Brown Butter Toffee Chocolate Chip Cookies (Using Heath Bars!)

Sweet cookies packed full of brown butter flavor, vanilla, and Heath toffee pieces. These lightly salted Brown Butter Toffee Chocolate Chip Cookies are the perfect blend of sweet and salty and perfect for any holiday or occasion!

The inspiration for these cookies came from my kids’ Halloween candy this year. For some reason, there were a ton of Heath bars!

Something had to be done with them because we got a little tired of eating them. We just needed a little variety!

I had already started thinking about what cookies to make this year for our Christmas cookie tins, and something just clicked…why not make brown butter toffee cookies (with Heath bars!)?

More Delicious Holiday Recipes

• Homemade Decadent Holiday Gingerbread Whoopie Pies
• The BEST Holiday Fruitcake Cookies
• Festive Easy Peppermint Bark Recipe From Only 3 Ingredients!
• Decadent & Smooth Homemade Non-Alcoholic Eggnog
• Hot Mulled Cider Recipe

I have a neverending sweet tooth serious cookie obsession around the holidays and experiment with at least one new recipe each year. It seems like each time I make a new recipe I feel like it’s my new favorite.

This brown butter toffee chocolate chip cookie recipe falls right in line with that trend! 

Want a butter toffee cookie that tastes as if you bought it fresh from a bakery? Well, here you go. Their crunchy edges, gooey centers, and delicious chunks of buttery toffee are just plain addictive.

And these brown butter toffee chocolate chip cookies are PERFECT for a holiday cookie tin, cookie swap, or just to enjoy as a family!

Ingredients for Brown Butter Toffee Chocolate Chip Cookies

These tasty brown butter toffee cookies use a favorite candy as the toffee: Heath bar pieces!

• Butter: Using high-quality butter is essential in cookie recipes. I use organic butter every time. I dare you to splurge the extra dollar on the good stuff. You’ll be grateful you did.
• Brown & white sugar: A mixture of white and brown sugar deepens the flavor of these butter toffee cookies and gives them the sugary crunch you crave.
• Eggs: They bind everything together into one delicious bite after bite!
• Sea Salt: Sea salt is a flavor enhancer. By offsetting the sweetness of these brown butter toffee chocolate chip cookies, the salt plays a huge role in making you say va va vroom when you eat these cookies!!
• Chocolate Chips: go with milk chocolate chips here instead of semi-sweet to blend with the flavor in the Heath bars. I even recommend using milk chocolate bars and chopping them up roughly to give you big gooey bites of melty chocolate in your finished cookies.
• Toffee: this recipe is so easy because you don’t have to make the toffee – use Heath bars that you break up into chunks!

What is Brown Butter?

Brown butter is just regular butter that has turned, well, brown after melting and cooking it a bit in a pan. When browned, butter develops a delicious nutty, toasty caramel flavor that just makes pulls you in.

How To Brown Butter For Cookies

If you have never had brown butter, you are SERIOUSLY missing out. The flavor of brown butter has more depth and complexity that enhances this (and many other) recipes.

Now, if you’re like me, making browned butter may sound intimidating, but it’s really NOT hard. You NEED to keep a close eye on your butter while you brown it, and you’re good to go.

Step 1

Melt your butter over medium heat in a small saucepan.

Step 2

Whisk the butter non-stop as it melts to ensure it’s evenly heated, so you don’t burn your butter.

As it melts, the butter will start to foam. This is the sweet point between when the butter isn’t hot enough and boiling it (if it boils, it’s burned).

Step 3

Do not take your eyes off the butter. It will go from its standard yellow color to a deeper golden hue and at last to a beautiful light brown.

You’ll know it’s done when you smell that delicious toasted nutty scent. It can very quickly go from this light brown to burnt. To prevent that, take your butter off the heat as soon as it reaches that golden brown color.

Step 4

Remove from heat and transfer the browned butter to a bowl to cool before using it in your recipe.

How to Make Brown Butter Toffee Chocolate Chip Cookies

Simply follow these directions, and you’ll be munching on your brown butter toffee cookies in practically no time!

Step 1

Place butter in a large saucepan. Heat over medium heat until the butter has melted.

Once melted, increase the heat to medium-high, and continue cooking butter and swirling around in the pan. Be sure to scrape the sides as the butter is cooking.

The butter will bubble and pop as it is cooking. Once the bubbling slows down and the butter turns a light golden brown, remove from the heat and pour it into a large heatproof bowl.

Let cool for 25-30 minutes.

Step 2

While the butter is cooling, chop the Heath Toffee Bar, and preheat the oven to 350°.

Step 3

Once the butter is cool, add the butter and both the brown and white sugar to a large mixing bowl.

Using a stand mixer or hand mixer, mix until sugar is well incorporated. Add the eggs, one at a time, and mix at low speed. Add the vanilla, and again mix at low speed.

Step 4

In a separate bowl, add the flour, corn starch, and baking soda. Mix well with a whisk.

Slowly add the flour mixture into the butter mixture, and mix at low speed.

Pour the chocolate chips and Heath Toffee Bar pieces into the mixture, and stir well with a silicone spatula until all ingredients are thoroughly combined.  

Step 5

Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper. Using a spoon or small melon scoop, drop 1-1 ½ tbsp rounded scoops on the parchment paper, at least 2-3” apart.

Step 6

Bake for 10 minutes, or until golden brown around the edges. The middle should still be quite soft when you remove them.

Once removed from the oven, immediately sprinkle with sea salt.

Let sit for around 1-2 minutes on the pan, then move your warm brown butter toffee chocolate chip cookies to a cooling rack to cool completely.

Important Tips for the BEST Brown Butter Toffee Chocolate Chip Cookies

• Cool your browned butter for 25-30 minutes before adding your other ingredients, to avoid melting your sugars. If you melt your sugar you’ll likely have a runny, unusable dough.
• Using a cultured/European style butter makes for a richer and more buttery cookie
• Store in an airtight container with a slice of sandwich bread. The cookies will remain soft and chewy.
• Sprinkle a bit of sea salt over your baked cookies, to really intensify all of the delicious flavors in these brown butter toffee cookies.
• Try re-heating these cookies briefly in the microwave before eating (about 6 or 7-seconds per cookie). Warm cookies are the best cookies!

Tools Needed To Make Brown Butter Toffee Chocolate Chip Cookies

Here’s the equipment you’ll need to help you make these tasty morsels.

• Baking Sheets
• Baking Mats – I thought these were a gimmick for the longest time – until I tried them. They make clean up SO easy!
• Parchment paper – If you prefer to stick with tried and true, go for it.
• Small Cookie Scoop
• Cooling Racks
• Measuring Cup and Measuring Spoon Set
• Holiday Cookie Jar – to keep those cookies fresh!
• Holiday Tins – I LOVE making cookies and giving them to friends and neighbors for the holidays in cute tins like these!
• Press ‘n Seal Wrap – keeps those goodies fresh!

Are you ready to make these yet? I’m already drooling!

Pair these brown butter toffee chocolate chip cookies with a glass of milk, and you’re in for a seriously good treat!

Enjoy!