Tag Archives: toffee

Peanut Butter-Toffee Cookie Bars with Ganache

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Only a fellow foodie can understand the kind of all-consuming obsession that takes over when you find a recipe you really want to try. Until you make that recipe, your mind (and grumbling stomach) will not rest. Your every waking thought is consumed by salivation-inducing fantasies of what that first bite will be like. It’s similar to when you develop a crush on someone you just met and obsess over them, except, in the case of the recipe, you can basically guarantee you’ll be together someday. I can’t say the same for your love interest.

And that, my friends, is why I cook.

I had an encounter with one of these recipe obsessions when I changed my Pillsbury calendar to the February page. For each month, the calendar has a Pillsbury recipe. Everything about the February recipe called to me: peanut butter cookies, toffee, chocolate…good lord, what else do you need?

I’m not one to make other people’s recipes too often, but when you’re craving something, there ain’t much you can do but give in. I put a few of my own touches on Pillsbury’s recipe to give you these Peanut Butter-Toffee Cookie Bars with Ganache.DSC_1287

I just love when a semi-homemade recipe comes out just as good as, if not better than, something made from scratch. These bars are bangin,’ so perfectly soft and chewy, like 360 degrees of the best center-bite of a cookie. Even though we used pre-made peanut butter cookie dough, you’d never know. Between that perfect texture and the marvelous mix-ins like aromatic vanilla, peanut butter chips, and crunchy butter toffee, you’d never know we didn’t make these decadent bars from scratch.

The only thing that could make this better is a thick coating of rich, silky chocolate ganache. I’ve tried a lot of ganaches, homemade and from bakeries or restaurants, and this is the best I’ve had. I figured out my ideal level of sweetness, no too sweet, but not bitter like most ganaches are. It’s perfect!

There is so much good stuff going on in one place here that your mouth will be overwhelmed with sensory satisfaction upon the first bite. There’s crunchy, creamy, chewy, chocolaty, salty, nutty, and sweet. If you don’t find love at first bite with this easy-to-make treat, then you must be missing taste buds.

DSC_1362A Few Tips Before You Get Cooking:

  1. You can make this with homemade peanut butter cookie dough if you’re an all-homemade kind of cook. I highly recommend my Perfect Peanut Butter Cookie recipe.
  2. My ratio of chocolate in the ganache may sound like it’ll be too sweet, but it’s actually just perfect. Try it; you won’t be sorry!
  3. Ganache sounds like this fancy, scary thing, but literally all you’re doing is melting chocolate and mixing in cream. Bam, you’ve got ganache.
  4. There were originally chopped nuts in this recipe, which I left out for a co-worker with an allergy, but feel free to mix some in.
  5. DON’T overbake! You’ll lose that wonderful chewy texture.DSC_1074

Peanut Butter-Toffee Cookie Bars with Ganache
Adapted from Pillsbury

Ingredients:

For the cookie bars

  • 2 rolls Pillsbury® refrigerated peanut butter cookie dough
  • 1 cup Heath® Bits ‘O Brickle® toffee bits
  • 1 ¼ cups Reese’s® peanut butter baking chips
  • optional: 1 cup chopped walnuts
  • 1 tsp. McCormick® Pure Vanilla Extract

For the ganache

  • 4 oz. semisweet chocolate, chopped
  • 4 oz. milk chocolate, chopped
  • ½ cup heavy cream

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray 13×9-inch pan with nonstick spray. Set aside.
  2. In large bowl, break up the cookie dough, reserving ¼ of the second roll to munch on yourself or bake into cookies. Add toffee bits, peanut butter chips, nuts if desired, and vanilla. Mix with wooden spoon or knead with hands until well blended.
  3. Press dough evenly in bottom of pan. Bake for 18 to 24 minutes or until golden brown, puffed, and set.  Remove from oven to cooling rack. Cool completely, about 1 hour.
  4. In large microwavable bowl, microwave the chocolate and cream in 20 second intervals, stirring well in between. As long as you mix well, it will only take 4 intervals to be able to stir it smooth. Pour over top of cooled cookie and smooth into an even layer. Place in fridge until set, about 20 minutes (put in freezer to speed this up).
  5. Cut cooled cookie into bars. Store in an air tight container.

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White Chocolate-Walnut Toffee + How-To Video

Caution: the candy I’m about to share with you is not for the faint at heart. It’s rich, it’s decadent, and it may just send you into a blissful sugar coma. But is that any reason to steer clear? Most certainly not. In fact, this is the kind of heavenly treat you need to experience at some point in your life. With this, I must offer one last warning: 99% of those who try this candy will develop an addiction.

Better to be addicted to sweets than drugs, right?

My White Chocolate Walnut Toffee is the pinnacle of decadence. From the buttery, nutty, & sweet toffee to the rich, creamy, melt-in-your-mouth white chocolate topping, this stuff has “pure, unadulterated indulgence” written all over it. But is it too much? Of course not. In fact, your sweet tooth is going to thank you. Even if you think there’s not a single sweet tooth in that mouth of yours, this toffee will change that. It’s just divine, loaded with heavenly sweetness and balanced out by a sprinkle of salty walnuts.

This is the kind of indulgence you enjoy in privacy. Close your eyes, melt away, and revel in it. Sweet & salty, smooth & crunchy, it’s a multidimensional experience. But between you and me, this toffee’s got a secret: it’s easy as pie to make. We’re talking beginner-level stuff, and only 5 ingredients required. Too good to be true? No way! You know I’d never lie to you about food.

Whip up a batch of this dreamy confection right now for the perfect gift, or keep it all for your naughty self to enjoy in privacy. Nobody has to know…

A Few Tips Before You Get Cooking:

  1. If you don’t have a candy thermometer, you should be okay. You can basically tell when it’s turned dark amber and is done.
  2. Use milk chocolate or dark chocolate if you prefer.
  3. You can use any kind of nuts you like (or no nuts at all).
  4. This is great for a gift, especially at Christmas time. Decorate it with sprinkles to match the holiday.
  5. Some reviewers of the original recipe say they have an issue with the butter separating. If this happens, just keep mixing to incorporate it back in. If worse comes to worse, you can dot off the extra butter with a paper towel.

White Chocolate Walnut Toffee
Adapted from allrecipes.com

Ingredients:

  • 2 cups butter
  • 2 cups granulated sugar
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 25 oz. good white chocolate (do not use white chocolate morsels; they won’t melt correctly)
  • 1 – 2 cups chopped walnuts

Directions:

  1. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil or parchment paper.
  2. In a large, shallow heavy bottomed saucepan (like a cast iron skillet), combine the butter, sugar and salt. Cook over medium heat, stirring until the butter is melted. Allow to come to a boil, stirring occasionally, and cook until the mixture becomes a dark amber color, and the temperature has reached 285 degrees F (137 degrees C).
  3. As soon as the toffee reaches the proper temperature, pour it out onto the prepared baking sheet and smooth out. Immediately sprinkle the chocolate over the top, and let it set for a minute or two to soften. Gently spread the chocolate into a thin, even layer once it is melted. Sprinkle the nuts over the chocolate, using more or less depending on your preference.
  4. Place the toffee in the refrigerator to chill until set. Break into pieces, and store in an airtight container.

Almond Butter Toffee Cups

It’s the classic saying: “When life gives you almond butter…”

…Or something like that.

When you’ve got a freshly-made batch of almond butter on your hands, you don’t take that stuff for granted. Instead, you turn it into something even more incredible. And that, my friends, is exactly what I did.

My Almond Butter Toffee Cups are the hotter, better-looking sibling of classic peanut butter cups. Think classier, refined, and upgraded. It’s fresh, homemade almond butter speckled with sweet, buttery toffee bits then enveloped in smooth milk chocolate and finished with a teaser sprinkle of more toffee. Oh lord, are these good. They are the sweetest form of sin, the kind that will stop you in your tracks, no matter what you’re doing, so that you can take a moment to savor it.

Did I mention how easy these are to make? All you have to do is layer the almond butter and chocolate in cupcake tins, but you can convince anybody who tries one that you’re a skilled chocolatier. And if you want to make your life even easier, you could go for store-bought almond butter.

Regardless, these candies are a little bit of handheld heaven. My co-workers were in an uproar over the sheer deliciousness of my Almond Butter Toffee Cups when I brought them into work. And I may or may not have single-handedly devoured half a dozen of the delicious devils myself. There’s just something about them that makes you lose all control.

Who am I? What day is it? Am I in heaven?

The answer to the last question is: yes.

A Few Tips Before You Get Cooking:

  1. As I said above, you can use store-bought almond butter if you’re not feeling like breaking out the food processor.
  2. Use dark chocolate if you prefer.
  3. Get my original Peanut Butter Cup recipe here, with a white chocolate variation included. Or perhaps you’d like to try my Biscoff Pretzel Cups?
  4. Since the chocolate isn’t tempered, you should keep these guys cool.
  5. You can make mini ones in a mini muffin tin.

Almond Butter Toffee Cups
By The Smart Cookie Cook

Yield: About 18 cups

Ingredients:

For almond butter

  • 3 cups whole almonds
  • ½ tsp. kosher salt
  • ¼ cup vegetable oil
  • 1 tbsp. light corn syrup
  • 1 tbsp. honey

For filling & cups

  • 1/2 cup powdered sugar
  • 3/4 cup toffee bits, plus more for topping
  • 4 4.4-oz. milk chocolate bars, broken into chunks
  • 2 cups milk chocolate chips

Directions:

  1. Fill two cupcake tins with cupcake liners. Set aside.
  2. Make the almond butter. In a food processor, process the almonds until finely ground. Add the salt and stream in the vegetable oil while pulsing until completely smooth. Pulse in the corn syrup and honey just until evenly distributed.
  3. Use a wooden spoon to mix the powdered sugar and toffee bits into the almond butter. Cover and refrigerate while you prepare the chocolate.
  4. In a large microwave-safe bowl, microwave the chocolate bars and milk chocolate chips in 30 second intervals, making sure to stop and stir in between, until completely smooth and melted. You must stop and stir the chocolate or it will burn. It only takes about 3 or 4 intervals to melt the chocolate if you mix well.
  5. Use a tablespoon or ladle to pour about a tablespoon of chocolate into the bottom of each cupcake tin. Then grab the almond butter mixture from the fridge. Form the almond butter into 1/2-inch balls, then flatten into disks that are smaller than the size of the cups. Place the disks on top of the layer of chocolate. Cover with another generous layer of chocolate and finish with a sprinkle of toffee. Refrigerate until completely set, about 30 minutes. Store in an airtight container in a cool place, preferably the fridge. Allow to sit out a few minutes before eating.

Treasure Box Oatmeal Cookies

If you’re asking “What’s a Treasure Box Cookie?” then you’re asking the wrong question. What you really should be asking is what makes a cookie worthy of such a title.

The answer really is quite simple: said cookie should be filled with treasures, mix-ins equivalent to gold and riches. I don’t know about you, but food and precious jewels are basically on the same level in my book. These edible treasure boxes are stuffed with the most delicious riches: milk chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, toffee, and oatmeal.

Admittedly, these are also called Treasure Box Cookies because Butterscotch Chocolate Chip Toffee Oatmeal Cookies was just too ungodly long.

Call it what you want; you’ll feel as if you’ve hit the jackpot when you bite into one of these cookie. Thick, chewy, soft, and bursting with chocolatey-butterscotchy-toffeey bliss in each bite. Take comfort in knowing that I take care you with these cookies; they are generously stuffed with mix-ins, and when I say you get a bit of something sweet in every bite, I mean it. That combination of creamy chocolate, sweet butterscotch, and nutty toffee is out of this world. So indulgent, so rich. See why they’re Treasure Box Cookies yet?

What I love most is how hearty and comforting these cookies are thanks to that oatmeal. I haven’t had an oatmeal cookie in so long, and I’d forgotten how good they are. It’s the perfect chewy base for the edible treasure inside.

With all that sweet gold buried in mile-thick cookie, you’ll feel like a pirate digging into the “X” that marks that spot when you take that first bite. These are heart-warming and rich, a perfect pick-me-up.

Bake up a batch, and you’ll think you’ve struck gold.

A Few Tips Before You Get Cooking:

  1. Try dark chocolate chips instead of milk. Or, if you’re feeling really adventurous, try peanut butter chips.
  2. Don’t over-bake or the cookies will lose their chewiness.
  3. The bigger the cookie, the better!
  4. Parchment paper = perfect cookies & easy clean-up.

Treasure Box Oatmeal Cookies
Adapted from Baking Illustrated

Makes about 18 large cookies

Ingredients:

  • 2 cups plus 2 tablespoons unbleached all-purpose flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted and cooled until warm
  • 1 cup packed dark brown sugar
  • 1/2 cup granulated sugar
  • 1 large egg plus 1 egg yolk
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 1 cup quick-cooking oats
  • 1/2 cup milk chocolate chips
  • 1/2 cup butterscotch chips
  • 3/4 cups toffee bits

Directions:

1. Whisk the flour, baking soda, and salt together in a medium bowl; set aside.

2. Either by hand or with an electric mixer, mix the butter and sugars until thoroughly blended. Beat in the egg, yolk, and vanilla until combined. Add the dry ingredients while beating at low speed just until combined. Stir in the oatmeal, chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, and toffee bits. Chill the dough in the fridge for at least an hour before continuing.

3. Adjust the oven rack to the middle position and heat the oven to 325 degrees. Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper.

4. Roll about a 1/4 cup of the dough into a ball. Place the formed dough balls on the prepared baking sheets, spacing them 2 1/2 inches apart. If you have time in between forming cookies while other cookies are baking, put the dough back in the fridge so it stays cool.

5. Bake until the cookies are just beginning to turn golden around the outer edges yet the centers are still soft and puffy, 12 to 15 minutes [checking after 10 min]. Do not over-bake; this is crucial for chewy cookies! Remove from oven and cool the cookies on the sheet for one minute. Transfer the cookies from the baking sheets to a cooling rack with a spatula.

Orange Toffee Chocolate Chip Cookies

I am a cookie fiend. I love baking up the little devils, and I love devouring them even more. Cookies are just so fun. There are a myriad of flavors, textures, shapes, and sizes in the cookie world, a cookie for everyone. Plus, they’re generally pretty simple to make, a great choice for the beginner baker or for any foodie craving something sweet. They’re shareable, delicious, and addicting. Cookies are, dare I say, the perfect dessert.

One of my favorite things to do with cookies is shake up a classic. I love me some Thick and Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies. They are honest-to-chocolatey-goodness the best I’ve ever had. I didn’t think they could get any better, that is, until I added some chunks of orange-toffee chocolate into the batter.

Sweet mother of toffee.

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