Christmas Toffee Cookies

christmas-toffee-cookies

While I’m riding at The Canyons Resort today, it is opening day after all, I thought I’d leave you with another sweet treat to add to your holiday baking list. Who doesn’t love toffee? I know I do. It’s one of my favorite candies and I love to enjoy it around the holidays.

Every December my friend, Julie, and I host a cookie swap- which is really just a fancy way of saying we get together and drink to much wine and get hopped up on sugar. My friend, Kari, used to bring homemade toffee to share. She hasn’t done it the past few years and I think I know why. It’s kind of crazy time consuming. I watched her make it a few years back (mind you she was like 11 months pregnant) and all I remember was her sitting at the stove stirring and minding this toffee like it was her baby. Which clearly it wasn’t since I just told you her baby was still in the belly. So as our annual cookie exchange approaches (Monday!), I am craving toffee but no so sure I have the patience to make it happen.

My solution? A toffee “cookie.” Let me tell you, it’s pretty darn close to the real thing and equally as delicious. And the best part? Besides the buttery, caramely cookie covered in chocolate? They are EASY, EASY, EASY.

And I need easy in my life right now.

FYI- because I’m obsessed with salting my desserts– I like to top my toffee with toasted sliced almonds and a little sea salt.

Print

Christmas Toffee Cookies


Ingredients

  • 2 cups vanilla wafer cookies, crushed
  • 1/4 cup brown sugar
  • 1/3 cup butter, melted
  • 1 stick butter (8 tablespoons)
  • 1/2 cup brown sugar
  • 8 oz chocolate, chopped (or 1 cup chocolate chips)
  • 1/2 cup nuts (optional)
  • sea salt (optinal)

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 350F degrees.
  2. To make crust, crush vanilla wafers in a resealable plastic bag using a rolling pin or bottom of a glass.
  3. Combine crushed cookies with 1/4 cup brown sugar and 1/3 cup melted butter.
  4. Press mixture into prepared 9 x 13 glass baking dish, using bottom of glass or measuring cup to tamp down crust. Bake for 8 minutes, or just until set.
  5. To make the filling, melt 1 stick (8 Tbsp) butter and 1/2 cup brown sugar together in a sauce pan, stirring to blend. Bring mixture to a boil and boil 1 minute without stirring. Immediately pour filling over hot crust, then return to pan to oven.
  6. Bake bars an additional 10 minutes, remove, and cool for 2 minutes.
  7. Sprinkle chopped chocolate over toffee and let stand until chocolate is glossy about 5 minutes. Using a long spatula, spread chocolate to cover toffee.
  8. Sprinkle with nuts and/or sea salt if using.
  9. Cool bars completely before removing toffee from pan.
  10. To break toffee into pieces, insert a tip of a knife into toffee and twist until it breaks.