Peanut Butter Toffee Bit Cookies — You need just 6 simple ingredients to make these toffee cookies! The peanut butter cookie dough is accidentally gluten-free and packed with toffee bits!
Easy Toffee Cookie Recipe
One of my favorite cookies are my blog are these Peanut Butter Chocolate Chunk Cookies And one of my favorite, but underused, add-ins are toffee bits. Why not combine the two? So I did.
I recently saw Heath Milk Chocolate Toffee Bits in the Target baking aisle and promptly tossed them in my cart for a rainy day.
Toffee bits remind me of riding my bike to Dairy Queen for Heath Bar Blizzards during the summer when I was a kid. It was an extra quarter to get like quadruple the amount of Heath bar chunks. Money well spent.
The rainy day came much sooner than anticipated in the form of these soft, slightly chewy, extra peanut buttery cookies loaded with toffee bits.
I used my recipe for Peanut Butter Chocolate Chunk Cookies and instead of adding chocolate chunks, I added the toffee and milk chocolate bits. No earth-shattering changes made, but the recipe is so good as written, and I didn’t want to mess with it much.
That recipe boasts, “There’s no flour, no butter, and no white sugar used”, and it’s one of my most popular recipes on Pinterest.
These toffee crunch cookies are the same. There’s no flour, butter, or white sugar added.
Please don’t write to tell me that brown sugar is really just white sugar with molasses. I’ve been told that one or four hundred times. I am not making a health claim about the sugar. I am making a taste claim.
I love the way brown sugar-based cookies taste. And brown sugar always creates softer cookies than those made with white sugar and these are wonderfully soft.
Because there’s no butter and no flour to dilute the flavor, you’re left with intensely peanut buttery cookies. The best kind.
The recipe makes 12 to 14 cookies. Perfect when you don’t want or need the temptation that comes from having oodles of peanut butter cookies just laying around.
The crunchy toffee adds an amazing texture contrast to an otherwise buttery soft dough. They also add slight saltiness, playing up the salty-and-sweet element.
There’s just enough chocolate to add flavor, without detracting from the full-on peanut butter punch these cookies pack.
My family said these are the best cookies I’ve ever made. Grab the napkins. Enjoy.
What’s in the PB Toffee Bit Cookies?
To make these peanut butter toffee cookies, you’ll need just six basic ingredients:
- Creamy peanut butter
- Light brown sugar
- Egg
- Vanilla extract
- Baking soda
- Heath Milk Chocolate Toffee Bits
How to Make Toffee Bit Cookies
These toffee crunch cookies couldn’t be easier to make! Just cream together the butter, sugar, egg, and vanilla until completely smooth (this will take about 5 minutes).
Stir in the baking soda and toffee bits, then roll the dough into balls and chill for at least 2 hours.
Once chilled, the dough can be baked. You want to bake the cookies just until the edges are set and the tops are barely set, even if slightly under baked in the center.
Can I Use a Natural Peanut Butter?
No! I bake with either Jif Creamy or store brand peanut butter from Ralph’s grocery store. It’s half the price of Jif and I get similar results.
Don’t use natural or Homemade Peanut Butter. It will exacerbate the oily issues, cause the cookies to spread, and bake thin and flat. Sometimes people write to say they baked with natural peanut butter and had success, but it’s a gamble.
Can I Make the Cookie Dough in Advance?
There’s no harm in making the dough, forming it into balls, and keeping them in the fridge for up to 5 days before baking, or freezing unbaked dough for up to 4 months.
Bake as directed whenever you’re ready to bake. I have at least 10 different kinds of unbaked cookie dough at any given time just hanging out in my fridge and freezer. Rainy days.
Tips for Making Toffee Cookies
You must really cream the first four ingredients together, very well, for at least 5 minutes, and more if you’re not using a stand mixer. Don’t shortchange this step.
The dough is oily. There’s no flour and nowhere for the oil to be absorbed, so the dough is oily, and some brands of peanut butter are more oily than others.
You must chill the dough for at least 2 hours. No exceptions. Warm, limp, oily, flourless dough becomes a hot mess in the oven and your cookies will turn into crispy pancakes.
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Peanut Butter Toffee Bit Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup creamy peanut butter, Do not use natural or homemade peanut butter, it’s too runny and can separate – see note below
- 1 cup light brown sugar, packed
- 1 large egg
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- one 8-ounce bag Heath Milk Chocolate Toffee Bits
Instructions
- To the mixing bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or using an electric mixer, combine peanut butter, brown sugar, egg, vanilla, and beat on medium-high speed until well-combined and the sugar is fully incorporated and is mixture is no longer gritty or granular, about 5 minutes, or as long as necessary (7 to 8 minutes).*
- Add the baking soda and beat to incorporate, about 1 minute on medium-low speed.
- Add the toffee bits and beat to just incorporate; don’t overmix.
- Using a medium 2-inch cookie scoop, form heaping mounds of 2 to 3 tablespoon each.
- Place mounds on a large plate, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, or up to 5 days, before baking. Chilling is mandatory, do not bake with warm dough because cookies will spread and bake thinner and flatter.
- Preheat oven to 350F, line a baking sheet with a Silpat or spray with cooking spray. Place mounds on baking sheet, spaced at least 2 inches apart (I bake 8 cookies per sheet).
- Bake for 8 to 9 minutes, or until edges are set and tops are barely set, even if slightly underbaked in the center. Cookies firm up as they cool, and baking too long results in cookies that become too crisp and hard. The cookies in the photos were baked for 8 minutes, and have chewy edges with soft centers.
- Allow cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 5 to 10 minutes before removing and transferring to a rack to finish cooling.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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More Toffee Desserts:
ALL OF MY RECIPES FEATURING TOFFEE!
Spiced Toffee Cake with Brown Sugar Frosting — Looking for recipes using spice cake mix? Make this spiced toffee cake! It’s an EASY, soft, and fluffy spice cake with toffee bits inside and on top!! The frosting is AMAZING and takes this cake over the top!!
Toffee Bars — An ultra butttery base made with almond extract and topped with chocolate and toffee bits! An easy dessert that’s ready in 15 minutes but tastes like you slaved over it!
Pumpkin Caramel Poke Cake — Easy and the best pumpkin cake ever! Two kinds of caramel sauce, toffee bits, chocolate chips, whipped topping and more!
Toffee Butterscotch Cake — Butterscotch sundae topping isn’t just for ice cream – it makes AWESOME poke cakes!! Along with the irresistibly crunchy toffee bits, this is a perfect fast and EASY cake everyone will love!!
Graham Cracker Toffee Bars— If you’re looking for a recipe that will disappear at holiday parties, cookie exchanges, neighborhood potlucks, or school bake sales, this graham cracker toffee is a guaranteed winner!!
Melt in Your Mouth Homemade Toffee — Irresistible, buttery, ADDICTIVE, and just melts in your mouth!! EASY and perfect for holiday parties, gift-giving, or cookie exchanges!!
Chocolate Gingerbread Cake — An EASY, no mixer cake that’s perfect for the holidays!! Chocolate and ginger are amazing together! The GINGER spiced whipped cream is the literal icing on this cake!!
HOLY cookies!!! They look so freakin’ good. And CHEWY! I am always in awe with all your gluten free creations!
You’re so sweet – thanks! :)
Thanks Avery, they look very chewy, the way I like them to be. The problem is going to be not to eat them all.
Gabriela
i am sitting here eating a soft chewy chocolate chip cookie wishing just WISHING it was your soft and chewy toffee cookies! YUMMMM!
I LOVE toffee bits! I need to grab a new bag ASAP so I can make these gorgeous cookies!!!
These cookies are right up my alley, the type of cookies I have to have at least two from each baking sheet. Milk chocolate and toffee are my ultimate favorites and a peanut butter base?! DIE!! They look so soft and delicious!!!!!!!!!!
You and me both with being able to polish them off the baking sheets like nobody’s business :)
Averie I love these!! Brown sugar is totally my jam and I just remade a cookbook recipe today – yes, a reshoot – and the only sweetener is brown sugar!! I think you’ll love it. It’s a muffin recipe. Anywayyy these cookies are incredible. They look so incredibly soft. Like I could take one bite and the whole thing would melt in my mouth. And all that peanut butter. Ahh!
The best cookie you’ve ever made? They sure do look like it! I agree with the hubs.
Oh I feel for you, Sally. Reshoots. That’s one of the cruelest tricks ever. Like de ja vu, in the worst way. From the time to the ingredients to the setup/staging…ugh. And I love brown sugar-based things. They’re so good! I know I’d love your muffins!
And these are so soft and with the crunchy from the toffee – I know you actually like nuts in cookies, you would LOVE THESE! And all these years later, I can still count on Scott to eat my stuff and about every 6 months, something becomes ‘the best ever’. Maybe I improve? Or maybe his memory gets even worse. LOL
Gah!! These look so perfectly chewy. I love adding toffee bits into cookies. Can’t wait to try!
Your cookies always make me drool. Love this combination of yummy-ness!
Really exceptional. It has the added bonus of fondly reminding me of the cookies my sister used to bake as a kid. So gooey! I’m sure your grown up version is perfection. GREG
Thanks Greg! It was a trip down memory lane for me too b/c I used to eat Heath Bar Blizzards and have not had one in 20 years. And I like my cookies just about 30 seconds above raw dough stage – super gooey :)
I am just in awe of how rich and moist and decadent they look! And free of flour makes them easier for me too (sensitivities…just like the rest of the country, it seems!), so thank you for a truly wonderful recipe, Averie!
Bravo, Averie! Amazing cookies that make me have some cookie cravings immediately upon looking at the picture!!! YUM.
Mine didn’t turn out!,.. I am sooooo just kidding!! I have totally lucked out with every recipe of yours I have made, and I have made a lot!, right now I have your s’mores cookies made up , but will make these next since my husband loves toffee! My snoopy side would love to hear some of the comments and reasons people have issues, that you are talking about! It’s like knowing the answer but not the question :) but like I said, I’m snoopy that way! Oh!, I know! You could do a post with issues or complaints taking away the names of who wrote them! That way my love for baking and eating your goodies “and” my intrigued side would both be happy! Thanks for an awsome post!
Oh just go on any of my cookie recipe posts and read the back comments, there are hundreds of comments on most of them, and every now and then you’ll see some issues. I don’t delete them since it may help someone else. Normally they ‘followed the recipe to a T, but just changed this one little thing…’ Like instead of using 1 c brown sugar, used 1 c honey. You know, little things like that. As bloggers, we hear it all. You don’t even want to know some of the questions. Like what are the measurements of a 9×13 pan, how do you double a recipe, and I hate bananas but want to make your banana bread -what else can I use. Yep, daily.
So glad you’re making the smores cookies! Loved those things and if your hubs likes toffee, these are going to be a hit with him! Thanks for trying many of my recipes!
Oh boy! See.?? Just that response got me laughing out loud!, I bet when you and your blogger friends get talking, there’s probably a lot of laughter! I love it! Oh I also wanted to tell you, the base for the s’mores cookie which you said is your base for chocolate chip cookies is to die for!! 100% replaces the “go to” cookie dough I have used for years and years! I did half the recipe with butterscotch and white chocolate chips for my husband and omg they were so good too! I know none of this has to do with peanut butter cookies but just had to share!
I have a few friends I email and when we get to talking, we get some laughs :) You would be amazed at what I get asked. Everything from colonics to cookies. We all do. It comes with the territory.
And I am so glad you love that dough base. I have recycled that dough base into M&Ms cookies, Twix, Snickers, Smores, and a few others. It can do no wrong and glad it got you to switch out your old standby!
living with you would be dangerous!! YUM!!! xoxoox
Finally some one else who says toffee is way too under used! I am caramel/toffee addict, so I am totally craving one these right now.
Could I use any other nut/seed butter in this recipe? I have a friend who unfortunately can not eat peanuts, So I like to make these for her with cashew butter.
It’s going to be questionable whether another nut butter/seed butter will work. PB is nice and thick – other spreads tend to be runnier. You could make them with cashew butter and if the batter is just too ridiculously soft/runny, 1/4 cup flour would do the trick. Since you’re an amazing baker, I have no doubt you’ll figure it out but that’s not the case with everyone who asks (for anyone else who sees the comment!) LMK if you try them!
Well I was thinking a combo of sunflower and cashew (we have quite thick spreads ones down under). Thanks for the tips! I am making them tomorrow
I have a homemade SFSButter recipe coming – possibly this week. Not sure yet on my timing! But if your spreads are thicker down under, then you should be fine. LMK how it goes!
I need one of these right this second.
The combination of peanut butter and toffee sounds divine! And I love that they are flourless- extra ooey gooey!
extra ooey gooey is right!