Heath Bar Cookies from Big Oven

Heath Bar Cookies - made dough May 13, 2023 from Big Oven

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 cup unsalted butter, softened

3/4 cup granulated sugar

3/4 cup brown sugar, firmly packed

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 cups Heath English Toffee Bits

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
2. In a small bowl, whisk together flour, salt and baking soda; set aside.
3. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together butter, granulated sugar and brown sugar until well combined, smooth and fluffy, 2-3 minutes.
4. Add eggs, one at time, beating after each addition. Mix in vanilla.
5. On low speed, add dry ingredients in two additions, mixing until just combined after each addition. Do not overmix. Fold in toffee bits.
6. Portion dough into golf-ball-size dough balls and evenly space on prepared baking sheets. Bake 10-11 minutes or until edges are set and middles no longer look raw. Remove from oven and let rest on baking sheets for several minutes before transferring to wire rack to cool completely.

My cookies came out a little thinner than the ones pictured on Big Oven's blog. The dough was a bit soft and sticky when I first mixed it so I ended up adding almost another 1/4 cup of flour. That helped but it was still a bit sticky. I didn't want to add anymore in case it changed the texture of the cookie so I simply chilled it after I portioned it into dough balls.

What I've been doing with any cookie dough lately is, after I portion them into dough balls and cover them, I chill them in the refrigerator for a few hours up to overnight. Then I put the cookie dough balls in a ziploc freezer bag and freeze them for at least another day before baking straight from frozen dough. The purpose of doing both is refrigerating the dough lets it "age", letting the dough absorb the flour and as it dries out slightly in the refrigerator, the flavor gets more concentrated. And I always like to bake straight from frozen dough to prevent spread.

That trick usually works well but in this case, these cookies still spread. Not too badly though but still a bit thin. In terms of flavor, these were a bit sweet, not unexpectedly as the toffee baked into the cookies makes it so. I expected more of a brown sugar caramel flavor but I got mostly the toffee sweetness. If you like toffee or Heath Bars, this is a good cookie version. If you don't want it so sweet, cut back on the toffee bits and add chocolate chips. Although then they won't be Heath Bar cookies as much as chocolate chip cookies with toffee bits.