Last updated on June 13th, 2025
Table of contents
Toffee Chocolate Chip Cookies are rich, buttery, and loaded with chocolate chunks, toffee bits, toasted pecans, and a little bit of bourbon. My vintage inspiration is a spin on Toffee Squares, a 1971 “Homemade Cookies“ cookbook recipe by the Food Editors of Farm Journal.
My vintage inspiration for these chocolate chunk cookies with toffee recipe came from a recipe for Toffee Squares from my 1971 Homemade Cookies Cookbook published by the Food Editors of Farm Journal.
My modern modifications to the original recipe included: converting the recipe into cookies instead of squares, adding white sugar, adding 1 egg, adding more salt, doubling the vanilla, adding bourbon, swapping out the shortening for all butter, and adding bits-o-brickle toffee bits with chocolate.
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Ingredients
Wet Ingredients
- Butter is made from churned cream that contains 80% butterfat. European butter is churned longer and has a higher fat content (82%-85%), which is why it yields more flavor.
- Sugar is a made by processing the juice of the sugarcane plant. Cane sugar is a natural option that is less processed with a slightly courser texture.
- Brown sugar is granulated sugar combined with molasses, sold as either light brown sugar (with 3.5% molasses) or dark brown sugar (with 6.5% molasses) for a more robust flavor.
- Eggs are produced by female chickens and are important in baking because their proteins provide structure, they act as a natural leaving agent by trapping air that expands during baking, and they add moisture to baked goods.
- Vanilla provides hints of caramel and spice, enhancing the depth of flavor to baked goods. Always use a high-quality, all-natural brand made from real vanilla beans containing at least 35% alcohol.
Dry Ingredients
- All-purpose unbleached flour is made by grinding the seeds of the wheat plant and removing the bran and germ. It has a moderate protein content of 10-12%, making it a versatile option for baking cookies, cakes, and pastries.
- Instant ClearJel is a modified food starch used as a thickener, stabilizer, and gelling agent, that helps retain moisture and produces a light, tender texture in baked goods.
- Baking powder is a leavening agent that contains both an acid, like cream of tarter, and a base, like baking soda to help baked goods rise. Use a double-acting aluminum-free baking powder to avoid a bitter aftertaste.
- Pink salt is a natural rock salt mined near the Himalayas that contains trace minerals
Mix-Ins
- Chocolate chips are cocoa solids and cocoa butter and depending on their cocoa content will vary in sweetness. They range from dark chocolate (50-90% cocoa solids), semi-sweet chocolate (40-60% cocoa solids) and milk chocolate (10-40% cocoa solids). For this recipe use semi-sweet chocolate chunks.
- English Toffee bits with chocolate are crushed Heath candy bars with a crunchy, buttery toffee that is coated in milk chocolate.
- Pecans are a tree nut that grown on pecan trees in the United States and Mexico. They add texture and sweet nuttiness flavor to baked goods.
Homemade Ingredients
VANILLA: Purchase Grade B vanilla beans (also called extract-grade), which have less moisture and a more concentrated flavor. Place 8 oz. of bourbon (or vodka) in glass bottle or jar. Split 5-7 vanilla beans down the middle and add to bottle. Let it sit for 3-6 months in a cool, dark place. As you use it, continue to replace the bourbon and add more beans as it keeps for many years.
Baker’s Tips
- For thick cookies: chill the batter and bake on Silpat baking mat and bake on Silpat baking mat to ensure less spread.
- For thin and crispy cookies: scoop out cookie dough and put straight into the oven and use parchment paper and scoop cookie dough and put them right into the oven as it will create more spread.
- If time allows, let the batter rest as hydrating the flour is an important step for a light and tender bake. This step will also let the bourbon flavor meld into the batter.
- Use semi-sweet chocolate chips to balance out the sugar, however, dark chocolate or milk chocolate chips will also work as well or other shapes like mini-chocolate chips or chocolate chunks.
- Toss chocolate chips or other mix-ins in a little bit flour before adding them to the batter to evenly distribute them in the batter. For bakery style cookies-place a few chocolate chips on top of the cookie puck.Use your favorite chocolate chips such as semi-sweet, bittersweet, white chocolate chips, toffee bits or a combination.
- Toast the nuts before adding to the cookies to incorporate more flavor. Rough chop them in mini food chopper. Place chopped nuts on a baking sheet and bake at 350° for 5 minutes.
- Use light-colored, aluminum cookie sheets to reflect even heat during the baking process. Dark cookie sheets conduct more heat off the surface, which could darken the edges before they are fully cooked through.
- For even browning, place only 2 cookie sheets in the oven at the same time. Place the cookie sheet horizontally and rotate them halfway through the baking process. To rotate, spin the cookie sheets around 180° and swap the cookie sheets from top to bottom and vice versa.
Dietary Substitutions
For the past 12+ years, I have owned an all-natural specialty bakery converting conventional recipes to gluten free, vegan, wholesome, etc. Read more about it here.
TO MAKE GLUTEN-FREE
Here are some tips for gluten free baking
- Use a premium gluten-free flour blend.
- Be sure to let the batter rest to help eliminate grittiness. Even letting the batter sit 15 minutes will yield a light and tender baked good. You can let batter sit in the fridge overnight, and up to 3 days.
- Add 1-2 tablespoons additional liquid (use the same liquid called for in the recipe) to help hydrate the flour.
- Reduce the oven temperature by at least 25° to bake low and slow, since gluten-free flour is delicate and tends to burn baked goods before the center is cooked through.
- Gluten-free baked goods have a shorter shelf-life than conventional baked goods and dry out faster. Store in airtight container on counter 1-2 days. The refrigerator tends to dry them out more, so it is best to freeze up to 6 months.
TO MAKE VEGAN/DAIRY FREE
- Swap out the butter with vegan butter. I use Violife Plant Butter.
- To replace the egg, place 1 tsp. of baking soda into your baked good and pour 1 T. white vinegar on top of the baking soda.
Equipment
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STORAGE
Pre-baked cookies:
- You can make the batter and store until ready to bake.
- Short-term, scoop the batter into cookie pucks/balls and place in storage container until use.
- Long-term, place all of the mixed batter into a ziploc bag or storage container and let the batter come to room temperature before scooping into cookie pucks/balls.
Baked cookies:
- Store baked cookies in airtight container on counter 1-2 days.
- Seal in in freezer safe container for up to 6 months. Place cookies in layers lined with parchment paper. You can also individually heat seal cookies and place them in a larger container.
- To thaw frozen cookies, allow them to come to room temperature before opening the container.
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Ingredients
Equipment
Method
- Gather equipment: mixer with paddle attachment, measuring cups & spoons, parchment sheets or silicone baking mat, cookie sheets
- Rough chop the pecan and place on baking sheet at 350° for 5-8 minutes.
- Prepare baking sheets with parchment paper. Whisk together dry ingredients.
- Beat together butter, sugar, brown sugar, egg and yolk, and vanilla. Mix until light and fluffy.
- Add dry ingredients and mix together.
- Add in chocolate chunks, toffee bits, and pecans and mix until just incorporated.
- Use a medium cookie scoop and drop dough on baking sheets roughly 1" apart.
- If time allows, place cookie pucks in airtight container and chill one hour or overnight.
- Bake at 350° for 13-15 minutes. Let cookies cool and store in air-tight container.
Notes
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