Toffee Butter Cookies

Chocolate Toffee Butter Cookies - made dough June 8, 2012, baked at various times from Cook's Country Chocolate Desserts

I had written this blog post earlier and it seems a bit frivolous to me now.  Because it's with a heavy heart that I write that my friend Maria's daughter, Zoe, who I had made the Naked Twix bars for in my previous post, passed away last night.  Rest in peace, Zoe, and be with God and His angels - you're one of them now and always have been.

Original post: Last Christmas, my cousin Christine gave me the magazine booklet this recipe came from.  She also went one step better and actually made one of the recipes from it as part of my present - gotta love that.  So I already know these cookies are good but I had to make them for myself.  These are perfect make-ahead cookies since they're essentially slice-n-bake.  Just make the dough ahead of time, roll into logs, wrap logs in wax paper, put in freezer bags and freeze until you're ready to bake them.  You'll notice my cookies don't have the chocolate part of the title in them.  That's because I left off the last step of melting chocolate and drizzling them over the cookies.  I included the original directions below but feel free to skip the chocolate as well.  I left it off mostly because, with hotter summer temps, it's hard to keep the chocolate from melting after it's drizzled over the cookie and sets plus I actually preferred the toffee flavor without it.

This is one of those cookies where I puzzled over the baking time.  When I followed the directions and only bake them for 10-12 minutes, the edges get a little crisp but not much and the middle is soft.  Which is okay but not what I look for in a thinly sliced slice-n-bake cookie.  I prefer a bit more crunch throughout the whole cookie.  I accidentally discovered that if you bake them long enough (without burning them of course), the whole cookie crisps up and becomes exactly the crispy texture I was looking for.  I say accidentally because I was baking a batch to take to Zoe's party and after I had checked on them, I turned the oven off but left the sheet in the oven as I decided the cookies needed one more minute.  Then I went off to do something else and yup, totally forgot about the cookies until 10 minutes later.  Fortunately since the oven was already turned off, the cookies didn't burn.  But they did come out more brown than I had intended.  I let them cool and tried one later.  Success!  The extra baking time was perfect to get them crunchy without being dry.  So, depending on your texture preference, try baking them a little longer if you want the crunch.  I also think it would be better to add toasted pecans to the cookie dough itself for a bit more crunch and taste to cut the sweetness of the toffee.  However, if you leave off the pecans and bake until the cookies are crunchy, the taste and texture are similar to Biscoff cookies.  It doesn't have the spice taste of a Biscoff cookie but the brown sugar and toffee flavors are great substitutes.

2 1/3 cups (11 2/3 ounces) all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
16 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1 cup packed (7 ounces) light brown sugar (I used dark brown sugar)
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup Heath Toffee Bits (without chocolate coating)
1 ½ cups (9 ounces) semisweet chocolate chips
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
2/3 cup chopped pecans, toasted and chopped fine (you can add some directly to the dough if you wish)

1. Whisk flour, baking powder, and salt together in medium bowl. In stand mixer fitted with paddle, beat butter and brown sugar on medium speed until fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add egg and vanilla and beat until combined, about 30 seconds. Reduce speed to low, add to flour mixture in 2 additions, and mix until incorporated. Stir in toffee bits. Divide dough in half and roll each piece into log about 9 inches long and 1 ½ inches in diameter. Flatten logs into 2 ½”-wide rectangles. Wrap rectangles in plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm, about 1 ½ hours.
2. Adjust oven racks to upper-middle and lower-middle positions and heat oven to 350°F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
3. Using chef’s knife, cut dough into ¼”-thick slices; transfer slices to parchment-lined sheets, spacing 1 inch apart. Bake until just browned around edges, 10 to 12 minutes, switching and rotating sheets halfway through baking. (For a more crunchy texture, bake 15-20 minutes.)  Let cookies cool completely on baking sheets. Use remaining dough to make second batch of cookies.
4. Transfer baked cookies to wire rack set in baking sheet. Heat chocolate chips in heatproof bowl set over pot of barely simmering water, stirring occasionally, until melted. Add oil to chocolate and mix until smooth. Dip part of each cookie into melted chocolate or drizzle chocolate over cookies with soup spoon. Sprinkle pecans over chocolate-coated cookies. Allow chocolate to set about 1 hour before serving cookies.

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