Butterscotch and Toffee Cookies

If we want something badly enough we can justify to ourselves why we should have it.  For instance, a pair of jeans might give you a muffin top but because they make your legs look really long, you convince yourself that you'll remember to suck your tummy in the WHOLE time you're wearing them (Sound familiar?  Thought so!). 

And so it was with a box of  toffees that have survived in our house since Christmas.  If I listened closely to it, it seems to be saying peculiar things to me like "don't worry, 10 toffees rammed into your mouth all at once in a frantic manner have zero calories" or "eat half the box and just balance it up by eating only cabbage soup tomorrow".  Sometimes I trust these voices and put my greedy hand in the box and demolish a few sneaky toffees.  But during the week I was at the stage where I decided it was time to either throw the box of toffees (and the voices) in the bin or use them up by baking something with them.  I happily chose the latter option!

Butterscotch and Toffee Cookies, adapted from a Simply Recipes recipe.  The original recipe makes about 4 dozen so I've halved the quantities.  I got 26 cookies out of the dough (more than enough!).

Ingredients

85g butter

175g dark brown sugar

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla extract

150g plain flour

1/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda (baking soda)

1/8 tsp baking powder

100g soft toffees, finely chopped

Sugar dredging mixture

2 tbsp brown sugar

2 tbsp granulated sugar

Sea salt / Kosher salt for sprinkling

Method

Preheat oven to 190°C / 375°F and line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Whisk together the flour, baking soda, and baking powder and set aside. Mix together the sugar dredging mixture in another bowl and set aside.
Place about 75g of the butter into a saucepan over medium heat. The butter will foam a bit before subsiding. Once the butter takes on a tan colour and begins to smell nutty, take it off of the heat. Have a look at the photos for Brown Butter Toasted Coconut and Rolo cookies to see the colour you need your butter to be.  Add the remaining butter and mix it in until it melts. 
Pour the brown butter into a mixing bowl. Add the brown sugar and mix. Add the egg and vanilla extract and mix together, scraping down the sides and bottom of the bowl at least once. Add the flour mixture in three increments being sure to scrape down the sides and bottom once or twice. Mix just until the flour is incorporated. Finally, stir in pieces of toffee.  The dough will be very thick.
Take 1/2 to full tablespoon-sized pieces of dough and gently roll them into ball shapes. Dredge them in the sugar dredging mixture until well-coated. Place on the baking sheet and sprinkle with a little bit of the sprinkling salt (be reserved with the salt as very little goes a long way).
Bake for 10-12 minutes or until the edges have browned a bit. Be careful not to over-bake. Allow to cool on the sheet for one minute before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.