Brown butter. Toffee bits. Chocolate chips. Flaky sea salt. You need The Perfect Cookie in your life RIGHT NOW.
I don’t know if it’s me or the way I grew up (fresh fruit at the end of dinner), but I’m not big on sweets. I’m that person that passes on birthday cake and I don’t get overly excited about dessert either. I know, I’m weird.
But in the past few weeks, I’ve become OBSESSED with these cookies. They are a modified version of Bon Appetit’s Brown Butter and Toffee Chocolate Chip Cookie. Which is a mouthful to say. Instead, I’m calling my version The Perfect Cookie.
Because, really, this cookie IS perfect. Brown butter. Toffee bits. Chocolate chips. Flaky sea salt. You get the picture. A complex and sophisticated cookie, but not pretentiously so. Pantry ingredients, except for the toffee bits. And surprisingly, not too sweet.
Also, the texture. I do not like cake-y cookies: I’m sorry. It’s not you, it’s me. My preferred cookie is chewy with crispy edges and a crackly top. A somewhat densely textured cookie that easily breaks apart into craggy pieces. The kind that tastes good with a cup of black coffee.
This cookie is for the cookie lover. And for those who don’t like sweets that much, like me. They taste good with a glass of milk. And a steaming cup of coffee, too. They are truly the perfect cookies. Enjoy!
UPDATE:
These cookies are all about the TEXTURE. To ensure that crispy, chewy texture, I’ve included a few tweaks to the original post.
First of all, COOL the browned butter for 10 minutes. When you combine hot browned butter with raw eggs, you may inadvertently temper the eggs! DO NOT TEMPER THE EGGS! This will affect the final texture! Tempered eggs results in a cake-y cookie instead of chewy, crispy deliciousness. Instead, set a timer and hang out for 10 minutes.
Next, DO NOT USE a stainless steel bowl. Using a stainless steel bowl prevents the brown butter from cooling properly. The metal retains all the heat from the butter and tempers the eggs. Again, you do not want to temper the eggs! Instead, I recommend using a glass, ceramic, or even bamboo bowl. (I use a bamboo bowl.)
Finally, STORE these cookies in a cookie tin or leave them uncovered, at room temperature. Every time I store these cookies in an airtight container, the texture becomes BLEH. A cookie tin is basically a round tin container that you can get from any kitchen store. I’ve even seen them at the dollar store. (My best friend swears by storing cookies in a ziploc baggie with a stale piece of bread inside to keep that chewy texure but these cookies have never lasted long enough to do that around here!)
- 1 cup unsalted butter
- 1 cup packed brown sugar
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 Tbsp vanilla
- 2 cups flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 1/2 cup toffee bits
- Flaky sea salt (I use Maldon)
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In a medium saucepan, cook butter until it browns, about 5-8 minutes. The butter will foam. Stir often and scrape into a large bowl to cool slightly.
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In a separate bowl, add flour, baking soda, and salt. Whisk and set aside.
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Leave brown butter to cool for 10 minutes. Add brown sugar and sugar. With an electric hand mixer, beat on medium speed until the sugars and butter have combined, about 1-2 minutes.
Add the vanilla and the eggs, one at a time. Beat on low speed until combined and then switch to medium speed. The mixture will turn lighter in color and begin to thicken. This happens very quickly and should take about 30-60 seconds minutes.
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Add flour and mix on low until just combined.
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Switch to a hand-held spatula and add chocolate chips and toffee bits. Mix until fully combined.
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Set aside for 30 minutes. The batter will thicken a little.
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Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 375F/190C and line sheet pans with parchment paper.
Using a small ice cream scoop, drop heaping spoonfuls of cookie dough onto the sheet pan. About 1 heaping Tbsp per cookie. Do not flatten as the cookies will spread on their own. Sprinkle with flaky sea salt.
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Bake until edges are golden brown and firm but the center is still soft, anywhere from 7-11 minutes. The cookies will be puffy when they first come out of the oven but will "collapse" as they cool. Let cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack.
*1 Although it will be tempting to use a small sauce pan to melt the butter, use a medium size one. The greater surface area will allow the butter to brown faster. Also, I recommend a non-teflon coated one (i.e., stainless steel, etc.) as the teflon coating interferes with browning the butter.
*3 UPDATE: Cool the browned butter for 10 minutes so the eggs are not tempered (partially cooked) when you add them to the hot butter. Also, make sure NOT to use a stainless steel bowl, as they keep their heat very easily. I recommend using a bowl made with ceramic, glass, or bamboo.
*7 Parchment paper is the key to easy removal of the cookies from the sheet pan. The toffee melts into sticky bits and sticks to the bottom of the sheet pan, making removing the cookies somewhat difficult.
*9 The baking time varies, depending on the oven and cookie sheet. Some ovens are hotter than others and some cookie sheets heat up more quickly than others. I tested these cookies in 3 different ovens and on 3 different baking sheets. Each time, the baking time varied slightly. For the first batch, I recommend setting a timer for 7 minutes and checking the cookies for doneness. After checking, add 1 minute to the timer until the cookies are firm and crispy looking on the edges and soft in the middle. The cookies will also be puffy when you first pull them out of the oven but will “collapse” as they cool.
**This is a (slightly) modified version of Bon Appetit’s Brown Butter and Toffee Chocolate Chip cookies. I substituted toffee bits for chopped up Skor bar, chocolate chips for chocolate wafers/discs. I also added more vanilla and less (white) sugar. Basically, my version is a plebian, grocery store version that’s hopefully more accessible.
***Toffee bits can be found in the baking aisle. I use Hershey’s toffee bits, also labeled Skor bits.
If you liked these cookies, check out the Dessert Archives.
Here’s a sample of what you’ll find:
Not-Too-Sweet Meyer Lemon Bars
Black Sesame Mochi Cake
Korean Donuts
Coconut Panna Cotta with Ginger Syrup
Mexican Chocolate Pie
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