Chewy Butterscotch Cookies
These soft, caramelly Chewy Butterscotch Cookies grace the goodie boxes I divvy out to my friends and neighbors for Christmas. You’ll go crazy for these crackled cookies with minimal ingredients! They’re a family favorite.
Super easy to make, these cookies appeal to all who try them! Butterscotch is the perfect flavor for those who don’t like chocolate (gasp!), nuts, mint, and on and on. Roll the sweet, buttery dough balls in sugar and bake. So simple and addictive! This Easy Sugar Cookie Recipe has a delicious depth of flavor from brown sugar!
Why You Must Make
- These are melt-in-your-mouth cookies with caramel undertones!
- Almost everyone loves sugar cookies!
- They’re perfect for lunch boxes, after-school snacks, and even Christmas cookies. I make these every year for the holidays!
On occasion, my father-in-law would purchase chewy butterscotch cookies at their farmers’ market. Frequently chatting with the baker of these gems, he was finally able to obtain the recipe. I became a fan, too!
We shared the love of so many foods like apple desserts, smoked fish, nuts, and caramel desserts. Though I’m told he was extremely picky and would only eat about two vegetables when he married my mother-in-law, I’m not sure if he or his son, my hubby, had a more persnickety palate. They both agreed that these Brown Sugar Cookies were phenomenal.
How to Make
The butter and brown sugar provide the “butterscotch” flavor. Not the artificial taste from those butterscotch chips, but more like caramel undertones.
- Have your butter and egg at room temperature for easy incorporation.
- PRO-Tip: Adding a bit of cream of tartar allows for a lovely crackled appearance. Cream of tartar is a white powder that provides a touch of acid to the batter. I also use it in my meringue cookies to stabilize the egg whites.
- Use butter, not margarine for the best butterscotch flavor.
- Brown sugar is just sugar with molasses added. Feel free to use dark brown sugar for an even richer flavored cookie, but note that the resulting cookies will be darker in color.
- PRO-Tip: Using brown sugar provides extra moisture in the dough, thus making for chewy cookies. These Brown Sugar Butterscotch Cookies are rich in flavor and chewy in texture!
- Roll the dough balls in sugar before baking to provide a sweet, crisp bite as you take your first nibble.
- The recipe is straightforward, with forming dough balls and rolling them in sugar taking the most time.
- These cookies store well at room temperature in an airtight container for about 3-4 days. They’ll also freeze well for about 3 months.
- This butterscotch cookie recipe is perfect for any occasion. They’re part of the holiday treats I give to my neighbors, but they’re ideal for welcoming new neighbors, a family dealing with a new baby or death in the family, a holiday cookie exchange, afternoon tea, or an after-school snack!
Expert Tips
- PRO-Tip: Use a Medium Cookie Scoop (affiliate link) to get even-sized cookies.
- My dough balls are approximately the size of a walnut, and this results in rather large cookies. Not like anyone around here would complain!
- If you’d prefer to have smaller cookies, use a Small Cookie Scoop (affiliate link) and reduce the baking time. There is no need to flatten these dough balls before baking.
- After scooping out the dough, roll the dough ball between your palms to make it nice and round.
- PRO-Tip: When your cookies come out of the oven, you have a chance to fix any imperfections. If there’s a cookie or two that’s not perfectly round, just use your spatula to tap the edges into shape. Be careful, as this must be done when the cookies are still hot. Or you can use a Round Cookie Cutter (affiliate link) that’s slightly larger than the baked cookie, and rotate it around each warm, still pliable cookie to nudge it into a perfect round.
- Once the cookies cool for a couple of minutes, they won’t be as pliable. Don’t forget to grab your hot pad and make any alterations quickly and efficiently.
- Bake your cookies on a Half Sheet Pan (affiliate link) lined with parchment paper for easy removal and easy cleanup. Your cookies will not stick to the pan!
- PRO-Tip: Slightly underbake for chewy cookies!
Ingredient Notes
- Kitchen Staples – Sugar (for dough and to roll dough balls), Brown Sugar, Flour, Baking Soda, Salt
- Butter – Have it at room temperature for easy blending. Salted is OK.
- Egg – Have at room temperature for easier incorporation.
- Vanilla – Use real vanilla extract. Check the label so you don’t purchase artificially flavored vanilla. I prefer the Nielsen-Massey Brand (affiliate link).
- Cream of Tartar (affiliate link) – Helps to make the crackled surface, since it assists with the rising process.
Frequently Asked Questions
Butterscotch is a flavor that comes from the combination of brown sugar and butter. It is similar to caramel, but uses brown sugar instead of white, granulated sugar. Toffee, on the other hand, is cooked to a hard-crack candy stage and is hard, not chewy like butterscotch and caramels
Butterscotch can be traced to Yorkshire, England, where it was first made by a candy maker, Samuel Parkinson, in 1817.
There is no consensus, as some historians surmise that the Butterscotch name is linked to Scotland. Others think that scotch is short for scorch, after the original scorched butter used to make butterscotch candy.
You May Also Like:
- Butterscotch Peanut Butter Corn Flake Clusters from Crazy for Crust
- Big Dipper Oatmeal Butterscotch Cookies
- Butterscotch Blondies with White Chocolate Chips
- Classic Vanilla Spritz Cookies
- Best Meringue Cookies
- White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies
- More of my best Cookie Recipes.
- More of my best Dessert Recipes.
Butterscotch Cookies Recipe
These Butterscotch Cookies grace the goodie boxes I divvy out to my friends and neighbors for Christmas. Soft and caramelly, they're a family favorite.
Ingredients
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1 cup butter (two sticks)
- 1 egg
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- 2 ½ cups flour
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons cream of tartar
- Sugar, to coat dough balls
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325º.
- Cream butter and sugars. Mix in egg and vanilla. Add dry ingredients and mix till incorporated.
- Roll dough into balls; I use a medium cookie scoop, but if you prefer smaller cookies use a small cookie scoop, though you'll get a LOT of cookies!
- Place on a parchment-lined baking sheet, about 2 inches apart.
- Bake for 9-10 minutes (if you make slightly larger cookies, it may take up to 15 minutes). I like these slightly undercooked.
Recommended Products
As an Amazon Associate and member of other affiliate programs, I earn from qualifying purchases.
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
36Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 121Total Fat: 5gSaturated Fat: 3gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 2gCholesterol: 19mgSodium: 129mgCarbohydrates: 17gFiber: 0gSugar: 11gProtein: 1g
74 Comments on “Chewy Butterscotch Cookies”
These cookies are soooo d.e.l.i.c.i.o.u.s.!!!
Thanks, they were my FIL’s favorite. I loved making them for him!! Glad you enjoy them, too!!
Nice sugar cookie.
I found and baked an old Butterscotch cookie recipe (I think from the late 1930s.) The ingredients were: “2 cups butter, 4 cups brown sugar, 4 eggs, 2 tsp baking soda, 1 tsp baking powder, 1 tsp salt,
2 cups nuts and SEVEN cups, Mix as cake.”
Mixing these cookies was very difficult with so much flour added at the end. I used a Tbs size scoop. No temperatures were added to the recipe instructions. I baked them in a 325 degree oven. I had a lot of complements for the cookies (not too sweet.) But I am looking forward to trying this recipe. It looks much easier to mix. And, so glad you did not use the commercial butterscotch chips. Thank you for sharing this recipe.
Hope you enjoy these, Mary! Please report back. I’m not a huge fan of butterscotch chips, either! 🙂
I was looking for a Butterscotch Cookie recipe and found this one. Easy and yummy looking. My only question is : was there a misprint on the cookie size? Are they a Teaspoon scoop or a Tablespoon scoop? A teaspoon is the size of a marble! When I watched the video, it looked like a Tablespoon scoop. I guess I’ll have to experiment. But great Recipe!
Hi, Laura, “Rounded” teaspoons are more like 2 teaspoons, so I can understand why you were confused! I’ll make that more clear in the recipe. You can also use a tablespoon scoop and bake them longer. Hope you enjoy these!!!
Is there supposed to be any liquid in this recipe? They are so dry not holding together at all
Hi, Rose, no, there’s no liquid. Was your butter at room temperature? The soft butter and egg should help the dough blend and hold together.
Instead of using tsp I use tsp to roll out the dough balls and my dad loves these
Thanks for your tip, Chloe. So happy these are a hit with your dad!
My dad’s favorite dessert flavor is butterscotch! He’ll be getting a batch of these cookies very soon. Thank you! 🙂 ~Valentina
Years ago there was a Mom and Pop bakery where I grew up. They made Butterscotch Bars. They were my favorite. Very golden and chewy with tiny pieces of pecans and were very thin like they were baked in a sheet pan. I have looked every where to find the recipe or a similar one. This comes the closest. Do you think it would be adaptable to a sheet pan and bars? Thanks!
Hi, Kelly,
I’d say it’s worth a try! I make chocolate chip cookie bars by patting dough into a 9 x 13-inch pan and baking for about 20-25 minutes. Fingers crossed this recipe will come close to your old favorite!
These are going in my holiday goodie box for my grandchildren!
There is nothing better than a soft, delicious homemade cookie! I am loving that these are butterscotch flavored!
It was so good! My kids can’t stop eating these!
The name says, these are definitely chewy! They are so perfect1
looks like the PERFECT treat to have with coffee!
Absolutely mouthwatering! I love how simple the recipe it and that it delivers such big flavor.
These cookies are so pretty and they are literally perfectly shaped! I like how simple the ingredients are!
please cyber send me some!
My kids LOVED these cookies and want to include them on their plate for Santa this year!
What would happen if I didn’t use the cream of tartar?
Hi, Hayley,
I’ve never tried this recipe without cream of tartar, but I think it helps the crinkled appearance. I bet they’d still be tasty without, but they may look a little different. Let me know what happens!
these look so good! I need one with my coffee
Does it matter if you use light brown sugar or dark?
Thank you! 🙂
Hi, Cathy,
I’ve always used light brown sugar, but I bet dark would be good, too!
Thank you so much Liz. I’m going to try these tomorrow!