Chocolate Chip Toffee Cookies with Sea Salt

This recipe is a variation on my standard Chocolate Chip Cookie.  Instead of toffee pieces, I’ve done pretzel pieces and even chopped maraschino cherries. (I like to save those for the Holidays.) If you can’t find the toffee pieces, these cookies are positively delicious with just chocolate chips and sea salt.

A few things before we start: I try to use mostly organic ingredients.  I am conscious about my food and how it’s processed. I find that the organic products are just higher quality.

“My stance on tasting the cookie dough: always.  It’s delicious.  Raw eggs? I don’t know, I’m not a doctor, but in 30 years of making cookies, I’ve never been sick and I’ve eaten the cookie dough every single time.”

The higher quality your ingredients, the higher quality your final product will be.  This means that my butter, sugars and flour are usually organic. If you can’t find those ingredients, no problem, these will still be great.

Please only use pure vanilla extract.

Chocolate Chip Toffee Cookies - All the ingredients!

Every recipe for cookies starts out with room temperature butter. Can I tell you how many times I’ve remembered to take out the butter ahead of time to do this? Zero times. Just pop the sticks in the microwave for about 20-30 secs, et voila! Softened butter. Also, most baking recipes call for unsalted butter, I love salt, it makes everything taste better, even sweet things, so I like using salted butter.

Room temperature butter

Pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees.

Cream the butter and the sugar together in a bowl.  I mix everything by hand, and always with a wooden spoon. I think it ensures that nothing gets over-mixed.  Once the butter and sugars become one, add the egg and vanilla. Mix this together very well.

Cream the butter and sugar together using a wooden spoon.

Add one egg to the Chocolate Chip Toffee Cookie batter.

Add the vanilla to the Chocolate Chip Toffee Cookie batter.

OK, now, a lot of recipes tell you to get out another bowl before you even start and put the flour, baking soda and salt in there together and mix well. I don’t have time to get out another bowl and wash it when I’m done.  So, while your batter is a bit liquidy from the egg and vanilla, add the salt and baking soda.  Mix well.

Adding the baking soda while it’s liquidy helps to make sure the rising agent is equally distributed and no need for a 2nd bowl.  Then add the flour, one cup at a time and mix until incorporated, but do not over mix.  This is where I feel my dough.  Is it very tacky today?  Then I will probably add 1/4 cup of flour.  It should be super soft, but not necessarily super sticky.

Add salt to the batter.

Add flour to the Chocolate Chip Toffee Cookie batter.

Feel the Chocolate Chip Toffee Cookie Dough.

Then I add only 1 cup of chocolate chips (most recipes with the same amounts call for 2 cups) because I like to really taste the cookie, and I’ve never had one complaint about too little chocolate!  Also add the toffee pieces, or whatever your additional ingredient is now.  Mix until evenly incorporated.

Add the chocolate chips and Heath Bar Bit-o-Brickle.

Mix well! Chocolate chips and Heath Bar Bit-o-Brickle.

My stance on tasting the cookie dough: always.  It’s delicious.  Raw eggs? I don’t know, I’m not a doctor, but in 30 years of making cookies, I’ve never been sick and I’ve eaten the cookie dough every single time.

Now you are ready for the oven.  Using my hands (a cooks best tool), I take about 1 Tbsp worth of dough and plop them onto a cookie sheet. These are “drop cookies”, which means you do not need to shape them.  Just plop the dough down and when it melts in the oven, it will form on its own. Put them in the oven and set your timer for 10 -12 minutes.

Plop Chocolate Chip Toffee Cookie dough onto a cookie sheet.

Chocolate Chip Toffee Cookie dough on full cookie sheet.Every oven is different, when that timer hits 10 minutes, you really need to use your other best tool: your eyes.  Look at the cookies, do they still look a little wet and doughy? And are the edges on a few of the cookies turning golden?  If so, take them out!  They don’t look quite done, but they will continue to cook a little once you take them because they are so hot.  This is probably the biggest secret to making my cookies super soft and chewy.

The heath Bar Bit-o-Brickle bits melt!

Immediate sprinkle with Maldon Sea Salt flakes.  You will know that you’ve baked the cookies to perfection, when it’s difficult to decide if you want to eat more of the cookie dough, or you want to eat a cookie.

Maldon Sea Salt Flakes

Sprinkle the Chocolate Chip Toffee Cookies with Maldon Sea Salt Flakes immediately after taking them from the oven.

Now for the recipe:

2 sticks of Salted Butter (also one cup – each stick is 1/2 cup)
1/2 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 egg
2 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp kosher salt
2 cups of unbleached all purpose flour
1 cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 cup of toffee pieces like Heath Bar® Bit-O-Brickle (NOT the Heath Bar® pieces covered in milk chocolate, toffee only)

Chocolate Chip Toffee Cookies cooling - eat while warm and gooey!

1 comment

Missbelgium says:

Ok, now I’m hungry. How many WW points are these cookies??

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *