Brown Butter Toasted Coconut & Toffee Cookies

"Kayle make a dessert for Hawaii-an themed Sunday at Grandma's."
"Kayle make cookies."
"Kayle I don't like coconut, can't you make something using pineapple--"

NO! NO PINEAPPLE! I WILL USE COCONUT AND YOU WILL ALL LOVE IT!

And they did. So there..

OH HAIIIII!

Sorry about my little re-enactment of the convos that led to these cookies. I felt like you should've been there with me. Anyway, as you can see I was tasked to make a tropical cookie and I chose to use coconut because...well...I love coconut and have a bunch of it right now. So I decided to use this base recipe but really punch it up by adding browned butter (of course) and just-more toasted coconut and toffee. Because...yum. And there's still oats in there 'cuz they add awesome chewiness to the texture.

For the record, many of my family members who insisted they didn't like coconut loved these. (They also said they weren't very coconut-y and I was like "uhhh yes they are. You're a crazy person.") They are very chewy yet crunchy and the toffee and coconut....mmm! A couple people said the flavors reminded them of a Samoa....and....yeah....that's awesome. I wish I still had some left over because I know my friend Carla (of the Chocolate Moosey) would totally love them and today she and I are having a HANG OUT DAY! We're spending the day out and about in Cleveland (since I visited her in Pittsburgh last) and pretty much eating all the food. If you want to follow our adventures I'm sure we'll be posting to our instagrams so check out @kayleblogna and @chocolatemoosey.

Brown Sugar Toffee Dark Chocolate Chip Cookies

 Soooo....Monday I gave you healthy cookies. Today? Not exactly. But they are YUMMMYYYY!

And totally worth cheating on your diet for. Everyone says denying yourself is bad anyway, right?

And btw the title for these cookies should really be: Brown Butter Brown Sugar Toffee Dark Chocolate Chip Cookies with Sea Salt. But...that's a bit long, hm? So I shortened it slightly. Brown butter and sea salt are pretty much a given at this point with me anyway, yes?

Honestly, I had an excuse to make these cookies-the wonderful folks over at Golden Barrel sent me over some of their Supreme Baking Molasses to try and I had to do it justice! (FYI Golden Barrel is a Lancaster, PA based company that are all about tradition and pure, quality products. In addition to molasses they also have oils, syrups, baking mixes, sugars, soups, and more!)

And yes...I have a cutting board in the shape of Ohio. I am that cool. 

Anyway. My main knowledge of molasses is that it's what makes brown sugar (you add it to granulated sugar and voila! Brown sugar) so I wanted to use a recipe that would really be pumping up that molasses-y brown sugar flavor. Most people would think "Gingersnaps!" or something like that. But when I think of brown sugar cookies I think of chocolate chip cookies. Soooo I took one of my fave cookie recipes and I really turned up the molasses element (for one thing...I added 2 tbsp. of molasses. But I also subbed in some dark brown sugar instead of regular light.) And, to me, brown butter is best buddies with brown sugar. Samesies with toffee-but I really wanted to get some nice chunks of toffee in every bite so, instead of using toffee chips, I chopped up some Heath bars. And then to help cut the vast amounts of sweetness....dark chocolate. And sea salt on top. These are a few of Kayle's faaaavorite thiiiings!

And I told myself I'd only eat one a day. But then....I made them. And smelled them. And tasted them and....I CAN'T RESIST! They're so perfectly chewy yet crisp they're so complex and almost smoky and the toffee is crunchy and sweet and the chocolate chips are gooey and have a little bit of a bite to them and there's salt and just....ugh you guysssss. They're SO DELICIOUS. Not kidding. About to eat one right now.

I don't want to live in a world without these cookies.

Brown Butter Pecan Toffee Cookies-Cookie Week 2014!

Welcome to the day 3 of Cookie Week, hosted by Kim of Cravings of a Lunatic and Susan of The Girl In the Little Red Kitchen! We’ve teamed together with 10 other talented bloggers to bring you 5 fantastic days of cookie recipes to get you in to the holiday spirits. If you are feeling a mid-week slump, then there is no better way to beat it than a big dose of cookie love! Please make sure to check out and enter our fantastic giveaway and check out our #CookieWeek Pinterest board full of all the cookie recipes you’ll see here this week!
Our sponsors for this event have provided us with some great prizes and we’d like to extend a huge thank you for their generosity. Thanks to Imperial Sugar, Circulon, Peanut Butter & Co. and Page Street Publishing for being a part of Cookie Week!

 Let's see what's baking up in the oven today:

Maple Peanut Butter Sandwich Cookies by The Girl In The Little Red Kitchen

S'mores Cookies by Cravings of a Lunatic

Banana Walnut Biscotti by Chocolate Moosey

Brown Butter Pecan Toffee Cookies by The Cooking Actress

Candy Topped Toffee Squares by That Skinny Chick Can Bake

Maple Walnut Shortbread Cookies by Hungry Couple

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies by Dinners, Dishes and Desserts

Savory Cheddar Coins by Crumb

White Chocolate Cranberry Ginger Cookies by Jen's Favorite Cookies

These are some of the better cookies I've made in awhile. In fact-I gave a couple of these to friends of mine and Michael's and they have two 5 year old daughters. I snuck them the cookies and made it clear that these were adult cookies and would be wasted on children. They just can't appreciate the nuances, the overt amount of taste SENSATION that you will undergo if you eat these cookies. Upon eating his secret cookie, David assured me that I was correct. Way too good to share with the kiddos :P.

That said...I love children. By all means give your kids these cookies-they'll love 'em. They'll love them even more in 20 years. :D

It's kind of hilarious...I think my particular cookie preferences are starting to skew Michael's and my view of the world. Recently I made some perfectly acceptable CCC's-but Michael remarked they almost tasted like a sugar cookie. They didn't. They were much more of a classic chocolate chip cookie, though, and I tend to make a lot of very brown sugar heavy cookies-so in comparison they tasted almost like a sugar cookie. Ah....perspective is a funny thing.

These cookies are browned butter perfection-it's in the dough and the pecans are toasted in the nutty buttery goodness. They are made with dark brown sugar-which adds that extra special mollases-y wonderful flavor. Toffee, my crunchy little friends, are the extra special final element. And salt. Of course. They're crisp yet chewy and sturdy but slightly tender on the insides and then you get a delightful crunch from the pecans and toffee. These are very serious cookies, my friends.

Brown Butter Salted Pretzel and Toffee Peanut Butter Cup Stuffed Cookies

 

You know how there are cupcake bakeries (and now like doughnut ones too)? I sort of have a dream of having a cookie bakery. And by dream I mean...it sounds great in theory but then when I think about the amount of work, and the business stuffs, and being someone's boss....ugh. But I love the idea of baking and selling people cookies! Why can't life just be simple like that, hm? 

Anyway, this comes up because these cookies would be PERFECT to sell at a cookie bakery. They're big, they're chewy, they're full of yummy deliciousness, they're sturdy, and-oh yeah-they're pretty! Look at those cute little pretzels on top of cookies! Adorbs. Heck, they're lovely even sans pretzel. (Because that pretzel is, in fact, entirely optional.) What is not optional, however, is the salt. I mean...I guess it is. But...cmon...haven't you realized by now how MIRACULOUS sea salt sprinkled on cookies is??! IT'S WONDEROUS!

Anyway, let me break down this explosion of cookie deliciousness right heeere: browned butter. 2 sticks of it. Mandatory. Lots of toffee bits (I'm obsessed with toffee lately). Maybe some chocolate chips (if your toffee bits are naked-AKA sans chocolate-as mine were). Some little chopped up pieces of salty pretzels. Oh and a peanut butter cup surprise stuffed in the middle. And sea salt sprinkled on top of all 'o' that.

!!!

It's like a taste-bud adventure. Each bite of this cookie is completely new and different, and awesome! 

Michael and I both agree that the pb cup is really not necessary-but then, we're sort of on a kick where browned butter and toffee and salt are really all we need in a cookie. We need to force variety upon ourselves, however, and the pb cups ARE a tasty little treat inside.

I am guilty of eating a minimum of 3 of these cookies for every day that we had them, until they ran out.

....my plan to not be fat for my wedding is not off to a great start.

...whatever. WORTH IT!

Toffee & Milk Chocolate Peanut Butter Cookies (Gluten Free)

I made these cookies a couple weeks ago, during yet ANOTHER snowstorm. It was coming down, all gross, and I was fed. up! I seriously....this winter. I can't even handle it. Every time I think "maybe it's done." another snowstorm hits! It makes it SO difficult to get anything done in NYC (laundry when there's snow on the ground? Not happening.) So, I was feeling quite cranky. So, what could I do?

Make cookies. Obviously.

Cookies make every day better, in my opinion. And these TOTALLY did perk me up! Now, one thing to remember when whipping this delicious (one bowl) recipe up--they do need chilled. For at least 2 hours, or up to 5 days. Now, I knew snow was coming, so I made these the night before the storm, so the dough was good to go when I awoke the next morning to just....way too much icy white stuff. It was actually sort of nice that the dough was already ready, I just looked outside, got cranky, then began preheating the oven. Next thing I knew I had cookies!

Mmmmm cookies. Cookies that are just a little bit crisp, but mostly soft and cheeewwwyyyy and gooey in the centers. Cookies FULL of peanut butter flavor (no flour=less to take away from that peanut buttery goodness), with crunchy little bites of toffee, and gooey wonderful bites of rich milk chocolate. Ahh these cookies. Delightful when they are warm from the oven, and matured and complex and perfect at room temperature. 

Now, these cookies you see in my pictures might be a little more brown than yours will be. You see, you're not supposed to use homemade or natural pb in these, it doesn't make for the best texture. And I happened to have a bunch of PB & Co peanut butters hanging around. So...I sort of frankenstein'd it up and used a mix  of honey peanut butter, white chocolate peanut butter, and dark chocolate peanut butter (and that is to blame for the slightly darker color). I would've just used regular peanut butter but hey, either way...DELISH.

And let's not forget that these perfect little treats are gluten free, and I know A TON of people who are off that gluten but cravinggg sweets. Friends, never fear-THESE COOKIES ARE HERE!

Brown Butter Salted Caramel Stuffed Toffee Chip Cookies for #CookieWeek

Here it is, my last #cookieweek post (although it lasts until the end of tomorrow, so you still have time to enter the giveaway and get more awesome recipes from the other participants!)! Susan of The Girl In The Little Red Kitchen and Kim of Cravings of a Lunatic have joined together this week with 23 of their blog friends to present to you a week of cookie treats! We have every type of cookie you can think of listed this week, including something for our furry friends! Now is the time to bookmark these recipes for the upcoming holidays and cookie swaps or simply visit our Pinterest board! Make sure you enter the giveaway with some fabulous prizes from KitchenAid, King Arthur Flour, OXO, Silpat and Zulka Pure Cane Sugar to help with your cookie making needs!

These cookies have been elevated in the pantheons to one of the all time best cookies that have ever graced my lips. But that's no surprise. I used one of my fave cookie bases (from these)-which has browned butter, used toffee chips, stuffed them with SALTED CARAMEL SAUCE, and sprinkled them with some more salt. Honestly...there's really no way to go wrong with these.

Now, like I said, there is caramel sauce stuffed inside these cookies. And caramel tends to ooze. So don't be alarmed if, when you pull the cookies out of the oven, you see some caramel has oozed out of them. That's totally ok. You can just use your spatula to mush it back to the edge of the cookie. Or leave it and just eat it as is. Yumminess either way.

These cookies are BIG.

They're crisp, yet chewy.

They have delicious bites of toffee, and ooey gooey salted caramel.

THEY ARE IRRESISTIBLE.

You're gonna love 'em.

Now check out all the other #CookieWeek recipes for today!:

• Bethmännchen cookies by Masala Herb
• Chewy Brigadeiro Pecan Bars by Food Lust People Love
• Chocolate Cookie Thumbprints with Sweet Pepper Jelly by Omeletta
• Chocolate-Stuffed Gingerbread Cookies by i heart eating
• Earl Grey Icebox Cookies by Crumb
• Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookies by Frugal Antics of a Harried Homemaker
• Homemade Thin Mints by The Girl In The Little Red Kitchen
• Malted Chocolate Chip Cookies by Like Mother Like Daughter
• Miso Sesame Cookies by NinjaBaking.com
• Peppermint Cream Thumbprint Cookies by Beyond Frosting
• Salted Caramel Stuffed Toffee Chip Cookies by The Cooking Actress
• Sandwich Cookies by Texana's Kitchen
• Shortbread Christmas Mouse Cookies by Cravings of a Lunatic

And continue on past the recipe to enter the giveaway!