Zeke’s Toffee Chocolate Chip Cookies
Baking is Zeke’s love language.
If you’ve read Hopefully Unconditional, you know that throughout the book Zeke uses baked goods to show how much he cares for Hendrix. There’s one thing in particular that he makes multiple times: Toffee Chocolate Chip Cookies.
Inspired by ‘the incident’, Zeke makes these cookies for movie night, Thanksgiving dessert, and whenever he feels like Hendrix needs a sweet treat — so he always has the ingredients on hand.
With Zeke’s permission, I’ll be sharing that recipe with you today.
Baker’s Note: They weren’t lying when they said the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach. Well, it’s true for my boyfriend. I’m more of a flowers kinda guy.
Here’s some helpful notes before we get started:
Butter: This recipe calls for melted butter. As someone with AuDHD, my patience to wait for butter to completely melt varies. The day I made this recipe, the butter sticks hadn’t completely melted after a minute in the microwave because they were in the back of the fridge where it’s really cold. So, I used partially melted butter.
Vanilla Extract: Zeke never measures vanilla extract, adding it directly into the bowl instead of using a measuring spoon. When asked why he said using your heart to feel the right amount needed is the only accurate measurement. I didn’t measure either so, although the recipe says 1 teaspoon, it was likely a bit more.
Chocolate Chips: Zeke’s a chocolate chip snob (as am I) and we’ll only use Guittard Milk Chocolate Baking Chips. The chips are bigger than most other chocolate chips, so feel free to adjust the amount you add based on how small your chocolate chips are.
Mixer: You can make this dough using whatever mixer you have on hand. I have a Bosch Universal Stand Mixer and Zeke swears by the brand new Ankarsrum Assistent Original Stand Mixer he got as a gift from his boyfriend’s family. If you have a Kitchenaid or a bowl with a hand mixer, Zeke told me he’s made these cookies using both of those methods and they still turned out delicious.
The size of your mixer/mixing bowl will determine how much flour you add at a time. I added all three cups to mine at once, but you might need to add them one at a time.
Chilled Dough: I hate chilling dough because, as mentioned above, I’m impatient. So when Zeke suggested forming the cookie dough balls and then chilling them before baking, I wasn’t happy. But apparently this step is necessary to help ensure the toffee pieces don’t completely disintegrate into a bubbly mess. To speed up the chilling process, I opted to put the dough in the freezer instead of the fridge.
This recipe is essentially a chocolate chip cookie with toffee bits added. Sounds simple enough, right? Without further ado, let’s get to baking.
Ingredients:
1 cup melted butter (2 sticks)
1 cup brown sugar*
½ cup granulated sugar
⅓ cup malted milk powder
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
3 cups all purpose flour
1&½ cups milk chocolate chips
1 cup English Toffee bits
*Zeke uses light brown sugar but my brown sugar container has a mixture of dark and light (there’s no reason other than the store was out of light brown sugar during my last grocery store trip, so I added the dark brown sugar to the container and mixed it up so it looks super pretty).
Instructions:
Add cold sticks of butter to a microwave safe bowl and microwave for 1 minute.
In a mixing bowl, add brown sugar, granulated sugar, melted butter, and mix until combined.
Next add the malted milk powder, baking soda, salt, eggs, vanilla extract, and mix until combined.
Add flour and mix until combined, taking breaks to scrape the sides of the bowl.
Fold in chocolate chips and toffee pieces using a wooden spoon or silicone spatula.
Using a ¼ cup measuring cup, scoop out the dough and form into a ball.
Line dough balls on a parchment lined baking sheet and press down on each one to slightly flatten it.
Use the new flatter surface area to press additional pieces of toffee chips onto the top of the cookie.
Place dough in the freezer for 30-45 minutes.
While the dough is in the freezer, preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Transfer frozen dough to another baking sheet (Zeke and I use a baking stone) and bake cookies for 11-13 minutes or until edges are golden brown. Don’t overbake! The middle should still look barely done.
Once out of the oven, let the cookies sit of the baking sheet for another 5 minutes
Transfer to a cooling rack.
Enjoy! The recipe makes about 22 cookies.
These cookies are amazing to eat while warm and gooey with a glass of milk or a scoop of ice cream. You can also put them in the microwave for 10 seconds to return them to their warm and gooey goodness.
Storage:
You can store the cookies in an airtight container for up to five days (if they last that long).
Wanna keep some cookie dough on hand? You can freeze the cookie dough balls for up to 2 months.
Zeke and I hope you enjoy these cookies. I asked him to share a few more recipes, so keep an eye out for the October recipe blog post: Chai Snickerdoodles.
If you haven’t already, check out Hopefully Unconditional to learn more about Zeke and Hendrix’s baking filled love story.
