Another Day, Another Chocolate Chip Cookie (Brown Butter Toffee Chocolate Chip Cookie)
What is your favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe? The one on the back of the Nestle’s Chocolate Chips bag? A treasured family recipe handed down? Mine was given to me by a friend who swore it was the original Mrs. Field’s recipe. I can’t vouch for that claim, but it is pretty darn good. Over the years I have tweaked the recipe by adding oatmeal, reducing the amount of chocolate (don’t hate me), and adding nuts. Yep, the perfect cookie. It is my go-to chocolate chip cookie…until now. A serious challenger, Brown Butter Toffee Chocolate Chip Cookies, has entered the best CCC sweepstakes.
You can have more than one go-to chocolate chip cookie, right? There might be a new player in town.
What makes these cookies so delicious? BROWN BUTTER for a toasty rich, caramel flavor-yum. Chunks of toffee bars for crunch and another layer of caramel flavor-double yum. Finally, Chocolate wafers instead of chips, stay gooey and soft longer creating a luscious texture-triple yum. Upon finding this recipe I immediately headed to the store to look for those chocolate wafers. I found Guittard’s 67% semi-sweet wafers-YAY. A bag costs about eight dollars-BOO. It’s a splurge that’s for sure…but so worth it.
Fold in chocolate and toffee pieces and chill dough for at least 30 minutes in the fridge before baking. Scoop dough balls with a #24 scoop (1.5 ounces) or #30 (1.125 ounces) for a touch smaller cookie. They spread so place cookie dough 3″ apart, especially if you don’t chill the dough.
These cookies will brown quickly so watch them like a HAWK. Start checking them at the 8-minute mark. To create the crevices in the cookies, rap the baking sheet on the oven rack (at the 6-7 minute mark), and repeat 1-2 minutes later. This will cause the cookie to deflate creating those lovely nooks and crannies.
Brown Butter Toffee Chocolate Chip Cookies
Ingredients
Dry Stuff
- 2 cups all-purpose flour preferably KIng Arthur
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ¾ teaspoon kosher salt
Wet Stuff
- 1 cup unsalted butter 2 sticks
- 1 cup packed dark brown sugar
- ⅓ cup granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs room temperature
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
The Add-Ins
- 2 chocolate toffee bars (1.4 oz bars) Skor, Heath or Trader Joe Toffee Bars, chopped into ¼-inch pieces
- 1½ cups chocolate wafers disks, pistoles, fèves; preferably 72% cacao, although I used 67% Guittard -yum
- Flaky sea salt
Instructions
- Whisk flour, baking soda, and kosher salt in a medium bowl. Set aside
- Cook 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.
- Add brown sugar and granulated sugar to browned butter. Using an electric mixer on medium speed, beat until incorporated, about 1 minute. Add eggs and vanilla and beat until mixture lightens and begins to thicken, about 30 seconds. Reduce mixer speed to low; add dry ingredients and beat just to combine. Mix in toffee pieces and chocolate wafers with a wooden spoon or a rubber spatula.
- Let dough sit at room temperature at least 30 minutes to allow the flour to hydrate. Dough will look very loose at first, but will thicken as it sits. For less spread, chill dough in fridge.
- Place a rack in middle of oven; preheat to 375°. Using a 1½-oz. ice cream scoop, portion out 10 balls of dough and place on a parchment-lined baking sheet, spacing about 3" apart (you can also form dough into ping pong–sized balls with your hands). Do not flatten; cookies will spread as they bake. Sprinkle with sea salt.
- 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 and a fresh parchment-lined baking sheet to make 10 more cookies.
- Do Ahead: Cookie dough can be made 3 days ahead; cover and chill. Let dough come to room temperature before baking.