Brown Butter Toffee Walnut Cookies

Confession…

I prefer cookies without chocolate chips. There I said it. Call me crazy if you want, but that’s just how I have always felt. As a kid, I was heavily addicted to cookie dough (obvs) and I would always eat around the chocolate chips.

I would bake with friends and they would think I was insane for leaving piles of chocolate chips behind in the mixing bowl, but what can I say? I prefer the doughy base of a cookie. For me, there is just nothing better than a good, chewy, flavourful, chocolate chip-less cookie.

And while you can skip the step of browning your butter for this recipe… just do yourself a solid, and brown your butter. I know it’s another step, but it is soooo worth it. If you’re going to get extra with one thing this week… let it be browning butter for these cookies.

Brown butter is seriously magic, and it’s what takes these cookies to the next level of amazing. After tasting these cookies my boss actually said to me “these might be the best cookies you have ever made…” So there’s that. You can take his word for it. He’s tasted many of my cookies.

And if you feel the urge to get a little more extra with your cookies…

Sandwich some vanilla ice cream between two of them, because… Just do it. Live your best life. You will have zero regrets.

Brown Butter Toffee Walnut Cookies

Things you need…

1 cup unsalted butter, browned
1 cup dark brown sugar
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 tbsp pure vanilla extract
1 cup cake & pastry flour
1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp cinnamon
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup toffee bits (you can usually find in the baking aisle with chocoloate chips)
1 cup toasted walnuts, roughly chopped

1 tbsp flaky sea salt for sprinkling, optional

How to make…

To brown your butter

Place your butter into a medium sauce pan over medium heat to melt. Once melted, kick the heat up to medium high to brown. Your butter will start to hiss and bubble – this is normal. Swirl the butter around in the sauce pan every so often to avoid bits on the bottom from burning. Cook until fragrant and light golden brown.

Immediately remove brown butter from the heat and transfer to a heat-proof bowl and allow to cool completely at room temperature until the butter is firm again.

Cookies

Preheat oven to 350F degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a large mixing bowl, cream together cooled brown butter and sugars until pale and creamy – about 10 minutes. Scrape down the sides of your bowl and add in your egg; beat on high until fluffy. Scrape down the sides of your bowl again and add in your vanilla; mix on high until combined.

In a small bowl, whisk together flours, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon. Add dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and beat on low until it starts to come together; increase the speed and beat until completely combined. Beat in your chopped walnuts and toffee bits and mix on low speed to combine.

Use a large cookie scoop to portion the dough into large balls – you should end up with about 16. You could also make them smaller to end up with 24.

Bake the cookies 1 pan at a time. Bake for 10-12 minutes (depending on the size) or until the edges are golden. If your cookies are a little underbaked, so don’t worry if the centers don’t look quite set, they will continue to cook once you remove them from the oven and just be soft, chewy, delicious!

Once your cookies are out of the oven, sprinkle them with flaky sea salt