Gram's English Toffee Cookies

Gram’s English Toffee Cookies

A while back I was going thru some of my grandmother's recipes and I found her hand written recipe for these cookies. I haven’t actually done a survey of my brothers and sisters, but I’m sure if I asked what was their favorite food item that Gram used to make, I suspect they’d name her toffee cookies. Oh, all her cookies were good, but these were a couple notches above the rest.

They are certainly the one food item that caused the most disobedience in my parents domain. I remember all the Christmas cookies laid out on the dining room table and hearing the stern warnings not to touch them until the Christmas activities started. For some reason however, the plate with the toffee cookies was never full when the festivities got under way. Sometimes the culprit was caught and punished, but more often than not, the thief (or thieves) absconded with their booty, chewing as they slinked away to the back of the house, without getting nabbed. I, certainly, refrained from such nefarious activity. I was always angelic in my behavior during my youth.

As an adult, I’m not much for sweets, but I confess I still have a weakness for these cookies. They are a lot easier to make than they are to keep intact for the holiday party, that’s for sure. You’ll have to keep a watchful eye on them, or my dastardly siblings may pillage and plunder your treasure.

1/2 lb. butter, room temperature

1 cup of brown sugar

2 cups of flour

1 egg yolk

2 tsp. vanilla

8 oz. milk chocolate 

1 cup walnuts, chopped

Preparation

Using a mixer, beat the butter and brown sugar together until well blended. Add the egg yolk and the flour along with the vanilla. Mix well. Spread onto a cookie sheet and bake at 350º for about twenty minutes.

While the cookie is baking, melt the chocolate. When the cookie comes out of the oven, spread the warm, melted chocolate over the cookie. Sprinkle the chocolate with the chopped walnuts. Cut the cookies into individual squares and let them cool. Try not to eat them before your guests come.

Serving

If you have any left by the time you finish your Christmas dinner of roast turkey, ham, mashed potatoes, gravy and all the other trimmings, count you blessings. Serve these cookies with all the other Christmas cookies (but grab a half dozen for your self first) along with French Roast coffee and maybe some cherry pie. Tis the season!