I am trying not to go to the grocery store because, at my age, I am staying home as much as possible. So I started looking around my baking pantry selection of ingredients I had on hand. I had a bag of toffee bits that looked intriguing, so the journey begins on what flavors to combine with these toffee bits that will make a fantastic cookie. I usually pick my ingredient flavors first then decide on the type of cookie. Should it be a shortbread, cream cheese, mascarpone, ricotta, or thumbprint? So many choices but first, what goes excellent with toffee bits.
If you look at the breakdown of what ingredients go into making toffee, it will contain molasses, butter, milk, and sometimes flour and salt. The most I know about molasses is making molasses cookies. If you search for molasses cookies after fifty different molasses cookies, you will start to see what others have incorporated into their cookies. A favorite is a form of chocolate, either chips or cocoa powder. Since my toffee was in bits, the right choice was a chocolate cookie.
Not sure if you have noticed, but most of my cookies have three flavors. I'm not sure why, but I kind of thought it needs the three types of ingredients for balance. A great complement to chocolate is orange. The orange will add acidity, giving it a bit of a punch against the more strong chocolate taste.
Chocolate Cookies with Orange and Toffee Bits
Ingredients
- ½ cup Butter unsalted 1 stick room temperature
- 8 oz Cream Cheese softened
- 1 ½ cup Sugar white 297 g
- 1 TBSP Orange zest
- ½ tsp Vanilla Extract
- 2 Eggs
- 1 ¾ cups All purpose flour 210 g
- 2 tsp Baking powder
- ½ tsp Kosher Salt
- ¾ cup Unsweetened cocoa powder 63 g
- ½ cup Walnuts
- 1 cup Toffee bits
- Powdered sugar Sprinkle on top when cooled
Instructions
- Weigh or measure the flour, salt, baking powder, and cocoa powder into a bowl. Run a whisk through to blend and set the bowl aside. In a small bowl, weigh or measure the sugar and set that bowl aside also—zest enough of 1 orange to make 1 TBSP for the cookie dough.
- In a stand or hand-held mixer beat the butter and cream cheese for 2 to 3 minutes on medium speed. Turn the mixer off and scrape down the sides and across the bottom, then add the sugar and turn the mixer to medium-high till light and fluffy (a good 3 minutes). Turn the mixer down to medium-low and add the orange zest and the vanilla extract Next, add one egg at a time till incorporated.
- Turn the mixer to low and slowly add the flour mixture and incorporate, I turn the mixer off and scrape the sides and bottom then turn the mixer on for about another 15 to 30 seconds. Take the bowl off the stand and loosely cover the top with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
- Preheat your over to 350°, and line 2 cookie sheet pans with parchment paper. I use an OXO medium cookie scoop to put 12 mounds on a cookie sheet. Do not flatten the cookie scoop mounds. Bake for 11 - 13 minutes; they will be soft to the touch. Let them sit on the cookie sheet pan for a minute or two before moving them to a cooling rack. I sprinkle a little powdered sugar on top after they cool. These are some of my favorite cookies to make and eat.
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