Salted Butterscotch Chocolate Chunk Cookies

By Vaughn Vreeland

Updated October 28, 2025

  • Kelly Marshall for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Samantha Seneviratne.
Media 1 of 2
Ready In
7 hr 15 min
(1 hr 15 min baking; 6 hr resting)
Rating
5(911)
Comments
Read comments

This is a grown-up version of the classic chocolate chip cookie: Brown butter infuses the dough with rich butterscotch flavor that pairs perfectly with crunchy toffee bits and chocolate chunks studded throughout. Crisp edges give way to a chewy, dense center, and the cookies are topped with flaky sea salt, which provides a necessary balance to their sweet, caramelized notes. Resting the dough for at least six hours gives it time to mature, deepening its flavor and hydrating the flour, making for a chewier, more gooey cookie. The longer the dough rests, the more pronounced the butterscotch flavor will be. While store-bought toffee bits such as Heath work fine, homemade toffee is worth the effort because its chunks positively melt into the cookies as they bake. 

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Ingredients

Yield:18 large cookies

  • 1 ¼ cups/284 grams salted butter (for unsalted butter, see Tip)

  • Ice, as needed

  • 1 tablespoon vanilla extract

  • 3 ½ cups/445 grams all-purpose flour

  • 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder

  • 1 ¼ teaspoons baking soda

  • 1 ¼ packed cups/275 grams dark brown sugar

  • ¾ cup/150 grams granulated sugar

  • 2 large eggs

  • 6 ounces/170 grams 70 percent dark chocolate, coarsely chopped (about 1 cup)

  • 6 ounces/170 grams milk chocolate, coarsely chopped (about 1 cup)

  • 1 ½ cups/217 grams store-bought toffee bits (or homemade toffee, cut into ½-inch pieces)

  • Flaky sea salt, for finishing

Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving

60 grams carbs; 70 milligrams cholesterol; 482 calories; 7 grams monosaturated fat; 1 gram polyunsaturated fat; 15 grams saturated fat; 25 grams fat; 1 gram trans fat; 2 grams fiber; 258 milligrams sodium; 5 grams protein; 38 grams sugar

Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.

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Preparation

  1. Step 1

    In a medium saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat. Once it begins to bubble vigorously, cook for another 6 to 8 minutes, swirling occasionally, until the bubbles subside and turn into foam, and toasty brown flecks begin to float on the surface. Take off the heat and scrape the bottom of the pan. Pour the browned butter into a heatproof liquid measuring cup. Add a couple ice cubes (or a couple tablespoons of cold water) until you have 1 ¼ cups liquid. Add the vanilla extract, stir and set brown butter mixture aside to cool slightly.

  2. Step 2

    In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and baking soda. 

  3. Step 3

    In a large bowl, whisk together both sugars and the brown butter mixture until well combined. Add the eggs one at a time, whisking thoroughly after each addition, until the mixture is very smooth, about 1 minute. Add the flour mixture to the brown butter mixture and mix to fully incorporate. Fold in both types of chopped chocolate and the toffee bits.

  4. Step 4

    Using a ¼-cup cookie scoop or measuring cup, scoop mounds of dough (about 100 grams each) onto a baking sheet. Tightly wrap the baking sheet and refrigerate for at least 6 hours and up to 48 hours.

  5. Step 5

    When ready to bake, heat the oven to 350 degrees with racks in the top and bottom thirds of the oven. Line 2 large rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper. Place 6 cookies onto each prepared sheet and bake for 18 to 20 minutes, moving the sheets between the racks and rotating them halfway through, until the cookies have spread slightly and their edges are golden. 

  6. Step 6

    Immediately sprinkle the tops of the cookies with flaky sea salt and let cool on the baking sheets for at least 10 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely. Repeat with the remaining dough on a single baking sheet. (You can also freeze the balls of dough and bake them for about 20 to 22 minutes.) Cookies will keep, covered at room temperature, for up to 3 days.

Tip

  • Using salted butter can result in a very evenly seasoned cookie, but you can opt for unsalted here, too. If using unsalted butter, simply add  1 ¼ teaspoons kosher salt (such as Diamond Crystal) to your flour mixture in Step 2.

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Ratings

5 out of 5
911 user ratings
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Comments

Rusty Nichols

I never wrote before. ( I had a stroke and it takes me time.) However, I had to tell everyone that this is a Dynamite recipe! I've been cooking for 65years, thanks to my great grandmother, "Pearl". You really hit the nail right out the ballpark with this recipe. I didn't have any milk chocolate, so I sub with white chocolate. Normally, I wouldn't make toffee tell the holidays, but I'm very glad I did. This takes a little bit of time but all good things do!!! "THANKS VV"

Hautbois

I think I might just roll the dough into a log, wrap, chill and then slice & bake.

Sam

Incredible! I substituted King Arthur GF flour, but aside from that made it to recipe. Great flavor and texture. Love how the recipe includes simple ways to elevate a chocolate chip cookie.

This was great!

This was delicious one thing is that the brown butter exploded after putting an ice cube in. I would recommend waiting longer than you think.

Jenn J

Made as directed except used semi sweet chocolate chips as that was already in the pantry. Cooked a batch after 7 hours of rest. Turned out good, but 18 minutes was too long. Using a little less than qtr cup per cookie they came out to about 4 in diameter. Too large for me. I then made a batch with 24 hours of rest, but used a regular cookie scoop to make about golf ball size. The second batch was much better. Deeper butterscotch flavor, and the smaller size baked more evenly. The smaller cookies only took 9-10 minutes. Pull them out when they still look a little raw in the center and salt immediately, otherwise it doesn’t really stick. I did make the homemade toffee and it makes a delicious candy like spot on the cookies as they bake. They are very sweet, and I think I’d like them better using all dark chocolate to balance the sweetness.

Melody

DO NOT ADD THE VANILLA EXTRACT DIRECTLY TO THE HOT BUTTER. IT WILL BOIL OVER AND DUMP THE BUTTER ALL OVER YOUR COUNTER. Why the recipe does not mention this VERY CRUCIAL piece of information is completely beyond me.

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