Last Updated on July 9, 2025 by Jennifer Osborn
This chewy toffee cookie recipe makes bakery-style cookies with crisp edges and gooey centers, packed with toffee bits and rich brown sugar flavor.
Plan ahead: these cookies are best chilled for at least two hours before baking.
Jump to:
- Why You'll Love These Cookies
- How to Make Toffee Cookies
- Variations:
- Storage and Make Ahead Directions
- Cookie Baking Tips
- Recipe Notes
- Frequently Asked Questions
- 🍪 What’s a drop cookie?
- 🥜 Are Toffee Bits Nut-Free?
- 🍫 Can I use chocolate-covered toffee bits?
- ❄️ Can I freeze toffee cookies?
- Cookie Baking Advice
- Pin to Save for Later
- Recipe
- Comments
Why You'll Love These Cookies
- Easy drop cookie dough.
- Chewy and soft cookie with crisp edges.
- Customizable with milk chocolate chips or slivered almonds.
I love these cookies because they're my dad's favorite cookies. I make them for his birthday most years.
If you like toffee cookies, you must try Easy Chocolate Toffee Cookies or Toffee Doodle Cookies or Toffee Bars.
How to Make Toffee Cookies
- Whisk dry ingredients: flour, kosher salt, baking powder and baking soda in a medium bowl. Set aside.
- Cream butter and sugars in large mixing bowl with an electric mixer.
- Add egg and vanilla extract. Beat for another minute until combined.
- Combine dry ingredients into butter/sugar mixture and mix until just combined and no streaks of flour remain.
- Stir in toffee bits.
- Wrap dough in plastic wrap and chill for at least two hours or overnight before baking.
- When ready to bake, preheat oven to 375F°.
- Portion dough using a teaspoon or a cookie scoop on a parchment lined-cookie sheet.
- Bake 12 balls of dough at a time, evenly spaced on a parchment-lined cookie sheet. for 10 to 12 minutes. Why use parchment paper when baking?
- Remember, oven temperatures vary so pay attention to how the cookies smell and look. They should be golden brown when done baking.
Variations:
- Add a cup of chocolate chips or chopped milk chocolate along with the toffee pieces or bits.
- Brown butter in a small sauce pan instead of using room temperature butter. Browned butter will amp up the rich butter toffee flavor of these cookies.
Storage and Make Ahead Directions
Store baked cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 week.
To freeze baked cookies:
Wrap cookies in plastic wrap or wax paper, then place in a freezer-safe container or resealable bag. They’ll stay fresh for up to 3 months.
To freeze cookie dough:
Scoop dough into balls and freeze on a baking sheet. Once solid, transfer to a freezer-safe bag. Bake straight from frozen. Just add a minute or two to the bake time.
❄️ Need more freezing tips? Check out my full guide to freezing cookies and cookie dough.
Cookie Baking Tips
- Scrape the bottom and sides of your bowl at least once or twice while mixing. It helps get all your ingredients incorporated evenly into the dough, especially if you’re using a stand mixer or a hand mixer. (I’ve had this one for years.)
- Use a cookie scoop to get uniform dough balls. I use a Winco #40 for drop cookies like this. A scoop keeps the bake time consistent and the cookies looking great.
Recipe Notes
Use whatever toffee you have on hand! I like using Heath bits, which you’ll find in the baking aisle.
They come in both plain toffee and chocolate-covered versions. Either works great in this recipe.
Can’t find toffee bits? Skor bars or any other toffee candy bars can be finely chopped and used instead.
Just make sure you end up with about 1 ⅓ cups, which is the amount in a standard 8-ounce bag.
Frequently Asked Questions
🍪 What’s a drop cookie?
A drop cookie is made from dough that’s “dropped” onto a baking sheet using a spoon or cookie scoop — no rolling or cutting required. Other types of cookies include roll-out (like sugar cookies), bar cookies, shortbread, pressed, molded, and stamped varieties.
🥜 Are Toffee Bits Nut-Free?
Most store-bought toffee bits, including popular brands like Heath, contain almonds. That means these chewy toffee cookies aren’t safe for people with nut allergies or school bake sales with allergy restrictions.
🍫 Can I use chocolate-covered toffee bits?
For sure. You can use either plain or chocolate-covered toffee bits in this recipe. Chocolate-covered versions will melt slightly into the dough, adding even more richness to each bite.
❄️ Can I freeze toffee cookies?
Definitely, you can freeze both the baked cookies and unbaked cookie dough. Store cookies in an airtight container for up to 3 months. To freeze dough, scoop it into balls, freeze on a tray, then transfer to a freezer-safe bag.
See how to freeze cookie dough for more detail.
Easy Chocolate Toffee Cookies are also delicious.
Too much flour or not enough can ruin your batch of cookie dough. Weighing flour is best using a kitchen scale but failing that, use the dip and sweep method to measure your flour. Pour flour into a bowl and fluff it up with a spoon. Now spoon flour into your measuring cup until slightly heaped. Then slide a butter knife or a bench scraper across the top of the measuring cup to remove the excess.
Cookie Baking Advice
You may find these baking posts helpful: from How to Avoid Flat Cookies How to Freeze Cookie Dough, Room Temperature Butter for Baking to Salted or Unsalted Butter for Cookies? to Do I Need A Cookie Scoop?, Cookie Size Chart to What Should a Beginner Bake? to Where Can I Buy Sprinkles?, Why is my sugar cookie dough too sticky? and Cookie Holidays. What is Sanding Sugar and Do I need Parchment Paper? might also be helpful. This Cuisinart 5-speed is my favorite hand mixer.
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#toffeecookies #chewycookies #easycookierecipe #holidaycookies #bakingfromscratch
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Recipe
Chewy Toffee Cookies Recipe
Chewy toffee cookies made with Heath bits and brown sugar.
Ingredients
- 2 ¼ cups all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt (I like Kosher or sea salt)
- ½ cup or one stick or four ounces butter, room temperature
- ¾ cup granulated sugar
- ¾ cup brown sugar (light or dark)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 eggs, large, room temperature
- 8 ounces toffee bits
Instructions
Measure dry ingredients flour, salt, baking soda in a medium bowl.
Beat butter, sugars and vanilla in a large bowl or in the bowl of your stand mixer until creamy.
Add eggs and beat until combined.
Add flour and beat until combined and you don’t see any more flour. Don’t overmix or your cookies will be tough.
Pour in toffee bits and beat or stir with a spatula until the bits are incorporated with the dough.
Wrap dough and chill in refrigerator for at least two hours, preferably overnight.
To bake:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Scoop dough into inch-size balls using a teaspoon or a cookie scoop.
Bake 12 at a time for 10 to 12 minutes.
CAUTION: Oven times and temperatures vary. Check the cookies in 10 minutes. If they smell done, they probably are.
Let rest on a cookie sheet for five minutes then using a spatula, transfer them to a wire rack to cool.
Notes
Use plain or chocolate-covered toffee bits. Both work well. Heath bits or chopped Skor bars are great options. You’ll need about 1 ⅓ cups total (an 8-ounce bag).
Andrea Philipson says
The recipe for chewy toffee cookies has an error in the directions where it calls for cocoa powder.