Browned Butter Butterscotch Chocolate Chip Muffin Pan Cookies! A fun take on the classic, these delicious cookies are perfectly sweet while also feeling sophisticated. They are sure to make anyone’s day a little brighter!
The Idea:
Browned Butter Butterscotch Chocolate Chip Muffin Pan Cookies – whew! That’s a mouth full, isn’t it? A delicious mouth full! Excuse the long recipe title, but each word felt important. We can call them butterscotch chocolate chip cookies for short.
It all started with the half empty (or half full?) bag of butterscotch chips leftover from holiday baking (hello seven layer bars! We’ll meet again next December). I like the butterscotch chips combined with chocolate chips, so thought a take on the classic chocolate chip cookie would be fun.
As long as I was experimenting, I wanted to try using melted, browned butter in the cookies. Just as I’d hoped, using the browned butter gave a chewier texture, and most importantly, a subtle “caramelly” flavor that perfectly complimented the butterscotch chips!
Now, what about the muffin pan? Sometimes when I’m making cookies they spread out too much while they bake and get more crisp. I was looking to keep the chewy, dense consistency of a perfect chocolate chip cookie. I thought using the browned butter might cause the cookies to spread out on a normal cookie sheet, so using a muffin tin to bake the cookies was the perfect solution! The cookies can only spread as far as the muffin tin allows, so you end up with a thicker cookie that keeps it’s shape.
The Ingredients:
Most of the ingredients are in the super long recipe title, so no surprises here, except for the
oatmeal and cinnamon. I added a cup of oatmeal to the cookies to give them a little more substance, and a hint of cinnamon for that warm spice feel. A note on the salt in the recipe, I like using Kosher salt here because it gives a nice finish to the taste of the cookies. The larger crystals of the Kosher salt seem to make this happen.
The Preparation:
The stars of the show are the butterscotch and chocolate chips, but the browned butter is definitely the best supporting actor. It enhances the flavors of the butterscotch chips and adds a rich caramel flavor to the dough. Browned butter is exactly what it sounds like. You melt your butter and then let it slowly simmer until the milk solids are browned. It takes about 15 minutes and you don’t want to rush it. The milk solids can go from browned to burnt pretty quickly, so keep your eye on the butter and stir it occasionally.
You’ll notice that the butter will foam up as it melts and simmers and that is exactly what you want. As it browns and simmers, the foaming will go down.
Keep simmering! And soon you’ll see the browned butter appear.
Set the butter aside to cool a bit while you mix your dry ingredients together.
Unlike most chocolate chip cookie recipes, we won’t be creaming the butter together with the sugars because we melted our butter! When you mix the butter, sugars, vanilla and eggs together, it will have a liquid consistency that looks like caramel.
After you mix the dry ingredients into the wet, the dough will have a denser, smoother consistency than a typical chocolate chip cookie dough. But don’t worry! They will bake up perfectly.
Now it’s time to get out your cookie scooper or tablespoon and fill the muffin pan. I like the scoopers because it’s so easy to keep the cookies a consistent size. I used a medium sized scooper which is 1 1/2 tablespoons of dough for each cookie.
The cookies will take 11-13 minutes to bake. When they are golden brown and smell divine, they are ready. The key to removing the browned butter butterscotch chocolate chip muffin pan cookies (whew!) is to let them cool for at least 15 minutes in the pan. If you try to take them out while they’re hot, they’ll probably stick on the bottom. I learned this the hard way! But then I also had an excuse to eat all of the broken cookies…..
Once the cookies are cool, the easiest way to get them out of the pan is to take a tablespoon and run it around the edges. The cookies will pop right out!
Once they’re out of the pan, you can cool the cookies completely on a wire rack. These delicious butterscotch chocolate chip cookies will last in a covered container for 2-3 days on your counter. Well…. who are we kidding? They won’t last a day!
If you’re not in the mood to eat an entire batch of cookies, they also freeze really well.
The Payoff:
Who doesn’t want a plate of freshly baked cookies? Especially these browned butter butterscotch chocolate chip muffin pan cookies? Bake a batch today for someone you love (that includes yourself).
Browned Butter Butterscotch Chocolate Chip Muffin Pan Cookies!
- Yield: 48 cookies 1x
Description
Browned Butter Butterscotch Chocolate Chip Muffin Pan Cookies are a fun take on a classic. These delicious cookies are perfectly sweet while also feeling sophisticated. They are sure to make anyone’s day a little brighter!
Ingredients
Dry Ingredients
- 2 cups of flour (I used Gold Medal All Purpose)
- 1 cup of old fashioned oats
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt (3/4 teaspoon table salt)
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
Browned Butter Mixture
- 1 cup butter (2 sticks), not margarine, melted and simmered until the milk solids are browned
- 1 cup of brown sugar, light or dark
- 1/2 cup of white sugar
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- 2 large room temperature eggs
Add-ins
- 2 cups semi sweet chocolate chips
- 1 cup butterscotch chips
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter or spray the muffin tins.
- Melt the 2 sticks of butter in a small saucepan over medium low heat. Continue to cook the butter at low heat until the milk solids start to brown, about 15 minutes. Remove from the heat and pour into a large mixing bowl. Let cool slightly.
- Mix together the dry ingredients in a small mixing bowl.
- Add the brown sugar, white sugar and vanilla to the browned butter bowl and mix well.
- Add the eggs, one at a time until well combined.
- Add the flour in two or three parts until well combined. Add the chocolate and butterscotch chips.
- Use a medium cookie scooper (1 1/2 tablespoon measure) to drop dough into the muffin tins. Bake for 11-13 minutes until browned and set in the middle.
- Let the cookies cool for at least 15 minutes in the muffin tin. If you try to take them out too soon, the cookies will stick and break apart. Once cool, remove from the muffin tin and let cool completely on a wire rack.
- Store for 2-3 days in a covered container (not that they’ll last that long). These cookies also freeze really well.
Notes
You can substitute peanut butter chips for the butterscotch chips.
You can add 1/2 cup of chopped nuts in place of 1/2 cup of chocolate chips.
Makes 4 dozen cookies
