Chocolate Toffee Cookies with Toasted Pecans

83 CommentsWednesday • December 31, 2008 • by Ari

Chocolate and toffee are irresistible on their own, but if you put them together? Whoo whee! The heavens will open, the angels will sing, and your taste buds will do a happy dance. Trust me. You need to make these cookies.

Toffee is made by boiling molasses or sugar with butter until the temperature reaches the hard crack stage of 302–310°F. The mixture is then poured into a shallow container, sometimes with add-ins like almonds, and allowed to cool into a buttery, sweet confection. When I was a kid and my dad brought home a box of See’s chocolates, I always stole the ones with toffee. Poor Dad – maybe if some Chocolate Toffee Cookies had been around he would have gotten a few of those candies!

Tonight my husband and I are welcoming the New Year with cold glasses of milk, chocolate toffee cookies and a collection of movies to watch. Happy New Year! Here’s to 2009. May all our troubles last as long as our resolutions.

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Don’t forget about the monthly book giveaway! December’s books include one copy each of “Jamie at Home: Cook Your Way to the Good Life,” by Jamie Oliver (donated by Hyperion Books) and “The Weekend Baker: Irresistible Recipes, Simple Techniques, and Stress-Free Strategies for Busy People”, by Abigail Johnson Dodge. Winners’ names will be posted on the giveaway page on January 1st, along with the new giveaway titles. If you’re reading this on January 1st, come see what the new books are!

Chocolate-Toffee Cookies with Toasted Pecans
Slightly adapted from this Epicurious.com recipe

Ingredients: Makes about 30 cookies

• 1/2 cup all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 pound semisweet chocolate chips (bittersweet is ok too)
• 1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
• 1 3/4 cups (packed) brown sugar
• 4 large eggs
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 5 1/2-ounces milk chocolate toffee bits (I used the ones by Hershey)
• 1/2 cup toasted pecans, chopped

Heat oven to 350 degrees F.

Spread whole pecans on baking sheet and toast in the oven for 10 minutes. Set aside to cool. In a small bowl combine flour, baking powder and salt, whisking to blend.

In the top of a double boiler set over simmering, not boiling, water, melt the chocolate and butter, stirring occasionally. (I used a large pot of simmering water and a large metal bowl to make my “double boiler.” Fill the pot about 1/4 full, bring to a simmer, then place your metal bowl into the pot – there should be a fair amount of space between the water and the bottom of your bowl and the bowl should form a seal with the pot.) Remove from the heat, but keep chocolate warm over the hot water.

Using electric mixer, beat sugar and eggs in bowl until thick, about 5 minutes. Chop the pecans.

Add the chocolate to the sugar mixture, then add the vanilla. Stir in flour mixture, then the toffee bits and pecans. Cover with saran wrap and chill batter in the refrigerator until firm, about 30 minutes.

Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper. Spray a tablespoon measure with cooking spray (I used PAM), then drop heaping tablespoonfuls of batter onto sheets, spacing 2 1/2 inches apart. Periodically spray the tablespoon again to help the batter drop onto baking sheets easily.

Bake cookies at 350 degrees F, until tops are dry and cracked but cookies are still soft to touch, about 15 minutes. Cool on sheets. These cookies can be made 2 days ahead. Store airtight at room temperature.