Soft toffee cookies

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

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:

• Wood and Spoon – Candied Walnut Chocolate Chip Cookies
• Floating Kitchen – Chocolate Peppermint Thumbprint Cookies
• Brewing Happienss – Mint Chocolate Gingerbread Cookies
• The Vintage Mixer – Ginger Creams with Browned butter Icing
• Wu Haus – Raw Vegan Gingerbread Cookie Sandwiches
• The Modern Proper – Coconut Thumbprint Cookies with Salted Caramel
• The Almond Eater – Homemade Almond Biscotti
• Chocolate + Marrow – Brown Butter Gingerbread Madeleines
• Hungry Girl Por Vida – Lemon Pistachio Linzer Cookies
• Honestly YUM – Ricciarelli (Italian Almond Cookies)
• Husbands That Cook – Chocolate Sugar Cookies
• The Judy Lab – Sea Salt Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies
• Gather and Dine – Chocolate Almond Spelt Cookies
• Betty S Liu- Cardamom Persimmon Cookies with Olive Oil Dark Chocolate Ganache
• Harvest and Honey – Milk & Cookies
• Bakerita – Chocolate Rugelach (gluten free + refined sugar free)
• The Fauxmartha – Snowball cookies
• Life Is But A Dish – Chocolate Peppermint Cream Cookies
• Oh Honey Bakes Pomegranate Pistachio and Almond Biscotti
• The Brick Kitchen – Coconut Raspberry Wagon Wheels
• Alexandra Cooks – Classic Cream Cheese Cutout Cookies
• Hello My Dumpling – Ginger Viennese Whirl Cookies with Matcha Passion Fruit Filling
• Snixy Kitchen – Peppermint Chocolate Marshmallow Cookies
• Tending the Table – Almond Macaroons with Satsuma Marmalade
• Milly’s Kitchen – Grapefruit Fennel Shortbread Cookies
• PDX Food Love – Chocolate Bourbon Swirl Meringues
• Lasting Ingredient – Lemon Lime Shortbread
• Heart Beet Kitchen Chocolate Peppermint Crinkle Cookies
• Carly Diaz – Dark Chocolate Pistachio Shortbread Cookie
• Cloudy Kitchen – Early Grey Shortbread
• Lena’s Kitchen Blog Shortbread Cookies Three Ways

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