookies, chocolate chip cookies that stay soft for days or snickerdoodles any day, and I’ll gladly gobble them up. Today, though, I’m flipping the script and sharing these snappy, crisp, butter crunch cookies. They are perfectly brittle (never thought I’d say that about a cookie) and snap satisfyingly in your teeth.
These are thin, crunchy, super buttery cookies made with rich and cozy browned butter. Toffee bits complement the brown butter flavor beautifully, (those of you who have obsessed over my soft & chewy brown butter toffee cookies know this already). They’re packed with texture and flavor, and they’re so much better than store-bought.
This recipe is super unique and fun! It’s also easy; the most involved step is browning the butter, and and even that isn’t difficult.
Why you’ll love my recipe:
- Simple–less than 10 ingredients.
- Just 15 minutes of prep!
- Incredible flavor and texture.
- No chilling!
What You Need
Look at that–only 9 ingredients to make this recipe! Here are they key ingredients for butter crunch cookies:
- Butter. I generally prefer to use unsalted butter and add salt myself (it’s just more precise!). I know many of you only buy salted butter though, so if that’s all you have, you can reduce the salt in the recipe to ½ teaspoon.
- Sugar. We’ll use a combination of light brown sugar and granulated sugar. Yes, it’s a lot of sugar, but this ratio is what gives these butter crunch cookies their crunch!
- Toffee bits. Some toffee bits are sold without chocolate, and some are sold with chocolate on them; use whichever you prefer, as both are excellent here. Homemade toffee bits would also work!
- Baking soda. Not to be confused with baking powder! Baking soda encourages the cookies to be crisp and crunchy–it’s a key ingredient here.
- Vanilla. A full tablespoon of vanilla extract really complements the buttery, toffee flavor.
SAM’S TIP: It’s very important that you measure your flour properly for this recipe (and most others). In this recipe, adding too much flour could prevent your cookies from spreading, and we want these nice and thin!
Remember, 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 Butter Crunch Cookies
- Melt butter over medium-low heat, then increase the heat to medium and stir constantly as the butter pops and sizzles.
- Once brown flecks form and the popping slows, remove the butter from the heat and pour into a heatproof bowl to cool completely.
- Cream together the cooled, re-solidified butter and sugars.
- Stir in the egg and vanilla extract.
- Combine the dry ingredients in a separate bowl, then gradually stir them into the wet ingredients.
- Add the toffee bits and stir until combined.
- Scoop the dough onto a parchment lined baking sheet and bake for 10-12 minutes. they should be a nice golden brown color.
- Let the cookies cool completely on the baking sheet before enjoying.
SAM’S TIP: While warm or straight off the baking sheet, the bottoms of your cookies will have a bit of brown butter grease on the bottom. You can just dab them on a paper towel if this bothers you; I just lick it off my fingers when I’m done eating 🙃
Frequently Asked Questions
This recipe has a high sugar content, which is critical to making a thin, crispy cookie (like my thin & crispy chocolate chip cookies). Cooking the water out of the butter when we brown it also lends itself to a crisp, delicate cookie. And finally, baking soda helps the cookies spread out and encourages a porous, brittle texture. In case you didn’t believe it before, baking truly is a science!
While my cookies never make it long enough in my house to consider freezing, I think these would freeze just fine. If freezing in layers, place sheets of wax paper between the cookies so they don’t stick together.
These cookies are designed to spread a good bit, but if yours were a runny mess, then your butter may have been too warm when you added the sugars. You want to make sure you plan for at least an hour of cooling time for your butter so it can re-solidify after browning. Unfortunately if this happens, nothing will fix your dough (not even chilling!).
Whether you’re team thin & crispy or soft & chewy, these cookies are sure to satisfy your sweet tooth ❤️
Enjoy!
Let’s bake together! I’ll be walking you through all the steps in my written recipe and video below! If you try this recipe, be sure to tag me on Instagram, and you can also find me on YouTube and Facebook
Butter Crunch Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup (226) unsalted butter
- ¾ cup + 2 Tablespoons (175 g) light brown sugar firmly packed
- ½ cup (100) granulated sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1 ½ cups (187 g) all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup toffee bits
Recommended Equipment
- Saucepan or skillet
Instructions
- Brown the butter. Place butter in a saucepan or skillet over medium-low heat and cook until melted. Once melted, increase heat to medium and cook, stirring constantly. Butter will sizzle and pop, scrape the bottom of the pan and swirl as it does. Once the sizzling and popping slows and brown flecks form, remove the butter from heat and pour into a large heatproof mixing bowl. Allow to cool until completely re-solidified before proceeding.1 cup (226) unsalted butter
- Preheat oven to 350F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Set aside.
- Prepare the batter: Once butter has resolidified, add sugars and beat butter and sugar until creamy and well-combined (about 1 minute on high speed.)¾ cup + 2 Tablespoons (175 g) light brown sugar, ½ cup (100) granulated sugar
- Add egg and vanilla extract and beat again until combined.1 large egg, 1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
- In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, and salt. Gradually stir dry ingredients into butter mixture.1 ½ cups (187 g) all-purpose flour, 1 teaspoon baking soda, 1 teaspoon salt
- Stir in toffee bits until combined.1 cup toffee bits
- Scoop and bake: Scoop dough by a level Tablespoon and drop onto prepared baking sheet, spacing cookies at least 2” apart. Transfer to center rack of 350F oven and bake for 10-12 minutes, cookies should be beginning to turn light golden brown.
- Allow cookies to cool completely on baking sheet. While they’re still warm they’ll be a bit soft, but once cooled completely they should be crispy.
Notes
Brown Butter
You can prepare the brown butter a day in advance, just store in an airtight container at room temperature.Storing
Store cookies in an airtight container for up to 3 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.
Jeannette
Wow! I’ve never had success making a crispy cookie until today. I did a little improvising though, because it seems “nobody knows” what happened to the toffee chips. Weird. I left them out, and replaced the flavor with 1.5 tsp ground ginger and .25tsp cinnamon since ’tis the season and all. I only had salted butter, so i followed your suggestion to reduce the salt by half. they turned out crispy, buttery and delicious. Can’t wait to try with toffee chips.
Sam
🤣 “Nobody knows what happened to the toffee chips.” I’m so glad everyone enjoyed them so much! 🙂
Bruce
Today was perfect cookie day for me. First, I made the best browned butter ever. My pan was a little narrower than the one I usually use, so the melted butter was deeper. This somehow allowed the milk solids to brown more evenly, and I got a deep brown without burning. The best part is that the browned butter smelled just like toffee, so it was a great start to these cookies.
This dough is amazing, because it is nice and soft, but doesn’t stick to the cookie scoop like many cookie doughs do.
They spread perfectly this time, and came out (after they cooled) wonderfully crunchy and delicious.
Sam
Sounds like a wonderful day to me, Bruce! I’m so glad you enjoyed them so much! 🙂
Lisa
Amazing cookies, crisp but not hard. They have excellent flavor. The directions are easy to follow and accurate. I can’t say enough good things about them. I did use the plain toffee bits , although they would be good with chocolate too.
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We’re so happy you enjoyed them, Lisa! 🩷
Ali
Definitely a staple cookie for my family. Amazing recipe and very easy to bake. Thank you!
Sam
I’m so glad everyone enjoys them so much, Ali! 🙂
Ann
Most. Amazing. Cookie. Ever! I’ve made these cookies twice now in two weeks. Everyone who eats them absolutely loves them, especially my husband! I think I’ll swap out mini chocolate chips for the toffee chips next time just for something different. Thank you for such a great recipe!
Sam
I’m so glad you enjoyed them so much, Ann! 🙂
Donna
So incredibly good! I made them straight by the recipe the first time. Second time, I didn’t have any plain toffee chips but I had Heath bar chips, so I used those. That little bit of chocolate was very good. It gave a hint of chocolate but didn’t turn it into a chocolate cookie. I browned my butter the day before. Thank you so much for this recipe!
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Sounds tasty, Donna! We’re so happy you liked the recipe 🩷
Toni
I’ve made these 4-5 times now and my family and I LOVE them! I add toasted pecans instead of toffee and add a teaspoon of maple extract 🙂
Dana Saputo
Best cookies ever!!!! I’ve made this recipe with toffee chips and mini chocolate chips and it comes out delicious every time. Brought them to book club last week and everyone wanted the recipe. This one is definitely a keeper!
Sam
I’m so glad everyone enjoyed them so much, Dana! 🙂
Julia
I haven’t made them yet but I definitely love how you put the extra effort in so we don’t need to scroll back and forth, I definitely love an actual cook book because of this. Hope others follow your lead! Also love that you actually take the time to also answer all your comments! You go Girl!!!!
Sam
Thank you so much, Julia! I know you’ll love these when you get around to making them! 🙂
Joanne
This recipe is amazing. My family and I enjoyed these cookies. Thanks
Sam
I’m so glad everyone enjoyed them so much, Joanne! 🙂
Clair
Hello! Would these work as slice and bake cookies? I’m wanting to make them in triándoles and dip them partially in chocolate
Sam
Hi Clair! Honestly I haven’t tried making them that way, but I think it is possible. 🙂
JoanneS
This recipe is perfect! My family and I enjoyed these Butter Crunch cookies. Thanks
Sam
I’m so glad everyone enjoyed them so much, Joanne! 🙂
Regan
These cookies are SO GOOD! Crunchy and chewy and buttery all at the same time. Plus the recipe is ultra simple for a novice baker like myself. I have to be careful not to bake them too often cause I’ll eat the whole batch in two days!
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Thanks for giving them a try, Regan! We are so happy you like the recipe 🩷
Bekki
I just want to thank you. The way you have your recipes set up is so convenient! You don‘t have to scroll all the way up to look at the ingredients. I appreciate the extra effort you took to do that.
Sam
You are very welcome, Bekki! I’m so glad you to hear that the extra information is helpful. I hope you love all of the recipes. 🙂
Bruce
I told you I’ve learned my lesson about weighing, but I went back to cups, and got less than ideal results. My cookies spread too much, so they are more like lace cookies. Fortunately, they are very crisp and delicious. I got 42 cookies, because I didn’t level off the bottom of the scoop each time. That definitely accounted for two more. I think you should scale up the recipe to use a whole 8-oz bag of toffee chips, so I don’t have to eat all of the leftovers.
Sam
O no! I’m glad you were still able to enjoy them! What’s wrong with eating a few leftover chips? 🤣
Darlene
Can I make the dough in advance and then pull out if fridge and bake?
Sam
Hi Darlene! I’m honestly not sure, sometimes brown butter can make a cookie dough dry out as it sits so that would be my concern. I just haven’t tried it yet myself but am a little worried the dough could get crumbly and difficult to work with. If you try it, please let me know how it turns out, though!