What's Up Cupcake?: Sweet Treats Saturday: Toffee Almond Chocolate Chip Cookies

I can't believe that I haven't written about these cookies before. As a matter of fact, if I have, the first person to find it gets a prize! No seriously, these cookies are delicious. I stumbled across the recipe on the Two Peas and Their Pod blog. As I may have mentioned before (several hundred times), I love toffee. It's up there with sea salt and caramel for me. So making these cookies was an obvious choice. However, the first time I made them, I had no idea what 'almond paste' was. I scoured the bakery aisle at my grocery store looking for it, just assuming that was the section it would be stored in. Just as I had given up hope, I saw the tubular box of almond paste tucked away by the chocolate chips. This time when I made the cookies, I was prepared. I sent the hubby out to buy the marzipan for my sheep cupcakes, knowing the almond paste would be right beside it on the shelf. What a pity if it fell into the cart and I had to make these again...

Almond paste, ready to use

So here I was with a tube of almond paste ready to make these toffee cookies again. They whip up just like any other batch of chocolate chip cookies, but with this delicious ingredient. Another bonus to these cookies is the toffee to chocolate ratio. I'm not a big fan of super chocolate-y cookies, so if you prefer more, I would swap out some of the toffee for more chocolate chips. The current ratio is just right for the consistency of the batter, so you don't want to add too many fillings or you'll be left with little batter to make up the actual cookie.

Enough rambling, on to the recipe!

Cookies!

Chocolate Chip Almond Toffee Cookies
From Two Peas and Their Pod

2 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
3 ounces almond paste
2 large eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups chopped toffee (homemade, Skor, or Heath bar are all fine)
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat. Set aside.

2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients. Set aside.

3. In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the butter and sugars together with the beater blade for about two minutes. Add the almond paste in pieces and mix until well combined. Add in eggs one at a time. Add the vanilla extract and mix well.

Now that is batter that makes you want to lick the spoon

4. Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients slowly mix until dry ingredients disappear. Stir in toffee and chocolate chips. Scoop dough onto prepared baking sheet with a medium cookie scoop. Bake for 12-14 minutes or until cookies are golden brown around the outside. Let cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes and then transfer to a cooling rack.