My family loves these chocolate toffee cookies! They’re soft in the middle and just a little thinner, which makes them delightfully chewy with crisp edges. So, so good.
If you love light and crispy cookies, these toffee cookies are for you. We start with our simple chocolate cookie dough and fold in plenty of toffee bits. As they bake, the toffee melts slightly into the dough, giving each cookie that perfect mix of chew and crunch.
I love so many of our cookie recipes on Inspired Taste, but these are the ones I usually end up gifting. They’re easy to make, travel well, and everyone I’ve shared them with instantly falls in love. If you’re a chocolate fan, you might also want to try our chocolate cookies.
Key Ingredients
- Cocoa Powder: Use natural unsweetened cocoa powder for this recipe. Dutch-processed cocoa won’t react with the baking soda, which is essential for helping the cookies rise and stay chewy.
- Toffee Bits: I used Heath toffee bits for the cookies in our photos. You’ll usually find them in the baking aisle near the chocolate chips. If you can’t find them, a toffee chocolate bar chopped into small pieces works perfectly.
- Flour: All-purpose flour gives these cookies their ideal chewy texture without making them too dense.
- Butter: I use unsalted butter. If you use salted, omit the salt called for in the recipe below. Make sure your butter is at room temperature so it creams easily with the sugars.
- Sugar: I use a combination of granulated and brown sugar in this cookie dough. The brown sugar adds a rich flavor and helps keep the cookies soft in the center, while the granulated sugar gives them slightly crisp edges.
- Vanilla and Salt: A little vanilla and salt balance all that sweetness and make the chocolate flavor pop.
- Egg: A room-temperature egg is best for easy mixing. If you forget to take it out of the fridge, place it in a bowl of lukewarm water for a few minutes.
- Baking Soda: Our secret to soft, chewy cookies! It helps the dough rise in the oven, then settle slightly as it cools, creating that perfect texture.
Find the full recipe with measurements below.
How to Make My Favorite Chocolate Toffee Cookies
Tip 1: Use an electric or stand mixer. This cookie dough is thick, so an electric hand mixer or stand mixer will make your life much easier. Start by creaming the room-temperature butter with the sugars. This step takes a few minutes, which is why that mixer really comes in handy.
Tip 2: Be generous with the toffee. I am generous with the toffee bits and use a whole cup. They add the best flavor and texture. Use a spatula to gently fold them into the batter so they’re evenly distributed.
Tip 3: Let them cool on the baking sheets. These cookies are pretty soft when they come out of the oven, so let them cool on the baking sheets for 10 minutes before transferring them to a rack. As they cool, they firm up nicely.
Chocolate Toffee Cookies
- PREP
- COOK
- TOTAL
These chocolate toffee cookies are easy! I make them in a large bowl with an electric mixer, but use your stand mixer if you have it out. For the toffee, we use Heath Toffee bits, making these soft and chewy with just a touch of crunch. The cookies will spread out quite a bit during baking and are intentionally thin when fully baked.
You Will Need
8 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature (113g)
½ cup granulated sugar (100g)
½ cup brown sugar (100g)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 large egg
1 cup all-purpose flour (130g)
¼ cup unsweetened cocoa powder (20g)
½ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
1 cup toffee bits (170g)
Directions
1Preheat the oven to 350°F (177°C). Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper or a silicon baking mat.
2In a large bowl, use an electric hand blender to beat the butter and sugars together until light and fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes.
3Add the egg and vanilla, then beat at medium speed until incorporated, 10 to 20 seconds.
4Place a fine mesh sieve over the mixing bowl and sift in the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt. Then, use a spatula to stir everything together. Fold in toffee bits.
5Drop the cookie dough, a heaping tablespoon at a time, onto the baking sheets, placing them 2 inches apart so the cookies can spread in the oven. Bake until the tops look mostly dry, about 9 minutes.
6Let cookies cool on baking sheets for 10 minutes, then transfer them to a cooling rack and cool completely. (The cookies will be soft but firm up as they cool.)
Adam and Joanne's Tips
- Measuring: Carefully measure the flour and cocoa powder. Either weigh them or use the “spoon and sweep” method: Fluff the flour/cocoa, spoon it into the measuring cup, then level off the top with a flat edge.
- Storing: Store baked chocolate cookies in an airtight container for 3 to 5 days at room temperature or a week in the refrigerator. Freeze them for up to 3 months.
- Make ahead: Refrigerate unbaked cookie dough for up to 3 days. Or freeze cookie dough balls for up to 3 months. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper, then scoop cookie mounds onto the baking sheet without them touching. Freeze until hard. Transfer the frozen dough mounds to an airtight container or plastic bag.
- The nutrition facts provided below are estimates.
Thank you for this tasty recipe, which will be sure to please our little niece and nephew. After baking, my cookies flattened out. I put the dough in fridge overnight to see if that would help, and it didn’t. I also made each cookie a heaping teaspoon vs tablespoon. I don’t think size matters, does it? Please help…thank you!
Hi Patty, I’m so glad you’re making them for your niece and nephew! These cookies are meant to be on the thinner side, but if you’d like them a bit thicker, try adding 2 to 3 tablespoons of extra flour to the dough next time. Chilling helps with spreading, but that little bit of extra flour will make the biggest difference.
Thank you! Everybody loved the cookies even flat!
These cookies are so good!! My family requests them quite often and the recipe makes the perfect amount for the four of us.
These are fantastic! Made just as recipe states. Used parchment paper on cookie sheet. Did not flatten balls and they spread out perfectly. Be sure to let cool completely before removing from parchment paper.
I actually made a mistake in this recipie up and it still turned out good. 100% would make again
I have made these cookies several times. They turn out perfectly every time! Do you have any Nutrition information for this recipe?
SO happy you enjoy them, Sharon! I just added nutritional estimates, which are now shown below the recipe.
I had a bag of toffee bits in the pantry for far too long and was looking for a recipe to use them up. I used the entire bag in this recipe and they are delicious! I used Hershey‘s special dark cocoa powder and added a quarter teaspoon instant espresso to the cookies. I baked mine for 14 minutes because they were way too glossy and soft at nine minutes. I probably could’ve pulled them out at 12 or 13 minutes but I’ve already had several people ask for the recipe so far. I’m gifting some of the cookies for Mother’s Day which is good because my family would’ve finished the entire batch by tomorrow morning.
These were delicious! Thank you so much! Have you ever tried to make them w/Dark cocoa powder? (Just curious)
So glad you enjoyed them 🙂
Hi there, You might want to start with a chocolate chip cookie base then replace the chocolate chips with toffee base. We have a chocolate chip cookie recipe here. I’m not sure how this cookie recipe will turn out without the cocoa powder, so switching to another recipe might be your best bet.
I found your recipe today and happily having everything on hand, made these. Omg! So good! I gave1-1/2 doz to my friend who is now hiding them from her kids!
Only change – I made 3-1/2 doz not your original 16 cookies. I like little cookies!
Love your blog!
These are my husband’s FAVORITE cookie! I made them again this afternoon and they turned out perfectly. Foolproof and just the right amount of sweet. Loveeee, love, love this recipe. Mwuah!
Yay! We are thrilled that your family loves them 🙂
Could you give us a recipt for brown butter and some of its uses in cooking and baking….thanks and I love your website
Ruth
Here’s our tutorial about brown butter and how to make it
Nice recipe ..deliciousz!!:)
Nice recipe..thanks:)!
Adam and Joanne, you are the best! These cookies are to die for! Thank you so much for making them for me.
P.S. My husband is also very thankful you whipped these up for us. We both enjoyed them with some milk as we watched the Voice last night 🙂
So happy that you and your husband loved the cookies. Thank you for the wonderfully designed website 🙂