Browned Butter Toffee Chocolate Chip Cookies (2024)

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!

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 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.