A twist on the traditional chip cookies, it's a super simple, one-bowl recipe that bakes to a golden brown and has great caramel flavor from the butterscotch chips. You can bake them directly, without chilling if you want, and also freeze the dough or refrigerate it for several days.
For me, it's cookie season year-round. There's always a reason to bake a batch of chocolate chip cookies, or with butterscotch chips during the holiday season.
What is butterscotch?
It's a confection that includes butter, brown sugar, and many times cream. Other ingredients can be added, like salt or vanilla.
Butterscotch flavor: what does it taste like? It's similar to caramel but mellower, with a dairy undertone from the butter and cream. I think of it as a mix between caramel and dulce de leche. It's extremely delicious and versatile!
- Easy: as mentioned before, this is a super simple one-bowl recipe for chewy butterscotch cookies that everybody loves. Perfect for gift giving, parties, game night, or just because.
- Make ahead: the cookie dough can be scooped and frozen so you can bake a fresh batch of butterscotch cookies at a moment's notice.
- Flavorings: we love them with vanilla and cinnamon, but you can add some orange zest, or some chopped walnuts in addition to the chips.
Ingredients
- Butterscotch chips: they're available at the grocery store and also online. I use Nestle butterscotch morsels or Hershey's butterscotch chips.
- Unsalted butter.
- Sugars: the recipe uses both white and brown sugar for that unique caramel flavor we all love. Both light and dark brown sugar work, but the cookies will bake to a deeper golden brown with the latter.
- Egg: fresh, large
- Vanilla - I use pure vanilla extract or pure vanilla paste when available, but a good vanilla essence (artificially flavored) also works.
- Cinnamon: use your favorite ground cinnamon. I usually buy Simply Organic cinnamon and Frontier organic Vietnamese cinnamon.
- All purpose flour.
- Salt: I use kosher salt for my baking, but regular salt also works.
- Baking soda and baking powder: make sure they're not expired.
Easy steps
This is a traditional one-bowl cookie recipe. It can be made by hand, with an electric mixer, or in a stand mixer.
- By hand: use a spatula or wooden spoon. I make it this way usually. If the butter is soft, it's very easy to mix everything by hand.
- Electric mixer: it's convenient and easy. Don't overbeat after adding the flour, or do so with a spatula.
- Stand mixer: use the paddle attachment (image 1) and don't beat much after adding the flour mixture. The final cookie dough is sticky but smooth, and has no dry spots (image 2).
- Cookie sheet: you can butter the baking sheets or line them with parchment paper.
- Butterscotch chips: I like to add most of the chips to the cookie dough and then manually add more to the scooped portions before baking (image 3). This way the top of each cookie will have more noticeable butterscotch chips after baked (image 4).
- Space: it's important to leave space between the unbaked cookies so they can expand without touching when they bake (images 3 and 4).
- Baking time: if you want a soft cookie after it's cooled down, you have to remove them from the oven while the center is still soft, maybe even slightly underbaked or too soft to the touch. For me it's 10 minutes, but it can take a minute more or less depending on your oven, the temperature of the dough and the size of your cookies.
Top tips
- Organization: always read the recipe first and make sure you have all the ingredients, at the right temperatures, and also the rest of the equipment and space to make it. This will make the process so much easier!
- Baking time: keep in mind that all ovens and pans are different, even if they look the same or very similar. The baking time in my recipes is as accurate as it can be, but it might take you more or less time. You can use a thermometer that is placed inside the oven (like the OXO oven thermometer) to check that your oven is at the right temperature. I recommend you keep track of how your oven works and what tiny details you might need to adjust.
- Chilling: you can opt to bake the cookies right after you mix the dough or to chill it first. The difference is in its consistency and sometimes flavor. Chilled dough expands less and can have a more rounded flavor as the ingredients have time to meld together. In my experience the difference is not that big and I usually bake half and then chill the rest.
- Freezing: another great way to make these cookies ahead is by freezing the unbaked dough. Scoop the cookie portions and place them on a baking sheet, no need to leave much space between them. Freeze until rock solid and then transfer to a bag so you can remove the cookie sheet and use less space in the freezer.
- Storing: keep in an airtight container or jar. If you want them to remain soft, add a few pieces of bread to the container.
- Flavorings: ground cinnamon goes well with the butterscotch flavor, but you can omit it if you want. Other flavors that pair well with it are coffee (like a tablespoon of coffee liqueur or ½ a teaspoon of coffee extract), white chocolate chips, toasted nuts like hazelnuts, pistachios, or walnuts, hazelnut liqueur (Frangelico) or almond liqueur like Amaretto, adding some shredded unsweetened coconut to the dough (reduce the flour amount).
Related recipes you might like:
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Butterscotch Cookies
A twist on the traditional chip cookies, it's a super simple, one-bowl recipe full of butterscotch chips that add great caramel flavor. You can bake them directly, without chilling if you want, and also freeze the dough or refrigerate it for several days.
- Total Time: 25 minutes
- Yield: 20 medium cookies 1x
Ingredients
- ½ cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
- ¼ cup white granulated sugar
- ¾ cup brown sugar
- 1 egg, at room temperature
- 1 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 ½ cups all purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- Pinch of baking powder
- ⅛ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup butterscotch chips
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350ºF / 180ºC.
- Butter baking sheets or line them with parchment paper.
- Beat butter with both sugars in a large bowl until creamy. You can use the stand mixer or a hand-held beater.
- Add egg, vanilla extract, and mix well.
- Add the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon) and mix until a few dry spots remain. Don’t overbeat at this point.
- Add butterscotch chips and mix until no dry spots remain. I like to switch to a spatula for this part.
- At this point, you can use the cookie dough directly or refrigerate it for a day or two, well covered, before baking the cookies.
- Scoop portions of cookie dough and place on the prepared sheets, spacing them an inch and a half or so.
- Bake for about 10 minutes, until edges are firm and cookies are golden but still soft in the center. It might take a minute or two more if your cookies are larger.
- Let cool completely on a cooling rack.
- Keep in tins or cookie jars.
Notes
Organization: always read the recipe first and make sure you have all the ingredients, at the right temperatures, and also the rest of the equipment and space to make it. This will make the process so much easier!
Baking time: keep in mind that all ovens and pans are different, even if they look the same or very similar. The baking time in my recipes is as accurate as it can be, but it might take you more or less time. You can use a thermometer that is placed inside the oven (like the OXO oven thermometer) to check that your oven is at the right temperature. I recommend you keep track of how your oven works and what tiny details you might need to adjust.
Chilling: you can opt to bake the cookies right after you mix the dough or to chill it first. The difference is in its consistency and sometimes flavor. The chilled dough expands less and can have a more rounded flavor as the ingredients have time to meld together. In my experience, the difference is not that big and I usually bake half and then chill the rest.
Freezing: another great way to make these cookies ahead is by freezing the unbaked dough. Scoop the cookie portions and place them on a baking sheet, no need to leave much space between them. Freeze until rock solid and then transfer to a bag so you can remove the cookie sheet and use less space in the freezer.
Storing: keep in an airtight container or jar. If you want them to remain soft, add a few pieces of bread to the container.
Butterscotch chips: they're available at the grocery store and also online. I use Nestle butterscotch morsels or Hershey's butterscotch chips.
Vanilla - I use pure vanilla extract or pure vanilla paste when available, but a good vanilla essence (artificially flavored) also works.
Cinnamon: use your favorite ground cinnamon. I usually buy Simply Organic cinnamon and Frontier organic Vietnamese cinnamon.
Flavorings: ground cinnamon goes well with the butterscotch flavor, but you can omit it if you want. Other flavors that pair well with it are coffee (like a tablespoon of coffee liqueur or ½ a teaspoon of coffee extract), white chocolate chips, toasted nuts like hazelnuts, pistachios, or walnuts, hazelnut liqueur (Frangelico), or almond liqueur like Amaretto, adding some shredded unsweetened coconut to the dough (reduce the flour amount).
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 10 minutes
- Category: Cookies
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1/20
- Calories: 151
- Sugar: 16.7 g
- Sodium: 100.9 mg
- Fat: 5.2 g
- Carbohydrates: 25.1 g
- Protein: 1.3 g
- Cholesterol: 22.3 mg
Keywords: butterscotch cookies
angiesrecipes says
They look terrific with butterschotch chips!