Deliciously Soft & Chewy Brown Butter Butterscotch Chocolate Chip Cookies: Your New Go-To Recipe
Get ready to discover your new favorite cookie! These butterscotch chocolate chip cookies are truly irresistible, featuring a perfectly soft and chewy texture that melts in your mouth. What makes them so special? The secret lies in the golden brown butter, which infuses every bite with a rich, nutty, and caramelized flavor that elevates these treats far beyond your average cookie. Best of all, this incredible recipe is designed for ease – requiring just one bowl and less than 15 minutes of active preparation time. You’ll be enjoying warm, gooey cookies in no time!
This delightful recipe was originally shared in July 2021 and has since been updated with enhanced images to inspire your baking journey.
These wonderfully chewy butterscotch chocolate chip cookies consistently rank among my top dessert creations. They boast a deeply satisfying flavor thanks to the browned butter, complemented by a luxuriously gooey and soft center. Each cookie is generously loaded with an abundance of both sweet butterscotch chips and rich semisweet chocolate chips, creating a harmonious balance that’s pure bliss.
Despite their incredibly rich and indulgent taste, these butterscotch cookies are surprisingly simple to make, using staple ingredients you likely already have in your pantry. The recipe is a cherished adaptation of my popular marshmallow chocolate chip cookies, ensuring a proven foundation for success. Prepare to be amazed by how easy it is to achieve such a gourmet-tasting cookie right in your own kitchen!
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Why These Butterscotch Chocolate Chip Cookies Will Become Your Favorite
These aren’t just any cookies; they’re a symphony of flavors and textures designed to delight. Here’s why these brown butter butterscotch chocolate chip cookies are bound to become a staple in your recipe collection:
- The Magic of Brown Butter: They’re crafted with brown butter, which imparts an unparalleled nutty, toasted, and slightly caramel-like depth to the flavor profile. This simple technique is incredibly easy to master but makes a monumental difference, transforming a good cookie into an extraordinary one.
- Perfectly Balanced Chips: We use an ideal 1:1 ratio of semi-sweet chocolate chips and classic butterscotch chips. The slight bitterness and richness of the semisweet chocolate beautifully cut through the intense sweetness of the butterscotch, creating a wonderfully balanced and complex flavor that will have you reaching for another cookie.
- Effortless, One-Bowl Baking: Say goodbye to multiple dirty dishes! This entire cookie dough comes together in just one bowl, requiring no electric mixer. This makes the baking process incredibly streamlined, perfect for busy days or impromptu baking sessions, and ensures quick and easy cleanup.
- Warm & Cozy Spices: A subtle hint of cinnamon and nutmeg is incorporated into the dough, adding a layer of warmth and inviting spice. These cozy flavors perfectly complement the buttery and sweet notes of the chips, making these cookies an absolute dream, especially during cooler months or whenever you crave a comforting treat.
Essential Ingredients for Irresistible Cookies
Crafting these delectable butterscotch chocolate chip cookies requires a few key ingredients, each playing a vital role in achieving their signature flavor and texture. Gathering them before you begin will ensure a smooth baking experience.
- Chocolate Chips: To achieve the perfect flavor balance, I highly recommend using semisweet chocolate chips. Their slight bitterness beautifully complements the intense sweetness of the butterscotch. My personal favorite for consistent quality and rich flavor are the Guittard semi-sweet chocolate chips. However, if you prefer an even sweeter cookie or don’t have semisweet on hand, you can certainly use milk chocolate chips or even skip the chocolate entirely and use only butterscotch chips for a purer butterscotch experience.
- Butter: The foundation of these rich cookies is butter. I specifically use European-style butter, such as Kerry Gold, which boasts a higher butterfat content compared to standard American butter. This higher fat content contributes significantly to a richer, creamier, and more luxurious cookie texture. If you opt for American butter, please be aware that the final texture might be slightly different.
- Butterscotch Chips: These cookies are truly packed with the golden goodness of butterscotch chips, delivering that iconic sweet and buttery caramel-like flavor. If butterscotch chips are unavailable, salted caramel chips make an excellent substitute, offering a similar indulgent profile with a hint of savory depth.
- All-Purpose Flour: For consistent results and the ideal chewy texture, this recipe has been thoroughly tested exclusively with all-purpose flour. Using a different type of flour may alter the structure and consistency of your cookies.
- Extra Egg Yolk: This is one of the key secrets to achieving an incredibly chewy cookie! The addition of an extra egg yolk to the dough boosts richness and moisture without adding excess liquid that could make the cookies cakey. It truly enhances that desirable soft, bendy texture.
- Warm Spices: A delicate blend of cinnamon and nutmeg is stirred into the cookie dough. These warm spices are not overpowering but instead provide a subtle aromatic background that harmonizes beautifully with both the butterscotch and chocolate flavors, adding a comforting, cozy dimension to each bite.
Easy Step-by-Step Guide to Baking Perfection
Follow these straightforward steps to create perfectly baked, mouthwatering brown butter butterscotch chocolate chip cookies. Precision and patience are your best friends here!
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Step 1: Create Brown Butter Magic. In a small, light-colored saucepan, melt your unsalted butter over medium-low heat. Once the butter is completely melted, slightly increase the heat to medium. The butter will begin to foam, and as it continues to cook, watch closely for tiny milk solids at the bottom of the pan to turn a light golden brown. At this point, it will emit a wonderful nutty, toasted aroma. This process typically takes 2-3 minutes after melting. Immediately remove the pan from the heat and pour the browned butter into a medium-sized heatproof bowl. Allow it to cool completely to room temperature before proceeding. This cooling step is crucial!
Step 2: Whisk the Wet Ingredients. Once the brown butter has cooled, add the light brown sugar, granulated sugar, vanilla extract, a large egg, and the extra egg yolk to the bowl. Whisk everything together vigorously until the mixture is completely smooth, well combined, and has a glossy appearance. This ensures all sugars are dissolved and the liquid ingredients are evenly distributed.
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Step 3: Combine Dry Ingredients and Chips. To the wet mixture, add all the dry ingredients: the all-purpose flour, baking soda, baking powder, kosher salt, ground cinnamon, and ground nutmeg. Use a rubber spatula to gently fold and combine everything until there are no visible dry spots or streaks of flour remaining. Be careful not to overmix the dough. Once the flour is just incorporated, stir in the butterscotch chips and semisweet chocolate chips, distributing them evenly throughout the dough. Reserve a small handful of chips for topping, if desired.
Step 4: Scoop, Chill, and Bake. Use a large cookie scoop (approximately 3 tablespoons) to scoop out uniform balls of dough and place them onto a parchment-lined baking sheet, leaving ample space between each cookie. If you reserved some chips, gently press a few extra butterscotch and chocolate chips onto the tops of the scooped dough balls for a beautiful, “bakery-style” appearance. For extra thick and chewy cookies with a deeper flavor, chill the dough balls briefly for at least 30 minutes, or even overnight if time allows. Once chilled, bake the cookies in an oven preheated to 350°F (175°C) for 10-12 minutes, or until the edges are golden brown and the centers are still slightly soft.
Pro Baking Tips & Smart Tricks for Perfect Cookies
Achieving the perfect cookie is an art, but with these expert tips and tricks, you’ll master these butterscotch chocolate chip cookies every time:
- Precision in Measuring: For consistently perfect results, especially in baking, I cannot stress enough the importance of using a digital kitchen scale and measuring your ingredients using the metric system (grams). This is the most accurate way to bake and significantly reduces the chance of errors, leading to a much better outcome in your final product.
- The “Fluff and Sprinkle” Flour Method: If you are not weighing your ingredients and are relying on measuring cups, it’s vital to correctly measure your flour to avoid dry, crumbly cookies. Use the “fluff and sprinkle” method: first, fluff the flour in its container, then gently spoon it into your measuring cup until it overflows, and finally, level it off with a straight edge. Never pack the flour into the cup. Over-measuring flour is a common mistake that can result in dense, dry cookies instead of the soft and chewy delights you’re aiming for. Find more detailed instructions here.
- Achieving Bakery-Style Perfection: For those coveted perfectly round cookies seen in professional bakeries, try this trick right after they come out of the oven. While the cookies are still warm and pliable, use a large biscuit cutter or the rim of a large mug (slightly larger than your cookies) and gently “scoot” it around the hot cookie. This motion helps to shape the edges into a beautiful, flawless circle. Additionally, immediately after baking, press a few extra butterscotch and chocolate chips onto the warm cookies. This creates those attractive, melted “puddles” of chocolate and butterscotch that make them look even more enticing.
- Mastering Brown Butter: Browning butter is simple but requires attention. Ensure you cook the butter until the milk solids at the bottom of the pan turn a visible light brown and it releases a distinct nutty, toasted aroma. Don’t rush this step, but also don’t overcook it, as burnt butter will taste bitter. A light-colored saucepan helps you monitor the color change effectively.
Frequently Asked Questions About These Cookies
Here are some common questions bakers have about making these butterscotch chocolate chip cookies, along with helpful answers to ensure your success.
For perfectly round cookies with smooth edges, try the “cookie scoot” trick. As soon as your cookies come out of the oven, while they are still hot and malleable, take a large circular cookie cutter or the rim of a mug (slightly larger than your cookie) and place it over the cookie. Gently scoot the cutter around the cookie in a circular motion. This will tidy up any uneven edges and help form a beautiful, uniformly round shape.
The primary secret to achieving super chewy cookies in this recipe is the addition of an extra egg yolk alongside the whole egg. The egg yolk adds richness and fat, which contributes to a tender, chewy texture without making the cookie cakey. Another crucial tip is to avoid overmixing your cookie dough once the flour is added. Overmixing develops too much gluten, which can lead to a tough and dry cookie instead of a soft and chewy one.
While chilling the cookie dough for at least 30 minutes is highly recommended for optimal results, it is not strictly mandatory if you’re short on time. However, please be aware that unchilled cookies may spread more during baking and might not achieve the same thick, chewy texture or deep flavor profile. Chilling allows the fats to solidify, preventing excessive spread, and gives the flavors more time to meld and intensify.
Absolutely! You can freeze both baked cookies and raw cookie dough. To freeze raw dough, simply scoop out the cookie dough balls as instructed, place them on a parchment-lined tray, and freeze until solid. Once frozen, transfer the dough balls to a freezer-safe bag or airtight container for up to two months. When you’re ready to bake, simply place the frozen cookie dough balls directly onto a baking sheet and bake at the recommended temperature, adding an extra minute or two to the baking time to account for their frozen state.
Explore More Delicious Cookie Recipes!
If you loved these butterscotch chocolate chip cookies, you’ll definitely want to try some of my other popular cookie recipes. Each one is crafted to deliver exceptional flavor and texture, perfect for any occasion or craving.
- Easy M&M Chocolate Chip Cookies (One Bowl)
- Red Velvet Oreo Cookies
- Small Batch Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Soft and Chewy Mini M&M Cookies
Have you made this recipe? Please rate the recipe below! Don’t forget to follow me on Instagram @alpineella and Pinterest for more baking inspiration!
Recipe Card
Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Butterscotch Cookies
Ella Gilbert
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Ingredients
- 1 ½ sticks unsalted butter
- 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- ¾ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 cup light brown sugar
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 1 large egg room temperature
- 1 large egg yolk room temperature
- 2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- pinch cinnamon
- pinch nutmeg
- ⅔ cup semisweet chocolate chips
- ⅔ cup butterscotch chips
Instructions
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In a small saucepan over medium-low heat, melt the unsalted butter. Once the butter is completely melted, increase the heat to medium. The butter will begin to foam, and as it cooks, the milk solids at the bottom of the pan will turn a light brown. You’ll notice a distinct nutty and toasted aroma. This usually takes 2-3 minutes. Remove from heat and pour into a medium bowl; let cool completely to room temperature.
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To the cooled brown butter, add both light brown sugar and granulated sugar, vanilla extract, and kosher salt. Whisk vigorously until the mixture is smooth and well combined.
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Add the large egg and the extra egg yolk to the butter-sugar mixture. Whisk until the mixture is smooth, glossy, and fully incorporated.
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Pour in all the dry ingredients: all-purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda, ground cinnamon, and ground nutmeg. Using a rubber spatula, gently fold the ingredients together until there are no longer any dry spots or streaks of flour in the dough. Be careful not to overmix.
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Add the semisweet chocolate chips and butterscotch chips to the cookie dough. Fold them in until evenly distributed. It’s a good idea to reserve a small handful of both chocolate and butterscotch chips for topping the cookies later.
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Using a 3-tablespoon ice cream scooper, scoop uniform balls of cookie dough and place them on a parchment-lined baking tray, ensuring adequate space between each cookie. If you reserved chips, gently press a few extra chocolate and butterscotch chips onto the tops of the dough balls; this will create those attractive puddles of melted chips after baking! Chill the scooped cookie dough for at least 30 minutes, or for best results, refrigerate overnight.
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Preheat your oven to 350°F (175°C) and line three baking trays with fresh parchment paper.
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Bake the cookies, 6 at a time, for 10-12 minutes. The edges should be golden brown, but the centers should still appear slightly soft and set. Remove from oven and let cool on the baking sheet for a few minutes before transferring to a wire rack.
Notes
Butter: I consistently use European-style butter, such as Kerry Gold, in all my recipes. The higher butterfat content in these types of butter contributes significantly to a creamier texture and a richer flavor in your finished baked goods.
Salt: If you do not have kosher salt on hand, please halve the amount of salt specified in the recipe. As a general conversion, 1 teaspoon of Diamond Crystal Kosher Salt (which I use) is roughly equivalent to ½ teaspoon of fine table salt. Please note, Morton Coarse Kosher Salt is different and much saltier; it is not recommended for this recipe.
Storage: Once baked and completely cooled, these cookies can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 week, maintaining their soft and chewy texture. For longer storage, you can freeze unbaked cookie dough balls for up to 2 months. When you’re ready to enjoy them, simply take the frozen dough balls directly from the freezer and bake them at the specified temperature, adding an additional minute or two to the baking time.
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