Salted Vanilla Toffee Cookies

I have always loved toffee, even though I don’t always think to have it. But it’s always satisyingly sweet and crunchy, and then even better when paired with chocolate.

I made these cookies for a friend’s birthday party this past weekend. I didn’t know most of the people there, but even so, everyone raved about them. It’s definitely a confidence boost when people I don’t know compliment my baking. Friends would be more likely to spare your feelings. Whereas, if a stranger doesn’t like your baking, they don’t have to say anything. I even had some people, who once they found out I made the cookies, say they thought the cookies had come from a professional bakery. So that was nice to hear. 😊

These cookies are not hard to make. They do require a little extra time for the dough to chill in the fridge.

Because the cookie dough needs to sit in the fridge for a few hours, we don’t need to preheat the oven or grease a baking sheet yet. So start by combining the flour, cornstarch, baking soda, and salt in a medium bowl. Set this bowl aside for a few minutes.

In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the softened butter until it is very smooth. It’s important that the butter is soft. Otherwise, you will end up with lumps of butter instead of a smooth texture. Add in the sugar and brown sugar. Beat until it’s fluffy and light in color.

Now, you need to scrape the seeds from the vanilla bean. Slice the bean lengthwise, and then use the tip of the knife to scrape out the seeds. The vanilla bean can be hard and somewhat difficult to cut. So just be careful not to cut your fingers.

Now add the vanilla bean seeds, vanilla, and eggs to your mixing bowl. Beat until all ingredients are incorporated.

Next, gradually add the flour mixture that has been set aside into your mixing bowl. Mix well between each addition of dry ingredients.

Finally, stir in the bag of Heath toffee bits. Cover the cookie dough, and place it in the fridge for at least 3 hours. This will allow the dough to harden so that it will not spread too much when baking.

After the dough is finished chilling, remove it from the fridge. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease a baking sheet with cooking spray. Scoop the dough and roll it into 1-inch balls. Place the balls of dough on the baking sheet, and flatten it slightly with the palm of your hand. Sprinkle a little sea salt onto the cookie dough.

Bake the cookies for 8-9 minutes, until they are slightly golden in color. Allow the cookies to cool for a few minutes before removing them from the pan to cool completely.

My only complaint about these cookies is that they tend to be difficult to remove from the pan. The toffee sticks to the pan, no matter how well you grease it. So when the toffee sticks, the cookies start to pull apart. When I made these, several of them ended up with some holes in the middle where the cookie started to tear apart. The best advice I can offer is to remove the cookies carefully, and use a good, thin spatula to remove them. Also, allow the cookies to cool some on the pan before attempting removal. Trying to move the cookies when they’re too hot makes them more fragile.