Gideon's Bakehouse Copycat Chocolate Chip Toffee Cookies from Chelsea's Messy Apron

Gideon's Bakehouse Copycat Chocolate Chip Toffee Cookies - made dough January 15, 2024 from Chelsea's Messy Apron

8 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled 5-10 minutes to room temperature

1 cup brown sugar, tightly packed

1 large egg

1/2 teaspoon vanilla bean paste or 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

3/4 teaspoon fine sea salt

1 cup cake flour

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 cup semisweet or milk chocolate chips

1 cup mini chocolate chips

1 cup Heath milk chocolate English toffee baking bits

1. In a medium bowl, combine chocolate chips, mini chocolate chips and toffee bits, stirring until evenly mixed; set aside.
2. In a mixing bowl, combine melted, cooled butter and brown sugar, stirring to combine. Whisk in egg and vanilla bean paste or extract until smooth and well combined.
3. Add in baking soda, baking powder and salt, stirring to combine. Add cake flour and all-purpose flour, mixing until just combined. Fold in 1 3/4 cups of the chocolate chip-toffee bits mixture.
4. Divide dough into 6 large equal portions and roll into balls. Flatten slightly to thick discs. Coat tops and sides (not bottoms) of dough discs with the remaining chocolate chip-toffee bits mixture. You can reserve some to press into cookies after they're baked.
5. Cover and chill dough for at least 1 hour but preferably 24 hours.
6. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 325 degrees. Double pan baking sheets and top baking sheet with parchment paper. Evenly space 3 cookie dough balls on 1 sheet to allow room for spread. Bake 15-23 minutes until edges are lightly set and middles no longer look raw. Remove from oven and gently press remaining chocolate chips and toffee bits into any bare spots on the cookies. Let rest on baking sheets for 15 minutes then transfer to wire rack to cool completely.

I'm back with another copycat recipe for a Gideon's Bakehouse cookie. Only this time, it isn't just chocolate chip but chocolate chip toffee. Same concept where you make big cookies and press a combination of milk chocolate chips, mini semisweet chocolate chips and toffee bits all over the cookie dough balls (except for the bottoms) then bake.

The recipe is supposed to male 6 large cookies but I made 7 out of them with my largest cookie scoop. I did gently press a few extra chips and toffee bits over the top of the test cookie after it baked, to fill in a few gaps.

The dough was easy to handle as it wasn't too sticky or dry. I did chill them overnight first to "age" then froze them. I baked the cookie from frozen dough so it took a little longer and fortunately, I remembered to double pan it this time. By double pan, I mean I put one baking sheet upside on the oven rack and placed the baking sheet with the dough ball on top of it (right side up). That worked well to bake the cookie more evenly throughout without the bottom getting too brown or baked.

Flavor-wise and texture-wise, this cookie was fantastic. I ate half the test cookie when it was lukewarm and it was perfect as the edges had cooled to a slight crispness and the middle was dense and chewy without being mushy. Plus the chips were still melty and the toffee bits had cooled to give it both crunch and a little sweetness. I didn't think I liked cookies covered in chocolate chips but when some of the chips are milk chocolate and you toss toffee bits in there, turns out I like it just fine.