Comfort Cookies [a.k.a., Dark Chocolate Chip Cookies With Toffee and Sea Salt]
Dark chocolate, homemade toffee bits, a handful of oats and coconut, and a sprinkle of coarse sea salt in a cookie with caramelized edges and soft middles. Comfort in cookie form.
Servings: 12 large cookies
Ingredients
Homemade Toffee Bits (or use store-bought)
- 1/2 c butter
- 1 c light brown sugar, packed
- 1 tsp kosher salt
Comfort Cookies
- 1/2 c butter
- 1 c all-purpose flour
- 1/4 c old-fashioned oats
- 1/4 c shredded coconut
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1 1/2 tsp malt powder, optional
- 1/2 c brown sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 tsp milk
- 1/2 c granulated sugar
- 1 large egg
- 3/4 c chopped dark chocolate (or dark chocolate chips)
- 3/4 c homemade toffee bits
- coarse sea salt, for sprinkling
Instructions
Homemade Toffee Bits (skip if using store-bought)
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.
- In a heavy-bottomed saucepan, melt butter over medium heat, then add brown sugar and salt. Whisk vigorously for about a minute, until everything is well-combined and the sugar has melted. Continue cooking, stirring often, until the mixture reaches right around 300°F on a candy thermometer.Note: if it separates at any point, don't panic. Just remove the pan from the heat and whisk vigorously until it combines again, then return it to the heat and continue cooking.
- Once it reaches 300°F, immediately pour the toffee onto your prepared baking sheet and let it spread out (if you want, you can spread it out further for thinner toffee bits using a heat-proof spatula).
- Let the toffee cool for about 20 minutes, then break it into bits. I've found that tapping it with a wooden spoon breaks it up nicely, but a knife and cutting board will work well too. Or, to avoid flying shards, you can put it in a plastic bag and break it up with a rolling pin or wooden spoon.I like a mixture of big and small bits of toffee in my cookies, but you do you and break them into whatever size you like!
- Measure out 3/4c of toffee bits for your cookies. The remainder can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for a couple weeks. They're great on ice cream, as a cake topping, or just for snacking. 😉
Comfort Cookies
- Brown HALF of the butter (leave the other half at room temp to soften). See my post on Brown Butter for instructions. Pour brown butter into a bowl or other container to cool for 20 minutes.
- In a mixing bowl, combine the flour, oats, coconut, salt, baking soda, and malt powder (if using).
- Using a stand mixer or a handheld mixer, beat the other half of the butter with the brown sugar until smooth, about 2-3 minutes on medium speed. Add vanilla and milk and mix until combined.
- Add the COOLED brown butter and the granulated sugar. Beat until fluffy, about 2 minutes on medium speed.
- Add egg and beat until well combined, about 1 minute.
- Add flour mixture and mix on low just until combined. You should still have some bits of unmixed flour throughout the dough. Fold in chocolate and toffee bits.
- Refrigerate dough for 1 hour (or at least 30 minutes if you can't bear to wait that long ;)). Meanwhile, line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats and preheat your oven to 350℉.
- Using a large cookie scoop or a spoon and your hands, form dough into about 3T balls and place 2" apart on a cookie sheet. Bake for 12-14 minutes, or until beginning to brown around the edges and set in the middle.
- Remove from oven and allow to cool on cookie sheet for about 10 minutes, then move cookies to a cooling rack to cool completely.Note: these cookies tend to spread a lot, and they can look a little wonky. If that bothers you, use a large round cookie cutter to "scoot" the edges of your cookies into a rounder shape while they're still warm, like in this video.
- Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days, or freeze for up to a month.