Description
These cookies pair nutty browned butter with crunchy homemade saltine toffee for a sweet-salty bite that’s impossible to stop eating. The quick stove-top toffee (saltine crackers + caramel) gets chopped and folded into chewy cookie dough — the whole process takes a little patience, but the payoff is huge.
Ingredients
Scale
For the saltine toffee
- 20 saltine crackers
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
- 1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
- 6 oz semisweet chocolate chips
- flaky sea salt, optional for finishing
For the cookies
- 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into cubes (for browning)
- 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled)
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 cup packed light brown sugar
- 1/3 cup granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs, room temperature
- 2 tsp pure vanilla extract
- nearly all of the chopped toffee from above (reserve some pieces to press on top after baking)
Instructions
- Make the toffee: Preheat the oven to 425°F and line a 9×13-inch pan with parchment. Arrange the saltines in a single layer on the parchment and set aside. In a medium saucepan melt the butter with the brown sugar over medium-high heat. Once the mixture boils, reduce the heat slightly and let it bubble, undisturbed, for about 4–5 minutes until it becomes syrupy and caramelized. Pour that hot caramel evenly over the saltines and spread gently with a spatula. Bake 4–5 minutes until the caramel is bubbling. Remove from the oven, scatter the chocolate chips over the hot caramel, let them soften for a minute, then spread into an even layer. Sprinkle a little flaky salt if you like. Pop the pan into the freezer to firm while you work on the dough.
- Brown the butter: In a light-colored saucepan, melt the cubed butter over medium heat, stirring frequently. The butter will foam, then quiet, and tiny browned bits will form on the bottom — that’s when you remove it from the heat. It should smell toasty and nutty. Let it cool for about 10 minutes so it isn’t scorching hot.
- Mix the dough: Whisk the flour and baking soda together in a large bowl. Return to the browned-butter pan (when slightly cooled) and whisk in both sugars until smooth. Add the eggs and vanilla, whisking until no streaks of yolk remain. Pour the wet mix into the flour and fold with a rubber spatula until a dough forms; it may look dry at first but will come together.
- Prepare the toffee pieces: Take the chilled toffee from the freezer and chop it into small pieces with a sharp knife (breaking by hand can melt the chocolate). Return the dough to the freezer for a few minutes while chopping, then fold most of the toffee bits into the dough, keeping a handful aside for topping.
- Chill the dough: Cover the dough and refrigerate for at least 2 hours (up to 3 days). If it chills longer than a day, let it sit at room temperature briefly so it’s scoopable.
- Bake: Preheat oven to 350°F. Line baking sheets with parchment or silicone mats. Scoop 2-tablespoon portions of dough and space them a few inches apart. Bake 8–10 minutes, until the edges are golden and the centers are set. Immediately press a couple reserved toffee pieces into each cookie, then let cookies cool on the sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a rack to finish cooling.
Notes
- Storage & Freezing tips
- Room temperature: keep baked cookies in an airtight container for up to 5 days (parchment between layers helps).
- Refrigerate: up to 10 days.
- Freeze baked cookies: place cooled cookies in a freezer-safe container for up to 6 months; thaw overnight in the fridge.
- Freeze dough: portion dough balls on a parchment-lined tray and flash-freeze 30 minutes, then transfer to a bag. Bake from frozen, adding 1–2 minutes to the time.
- Make extra toffee: To double the toffee, scale everything to 2× and spread the crackers on a full sheet pan lined with parchment instead of a 9×13 dish.
- Final note: chill your dough — it’s the single best trick to keep these cookies thick, chewy, and loaded with toffee goodness.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1cookie
- Calories: 296kcal
- Sugar: 19.1g
- Sodium: 205mg
- Fat: 15.3g
- Carbohydrates: 37.6g
- Fiber: 1.6g
- Protein: 3.3g
- Cholesterol: 46mg