Active Time
25 minutes
Total Time
90 minutes
This recipe for brown butter chocolate chip cookies will ruin you for all other cookies. It comes from BA subscriber Kate Davis, a winner in our 2017 Readers’ Choice Week contest. Davis’s recipe produces cookies with crispy, lacy edges and gooey centers studded with lots of melty chocolate. Then there’s the kicker: crunchy bits of buttery toffee candy.
The key to the best chocolate chip cookies is in the details. Here, that means simmering melted butter until the milk solids turn golden brown and give off a nutty aroma. Don’t even think about straining out those brown bits: they’re imbued with toasty, rich flavor that will enhance the cookies’ caramel-like notes. Davis also opts for high-end bittersweet chocolate wafers—not chocolate chips, or even chocolate chunks—which melt into pools that defy logic, remaining molten days after baking. Last: Yes, it is important to bring the ingredients to room temperature before you start mixing. If you want chewy, perfect chocolate chip cookies, don’t skip it.
Letting the dough rest before shaping gives the chocolate-strewn brown-butter toffee cookies time to meld, hydrating the dough and marrying all the flavors. If you want to make them ahead, shape and then freeze the cookie dough balls in a single layer on a cookie sheet. When frozen, transfer them to a Zip Top bag or other airtight container for up to three months.
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What you’ll need
Electric Mixer
$40 At Amazon
Medium #40 Cookie Scoop
$17 At Amazon
Hershey's Skor Toffee Bar
$26 $23 At Amazon
Guittard 74% Chocolate Baking Wafers
$14 $12 At Amazon
Medium Saucepan
$50 $39 At Amazon
Rimmed Baking Sheet
$26 At Amazon
Parchment Paper
$3 At Amazon
Ingredients
Makes about 20
1
2
1
¾
1
⅓
2
2
2
1½
Preparation
Step 1
Cook 1 cup (2 sticks; 227 g) unsalted butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat, stirring often, until it foams, then browns, 5–8 minutes. Scrape into a large bowl and let cool slightly, until cool enough to touch (like the temperature of a warm bath), about 10 minutes.
Step 2
Meanwhile, whisk 2 cups (250 g) all-purpose flour, 1 tsp. baking soda, and ¾ tsp. Diamond Crystal or ½ tsp. Morton kosher salt in a medium bowl.
Step 3
Add 1 cup (packed; 215 g) dark brown sugar and ⅓ cup (73 g) granulated sugar to the browned butter. Using an electric mixer (either a stand mixer or hand mixer) on medium speed, beat until incorporated, about 1 minute. Add 2 large eggs, room temperature and 2 tsp. vanilla extract, increase mixer speed to medium-high, and beat until mixture lightens and begins to thicken, about 1 minute. Reduce mixer speed to low; add dry ingredients and beat just to combine. Mix in 2 1.4-oz. (80 g total) chocolate toffee bars (preferably Skor), chopped into ¼" pieces and 1½ cups (216 g) chocolate wafers (disks, pistoles, fèves; preferably 72% cacao) with a wooden spoon or rubber spatula. Let dough sit in the mixing bowl at room temperature at least 30 minutes to allow flour to hydrate. Dough will look very loose at first, but will thicken as it sits.
Step 4
Place a rack in middle of oven; preheat to 375°, and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Using a 1-oz. ice cream scoop, portion out balls of dough and place on prepared baking sheet, spacing about 3" apart (you can also form dough into ping pong–size balls with your hands). Do not flatten; cookies will spread as they bake. Sprinkle with flaky sea salt.
Step 5
Bake cookies until edges are golden brown and firm but centers are still soft, 9–11 minutes. Let cool on baking sheets 10 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack and let cool completely. Repeat with remaining dough, using a cool baking sheet lined with fresh parchment paper.
Do ahead: Cookie dough can be made 3 days ahead; cover and chill in the refrigerator—or freeze for up to 3 months. Let dough come to room temperature before baking.
Editor’s note: This recipe was first printed in our 2017 special issue ‘The Food We Crave’ as ‘Brown Butter and Toffee Chocolate Chip Cookies.’ Head this way for more of our favorite cookie recipes →
How would you rate Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies With Toffee?
Leave a Review
Reviews (717)
Back to TopI love this recipe and always get compliments when I make them! I used the Tony’s chocolony toffee pretzel chocolate but I also use just whatever good quality chocolate I hate. They are the perfect consistency of chewy and crispy, I prefer a thinner cookie than a New York style cookie.
Chloe C
Perth, Australia
4/14/2024
I’ve made these so so so many times. They’re incredible. I’ve tried some of the adjustments in the comments but the cookies come out beautifully as written. I now know all the places where you can get Skor bars in a five mile radius of my home (7-11 usually comes through).
C
LA, CA
3/31/2024
I followed the recipe exactly, even weighing my flour as I live in a humid area. This dough was way too dry! I let the dough rest as directed, but when I went to shape them, the cookies barely held together. It was a big crumbly mess. I added some cream to thin it out, but the cookies were as hard as a rock with little flavor. This was a pricy recipe to fail so miserably.
Leslie T
Virginia, United States
3/10/2024
Wow, these are GOOD. Super chewy, crispy on the outside--truly delicious, with that caramel-y flavor from the browned butter. Some notes: I didn't have any toffee, so made them with 3/4 C of walnuts and 1 C of chocolate chips. Browning the butter wasn't as hard as I remembered. I put it in the freezer for about 15 min to cool it down, and cooled the completed dough for 20 minutes before baking.
Anonymous
Oakland, CA
2/22/2024
I won my office cookie competition with these! They were such a hit. My only tweak is I did 1.5 ounces per cookie. I also slam the cookie tray on the counter once or twice to get those nice crinkly edges. Yum!
Ally Renwick
Toronto, Canada
1/26/2024
this recipe was actually pretty good. it tasted really amazing while in in dough form but i was afraid it would lose its deep, layered flavours after baking. i did two test batches, one where i made the dough and immediately baked, and another where i chilled the dough for 2 days before baking them. the first one tasted so mediocre, but the cookie that was chilled for 2 days tasted sooo amazing!! i like thin cookies so i let the chilled dough come to room temperature first before baking, as well as the taking the tray out halfway during baking to tap. i also made my own toffee and used 70% dark chocolate and they turned out great (only after 2 days of chilling though). i would still recommend to make as its a really solid ccc recipe.
Anonymous
singapore
1/21/2024
The recipe's first sentence is true. It will ruin all cookie recipes you make - and honestly, for me at least - ruined most side dishes you try to cook and bring to a party 😂 Once you've made these cookies for yourself or others, they will ask you for nothing else but these cookies. The freshly baked loaf you just made? Nobody wants it. The sugar-glazed carrots you spent a few hours baking? Don't bother bringing it. Dramatics aside, I made this recipe for a group of friends and they loved it. The group has truly asked me for nothing else, but these cookies. Great recipe, very easy to follow, a little time-consuming, but well worth it. I burnt the butter by mistake the first time around, but luckily it's easy enough to quickly re-make and try again.
Kimberly B.
Brooklyn, NY
1/8/2024
Iow
Anonymous
12/24/2023
This is my go-to cookie recipe! I've made without the toffee completely, too, and they're still a hit. Must make!
Amber D.
Minneapolis, MN
12/16/2023
Followed the gram weights. Chilled dough balls. Baked on a parchment lined sheet in a pure convection oven for 18 minutes...shut down the oven and let the cookies dwell until basically cool...hours! You are welcome ! ! !
Jeff Winett
Sherman Oaks, California
12/8/2023
These cookies are amazing! My family requests that I make these for casual family gatherings. There are never any leftover.
Anonymous
Phoenix, AZ
10/28/2023
I derive all my social capital from these cookies
Teo R
Montpelier, VT
10/13/2023
For those of you up in arms about Rick Martinez being "dis-credited", watch the BA YouTube video clip referenced by another commenter. At the :46 second mark, there's a text graphic that gives Kate Davis credit for the recipe (as a Reader's Choice submission by her). While Rick (who really is missed around these here parts) may have tinkered with it and made it famous in his BA Test Kitchen video, Kate Davis is in fact credited with its creation. Maybe do some research before you have a caniption.
Anonymous
7/25/2023
Thank you readers for the heads-up on the real author! Here is a video of him on Bon Appetit's YouTube page: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMPTxTmZDzE" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer ugc">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMPTxTmZDzE</a>
Anonymous
Palo Alto, CA
7/23/2023
I’ve been making these cookies for years! Since Rick Martinez originally wrote the recipe for this magazine. This is the EXACT same recipe, and you’re crediting it incorrectly. The footnote is insufficient.
Nick
New Jersey
7/22/2023