With chocolate chips, walnuts, and Heath bits, this sourdough discard toffee cookies recipe tastes like the iconic candy bar but in chewy cookie form!
Skip a trip to the bakery and whip up these cookies! They’re crispy outside and chewy in the middle, and packed with flavor. Brown butter pulls out the notes of brown sugar and walnuts, and sourdough adds a lovely tang for balance. And the customization options are endless!
What Makes This Recipe Special
- Unique Flavor – Brown butter adds rich flavor notes of caramel and toasted nuts. It’s a beautiful balance to the tanginess of sourdough!
- Egg Free – There’s no egg in this cookie recipe. If you don’t have eggs on hand, or if you need an eggless recipe because of an allergy, these cookies are a great option.
- Small Batch – Sometimes you want a little something sweet without a huge batch; 10 cookies is a reasonable amount, especially because these freeze well. And sometimes you have just 1/4 cup of sourdough discard on hand to use up. Enter these cookies!
Heath Candy Bar Cookies Ingredients
INGREDIENTS EXPLAINED
Here the ingredients are explained and applicable substitutions are given. For the full recipe (with ingredient amounts), please see the recipe card below.
- Unsalted butter – Adds richness and helps create the perfect chewy texture inside and crispiness outside.
- Light brown sugar – Our main sweetener is brown sugar; the caramel-like notes of molasses that it adds pairs beautifully with brown butter.
- Granulated white sugar – Or more light brown sugar.
- Vanilla extract – Go for the good stuff here.
- Sourdough discard – Use 100% hydration sourdough discard (unfed sourdough starter) that’s 6 days old or less (chilled straight from the fridge is fine).
- Flour – Regular all-purpose flour.
- Baking powder and baking soda – The leavening agents in this cookie recipe.
- Salt – Use fine table salt. Salt seasons the dough and enhances the flavor.
- Semisweet chocolate chips, chopped walnuts, and Heath toffee bits – These are the add-ins we use in this recipe. The end result is like a chocolate-coated English toffee candy bar with nuts!
How to Make This Toffee Cookies Recipe: Step-by-Step Instructions
- Brown the butter. Add the butter to a small skillet over medium heat. Once melted, turn the heat down to medium-low, and continue cooking until brown bits have formed on the bottom, about 4 minutes.
- Make the dough. Immediately (carefully) pour the hot butter into a large bowl, making sure to scrape all the brown bits up from the bottom of the skillet (that’s where the flavor is!). Add the brown sugar, white sugar, and vanilla, and stir well. Add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt, and stir to combine.
- Chill. Cool to room temperature (about 20 minutes), then cover the bowl with plastic wrap and chill at least 4 hours, or up to 24 hours.
- Prep for baking. When you want to bake the cookies, preheat the oven to 350F. Let the dough sit at room temperature for 20 minutes, and then mix in the chocolate chips, walnuts, and toffee bits (the dough will be stiff, and it’s easiest to do this with your hands; start by crumbling the dough, and then work in the add-ins). Line 2 half-sheet pans with parchment paper.
- Shape. Divide the dough into 10 equal portions, roll each into a ball, and arrange them evenly on the baking pans.
- Bake. Bake the cookies until they’re golden along the outside and puffed in the center, about 15 to 17 minutes, rotating the trays once halfway through. As soon as they’re out of the oven, using potholders, carefully tap the tray a couple times on a hard surface to deflate the cookies. If you want perfect circles, while they’re still hot, invert a glass over each cookie and gently swirl it around.
Storage & Freezing
Cool to room temperature, and then store these cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 week. You can also layer them between pieces of parchment paper in an airtight container and freeze them for up to 3 months.
Pro Tip: After freezing, for the best flavor and texture I like to pop these cookies into a 350F oven for 3 to 5 minutes to rewarm them before serving.
Variations
- Almond Joy – Add 1/2 cup each of the following: semisweet chocolate chips, chopped almonds, and unsweetened coconut flakes.
- Peanut Butter Cup – Add 1/2 cup each of: semisweet chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, and unsalted roasted chopped peanuts.
- Cranberry White Chocolate Chip – Add 3/4 cup each of: dried cranberries (aka craisins) and white chocolate chips.
- Coconut White Chocolate Macadamia – Add 1/2 cup each of: sweetened coconut flakes, white chocolate chips, and salted chopped macadamia nuts.
Pro Tips For the Best Sourdough Toffee Cookies Recipe
- Mix the Brown Butter and Sugar While the Butter is Hot – The heat helps fully dissolve the sugar, resulting in the best texture.
- Wait to Add the Mix-Ins – Because sourdough is acidic, I like to wait to stir in the chocolate chips, nuts, and toffee bits until I’m ready to bake to avoid the dough potentially changing the texture of the ingredients added. Toffee in particular has the tendency to soften and become chewy instead of crunchy, and this helps prevent that.
Sourdough Chocolate Chip Toffee Cookies FAQs
No, but it’s recommended. If you prefer, you can fully melt the butter instead. But your cookies will be missing the nutty toasted notes that they’d otherwise have. Additionally, your texture will be a little different because browning butter removes some of the moisture in it.
Yes, friends! You’re about to have bakery-quality cookies on your hands, the wait is worth it.
Chilling the cookie dough helps the butter solidify, and prevents your cookies from spreading too much when you bake them. (If you’ve had problems in the past with flat cookies, not chilling the dough could have been the culprit!)
A stint in the fridge also allows the flavors to blend beautifully.
Additionally, chilling sourdough cookie dough allows the fermentation process to continue. Sourdough’s tanginess helps create a well-balanced flavor profile in this recipe.
If you’re pressed for time, you can do a 4 hour chill. But make it work for your schedule; you can whip up the dough and bake these cookies the next day!
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Sourdough Discard Chocolate Chip Toffee Cookies Recipe
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Ingredients
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1/2 cup light brown sugar lightly packed
- 2 tablespoons white sugar
- 1/2 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup sourdough discard unfed sourdough starter; 100% hydration; 6 days old or less
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 teaspoon fine table salt
- 1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips
- 1/2 cup walnuts chopped
- 1/2 cup Heath toffee bits
Instructions
- Brown the butter. Add the butter to a small skillet over medium heat. Once melted, turn the heat down to medium-low, and continue cooking until brown bits have formed on the bottom, about 4 minutes.
- Make the dough. Immediately (carefully) pour the hot butter into a large bowl, making sure to scrape all the brown bits up from the bottom of the skillet (that’s where the flavor is!). Add the brown sugar, white sugar, and vanilla, and stir well. Add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt, and stir to combine.
- Chill. Cool to room temperature (about 20 minutes), then cover the bowl with plastic wrap and chill at least 4 hours, or up to 24 hours.
- Prep for baking. When you want to bake the cookies, preheat the oven to 350F. Let the dough sit at room temperature for 20 minutes, and then mix in the chocolate chips, walnuts, and toffee bits (the dough will be stiff, and it’s easiest to do this with your hands; start by crumbling the dough, and then work in the add-ins). Line 2 half-sheet pans with parchment paper.
- Shape. Divide the dough into 10 equal portions, roll each into a ball, and arrange them evenly on the baking pans.
- Bake. Bake the cookies until they’re golden along the outside and puffed in the center, about 15 to 17 minutes, rotating the trays once halfway through. As soon as they’re out of the oven, using potholders, carefully tap the tray a couple times on a hard surface to deflate the cookies. If you want perfect circles, while they’re still hot, invert a glass over each cookie and gently swirl it around.
Notes
- Storage & Freezing: Cool to room temperature, and then store these cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 week. You can also layer them between pieces of parchment paper in an airtight container and freeze them for up to 3 months.
- Serving Tip After Freezing: After freezing, for the best flavor and texture I like to pop these cookies into a 350F oven for 3 to 5 minutes to rewarm them before serving.
- Sourdough Discard Weight: The weight of sourdough discard can vary greatly. For consistency’s sake, here we’re assuming 1/4 cup of sourdough discard (100% hydration; stirred down; 6 days old or younger) weighs 65 grams.
Nutrition
