Christmas Crack Cookies

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A must-bake cookie for the holiday season, these brown butter cookies are packed with homemade M&M Pretzel Christmas Crack and are full of flavor!

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I’m just going to start off this blog post by saying that I’ve been told by multiple people that these are the best cookies that I’ve ever made. I know, I’m setting the bar high by telling you that right off the bat, but it’s the truth. These Christmas Crack Cookies are made with my homemade M&M Pretzel Christmas Crack (if you haven’t made this yet, you need to!), but you can use your favorite Christmas Crack variation/recipe to make these. I also loaded the dough up with mini chocolate chips and Christmas sprinkles as I find that adding toppings of various sizes and textures helps make your cookies more visually appealing.

To make this recipe, I made a few tweaks to my tried and true Best Chocolate Chip Cookies recipe. I unintentionally added in way more vanilla extract than I usually do and it ended up being the best “accident” ever. I also opted to add in extra all-purpose flour which resulted in these cookies baking up with a lot of height which I loved!! Of course, these cookies still have the best soft and chewy texture as that is a requirement in all of my cookie recipes.

Flavor-wise, these cookies are a dream, and no, I’m not exaggerating. The brown butter cookie dough (with extra vanilla extra) combined with the toffee and chocolate is literally unreal. Don’t forget to top your freshly-baked cookies with some flaky sea salt — it’s a game changer! I can’t wait to make another batch of these cookies — the first batch didn’t even last a day — and hope you all love them as much as I do!

Read on for the full recipe for these next-level Christmas Crack Cookies.

If you want to bake an unforgettable, next-level cookie, you need unreal flavors. In this recipe, we’re combining all of the greats — brown butter, toffee, vanilla extract, chocolate, and flaky sea salt. If you’re not adding flaky sea salt to your cookies (mainly those with chocolate and/or brown butter), you’re seriously missing out. It’s that magical ingredient that just takes everything up a notch in the best way.

As the name implies, you will need Christmas Crack for this recipe. While I love my M&M Pretzel Christmas Crack and highly recommend using it, you can absolutely use your favorite Christmas Crack, you’ll just need 1 cup for this recipe. I recommend breaking the crack into smaller pieces so that it easily folds into the dough and you can place some extra pieces on the tops of your cookies.

Now, if you’ve never browned butter before, keep reading! It’s a super simple, 5 to 10 minute step that will take your recipes to the next level. Brown butter has a distinctive and delicious, nutty flavor that pairs so well with the toffee in the Christmas Crack. I promise that it’s worth the extra time to make.

To brown butter, set a light-colored medium-size saucepan or pot on the stove over medium heat. Add your butter to the pot/pan and melt it completely. Stir frequently to ensure that nothing sticks to the bottom of the pan. Once your butter is melted, stop stirring for about 30 to 60 seconds. The butter will begin to bubble — this is the beginning of the browning process. At this point, I like to stir the butter pretty frequently so that nothing sticks or burns. After a few minutes, the butter will begin to change in color from its original yellow color to a golden amber color. You will also see golden flecks at the bottom. These are toasted milk solids and are what give brown butter its delicious flavor. As soon as your butter reaches this stage (the golden amber color with golden flecks), remove it from the heat immediately. Transfer the butter from the pot/pan and into a glass measuring cup or bowl. Let your brown butter cool for 10 minutes before combining it with the sugars. This cooling step is crucial — you don’t want to use hot butter as it will impact the taste and texture of the cookies.

Here are a few of my top tips for browning butter:

1. If possible, set your butter out in advance so it has a chance to soften a bit before you brown it. If your butter is very cold or frozen, it will take longer to brown and is more likely to splash back up at you.
2. Use a light-colored pot or pan. This is a must so that you can keep an eye on the color of the butter and the flecks/toasted milk solids. If you opt to use a dark-colored pan, it will be difficult to get an accurate read on the color of the butter.
3. Keep an eye on your butter the entire time. This is definitely one of those things in baking where you should try to avoid multitasking. Keep your focus on the brown butter. It can very quickly change from yellow to golden to burnt if you don’t keep a close eye on it.

Once you have the Christmas Crack and brown butter ready, the rest of the recipe is fairly straightforward and easy. Since we’re using melted brown butter, you don’t need a stand or handheld mixer for this recipe. However, you will need to chill the dough for about 45 minutes to 1 hour. If you want your cookies to be thick and full of flavor, do not skip this step! Chilling the dough helps the flavors develop and deepen, and helps prevent too much spreading while baking.

These cookies are so dreamy, perfect for the holidays, and pretty easy to make! I’ve included some additional Tips for Success and FAQs below, so be sure to scroll down and read through those. If you still have questions, feel free to send me a DM on Instagram and I’ll try to answer them and help walk you through the recipe.

Other recipes you may like:

• M&M Pretzel Christmas Crack
• The Best Chocolate Chip Cookies
• Caramel Chocolate Chip Cookies
• Easy Chocolate Dipped Peanut Butter Stuffed M&M Cookies
• Brown Butter Banana Bread Chocolate Chip Cookies

Ingredients you’ll need:

• M&M Pretzel Christmas Crack (or any Christmas Crack)
• Unsalted butter
• Brown sugar
• Granulated sugar
• Vanilla extract
• Eggs
• All-purpose flour
• Baking soda
• Salt
• Cornstarch
• Sprinkles
• Mini chocolate chips
• Flaky sea salt (for topping)

Kitchen tools you’ll need (linking my favorites below!)

• Mixing bowls
• Dry ingredient measuring cups
• Spatula
• Whisk
• Cookie scoop – I used the medium cookie scoop which holds 1½ tbsp of cookie dough.
• Baking sheet
• Parchment paper
• Cookie turner
• Cooling rack

How to make your new favorite Christmas Crack Cookies

Pre-make your Christmas Crack and ensure that it has enough time to set and harden before baking.

On medium heat, brown 1 cup unsalted butter. You’ll want to remove the butter from heat when the top is foamy and the butter is amber/golden brown in color. Set aside to cool for 10 minutes.

While the butter is cooling, combine 2¾ cups all-purpose flour, 1½ tsp baking soda, 1 tsp salt, and 1 tsp cornstarch in a bowl and whisk together. Set aside.

In a large bowl, add 1½ cups brown sugar and ¼ cup granulated sugar and the brown butter. Whisk together until it is smooth and combined.

Add 2 eggs and 1 tbsp vanilla extract. Whisk until the mixture is smooth and lighter/paler in color.

Add the dry ingredients and fold in with a rubber spatula. Gently fold in 1 cup chopped Christmas Crack, ½ cup sprinkles, and ½ cup mini chocolate chips.

Wrap the top of the bowl with plastic wrap and set the dough in the refrigerator. Chill the dough for 45 to 60 minutes.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

Scoop out sixteen equally sized dough balls. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and place the cookie dough balls on the sheet.

Place the baking sheet in the oven and bake for 9 to 11 minutes or until the edges are golden and the tops of the cookies still look slightly wet.

As soon as they come out of the oven, shape the cookies with a spoon, bowl, or circular cookie cutter. Top with extra Christmas Crack and/or mini chocolate chips. Add some flaky sea salt on top, if desired.

Let the cookies rest for about 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool. Once on the wire rack, let the cookies cool and set for an additional 15-20 minutes.

Store in an airtight container for up to 5 days or freeze for up to 3 months.

Tips for success

• Use room temperature butter when browning your butter, if possible. If your butter is very cold or frozen, browning the butter will probably take longer. Cold butter is also more likely to splatter and splash, so be careful.
• Make sure you’re measuring your dry ingredients correctly. Before measuring out your flour, take a spoon and run through the flour, loosening any clumps. Take a spoon and spoon your flour directly into the measuring cup. Do not scoop the flour directly with the measuring cup or else the flour will be compacted and you will most likely end up with more than you need. When measuring dry ingredients (i.e. flour), you should be using dry ingredient measuring cups. However, if you prefer to bake using grams and weigh out your ingredients with a kitchen scale, you can use an online conversion calculator (like this one from Inch Calculator) to convert the recipe.
• Pre-make your Christmas Crack so that it has time to set and is ready to go before baking. The Christmas Crack will need to set and harden for at least 2 hours (I recommend letting it set for a bit longer) before it can be broken into pieces, so plan accordingly!
• Roll your cookie dough into cylinders instead of round dough balls. The cylinder shape will help the cookie maintain some height while its in the oven so that it bakes up tall and thick.
• Chill your cookie dough. You especially do not want to skip this step with this recipe. Chilling the dough is a requirement any time you’re using melted butter or else your cookies will bake up flat. But, another reason you want to chill the dough for this recipe is so that the flavors develop and deepen. There are so many amazing flavors in this cookie recipe, give them time to chill so that the flavors really shine.
• Always use the baking time listed in the recipe as simply a guide, not a set rule! Everyone’s oven is different and oven temperature varies all the time. I highly recommend buying an oven thermometer so that you know what your oven is actually set to (sometimes the temperature it says is not accurate). For bake time, instead of going by the time listed, go by how the cookies look. The cookies are done baking and should be removed from the oven when the edges are set and lightly golden. The tops of the cookies should still be slightly wet. They are not underbaked and will continue to bake and set on the pan. If you plan to top your cookies with extra toppings after baking (I suggest doing so!), you will need the tops of the cookies to be slightly wet so that you can press them in. If the tops of the cookies are hard and fully set, they are overbaked and you will not be able to add additional toppings after baking.

FAQS

What size cookie scoop did you use?

I used this medium cookie scoop which holds 1½ tbsp of cookie dough.

Can I make my cookies smaller or larger?

Yes, you will just need to adjust the bake time accordingly. For smaller cookies, set your timer for 7 minutes and check your cookies. Add 1 to 2 minutes to the bake time, as needed. For larger cookies, set your timer for 11 minutes, check your cookies, and add 1 to 2 minutes of baking, as needed.

Can I make this dough in advance?

Absolutely! This dough can be made in advance and stored in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. Before baking, set the cookie dough out for about an hour so that it softens and is easy to scoop. Baking temperature and time will remain the same. However, I highly recommend baking a test cookie first to determine the correct bake time for you! If freezing the cookie dough, be sure to scoop the dough prior to freezing. If baking straight from the freezer, you will most likely need to drop the baking temperature to 325 degrees Fahrenheit and increase the bake time by 2 to 5 minutes. Again, do a test cookie to determine the ideal baking time and temperature.

Is it necessary to chill the dough?

Since we’re using melted brown butter, it’s super important to give the cookie dough some time to chill. Otherwise, the cookies will spread a lot while baking and end up flat. These cookies are intended to have some height — therefore, chilling the dough is crucial.

Can I double or halve this recipe?

Yep! Simply double or cut in half the amount of ingredients the recipe calls for.

How to store

Store the cookies in an airtight container for up to 5 days or freeze for up to 3 months in a freezer-safe container or bag. If freezing, set the cookies out 20 to 30 minutes prior to consuming so that they have time to soften. Alternatively, you can heat them up in the microwave for about 20 to 30 seconds.

These cookies are seriously a dream! They’re fun and festive, full of flavor, and so delicious. The toffee from the Christmas Crack paired with the brown butter creates the best cookie combination. My friends, family, and I are all obsessed. Bake a batch and let me know what you think!

If you try this recipe, share and tag me on socials using @itsbrunchoklock or #itsbrunchoklock.