These Harry Potter inspired Butterbeer Cookies are a sweet old-fashioned blend of vanilla and butterscotch loaded up with toffee bits. Baked to perfection with a soft chewy center and lightly crisp edges, they won’t last long!
HARRY POTTER BUTTERBEER Cookies
These Butterbeer Cookies are so freaking good! I can’t believe that I have yet to share a Harry Potter recipe with you guys! You guys know how much I love posting pop culture inspired recipes, like my HIMYM Tootsie Roll Cocktail and Sansa’s Lemon Cakes, yet Harry is one of my favorites and I haven’t shown him any love on here. Until now, that is!
You see, Harry and I are pretty tight; we grew up together you know? Or at least I thought we had until he celebrated his 34th birthday in July, was anyone else confused by that as well?
I researched it and the numbers make sense, but Harry is supposed to be my age! It was a little upsetting to find out there was a ten year age gap between us, but he was probably never going to leave Ginny for me anyways…
But it’s okay, he’ll always hold a special place in my heart. Matt and I have made it a tradition to watch all of the movies every December. Just us, the dog, and some cookies are all we need to be swept up in the wizarding world for a few hours and not worrying about the hubbub of the holidays.
Wait, did I just say cookies? Heck yes, I did! And they’re Butterbeer Pudding Cookies at that!
We were actually crazy enough to venture into The Wizarding World of Harry Potter at Universal back in 2010 a week after it opened. It was so much fun! Except that the ride broke down when we were on it and we were stuck face down in mid-air in Aragon’s cave.
For a girl who hates rides, gets motion sick, and despises spiders – yeah… good times. But it was a really AWESOME ride and a fun story to tell. They got it going again after about five minutes so we still got to enjoy the rest of the forbidden journey.
Out of everything we did, the ride, picking out a wand at Ollivanders, visiting the Owl Post, stocking up at Honeydukes, hitting up Platform 9 ¾, there was one thing that stood out above the rest. The Butterbeer! Oh man, was that stuff good!
The frozen one was amazing with frothy butter foam on top and the sweet taste of cream and butterscotch… seriously, it was so good! I’ve tried several recipes of my own but have yet to make one just like that one! But I can make cookies, and I do those pretty well!
Because of my love for Harry Potter and the holiday tradition Matt and I started, I thought these Butterbeer Cookies would make a great Christmas cookie! They’re a sweet old-fashioned blend of vanilla and butterscotch loaded up with toffee bits.
Plus, like all of my pudding cookies, they’re perfectly chewy on the inside with a slight crisp on the outside! They’re not quite the same as a stein of frozen butterbeer on a hot summer day at Universal, but they’ll get the job done!
Have you seen the 20th Anniversary editions of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (UK title)? Originally they were only released in the UK, but are now available on Amazon in house colors!
I have the Ravenclaw Hardcover and it’s so gorgeous, I can’t wait to collect the others! I got the Illustrated Edition of Prisoner of Azkaban for my birthday and I’m so excited to read it all over again!
More Harry Potter Inspired Recipes:
- Butterbeer Cupcakes
- Amortentia Cocktail
- Butterbeer Poke Cake
- Butterbeer Pancakes
- Butterbeer Hot Chocolate
- Luna Lovegood’s Pudding
Pin these Butterbeer Cookies for Later!
Watch How to Make these Butterbeer Cookies in the Video Below!
This post was originally published in December 2014 and was updated in December 2017 with new photos.
These Harry Potter inspired Butterbeer Cookies are a sweet old-fashioned blend of vanilla and butterscotch loaded up with toffee bits. Baked to perfection with a soft chewy center and lightly crisp edges, they won't last long!
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 3/4 cup light brown sugar
- 1/4 cup instant vanilla pudding mix dry
- 1/4 cup instant butterscotch pudding mix dry
- 2 large eggs
- 1 additional egg yolk
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp imitation butter
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 cup heath toffee bits straight toffee, not the chocolate toffee mix
- lightning bolt sprinkles optional
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In a large bowl or stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugars together until smooth. Scrape down the sides of the bowl, if needed.
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Add the pudding, eggs, additional egg yolk, vanilla, and imitation butter. Beat for about one minute on medium speed.
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In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking soda, and salt.
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Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients a 1/2 cup at a time and mix until combined.
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Mix in the toffee chips.
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Form into a giant ball and wrap tightly in plastic wrap. Chill for at least two hours. Remove a little while before baking so the dough can soften a bit and is easier to work with.
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Scoop the dough using a medium cooking scoop and roll the dough between your hands to form round balls of dough and place onto a nonstick baking sheet about two inches apart. Top with yellow sprinkles, if desired.
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Bake at 350 F for 10-13 minutes.
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Cool on the pan for a couple of minutes before transferring to a cooling rack.
Since I've made these cookies a million times, I've played around with the recipe a bit and here are some different variations:
Use 1 - 3.4 oz. package of Butterscotch Pudding Mix instead of half butterscotch and half vanilla.
Replace Heath Toffee Bits with Butterscotch Chips or do a combo of the two, but still only using 1 1/2 cups.
Skip the chill time, cookies may be a little flatter and not quite as crisp on the outside, but they will be chewier.
Reduce flour to 2 1/4 cups for chewier cookies.
I've made them gluten-free with Bob's Red Mill 1-for-1 all-purpose flour and they're just as good.
Imitation Butter should ALWAYS be included!
Dip them in icing for added sweetness.
Allie | Baking a Moment says
Such a fun idea! And the toffee vanilla flavors sound incredible!
[email protected] says
Thanks, Allie! I didn’t want to do just butterscotch and toffee because butterbeer has a cream soda base and I wanted to work it in there.
Alici says
I was lucky enough to be one of the recipients of this amazing cookie! Thank you! We LOVED them. Can’t wait to make some.
[email protected] says
Yay! I’m so glad you loved them! I was worried they wouldn’t hold up over a few days in the mail!
Healing Tomato says
Amazing recipe and I now, I must make this. Will enjoy them while watching Harry Potter.
Yarney says
I just made these cookies. First off, I would like to mention something. There was some debate among my friends as to whether you are supposed to make the pudding (since it was on the ‘wet’ list) but i can confirm that you aren’t. Also, we didn’t have Heath toffees and the stupid supermarket (that I will no longer be going to by the way) so we used butterscotch bits instead. SPOILER ALERT: it worked out great.
Second, these cookies were amazing. They smell like unicorns. If someone would make a candle of this scent then they’d be able to control the world with its power. I almost didn’t want to eat them because I was so fulfilled basking in their glory.
But I did eat them! The outside is a little dry, but the inside was pure gooey ecstasy. I almost had to excuse myself from the room to get control of myself. I tried in vain to tell all of my former friends that they were awful and they should not bother trying them, but unfortunately they saw through my ruse. As such I kicked them out of my house and changed my phone number. All other cookies are now competing for second place in my heart.
My only question for the recipe creator is whether or not there are any complications when scaling the recipe? I would like to make these in quadruple batches so that I can eat them in greater numbers, at least until the diabetes sets in. At my funeral, please tell my family that I love them and I regret nothing.
[email protected] says
OMG! You totally get it! My husband and I just about died laughing, this is seriously the best comment ever! You are correct, dry pudding mix, I usually put that, I’ll have to go back and double check! No issues doubling or multiplying the batch as long as you keep with the measurements except that your stand mixer or wrists might break from the dough capacity. I’m so glad you enjoyed these Unicorn smelling cookies, I’ll totally have to go back and try them with butterscotch chips and I definitely agree that that supermarket should be banned from the planet forever! Thank you so much for the good laugh and the feedback!
Yarney says
You did specify dry mix in the ingredients, which is why I was confident in my assertion that it’s place on the ‘wet list’ did not mean that the pudding had to be made. In hindsight, this should have been my first clue to kick everyone out and cut ties with them immediately. If I had done so at this time then I would have been able to use the time that I had to wait for the dough to chill to begin my search for new friends, ideally who are smarter and preferably that don’t have taste buds of their own.
This brings me to my next question: Waiting for two hours for the dough to chill wasn’t a big deal the first time (we turned the movie Frozen in to a drinking game), but now that I know how good these cookies are I fear that it will be downright torturous in the future. In fact, the CIA could probably utilize this method in place of water boarding and achieve greater results. I have done some research on the UN and the ICC and there are currently no references to this as a prohibited interrogation tactic, although I’m sure that will change soon as news of this recipe inevitably spreads.
My question is as to whether you have experimented with any ways to chill the dough faster to eliminate this very real problem. Is there some sort of flash freezing or hydrogen cooling that we might be able to utilize? I was thinking we could raise money to put together a top team of thermodynamic engineers and get started right away. I’m sure that once word gets out the public would be throwing money at us through either a kickstarter or a Sarah-McLhachlan-Type sad public service announcement commercial. Together, we can end this problem in our lifetime.
Also, you mentioned dough capacity earlier in your response. I have to be honest, this is something that caught me off guard. Unfortunately I only have a hand mixer since this is (seriously) only the second batch of cookies I have made in my entire life. Does a stand mixer work better? If not, I am considering modifying an outboard motor to generate the necessary torque to get the job done.
Thank you again for this recipe and I wish you the best of luck in the upcoming Nobel Peace Prize voting (not that you’ll need it).
[email protected] says
Bahaha… I will be sure to thank you in my speech!
Yarney says
No need. It is I who will be thanking you, in every speech from here on out.
Tracy Dye says
What is Imitation Butter listed? Is it a flavoring? What if you don’t use it? I’ve never needed that flavoring for anything. Can you substitute butter?
Rebecca says
Hi Tracy, yes, it’s a flavoring that you would find in the baking aisle with the strawberry and root beer flavorings for example. Substituting the tsp of flavoring with actually butter won’t add to the cookies the way the flavoring will. You can leave it out, you just won’t have as strong as a butter flavor.
TracyD says
Just took the first batch out of the oven, made without the butter flavoring. Love them, but they taste a little too chocolately to compare to the butterbeer at Universal. But I think they will be a big hit!
Rebecca says
Hmmm… they don’t have any chocolate in them so I’m not sure why they taste like chocolate. I’m glad you are enjoying them though. The Imitation Butter does really give it that Butterbeer flavor, but they should still serve as a nice sweet cookie.
Tracy says
Heath toffee bits have chocolate in them. Or is there some toffee bits that don’t have chocolate?
Rebecca says
There are two different varieties of Health bits, there’s the classic toffee and then there is the toffee milk chocolate mix.
stacia potter says
oh yumm, these look amazing. I really wish I could come up with a reason to make these RIGHT NOW, but alas, I have to work. One tiny little thing, Harry’s birthday is July 31, not in August. but you know…almost in August. But there’s that whole prophecy thing…..
Rebecca says
Oh my goodness, of course I know his birthday is in July, I must have gotten caught up in writing the post and completely spaced! I hope you get to make the cookies soon!
Josh says
FYI, one can buy butterbeer, of course is it most affordable when you find a local grocery that can have it appear with other things from them, so you don’t have to ship it.
http://reedsinc.com/product/flying-cauldron-butterscotch-beer/
marie says
sounds so delicious 🙂
http://allornothing-blog.blogspot.co.uk/
Alaina says
I made these cookies about 2 weeks ago. I had never heard of pudding cookies before and was interested in seeing how soft they really are. I followed the recipe exactly, yet they were not as soft as I anticipated. I expected something along the lines of gooey—-am I wrong? In fact, I felt they tasted more flour-like than anything else. Again, I had measured my ingredients perfectly before adding them to the bowl. The following day, having stored them in a sealed tupperware, they were harder. Any suggestions?
Rebecca says
Hi Alaina, these cookies won’t really be gooey, but should be chewy with a slightly crisp outer shell. I’ve added a few different variations to the recipe recently and one of those might be more to your liking. If you ever find that cookies get hard, as they sometimes do, try adding a piece of bread into the container with the cookies, this should soften them up. The cookies tend to be chewier if you do not chill them and you can also reduce the flour by a 1/4 cup. Reducing the flour will make them a little chewier but they won’t puff up as much. If you’re looking for gooey, I would recommend trying the variation that includes butterscotch chips in a combination with or instead of the toffee bits.
Angelica says
Is it okay to refrigerate 24 hours?? I made the dough then saw it refrigerate 2 hours…….
Rebecca says
You don’t have to wait 2 hours, though they tend to puff up more if you do. But you can definitely wait 24 hours too, just let the dough soften a bit before baking! Enjoy!
Jeane says
Is it possible to use only instant vanilla pudding because I am using butterscotch chips? Also, I am considering adding rum extract and was wondering what amount you would suggest?
Rebecca says
Hi Jean, you can definitely just use vanilla pudding mix. As for the rum, I would start with 1 tsp and no more than 1 tbsp.
Jeane says
Just took my first batch out of the oven. Used a tsp of the rum, all vanilla pudding, and less flour. They are soooo good.
Flo says
Hello,
thank you for the recipe, it worked magic (haha). I made them for my friends for the Fantastic Beasts premiere, they were all gone really fast. I’m in France so I couldn’t find instant butterscotch pudding so I used just vanilla and I had to buy imitation butter on the internet but it was worth it. Thank you again!
Rebecca says
I’m so glad you enjoyed them and I hope you love the movie! I can’t wait to see it myself!
Diane Wolfthal says
Can you tell me what imitation butter is. Is it a powder or do you mean margerine?
Rebecca says
Hi Diane, It’s an imitation extract and can usually be found in the baking aisle near the vanilla and other flavored extracts. McCormick makes it here in the states.
Jessie says
These cookies are SO GOOD!!! I made them for a holiday cookie party and they won the “best tasting cookie” award! Everyone raved about them and wanted to take the extras home. I did take the suggestions for chewier cookies — used 2 1/4 cups flour and chilled the dough for about 45-60 minutes before baking. I also used 3/4 cup of the Heath toffee bits and 3/4 cup of butterscotch chips. Baked on parchment paper for 11 minutes and they were perfect! Still soft and chewy almost a week later. If you’re reading these reviews trying to decide whether or not to make these cookies — DO IT! They are seriously perfect.
Rebecca Hubbell says
So glad you enjoyed them, Jessie!!!! They’re one of our favorites!
Gina says
These are addicting!!
Rebecca Hubbell says
Glad you liked them!
Madi says
Everything about these cookies is so perfect! I love butterbeer desserts!
April says
oh my goodness! the little lightning bolts! these are just perfection!
Kristen Dahlhofer says
I can’t wait to try this recipe! Sounds so yummy…just wondering if you could share how you made the little lightning bolt sprinkles? Those are just adorable!!
Rebecca Hubbell says
Hi Kristen, I bought them a couple of years ago during a Kickstarter campaign, they used to be available on Amazon as well, but no longer are. However, these ones are similar and are available: http://amzn.to/2CLVZe5
Megan @ MegUnprocessed says
These look tasty! Cute video too!
Allison says
I came across this video today and am a huge hp fan and I also love baking I did notice though that in the pictures of the cookies they are much flatter than in the video posted. The video is honestly a turn off I don’t like mine super thick like that I like a more thinner cookie as in the pictures. I’ve made pudding cookies before and they are always way too dry and cakey and I always measure my ingredients with a scale. Is there a way to bake them where they are a flatter version and not so cakey looking.
Thank you
Rebecca Hubbell says
Hi Allison, there are a number of ways to make these cookies (see the notes), the cookies in the photos were chilled overnight and then baked in a gas oven, I don’t think my videographer used the chill method when she was making the video. I’ve made these cookies many times and have never found them to be dry. Every oven is different, I would recommend making the dough and then baking off a couple to see how they turn out, if they’re too thick for your liking, try chilling them overnight 🙂
Jen says
Agreed! I was pumped to make these, then saw the video. I’ll try anyway but will definitely chill overnight in hopes of flatter cookies.
Kimberly says
Lol! I, too, went to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter shortly after it opened. I also got stuck on the ride, but I was in the chamber of secrets, upside down, staring at the basilisk, right under the coldest air conditioning vent known to man. They turned us right side up after the first 5 minutes, but it was another 10-15 before the ride started again.
I was already excited to try this recipe, but Yarney’s review convinced me that I MUST make these cookies, and then hoard them like treasure in a Gringotts vault!
Rebecca Hubbell says
Haha, Kimberly, I’m sure they had quite a few technical mishaps when they first opened, but how funny would it be if we had been on the same ride! I hope you enjoy these cookies!