This was my first year participating in The Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap. I was so excited to share cookies with other bloggers while raising money for Cookies for Kids Cancer. I chose to bake toffee shortbread cookies for the cookie exchange. These cookies start with a standard shortbread cookie dough which has toffee bits mixed into it and scattered on top. The toffee adds the perfect crunchy, buttery compliment to the shortbread cookies.
As fun as it was to bake and ship cookies to fellow bloggers, it was just as fun to receive cookies from others. A huge thank you to:
-Alyson from Wine and Plum for Nutella and Caramel-Stuffed Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies
-Kimberly from Bake Love Give for Peppermint Bark Spritz Cookies
-Amanda from The Coers Family for Andes Mint Swirl Cake Mix Cookies
Your cookies were all delicious and beautifully packaged. Thank you, ladies!
Toffee Shortbread Cookies - The Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap 2013
Ingredients
- 3 sticks unsalted butter slightly softened
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon pure almond extract
- 3 1/2 cups all purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2/3 cup toffee bits I used Heath's Bits O'Brickle
- cup additional 3/4 toffee bits for topping the cookies optional
- powdered sugar or flour for rolling
Instructions
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Preheat oven to 350.
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Beat butter and sugar for several minutes, until light and fluffy. Add vanilla and almond extracts.
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In a separate bowl, combine flour and salt. Add flour to butter mixture, beating on low, until the dough comes together (it might be a little crumbly). Add 2/3 cup toffee bits and stir in by hand until evenly distributed.
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Dump the dough onto a large piece of plastic wrap and press the dough into a disk. Tightly cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes to one hour.
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Lightly sprinkle a flat surface with powdered sugar or flour and roll out the dough until 1/2 inch thick. Using the cookie cutter of your choice, cut the dough into desired shapes and place on a baking sheet, leaving a couple inches between the cookies for spreading.
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Bake for 12-14 minutes, until the edges are light brown. If you'd like to sprinkle additional toffee bits on top of the cookies, pull the baking sheets out a couple minutes shy of being done and sprinkle about a teaspoon of toffee bits on top of each cookie. Return to the oven for several more minutes. This will allow the toffee bits on top of the cookies to melt just slightly but still retain a crunchy texture.
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Cool the cookies completely on the baking sheets.
Recipe Notes
Shortbread adapted from Ina Garten
Those look fabulous! 🙂 I’m so glad the Andes Mint Swirled Cake Mix Cookies made it to you in one piece.
These look amazing! I definitely need to make a batch for my afternoon tea breaks.
Love that these little delights are packed with lots of butter! Yum.
I made Soft-Baked Gingersnap Molasses Cookies, 3 Ways for my Cookie Swap recipe. First timer, but I can’t wait to do it again next year. Happy baking!
Everything is better with butter! 😉 I was a first timer too, it was so fun to participate.
Oh I got these cookies and they were so great. Thanks so much for an amazing cookie experience. I’ll be pinning and making these for the holidays. They were heavenly for real. My family loved them.
Thank you. I am so glad that you enjoyed them! Happy Holidays! 🙂