These dark chocolate butterscotch cookies are thick and chewy with a crisp exterior. But chewy and delicious inside. Honestly it’s the best cookie texture. Would I turn down a cookie that’s just crunchy or just chewy? Never. But crisp edges and chewy center is the right answer. If you know you know.
Believe it or not, these dark chocolate butterscotch cookies are the first butterscotch cookie on my site. Butterscotch isn’t something I find myself reaching for or desiring it often. However, a good butterscotch cookie is always a classic and good to have on hand.
I also chose black cocoa in this recipe. It could be swapped for Dutch process or natural cocoa, however the taste will be significantly changed. Black cocoa is dark but not bitter. Think oreos. I love using black cocoa in lieu of dutch cocoa in lots of things because the flavor is so rich and delicious. I honestly think it’s worth the extra ingredient in your cabinet, and also you can make all these cookies with it as well: Rich Black Cocoa Brownies, Snickers Thumbprint Cookies, Milk Bread Chocolate Babka.
Aside from the taste, this recipe is a no chill recipe which I know all you impatient friends will love. Can you chill the dough? Of course, but baking these immediately the dough will not spread too much and still will have great taste and texture. If you choose to chill the dough, I’d let it come back to room temperature (or close to) before baking.
Baking Tips
I developed this recipe to create big bakery style, thick cookies. 11 cookies may not seem like a lot but they are big! We are using a 4 tbsp/2 ounce cookie scoop when baking them. You can make smaller cookies, but I’d reduce the bake time to about 11-12 minutes based on the size of your scoop. Because it’s hard to see when this cookie is done by color, go off the texture. The cookie should be set but soft, and a bit crinkly on top.
Don’t skip the flaky sea salt. Not regular sea salt or coarse salt or kosher salt. I know some people find it strange to salt cookies but it honestly will bring a lot of the flavors together. It helps cut through some of the richness and sweetness and make the flavors just all sing together. Do it either right after they come out of the oven or sprinkle it over the dough, after scooping and before baking.
Dark Chocolate Butterscotch Cookies Key Ingredients
- Black Cocoa – Black cocoa creates the most beautiful black color but also the rich, yet not bitter chocolate taste. Could you substitute, yes, but I urge you not to. I personally love and use King Arthur Black Cocoa.
- Butterscotch Chips – Now, if you can find bars of butterscotch, I would advocate for using those. Chopping a chocolate bar I always find lends to better pools of chocolate in your cookies. But it is a little more work. Chips are easy, and they work perfectly so use whatever kind you find.
- Flaky Sea Salt – I know some people find it weird to put salt on cookies. You just have to trust me that when you pair it with the richness of the chocolate and the sweetness of the butterscotch it just WORKS. You have to use the flaky salt though.
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Ingredients
- 113 g Unsalted butter ½ cup, room temperature
- 100 g Dark brown sugar ½ cup
- 100 g Granulated sugar ½ cup
- 1 Large Egg room temperature
- 1 tsp Vanilla
- 40 g Black cocoa ½ cup
- 160 g AP Flour 1⅓ cup
- ¾ tsp Sea salt
- ¾ tsp Baking soda
- 165 g Butterscotch chips ¾ cup
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a baking sheet with parchment and set aside.
- In a large bowl, or the bowl of your stand mixer with paddle attached, add in butter, brown sugar and granulated sugar and beat on medium for about 3-4 minutes.
- Add in your egg, and mix until combined. Make sure to scrape down the sides of your bowl to get the egg incorporated into all of the sugar mixture.
- Add your vanilla and salt and mix in.
- Add you black cocoa and mix well.
- Add your dry ingredients, and mix on low until no dry flour remains. This dough will be very thick!
- Dump in your butterscotch chips and stir to combine.
- Using a ¼ cup/2 ounce scoop, scoop 5-6 cookies on your baking sheet, leaving ample room for cookies to spread.
- Bake on the center rack of your oven for about 14 minutes. Remove from oven and sprinkle with flaky sea salt. Carefully transfer cookies to wire cooling rack, they will be very soft still but will firm up after cooling.
- Store in an airtight container for up to a week, but cookies are best day of until about 2 days later. Enjoy!
