I have been seeing honey toast croissants trending, which is basically taking already-baked croissants, cutting them in half, dipping them in a honey butter, and re-baking them, which results in this kouign amann-like caramelized exterior for the croissant itself. I have even seen this technique done with toast as well(which I believe is the original version of this), and it has been popularized to the point where convenience stores in Japan apparently sell a honey butter spread that you can put on your own toast to make honey toast at home! While I did not get my hands on that honey butter spread for this recipe, I figured I could make my own, but I did not want to just use that on toast or make croissants just to make that(croissants, while delicious, are such a time commitment that I would rather just eat a freshly homemade one as-is), so I was trying to figure out what else I could pair that honey butter with. And then it dawned on me – why not dip chocolate chip cookies into that, and re-bake them? The end result? Cookies with a crisp, caramelized(almost peanut brittle-like) exterior. If you ever had the Pepperidge Farm Brussels cookies, these had an extremely similar flavor profile to those! While I will admit this recipe is NOT great for your health(I could taste the unhealthiness with each bite), they embody decadence, richness, and are a fun way to level up your cookies.

The dough itself is my brown butter-chocolate chip cookie dough, but I did, in an attempt to embrace the original toast inspiration, use sourdough starter in my batter, which results in a light, tender crumb. If you do not have sourdough starter, replace that with an extra egg. This recipe is fun because you essentially get a solid cookie recipe, and a fun technique that can be used for this recipe, or on any other sweet pastry to honey toast it! I would just recommend that the cookies cool sufficiently after baking, just because trying to dip freshly baked cookies into the honey butter will just end with the cookies falling apart in your hands. Trust me, I lost a couple soldiers trying to do that. The other part is the honey butter. It is made with melted butter, honey, and brown sugar. Very straightforward, but the tricky part is baking with it. Do not submerge your cookies in this. Literally a quick dip is sufficient. The sugars from the butter will pool and spread at the bottom of your sheet tray when you re-bake your cookies, which can look cool, but can result in your cookies melting together into one giant lace cookie, aka a giant mess. This can be made worse with excessive coating of the cookies in the butter. If you are not sure if you dipped sufficiently, I recommend testing with 1-2 cookies first before putting the rest of the batch through – i literally had to do that while testing this recipe. I tried dipping the dough into the honey butter, but that ended up with a sheet cookie with the additional sugar from the butter causing everything to spread together. i tried piping the butter on top of the freshly baked cookies and re-baking, but that ended up causing the cookies to go soggy. So giving the cookies time to cool and giving them a quick dip yielded the best of all worlds, with a crispy-edged cookie that is still gooey in the middle!

Makes 20-25 cookies:
For the chocolate chip cookie dough:
2 sticks brown butter, cooled to room temperature
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
a pinch of salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon 
1 egg
2oz sourdough starter(can replace with 1 more egg)
2 cups chocolate chips
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder

In a bowl, whisk the brown butter, sugars, salt, vanilla, cinnamon, egg, and sourdough until combined. Fold in the chocolate chips, flour, baking soda, and flour to form your dough. Scoop the dough into 1oz-sized balls. Place the dough on a parchment-lined sheet tray, spacing them 2 inches apart. Bake at 375 degrees F for 15 minutes. Allow the cookies to fully cool before doing the next step with the honey butter.

For the honey butter:
120g honey
120g brown sugar
120g melted butter
a pinch of salt

In a bowl, whisk everything together. Quickly dip the baked and cool cookies into the honey butter and re-bake the cookies at 375 degrees F for 10 minutes on a parchment-lined sheet tray. After baking, sprinkle more flaky salt on top to finish.