Chocolate Toffee Cookies

Chocolate, toffee and toasted nuts – that would be the ultimate trifecta of cookie ingredients for me. Combine with a little butter and quite a bit of brown sugar and here’s my new favorite cookie. Deb at Smitten Kitchen adapted this from a Bon Appetit recipe and noted “I made only a half batch of these and have regretted it every moment since.” Don’t make that mistake – you can freeze them to keep from eating them all.

The recipe calls for chocolate covered English toffee bars (such as Heath) coarsely chopped. My San Diego friend Dana who served me this divine cookie said she instead used a bag of Heath toffee chips designed for baking that you can find in large chain grocery stores. The fact that I used those along with run-of-the-mill Nestle chips and still had an OMG this is so good cookie makes we wonder if high end chocolate and bigger chunks of Heath bars would even take it up a notch or not? To be continued !!

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

1 pound bittersweet(not unsweetened) or semisweet chocolate, chopped

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter

1 3/4 cups (packed) brown sugar

4 large eggs

1 Tbs. vanilla extract

5 1.4-ounce chocolate covered English toffee bars (such as Heath), coarsely chopped (drug stores are a great place to fine these)

1 cup walnuts, toasted and chopped

Flaky sea salt for sprinkling (optional)

Combine flour, baking powder and salt in a small bowl; whisk to blend. Stir chocolate and butter in top of double boiler set over simmering water until melted and smooth. Remove from over water. Cool mixture to lukewarm.

Using electric mixer, beat sugar and eggs in bowl until thick, about 5 minutes. Beat in chocolate mixture and vanilla.

Stir in flour mixture, then toffee and nuts. Chill batter until firm, about 45 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment or waxed paper. Drop batter by spoonfuls onto sheets, spacing 2 inches apart. Sprinkle with a pinch of flakey sea salt, if using. Bake just until tops are dry and cracked but cookies still soft to the touch, about 12 to 15 minutes. Cool on the sheets. (can be made 2 days ahead. Store airtight at room temperature)

Slice and bake option: (Deb’s comment) After struggling a bit to scoop these cookies, I rolled the dough into a log 1.5 inches in diameter and chilled it. When I was ready to bake the cookies, I cut it into 1/2 inch slices. You can store the dough log in the freezer, wrapped in wax paper and then two layers of plastic wrap for up to a month, just baking the cookies off as you need. Cookies baked straight from the freezer may need an additional minute or two in the oven, depending on their thickness.

Note: Do make sure you let the batter chill until firm before scooping out, or the cookies may stick to the parchment paper.#learnfrommymistakes. I needed 3 sheet pans to bake all the cookies. Instead of using a double boiler, you can melt the chocolate and butter together in the microwave. Start with a couple of minutes; stir, and heat another minute or so.