Brown Butter Toffee Chocolate Chip Cookies

Chewy and rich brown butter toffee chocolate chip cookies with homemade saltine cracker toffee and dark chocolate chips throughout. The homemade toffee is sweet and salty and pairs perfectly with the brown butter cookie dough.

Why You’ll Love These Brown Butter Toffee Chocolate Chip Cookies

• They take toffee cookies to the next level with saltine cracker toffee (also known as Christmas Crack, though it’s great any time of year) in the dough. It adds a lovely crunch and a little bit of saltiness in every bite.
• They’re perfectly crisp around the edges and chewy in the middle.
• Brown butter gives them a nutty, rich flavor and goes really well with the toffee.
• They may or may not help make you the star of a cookie exchange 😉

Ingredients

• All-purpose flour: I highly recommend using a digital food scale to measure out your flour. It’s easy to over-measure flour, which will result in cookies that are too dry.
• Unsalted butter: we’ll be browning it to use for the cookie dough
• Light brown sugar: light brown sugar is perfect for this dough. Stick to light brown instead of dark, which has a bit too much molasses and makes the dough a little too rich.
• Granulated sugar: there is also some granulated sugar in the dough to go along with the brown sugar. Since there are so many rich ingredients in this recipe, some granulated sugar for sweetness helps prevent the cookies from being too heavy.
• One large egg and one large egg yolk, at room temperature: to quickly warm up the eggs, soak them in a bowl of hot water for 5-10 minutes.
• Leavening agents: baking soda and baking powder
• Vanilla extract
• Dark chocolate chips or chopped dark chocolate: while I prefer dark chocolate since it’s less sweet, you can substitute semi-sweet chocolate chips.
• Flaky sea salt: such as Maldon, for topping the cookies! Optional but highly recommended.
• Ingredients for the saltine cracker toffee: saltine crackers, brown sugar, butter, and dark chocolate

How to Make Saltine Cracker Toffee

Also known as ‘Christmas Crack’, saltine cracker toffee is addicting and super easy to make. While they’re the perfect mix-in for these toffee chocolate chip cookies, I fully support you making a double batch to enjoy on its own!

Start by lining a cookie with parchment and arranging the saltine crackers into a rectangle. Then, heat butter and light brown sugar together until boiling. Cook the sugar for around 4 minutes–you want the sugar to dissolve and the mixture to start turning into a caramel.

Next, quickly pour the toffee over the saltines. Use a spatula to spread it out as evenly as possible–it will start to set pretty quickly so work fast and just try your best.

Bake for about 5 minutes to fully set the toffee, then sprinkle it with chocolate chips. The chocolate will start to melt as it sits there, so once it looks shiny and gooey use a knife to spread it around until there’s an even layer of chocolate on top. Let the toffee cool completely, making sure that the chocolate on top is set (you can speed this up by chilling it in the fridge).

How to Brown Butter

So what is brown butter? If you’re new to it, then prepare to have have your world changed. Browning butter is when you heat butter until the milk solids caramelize, creating a deep color and rich, nutty flavor. It’s super easy to do and takes less than 10 minutes! Using browned butter is my favorite way to elevate any dessert. Have you tried brown butter blondies yet? Here’s a step by step:

1. Start by cutting your butter into slices to ensure even melting, then place it in a single layer in a heavy bottomed pot on medium heat.
2. Begin melting the butter, stirring frequently. After the butter has melted, it will begin to sputter and crackle. Continue stirring.
3. After the crackling subsides, the butter will start to foam up. Continue stirring and keeping a close eye on it. Be on the lookout for a nutty aroma, an amber color, and brown flecks. If there’s a lot of foam it may be hard to spot the brown, so use your nose as guidance as well.
4. Once you see brown flecks and smell the amazing nutty scent, remove the butter immediately from heat and pour it into a heatproof bowl to prevent burning.

Make sure to let your butter cool down to room temp or just warm to the touch before you start baking these cookies. If you leave it out to cool too long and it hardens, no worries–just throw it in the microwave for 10-20 seconds to melt it back to a liquid.

Recipe Tips & FAQ

How do I store leftover cookies? Store leftover cookies in an airtight container on the counter. They’re best the within the first day or two, but will be fresh for up to three days. To keep the cookies soft, add a slice of white bread in with them.

Can I freeze the cookie dough? Yes! For fresh cookies anytime you want, freeze pre-scooped balls of dough and pop them in the oven whenever your heart desires. Scoop the cookie dough onto a parchment lined cookie sheet, and then freeze the balls of dough on the sheet for at least 20 minutes to set them. From there, you can transfer the balls into a zip-loc bag and store in the freezer.

How do I know when the cookies are done? The best way is to use your eyes. Look for cookies that are golden around the edges and slightly set in the middle. The middles don’t need to be completely cooked, but just make sure they aren’t super shiny.

Pin & Save for Later

Want to make these brown butter toffee chocolate chip cookies but aren’t ready to bake yet? You can hover over (or tap on mobile) any image in this post to save it to Pinterest. While you’re at it check out these brown butter pumpkin snickerdoodle blondies or these chewy chocolate chip walnut cookies!