This cookie has a warm brown butter base and is packed with unlikely ingredients that will blow your mind once combined! To make matters even better, it’s super quick and easy to make!
We’re breaking some boundaries here with this already boundary-breaking cookie! It’s the perfect blend of savory and sweet, crunchy and soft, pzaz and pzam!
I lovvvve a sweet and savory mix in my desserts and I don’t even know why. Maybe there’s some deeper meaning behind it like I am drawn to balance but who knows. Instead of spending my time trying to figure out why, I’d rather be making these Brown Butter Toffee cookies. You might look at the photo of these cookies and think, “Brown Butter Toffee? Then why do I see chips and pretzels?!” but trust me my dear reader, you’re gonna want all of these ingredients in there!
The Key Ingredients:
The full list of ingredients can be found below but here are the key ingredients that really make this cookie so delicious!
Brown Butter-the brown butter gives these cookies a deeper flavor that regular unsalted butter just cannot accomplish!
Brown Sugar-brown sugar combined with brown butter is the combination I think I’m going to start calling cookie gold! Trust me, as soon as you pour the brown butter into your sugar mix and smell that indescribable aroma, you’ll know exactly what I’m talking about.
Granulated Sugar-this sugar helps to balance out the deep flavors and the sweet and salty ratios! It took me a while to get this amount just right.
Salt-nature’s flavor enhancer shines in this recipe in a way that is yummy but not overwhelming.
Cinnamon-you can barely taste her but she does wonders especially paired with the pretzels.
Potato Chips-they should be original and crinkly. Okay they don’t have to be crinkly but I love to use Lay’s Original Wavy chips!
Toffee Bits-I use the Heath Bits O’ Brickle English Toffee Baking Bits that can be found at Walmart or in most grocery stores in the baking section, not the candy aisle.
Pretzels-any brand of original salted pretzel will do. I use Snyder’s of Hanover Mini Pretzels
The recipe is pretty straightforward and they really don’t take much time. The longest part is browning the butter. And trust me, you won’t want to skip this step, it’s what brings warmth and nuttiness to this cookie in a way that regular room temperature butter just can’t!
To Brown the Butter:
Cut butter into pieces-before adding butter to medium heat, cut it and let it sit out of the refrigerator for about 10 minutes. Cutting the butter will help make sure the heat distributes evenly and letting it sit out will help it not to heat too fast.
Keep it constantly moving-Keep the butter moving with a spatula or whisk the entire time it is over the heat. Don’t try to multitask during this, you want to be there with eyes on it the whole time.
Use a lighter saucepan-If you have a light-bottomed pan use it to heat the butter so that you are able to better see when it has browned. Be careful here, it can go from perfectly browned to burnt very quickly!
Include all the brown bits!-Don’t leave the brown bits in the pan, this is what brings that bold flavor!
One final thing, the beauty of the Brown Butter Toffee cookie is that it’s completely customizable. I tend to like toffee more than chocolate but feel free to replace one of the ingredients with chocolate chips. Time to bake! Don’t forget to leave me a message letting me know how it goes when you bake them! Tag me on Instagram @karisscorner so that I can see your bakes!!
Can baking be therapeutic?
I often talk about baking being a therapeutic hobby but I’d like to share more about why I feel that way as well as how it can become a relaxing hobby for you!
When I bake, it’s my creative time. I may put on my favorite nostalgic movie or tv show in the background, or a Spotify playlist titled “French café” and leave my troubles behind.
Sometimes I pour myself a glass of wine and light a candle. Then, with the mood set, the mixing of batter, kneading of dough and smoothing of icing is my only care in the world.
When I say baking is therapeutic, sometimes people respond saying “not for me it isn’t!” I completely understand why someone might feel that way. There have been plenty of times where I spend hours on something only for it to fail or something breaks that shouldn’t or I forget to clean as I go and am left with a disastrous kitchen to clean.
So I should in reality, have a caveat to my “baking as therapy” claims…
Baking is therapy when you curate the experience to be relaxing.
How do you curate that relaxing experience for yourself, you ask?
How to make baking therapeutic…
- Prepare your mind–know that it’s okay if the cake doesn’t rise, or the butter wasn’t chilled enough. Shift your mindset from seeing your failures as mistakes to seeing them as opportunities for learning.
- Prepare your space–I cannot and will not bake on top of a messy kitchen. If I were to do this I would be starting from a place of stress! Take an extra 10 minutes to clean any dishes in the sink and wipe down the counters, this small effort will pay you back greatly in brain space and clarity.
- Clean as you go! I’ll tell you the one way to make baking stressful and tiresome, is to not clean as you go! After I use each ingredient that I no longer need, I put it away.
After each major step in the process, I wipe down the counters and put dishes that are no longer needed in the sink. If there is chill time or baking time I don’t sit, I do the cleaning then. Make this shift and you’ll really notice the difference!
By the way, this last tip really helped me when I was on The Great American Baking Show–and the crew that cleaned up behind us made a point to tell me that my workspace was always so clean they didn’t have much to do!
I would reply by saying “it’s how I stay sane in this tent!”
Additional suggestions:
*Maybe try printing off the recipe instead of looking at it on your phone, tablet or laptop and use this time to unplug from technology for a few hours
**Invite friends or family over to share your creation with you. Time spent with loved ones over food is a universally special experience
And that’s how I discovered baking for my mental health. If you try any of these suggestions, let me know how it went for you! I’m really invested in spreading this message to others in hopes that baking will enhance your lives more than it already does!
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Brown Butter Toffee CookieYield: 18-20 cookies Prep Time: 15 minutes Baking Time: 13 minutes Total Time: 28 minutes |
Ingredients:
- 1 c unsalted butter, browned
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 c brown sugar, packed
- 1/2 c granulated sugar
- 2 eggs
- 2 c all purpose flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1 c pretzels, chopped
- 1 c lays chips, chopped
- 1/2 c toffee bits
Instructions:
- Preheat the oven to 350°F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat
- Measure out 1 cup of brown sugar, packed, ½ cup of granulated sugar and 1 tsp of vanilla extract and place in a medium bowl
- Brown the butter by placing 1 cup (2 sticks) of chopped butter into a (preferably) light bottomed pan. Turn the burner to medium heat and whisk it constantly. Do not walk away while browning the butter. The butter will melt, foam, bubble and then turn an amber color producing brown bits on the bottom. Take it off the heat as soon as brown bits appear so as to not burn it. Pour the browned butter including all of the brown bits into the bowl containing the sugars and vanilla.
- Use the stand or hand mixer to beat the butter, sugars and vanilla for about 30 seconds until combined. Place the bowl in the freezer for 2-3 minutes to let the butter cool down. Then remove the bowl from the freezer and continue to beat for 3-4 minutes until the mix lightens in color. Don’t forget to scrape the sides of the bowl!
- Beat in the 2 eggs until just combined. Do not overmix.
- Add in 1 cup (half) of the all purpose flour, 2 tsp of baking powder, ½ tsp of salt and 1 tsp of cinnamon. Mix on low until just combined. Then add 1 cup (the other half) of all purpose flour and mix until it just comes together.
- Stir in 1 cup of pretzels, chopped, 1 cup of potato chips, chopped, and ½ cup of toffee bits until they are evenly distributed throughout the batter.
- If saving the cookies for later, at this point wrap cookie dough in plastic wrap and place in plastic bag and store in freezer for up to 2 months.
- If making immediately, scoop out roughly 2 inch balls of dough and place on lined baking sheet, separated out so they have room to spread.
- Optional: add a few more pretzels, chips and toffee bits on top
- Bake for 13 minutes or to your preference. I bake mine until they are soft in the middle and slightly golden on the outer edge. Depending on the size of your cookies, you might need to adjust the time. Just keep in mind that when baking cookies you always want to take them out of the oven before they are fully done. They will finish firming up on the pan when they cool.
- Remove from oven and allow cookies to cool on sheet pan for 5 minutes. Then move them to a wire rack to cool fully.
- Serve them warm and enjoy! They can be stored in an airtight container for up to 5 days!
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