Description
Homemade Christmas Toffee Delight Cookies sparkle with festive cheer and rich chocolate-toffee flavor. Sweet memories mingle with buttery crunch, inviting holiday joy into kitchens where deliciousness becomes tradition you’ll savor.
Ingredients
Scale
Main Ingredients:
- 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
- 1 cup light brown sugar, packed
- 2 large eggs
- 6 ounces semisweet chocolate chips
- 20 saltine crackers
Sugars and Sweeteners:
- ⅓ cup granulated sugar
- ½ cup light brown sugar, packed
- ½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
Baking and Flavoring Ingredients:
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- Sea salt for topping (optional)
Instructions
- Craft the foundational toffee layer by heating the oven to 350°F (175°C), spreading saltine crackers evenly across a lined baking sheet, and thoroughly coating with a rich caramel-like butter mixture.
- Allow the toffee base to transform in the oven until golden and bubbling, approximately 8-10 minutes, creating a crisp, glossy surface.
- Sprinkle high-quality chocolate chips across the hot toffee, letting them melt into a smooth coating, then dust with flaky sea salt for a contrasting flavor profile.
- Rapidly chill the toffee sheet in the freezer for 15-20 minutes to solidify the layers and create a crisp texture.
- Meanwhile, develop a complex brown butter by gently heating unsalted butter in a light-colored saucepan until it reaches a deep amber color and releases a nutty aroma.
- Transfer the browned butter to a cooling vessel, allowing it to reach room temperature while maintaining its rich, caramelized essence.
- Combine all-purpose flour and baking soda in a separate bowl, whisking to eliminate potential lumps and ensure even distribution.
- In a large mixing bowl, blend the cooled brown butter with granulated and brown sugars, incorporating eggs and vanilla extract until the mixture becomes smooth and homogeneous.
- Gradually fold the dry flour mixture into the wet ingredients, creating a cohesive cookie dough with a velvety consistency.
- Freeze the developing dough for 30 minutes to enhance its structural integrity and flavor concentration.
- Extract the previously prepared toffee from the freezer, carefully fracturing it into small, irregular fragments using a sharp knife or kitchen mallet.
- Gently fold approximately 75% of the toffee pieces into the chilled cookie dough, reserving the remaining fragments for decorative topping.
- Refrigerate the enhanced dough for an additional 15-20 minutes to stabilize its structure.
- Preheat the oven to 375°F (190°C) and prepare a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone mat.
- Portion the dough into uniform 2-tablespoon (30 milliliters) spheres, strategically spacing them to allow proper expansion during baking.
- Bake for 10-12 minutes, monitoring until the edges turn a delicate golden brown while maintaining a soft center.
- Immediately after removing from the oven, garnish each cookie with the reserved toffee fragments, pressing them gently into the warm surface.
- Transfer the cookies to a wire cooling rack, allowing them to reach ambient temperature and achieve optimal texture.
Notes
- Prepare the toffee ahead of time to ensure a rich, caramelized base that adds depth and crunch to these festive cookies.
- Browning the butter creates a nutty, complex flavor that elevates the entire cookie, transforming an ordinary recipe into something extraordinary.
- Chilling the dough helps prevent spreading and intensifies the flavors, allowing the ingredients to meld together perfectly.
- Chopping the frozen toffee into varied sizes creates interesting texture pockets throughout each cookie, delivering surprise bursts of sweet crackle.
- Sea salt sprinkle provides a sophisticated contrast to the sweet toffee, balancing the overall flavor profile and adding a gourmet touch.
- Freezing the toffee before incorporating it into the dough helps maintain distinct pieces and prevents complete melting during baking.
- Prep Time: 25 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Category: Desserts, Snacks
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 24
- Calories: 210 cal
- Sugar: 12 g
- Sodium: 90 mg
- Fat: 13 g
- Saturated Fat: 8 g
- Unsaturated Fat: 4 g
- Trans Fat: 0 g
- Carbohydrates: 22 g
- Fiber: 1 g
- Protein: 2 g
- Cholesterol: 35 mg