Browned Butter Milk Chocolate Toffee Cookies

I have yet to meet anyone who says they don't like chocolate chip cookies-- with the exception of people who tell me they don't eat sugar. Ever. Hurray for them, but I'm not one of them.  (With all due respect, I'm not so sure I believe them.)

When you combine butter and sugar, beautiful things happen. When you add brown sugar, and flour, and eggs, and vanilla-- you're on the road to making a Classic Chocolate Chip Cookie. Win.

My favorite way to make Chocolate Chip Cookies is to melt the butter.  The batter turns out creamy, easy to scoop and the cookies are nice and chewy in the middle-- and  I posted those as "Rainbow Cookies".

What if you brown the butter first? O-M-G.  (Brown butter sauce with sage over ravioli? Swoon.)

What? You've never made brown butter? Seriously?

Brown butter transforms melted butter into a deeper and nuttier flavor.  It's not hard to make, as long as you pay close attention.  I make my brown butter in a skillet, and begin swirling the melted butter until it begins to turn a light amber color.  As soon as it turns brown, I immediately remove it from the heat-- and there you go!  

This recipe comes from America's Test Kitchen.  If you don't have a paid membership to their website, you can't view their video that explains why four tablespoons of butter is added to the browned butter.  (It has to do with moisture, but trust me-- it works).

 

This recipe uses dark brown sugar, one egg and one egg yolk and vanilla...

I have hoarded a bag of these Heath Toffee Bits since last Christmas for quite a while.  I admit, that Heath Bars are one of my favorite treats-- and one of these days, I'm going to make my own toffee.  I imagined these would have milk chocolate with them. So, when I opened the bag, I realized that I'd never read the package. D'oh!

I'm one of those Milk Chocolate Lovers.  So, I keep a few bags of these on hand.  

You can go with semi-sweet, bitter sweet, fancy Schmancy brand chopped chocolate-- and, for the record, I have a cache of those, too! I don't know what it is about me, but I hoard all kind of "chips" from cinnamon, to mint to white chocolate. That's why I've been in a cookie baking mood, lately. I need to make a dent in my bags of chips!

...add the flour, and stir it in.

I wanted to add nuts, but my son doesn't like them.

I could eat a few spoonfuls of this batter. Easily.

For the first batch, I used a large scoop.  For the second batch, I made smaller ones.

Big...

 

 Littler... (can you see those browned butter bits?)

The key is to not over bake them.

Bake the cookies 1 tray at a time until cookies are golden brown and still puffy, and edges have begun to set but centers are still soft, 10 to 14 minutes, rotating baking sheet halfway through baking. Do NOT bake more than one tray at once, or they cookies won't bake correctly! Transfer baking sheet to wire rack; cool cookies completely before serving.

TASTING NOTES:  Any cookie that doesn't require a stand mixer, means it's a fast recipe. I like that. As for the taste-- these are very rich, in flavor.  There is toffee, and vanilla and it's a sweet cookie-- no doubt about that!  These cookies didn't last more than two days, in our kitchen.  The men in my life loved them.  Next time, I'll increase the chocolate ratio just a bit more-- about one extra cup.  I loved the flavor of the toffee bits.  However, with traditional semi-sweet cookies, that would work just as well. If you love a cookie with a crispy outer edge, and a chewy center-- America's Test Kitchen succeeded in developing a gourmet version of a chocolate chip cookie.  Yes, I'd make these again....and again.

A printable recipe card is at the end of this post.