Brown Butter Toffee & Hazelnut Sugar Cookies

Bake #62 for 2025: Brown Butter Toffee & Hazelnut Sugar Cookies

This recipe was inspired by an old Cook’s Illustrated sugar cookie recipe that I’ve tweaked quite a bit over the years. When just a touch underbaked, they’re perfectly chewy and utterly delicious. I’ve found they actually soften up and are even better after a few hours stored in an airtight container or overnight. Yields around 22 cookies.

Ingredients:

• ~2-1/2 cups (11.25oz/315g) all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1-1/2 cups (300g) sugar plus 1/3 cup for rolling
• 2 ounces (57g) cream cheese, cut into 8 pieces (ideally at room temp)
• 6 Tbsp (85g) unsalted butter
• 1/3 cup (66g) vegetable oil
• 1 large egg
• 1 Tbsp whole milk
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 cup chopped hazelnuts, toasted & skins removed (see note)
• 1/4 cup toffee bits, like these

 

Instructions:

1. Line two baking sheets with parchment; adjust oven racks to evenly into thirds.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
3. In a large bowl, place the 1-1/2 cups sugar and the cream cheese. Place the remaining 1/3 cup sugar (for finishing) into a smaller bowl; set both aside.
4. In a saucepan, brown the butter until the milk solids are a rich amber. (For thorough instructions on browning butter, check out this post on Sally’s Baking.) Immediately pour the browned butter into the large bowl, over the sugar and cream cheese. Whisk to combine. If the cream cheese is cold, there may be some small lumps, but it should even out later. Let mixture cool at room temperature for ~10 min; meanwhile, preheat oven to 350F.
5. Whisk the oil into the sugar mixture until mostly incorporated. Then, add the egg, milk, and vanilla; continue to whisk until smooth. Add the flour mixture and fold with a flexible spatula until a soft, homogenous dough forms. Fold in the hazelnuts and toffee bits.
6. Working with ~2 Tbsp of dough (around 50g) at a time, roll into balls. Roll the dough balls in the reserved sugar then place on the prepared sheets, around 5 per sheet. Bake for 12-16 minutes, rotating the sheets halfway through, or until they are set and just beginning to brown. Underbaking is better than overbaking with these. Let cookies cool on the trays for 4-5 min then transfer to a wire rack to finish cooling.

 

Notes:

• To toast and skin hazelnuts, spread them evenly on a parchment-lined baking sheet and roast at 350 for 8-10 min, or until they start to smell rich and fragrant. Lay a clean kitchen towel near the oven and while the nuts are hot, transfer them to the towel. Fold it over on itself, covering the nuts, then rub the towel back and forth and the skins should fall off – if a few are stubbornly attached, don’t stress about it. Allow the nuts to cool before using in the recipe.
• No hazelnuts or toffee? These are great plain sugar cookies too! Just omit the nuts and toffee, and increase the vanilla to 2 tsp.
• Store cookies in an airtight container at room temperature.