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Brown Butter Toffee Cookies

posted by Liz Berg on March 14, 2020 (updated 10/19/22)

Chewy and irresistible, these Brown Butter Toffee Cookies have an exquisite nuttiness from brown butter and boost of decadence from chunks of Heath bars! They are one of my favorite cookies!

Table of Contents hide

1 Why You Must Make

2 Expert Tips

3 How to Make Brown Butter:

4 Frequently Asked Questions

5 You May Also Like

6 Brown Butter Toffee Cookies Recipe

Why You Must Make

These cookies would rank high in my top 10 list of favorite cookies!
If you love toffee, these cookies loaded with chunks of Heath bars and a nutty brown butter cookie dough will knock your socks off.
These are a change of pace from ordinary chocolate chip and sugar cookies!

Expert Tips

These brown butter toffee cookies were truly some of the most sublime cookies to ever come out of my kitchen. I happen to adore toffee, so anytime there’s a chance to sneak it into a cookie, I’m game. And they are the star of the show in these incredible treats.

No chocolate chips or nuts to battle for the title. Toffee all the way. Well, that and the brown butter in the dough.
PRO-Tip: Cooking the butter until it darkens helps to develop a lovely nuttiness and adds a rich layer of flavor. If you’re unfamiliar with brown butter, it’s super easy to make in your own kitchen. I’ve detailed the technique below.
Since the butter added to this cookie dough is melted, the dough is extra soft. You must refrigerate the dough before shaping and baking these cookies.
PRO-Tip: Instead of buying toffee chips, I recommend buying Heath bars and chopping them into pieces. The outcome will be much tastier!
These are perfect, chewy cookies. Watch your first batch to see what the timing is for your oven. The edges will begin to brown and the middles will be just set when they need to be pulled out of the oven. If you’re a toffee fan, you must add these gems to your baking list!

How to Make Brown Butter:

Ideally, you should start with unsalted butter, cut into pieces
Use a light-colored saucepan so you can see the butter’s color changing
Cook over medium heat
Watch carefully, stirring frequently
The butter will foam; this is normal
Pull off the heat when it starts to brown and smell nutty
Strain off any solids (brown bits) if desired
Keep for up to 2 weeks in the refrigerator

Brown Butter Toffee Cookies on a round white plate.

Frequently Asked Questions

What Does Brown Butter Taste Like?

Brown butter, or beurre noisette, adds a toasted, slightly nutty flavor, that some say has even a slight toffee flavor. The Maillard reaction, a scientific term typically referring to the chemical reaction that makes seared meat so tasty, is also involved in the flavoring of brown butter.
The heating process breaks down the proteins into numerous flavor compounds. I’ve also made these mighty tasty Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies if you’d like to give them a whirl!
I also use brown butter in a fabulous, easy asparagus topping. It’s perfect for company!

How Does Brown Butter Differ from Clarified Butter?

Brown butter contains the milk solids which brown during the heating process. In clarified butter, the milk solids get foamy as they’re cooked and are skimmed off or strained, leaving just the beautiful yellow butterfat.