Chewy Butterscotch and Chocolate Chip Cookies

If you love classic chocolate chip cookies and butterscotch, this butterscotch chocolate chip cookie recipe is sure to be new favorite! 

Growing up, no matter the occasion, both my mom and grandma would ensure there was always a fresh batch of chocolate chip cookies or pan of bars ready anytime someone came over to the house (even it was simply me having friends over to hang out). So I learned early that having a couple of go-to cookie and bar recipes is a necessity! 

I’m often mixing and matching my baking chips together when making cookies (how else do you use up those bags of chocolate chips in your pantry that have a randomly small amount of chips left?!). As a lifelong lover of butterscotch, we always have a bag of butterscotch chips on hand. And I’ve found that mixing butterscotch and chocolate chips together to be the perfect combination! This butterscotch and chocolate chip cookie recipe has been made over and over at our house, and I know you’ll love them too.

Why You’ll Love This Recipe

Easy to make! Measure, mix, scoop, and bake.

The best texture! These chocolate butterscotch chip cookies have it all: just-set crispy edges and a perfectly chewy center.

Ready to enjoy in 30 minutes (no chill time needed). It will take you approximately 30 minutes to make a single batch of these cookies. Time may vary depending on the size of your baking trays, and how many trays you bake at one time.

Small batch. A single batch of these chocolate chip and butterscotch cookies makes approximately 18 cookies. Not too many but not too few either. If you want more, just make a double (or triple!) batch. 

A great cookie recipe to freeze for another day! This cookie recipe freezes beautifully (see the ‘storage’ section for more info), giving you flexibility to have cookie dough on hand to bake for a sweet treat on a weeknight, or when you have unexpected guests.

Ingredients Needed

• Salted Butter. Butter adds richness, tenderness, and structure to cookies. I grew up using salted butter in baking, and still do to this day (especially when baking cookies). If preferred, you can use unsalted butter (which is listed in the ‘recipe variations and substitutions’ section). 
• Granulated Sugar. Not only does sugar sweeten your cookies, it actually helps create moist and soft cookies too. 
• Brown Sugar. Brown sugar is used to both sweeten our cookies and also contributes to our recipe being nice and chewy. Both light brown sugar and dark brown sugar work in this cookie recipe. Light brown sugar has a more subtle flavor than dark, due to a lower molasses content, so choose per your preference (or based on whichever one you happen to have in your pantry). Using dark brown sugar will make your cookies just a bit darker in color too.
• Vanilla Extract. Vanilla extract adds a lovely depth of flavor to our cookies.
• Large Egg. We use whole eggs in our cookies to help provide structure and leavening in addition to adding moisture to our cookie’s dough.
• Salt. Salt is used in baking to enhance flavors and helps to balance the sweetness of our bake.
• Baking Soda. We are baking soda as our leavening agent in this cookie recipe because it helps create chewy cookies.
• All-Purpose Flour. We’re using all-purpose flour for our cookies for a number of reasons. First, all-purpose flour is ideal for baking cookies because it has the optimal protein range for this type of baking, resulting in chewy cookies when baked properly. Second, it’s a common pantry staple for most people and is easy to find at your local grocery store, Target, Walmart, or Costco.
• Chocolate Chips. You can use whatever chocolate chips you like in this cookie recipe! I personally like dark chocolate chips or semi-sweet chocolate chips, but you can definitely use milk chocolate chips too.
• Butterscotch Chips. Using butterscotch morsels is where the yummy butterscotch flavor comes into these cookies!

BAKING TIP: Using room temperature eggs is often suggested for baking because the eggs will incorporate into the softened butter easier. This results in a smooth, uniform batter. If you’re setting your eggs out on the counter to bring them up to room temperature, the standard rule of thumb is to set them out for at least 30 minutes prior to using them.

See recipe card below for a full list of ingredients and measurements.

Recipe Variations and Substitutions

• Try chocolate chunks! If you have chocolate chunks on hand, go ahead and use them instead of chocolate chips! 
• Use unsalted butter. Some purists would say you should always bake with unsalted butter. To use unsalted butter in this recipe, swap out the salted butter 1-for-1 and increase the amount of salt to ½ teaspoon.
• Top with flaky sea salt. A lot of people love adding a small sprinkle of flaky sea salt on their cookies (hello salty-sweet combo). If this is something you’d like to do, just add a small sprinkle on top of each cookie right after you pull them out of the oven.

Step-by-Step Instructions

STEP 1: Preheat your oven to 375°F. Set out cookie sheets (option to line with parchment paper if preferred). 

STEP 2: In a large bowl that’s microwave-safe, soften the butter in the microwave (this takes about 20-30 seconds from refrigerated). It’s ok if the butter melts a little!

STEP 3: Add both sugars to the softened butter and cream until well combined. The mixture should look pale yellow and fluffy. It will also be a little grainy because of the granulated sugar.

STEP 4: Add in remaining wet ingredients (the egg and the vanilla extract) and stir until combined.

STEP 5: Slowly stir in your dry ingredients (the salt, baking soda, and all-purpose flour) until a dough is formed.

STEP 6: Gently stir in the chocolate chips and butterscotch chips until they are well distributed throughout the dough (reserving a handful of chips to press into your dough balls if desired).

STEP 7: Scoop dough onto your cookie sheet using a medium cookie scoop (or approximately 2 Tablespoons of dough), leaving about 2 inches in between dough balls. 

STEP 8: If you reserved some baking chips pieces, gently press one or two into the top of each dough ball.

STEP 9: Bake each tray of cookies for 8-10 minutes. Remove from the oven when the edges look set. For super chewy cookies, do not overbake (they will set up more once pulled from the oven). Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheet for a few minutes and then transfer them to a wire rack to cool completely.

STEP 11: Serve and enjoy! These yummy cookies can be enjoyed either warm or cool.

BAKING NOTE: If preferred, you can mix up this cookie recipe in your stand mixer! I recommend using a paddle attachment when doing this.

Possible Dietary Restrictions?

This cookie recipe is vegetarian as written. You can also alter this recipe to be dairy free and gluten free too!

• Make this into a dairy free cookie recipe by replacing the butter with vegetable or canola oil. Typically, oil can be used in place of butter by using ¾ the amount of butter that is called for. So in this recipe, replace the ½ cup of salted butter with 6 Tablespoons of oil and increase the amount of salt used to ½ tsp.
• To make this into a gluten free cookie recipe, replace the all-purpose flour called for in the recipe with a one-to-one gluten free flour alternative.

Storage

Store cooled cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days (if they last that long!). Butterscotch chocolate chip cookies can also be frozen either before or after baking.

How to Freeze Before Baking

Make the cookie dough as directed in the recipe card. Scoop dough into balls onto a cookie sheet lined with waxed paper and chill them in the freezer for 1 hour. Once the cookie dough balls are cold and solid, place them into a large freezer bag.

Freeze the cookie dough balls for up to 3 months. You can bake these from frozen by placing frozen cookie dough balls onto a baking sheet, and adding 2-3 minutes to the normal baking time noted on the recipe card. 

How to Freeze After Baking

Ensure cookies are completely cool prior to freezing. Store baked cookies in large freezer bags or an airtight container in the freezer for up to 3 months. Separate layers of cookies with parchment paper (this helps prevent them from sticking together). When ready to enjoy, thaw cookies in the refrigerator or on the counter at room temperature.

Expert Tips

Get your cookies to all be the same size by using a cookie scoop! While not a necessity, a cookie scoop is a super helpful tool that I use a lot in my kitchen. I personally like to use a medium cookie scoop for this recipe. But if you love giant cookies, give a large cookie scoop a try! If you do this, you’ll need to bake your cookies a little longer than noted on the recipe card.

Get your cookies to be perfectly round with “the cookie scoot”! When you pull your cookies out of the oven, use a circular cookie cutter (or a round glass larger than your cookie) to gently “scoot” your cookies in a circular motion to help shift the edges and create perfectly round cookies.

If you love cookies with a chewy texture, do not overbake! If you love a chewy cookie, you’ll want to keep a close eye on your baking time. When the edges of your cookies look golden brown and just set, pull them out of the oven. Your cookies will continue to set up on the pan after they’re out of the oven. 

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