If you know me, you know that I’m obsessed with brown butter. Ever since I started using it in my baking, my baked goods have never been the same. Brown butter is truly the star of these cookies, and it pairs so perfectly with the sea salt and toffee. There’s a lot of butter in these which makes them almost a cross between shortbread and cookie. Crumbly and buttery, but soft and thick.
I know sea salt flakes on cookies is a bit controversial, but I think it gives a nice pop and contrast to the sweet toffee. It’s salty and sweet, a combination I love. If you’re not a fan, just leave out the sea salt flakes. Now get baking, and you’ll have a fresh, warm batch of cookies in under an hour!
Obsessed with brown butter like me? Then you should check out my brown butter snickerdoodle bars or my miso brown butter chocolate chip cookies (or both)!
brown butter sea salt toffee cookies
makes 12 cookies
ingredients:
- 1/2 cup (113 grams) unsalted butter
- 1 cup (120 grams) all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
- 1/4 cup (50 grams) light brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons (25 grams) granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 large egg, room temperature
- 1/3 cup (45 grams) toffee, chopped (I use Trader Joe’s Toffee Chips – it’s nut-free!)
- flaky sea salt, if desired
instructions:
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
- In a small saucepan over medium-high heat, brown the butter. If you’ve never made brown butter before, here’s how: melt the butter over medium-high heat. Continuously stir the butter with a silicone spatula (this is key – just keep stirring so it doesn’t burn!). The butter will ‘sizzle’ and eventually foam. Keep stirring until you see several brown specks form in the butter (this takes a couple of minutes). When the sizzling dies down, the butter is done.
- Transfer the brown butter to a large mixing bowl and let cool until only slightly warm. While the butter is cooling, prepare your dry ingredients in a medium-sized mixing bowl by whisking the flour, baking soda, and sea salt together until well-combined.
- Add both sugars to the brown butter, and whisk until smooth. Then, whisk in the vanilla extract and egg. Fold in the dry ingredients from step three until just combined, and then mix in the toffee bits.
- Scoop the dough into 1 1/2 tablespoon portions onto the prepared baking sheets. Using the bottom of a cup or the palm of your hand, flatten the tops of the cookies until only 1/2 inch in height.
- Bake for about 10 minutes, and sprinkle on the flaky sea salt, if desired. Let cool for 5 minutes, and then enjoy!