These brown butter toffee chocolate chip cookies are a variation on my classic chocolate chip cookies. They are also one of the best cookies I have ever eaten. The combination of nutty richness from the brown butter with the caramel flavor from the toffee chips and the decadent melted chocolate is absolutely worth the extra step. 

They’re a real crowd pleaser — that is if you don’t eat them all yourself!

Ingredients with Substitution Notes

With all that decadent flavor, you’d think the ingredient list would be fancy. Most of this is pantry staple stuff you can pick up at any grocery store!

• Butter: The star of the show! You can use salted or unsalted butter for this recipe. I do not recommend subbing this with vegan butters or margarine. You only get browned butter flavor with real butter!
• Granulated Sugar and Brown Sugar: You can sub the granulated sugar with brown sugar, or sub brown sugar with granulated sugar in a 1:1 ratio. The texture of the cookie will change. 
• Shortening: This is here to help with structure in the cookie. I like my cookies a little bit thick, and shortening helps create that texture. 
• Milk: This replaces the moisture lost in when you brown the butter. You can sub this with plant milks, or even water. You will get a crispier cookie the lower in fat your substitution is.
• Vanilla Extract: Vanilla enhances the nuttiness of the brown butter. You can also use almond extract here. 
• Eggs: Eggs provide moisture and structure. Do not sub the eggs. 
• Baking Soda: This is your leavener. Do not sub this. 
• Salt: If you use salted butter, you can omit the salt.
• Flour: This recipe was tested with all-purpose flour. I can’t speak to how any other flour would affect the recipe.
• Toffee Bites: You can use packaged toffee bits, or simply chop up a few Heath bars!
• Chocolate Chips: You can use any type of chocolate chip you’d like. I prefer semi-sweet chocolate with the toffee bits, but feel free to use milk chocolate chips, dark chocolate chips, or even chocolate chunks!

Step 2 | Cream 

Allow your brown butter to cool for about 5 minutes, then add the shortening and sugars. 

Using a electric mixer, beat the sugars, butter, and shortening at medium speed until they are completely combined. It will look like this:

Step 3 | Dough

Next, add the eggs, milk, and vanilla and mix them in. 

Then, add the dry ingredients, including flour, salt, and baking soda, and mix them in. 

Finally, add the toffee bits and chocolate chips and mix until they’re completely incorporated. I always keep a little toffee and a few chocolate chips to put on the outside of the cookies. That’s the secret to those gorgeous pictures food bloggers always have!

Step 4 | Bake

Next, line a cookie sheet with parchment paper, Use a cookie scoop (or a small ice cream scoop) to create 1 inch balls of dough. You can also just pinch off some dough and roll it. 

I like to add a little bit of toffee and few chocolate chips to the outside of the cookies so that when they bake, you have visible chocolate, so I press them into the cookie dough balls now. 

Bake your cookies at 375° for 8-12 minutes. If you like crispy edges, go for 12. For more cookies with a gooey center, go for 8. For soft cookies that are cooked through, you’re looking at about 10 minutes.

Step 5 | Cool and Enjoy!

Remove your cookies from the oven and let them develop on the sheet for about 5 minutes. Then, move them to a wire rack to cool. 

You can serve this cookies warm or room temperature. I love them plain, but you can also add a sprinkling of flaky sea salt for a gourmet flair. 

They also make a mean ice cream sandwich. Just put a scoop of vanilla ice cream between two cookies!