Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Toffee Cookies with Fresh-Milled Flour

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These cookies are the freshly-milled flour version of one of the most popular recipes on this site. You can’t even tell they’re made with whole grain.

Fresh-Milled Version of a Favorite

These brown butter toffee chocolate chip cookies quickly became a crowd favorite! When I bring them to parties, they’re gone within minutes. I’ve had so many people ask for the recipe and tell me that these cookies are their absolute favorite. The original recipe is still on the site, but I also wanted to share the fresh-milled flour version for those who have a grain mill.

Not too long ago, I got a grain mill and have been having so much fun experimenting with it. Grain mills allow you to take whole wheat berries and grind them into fresh, whole wheat flour [you can also use other grains to create different types of flour]. Because the resulting flour has all parts of the grain, as opposed to traditional white flour from the grocery store that has the bran and germ removed, it doesn’t always behave the same in recipes, so it’s usually not a 1:1 swap. This recipe has been specifically created for the use of freshly milled flour.

If you’re looking for the standard recipe, using all-purpose flour, you can find that here: brown butter toffee chocolate chip cookies.

Measuring Fresh-Milled Flour

You may notice that most of the ingredients listed in this recipe have both volume (cups, teaspoons, etc.) and weight (grams) measurements, with the exception of the flour/wheat berries. Grinding flour at home adds in an extra variable. Depending on the grain mill, its settings, and how aerated the flour becomes in the milling process, the same amount of wheat berries may result in different volumes of flour. Because of this, I choose to avoid volume measurements when it comes to the flour and instead use weight for more accuracy.

The added benefit of this is that you don’t need to estimate how many wheat berries you’ll need to grind a certain volume of flour. Instead, you can simply weigh the wheat berries and mill them. The resulting milled flour should be the same weight as the initial wheat berries (since you’re only changing their form) and will be all you need for the recipe.

While the photo above shows the flour being milled directly into a bowl with other ingredients, I generally recommend milling the flour into a separate bowl and then adding it, as stated in the recipe.

Why You’ll Love These Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Toffee Cookies

Brown Butter – brown butter makes everything extra delicious. It adds a warm and toasty, caramelized flavor that can’t be beat! For information on brown butter, see my post: How to Brown Butter.

Toffee Bits – chunks of toffee melt down into these cookies creating little pockets of chewy, yet slightly crispy, caramelized goodness. I love using my homemade toffee bits in this recipe because they’re easy to make and so buttery and delicious, but store-bought toffee bits work as well.

Texture – these cookies are chewy with a slightly crisp edge and are beautifully golden brown.

Loaded with Flavor – these cookies are absolutely packed with flavor from the brown butter in the dough to the bits of toffee scattered throughout and the chocolate chips in every bite. They are loaded to the max and so incredibly good!

Hidden Whole Grain – you can’t even tell that these cookies are made with fresh whole wheat flour. The taste and texture are near identical to the original, but with the added benefit of having a bit more nutrition than the all-purpose flour version.

Ice Cream – sandwich some ice cream in between two of these cookies for an unbelievable ice cream sandwich!

Tip for Beautiful Cookies

Because these cookies contain toffee, which melts and spreads in the oven, they tend to come out of the oven in less-than-round shapes. They’re still absolutely delicious that way, but if you’re looking to get more round and uniform cookies, this tip is for you. Once you remove the cookies from the oven, while they’re still warm, take a round metal cookie cutter (or mug) that’s larger than the size of the final cookie, and use it pull the edges of the cookie in until it fits inside. Place the cookie cutter around the cookie and move it around in a circular motion to help the cookie form a round shape. Allow the cookies to cool on the pan for 3 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

If you don’t have a round metal cookie cutter, this set has a variety of sizes.

Equipment

This recipe is specifically made to use fresh-milled flour, which behaves differently than all-purpose flour. If you’re looking for the standard version of this recipe, using all-purpose flour, you can find that here: brown butter toffee chocolate chip cookies.

There are a variety of grain mills on the market. The one I currently use and would recommend is the Nutrimill Harvest Grain Mill. Nutrimill also offers some other options including the Classic Grain Mill and the Impact Grain Mill.

This recipe uses soft white wheat. Wheat berries can be purchased on Nutrimill’s site as well. Other great places to order from are Palouse Brand, who offer tons of size options and are certified glyphosate residue free, and Azure Standard (a community-based bulk food distributor and cooperative network). You can also find different brands on Amazon.

Because my fresh-milled flour recipes use weight to measure the wheat berries, you’ll want a kitchen scale. Nutrimill sells a large kitchen scale or you can find many on Amazon.

I also like to have the following tools for any cookie recipe:

• Cookie sheet
• 1.5 tbsp (#40) cookie scoop
• Parchment paper
• Thin and flexible spatula
• Wire cooling rack
• Mixer
  • Kitchen Aid stand mixer
  • Bosch stand mixer (great for big batches)
  • Hand mixer

Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Toffee Cookies with Fresh-Milled Flour

Brookside Kitchen

A wholesome twist on a favorite! A brown butter cookie base studded with plenty of chocolate chips and toffee bits for maximum flavor! You'd never know they're made with fresh-milled whole wheat flour.

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Prep Time 20 minutes mins

Cook Time 10 minutes mins

Resting Time 30 minutes mins

Total Time 1 hour hr

Course Dessert

Yield 30 cookies

Equipment

• grain mill – the one I use is linked in the blog post above

Ingredients

  

• ½ cup (1 stick, 113 g) butter, browned & cooled to room temperature
• ½ cup (100 g) sugar
• ¼ cup (62 g) dark brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 160 g soft white wheat berries *
• 1 ½ cup (235 g) toffee bits *
• 1 ½ cup (255 g) semi-sweet chocolate chips

Instructions

 

• Mix browned butter, sugar, and brown sugar together until well combined.
• Add egg, vanilla extract, salt, and baking soda. Mix until well combined, making sure to scrape down the bottom and sides of the bowl.
• Finely mill the wheat berries into a separate bowl.*
• Add the flour to the wet ingredients and mix until just combined. Allow to rest, uncovered, at room temperature for 30 minutes to allow the flour to hydrate.
• Preheat oven to 350℉ and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
• Fold the toffee bits and chocolate chips into the dough until evenly distributed.
• Scoop 1.5 tbsp balls (#40 cookie scoop) of dough and place on a prepared cookie sheet.
• Bake for 10 minutes until the edges are golden brown. *See tip in notes for round cookies.
• Allow cookies to cool on the cookie sheet for 3 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Notes

Fresh Ground Wheat – this recipe uses freshly milled flour, ground from soft white wheat berries. If you’d like to make these cookies with standard all-purpose flour, see my recipe, here: https://brooksidekitchen.com/brown-butter-toffee-chocolate-chip-cookies/ 

 

Measuring Wheat Berries / Flour – For my recipes using freshly ground wheat, I use weight (grams), instead of volume (cups, teaspoons, etc.), to measure the flour/wheat berries. Depending on the grain mill, its settings, and how aerated the flour becomes in the milling process, the same amount of wheat berries may result in different volumes of flour. Because of this, I choose to avoid volume measurements when it comes to the wheat and instead use weight for more accuracy.

 

The added benefit of this is that you don’t need to estimate how many wheat berries you’ll need to grind a certain volume of flour. Instead, you can simply weigh the wheat berries and mill them. The resulting milled flour should be the same weight as the initial wheat berries (since you’re only changing their form) and will be all you need for the recipe.

 

Flour Texture – The flour should be very fine, like you’d expect store-bought flour to be. It shouldn’t have noticeable pieces or chunks of bran. I recommend milling the flour into a separate bowl. If the flour comes out too coarse, you can adjust the settings of the grain mill and mill it again to achieve the desired texture.

Toffee Bits – You can use store-bought or homemade toffee bits. I love using homemade; you can find my recipe here: https://brooksidekitchen.com/easy-homemade-toffee-bits

 

Brown Butter – We use browned butter for this recipe, which is butter that has been cooked down until the moisture has evaporated and the solids toast. After browning, the butter will be in a liquid state. In this recipe, you can use it as is, just let it cool slightly first so it isn’t hot. If you’d like more information on how to brown butter, I have a post on it, here: https://brooksidekitchen.com/how-to-brown-butter

 

Tip for Round Cookies – Since the toffee bits melt and spread in the oven, the cookies may come out in unique, less-than-round, shapes. To create a more uniform cookie, first bake them as written above. Once you remove them from the oven, while they’re still warm, take a round metal cookie cutter (larger than the size of the final cookie) and use it to gently pull in the sides of the cookie that extend outside of the cutter. Once all parts of the cookie fit within the cutter, place the cookie cutter around the cookie and move it around in a circular motion to help the cookie form a round shape. Allow the cookies to cool on the pan for 3 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

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