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Soft toffee cookies

These easy toffee cookie bars will easily feed the crowd at your holiday party.

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The Kitchen Paper
Soft toffee cookies topped with pecans make a delicious holiday treat.

Less than two weeks until Christmas! That means EAT ALL THE COOKIES!!

Last week Portland got a good ol’ Portland snow storm, which means about 1-inch of snow that turns to ice and shuts down the entire city for two days. I am definitely not complaining, since it meant I got to work from home Thursday and Friday – and make cookies!  I thought we’d go to the office Friday, and therefore I’d take cookies in, but … we ended up being closed both days, so I just sat at home and ate a pile of these soft toffee cookies: a personal favorite.

These are one of my favorite Christmas cookies, and bring back super strong memories from my childhood – we’d request more of these all throughout December since they’d be gone in a flash! I’m not sure why they’re called “toffee cookies” though – they’re more like soft, cinnamon bars. Also, super easy to make: no frosting, rolling, cutting, etc.

If you need more cookie inspiration, check out everyone else participating in a virtual cookie swap today, hosted by The Modern Proper! We’ll all be sharing with #CalmandBrightCookieNight, and sharing some of our favorite holiday cookie recipes. Here’s a list of what everone else made:

What are your favorite holiday cookies? Any I should definitely try this year?

The general gist of this recipe is: cream the butter and sugar together, add egg yolk and vanilla, then the three dry ingredients (flour, salt, cinnamon). The dough comes together really easily, and isn’t sticky! Press it into a buttered baking sheet, spread with egg-white, and press in the pecans. Bake! Cut! Eat! Enjoy! Repeat!

Soft Toffee Cookies
From Mom's Christmas Cookbook
Serves: 50+

2 cups butter, room temperature
2 cup brown sugar
2 eggs, yolk and whites divided
2 teaspoons vanilla
4 cups flour
1/2 tsp salt
4 tablespoons cinnamon
2+ cups chopped pecans

1. Preheat the oven to 250 degrees F.

2. In a stand mixer, cream together the butter and brown sugar together.

3. Add egg yolk and vanilla, mix until incorporated.

4. In a separate bowl, combine flour, salt, and cinnamon. Add to butter mixture and mix until combined.

5. Pat out 1/4-inch to 1/3-inch thick on a greased 12- x 18-inch pan*. Use your hands to thinly spread one unbeaten egg white over the top, then sprinkle and gently press in chopped pecans.

6. Bake for 45 minutes. Cut into 1.5" squares while still warm.

Notes: This is a double recipe, since I use a rather large baking sheet and like my toffee cookies thick. You can make a half recipe, but you'll want a baking sheet on the smaller side. BAKING TIME will be affected based on double/single recipe, and how thick you end up pressing them! You can tell they're done when the edges are set and slightly golden, and the egg-white over the entire thing is nicely browned.

Related post on The Kitchen Paper: Gingerbread Cookies That Won’t Spread

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