Refrigerator Toffee Shortbread Cookies

Refrigerator Toffee Shortbread Cookies

Crispy crunchy toffee gives these cookies a great texture and special flavor.

These cookies are almost just like Crunchy Caramel Chocolate Chip Pecan Shortbread Cookies I made a couple of months ago. I'm on a refrigerator cookie kick, though, so I decided to roll the dough, refrigerate, and slice. Also, I made good toffee for this--not the defective crunchy caramel I used in the other cookies. I was really shooting for a crisp little toffee cookie like my mom gets at Smart & Final in California. Well, in the end, these are bigger, but taste great. They don't have that artificial flavor charm that the Smart & Final cookies had, but that's fine by me.
These are a simple, crisp cookie. Sweet, buttery, and crunchy from the toffee. You can bake them for a shorter time to keep them softer, but I like them crisp. The humidity is fighting with me anyway, though, so these will get soft in a few hours, I'm sure.
I'm glad I had to give most of these away, because they are really delicious, and I'm likely to eat too many.

Refrigerator Toffee Shortbread Cookies

Ingredients:

• 1 cup butter,softened, but cool
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 egg
• 2 ¼ cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
• ¾ teaspoon baking soda
• ½ cup chopped pecans
• ½ heaping cup chocolate chips or chopped dark chocolate chunks (optional)
• 3/4 cup toffee chips (like Heath Bits, or use recipe below)

Instructions:

Cream butter and sugar.

Add vanilla and egg. 

Sift dry ingredients together and add to mixture.

Stir in toffee bits and chocolate, if you're including it.

Divide dough in half and place each half on a sheet of parchment or wax paper. With your hands, shape each half of dough into  a rough log. Then roll up in the paper and try to shape smoothly. (There are various techniques for doing this. Check out YouTube. One day I'll do a quick video and put it here.) 
Place cookie dough rolls in refrigerator and chill for at least one hour. 
When dough is chilled, preheat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit.
Line a baking sheet with parchment, cut 12 quarter-inch slices of dough and place evenly on parchment lined baking sheet.

Bake at 325°F for approximately 12-15 minutes.

Remove to wire rack to cool.  Then store in an airtight container.
Makes about 5 dozen cookies

Dough logs

I only put chocolate in half this batch.

English Toffee Bits

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup packed C & H Light Brown Sugar 
• 1/2 cup C & H White Sugar
• 1/2 cup butter

Directions
1. Line a square Pyrex pan (8X8) with parchment paper or non-stick foil. 
2. In a heavy saucepan heat butter and sugar to boiling over medium heat, stirring constantly. Boil over medium heat until it reaches 300° on a candy thermometer. Pour into prepared pan and evenly spread with a silicone (not rubber) spatula. Allow to cool completely.
3. Break toffee up into big chunks with your hands and then on a clean cutting board, chop into smaller bits. Alternately, you can place toffee in a gallon zip top bag and hit/roll it with a rolling pin until you have bits. Of course, you'll get some toffee powder too, but that's okay. Don't store the leftovers in this bag, though, because there will be holes in the bag after pounding the toffee. Be sure to taste some to see if it's good.

Makes about 1 1/2 cups of toffee bits. Use the extra to make some toffee chocolate chip cookies or use as an ice cream topping. They'll keep in a zip top bag for a few weeks as long as you keep them in a cool, dry place.