Since February, I’ve been on a quest to find a new favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe. After making my go-to recipe exclusively for years, which just so happens to be my pistachio chocolate chip cookie recipe sans the nuts, I felt like I needed to switch things up a bit. After scouring the internet for a basic recipe, I turned to my very small library of cookbooks here in Portland and found the winner within Baking at République.
Baking at République shares all the amazingly beautiful and decadent baked goods created by Margarita Manzke at the French restaurant République located in Los Angeles, CA. With a line outside the door just about every time you drive by it, Republique is deservedly famous not only for its stunning interior, but for the stellar lineup of pastries put on display in the front of the restaurant (they also serve lunch and dinner that is equally perfect). I am pretty picky when it comes to buying cookbooks especially since you can find just about any recipe on the internet these days, but trust me when I say that the République cookbook is worth it.
The chocolate chip cookie recipe from Baking at République is as straight-forward as it gets: there are only 8 ingredients, no browning of butters and no crazy ingredients added. The only thing that caught me off guard as I was reading through the recipe was the fact that there’s no vanilla extract (!!!) used. I actually thought my book had a misprint to the point that I cross-checked by finding the recipe on another random blog, but sure enough, my book’s recipe was actually correct. As any baker knows, the addition of vanilla extract is similar to adding salt to a recipe: it enhances the flavor of all the other ingredients in the recipe and essentially gives life to whatever dish it’s in. Without it, I was worried that the cookies would taste flat or bland, but to my surprise, I didn’t even notice it was missing when eating the cookies! The only thing I did notice was that the cookie dough didn’t smell as enticing as it normally would with vanilla in it (I seriously could smell cookie dough all day, every day), but that just meant it smelled more buttery, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. I’m not really sure why République chooses to leave the extract out - could be for cost purposes since we all know how expensive the stuff is - but after eating the cookies, I'm okay with their decision.
As I’m sure you noticed in the title of this recipe, these cookies have toffee in them and that’s because of a happy accident that occurred the first time I baked them. République’s recipe for these cookies calls for about 1 cup of chopped dark chocolate and at the time, I only had about half of that in my fridge. Determined to get the full amount of chocolate to dough ratio that was needed, I decided to add in chopped up Heath bars that I had leftover from making my coffee toffee ice cream. This turned out to be the best decision I could ever make and is what I think makes these perfect cookies that much better. Adding Heath or Skor candy bars to any dessert is kind of like cheating because you’re not only getting more chocolate (in this case, milk chocolate) but you’re getting the addicting caramel-y flavor of toffee that melts in your mouth. I know I said I wanted to find a new basic chocolate chip cookie recipe, but it’s 2021… we can add something a little interesting (even if it’s straight-up candy bars) to our cookies these days. If you want to make these cookies as just a normal chocolate chip cookie, simply leave out the toffee and add only the chocolate, but I promise you that the toffee candy doesn’t make it “too much” or overly decadent… the toffee is almost like a secret ingredient that elevates it. But as always, you do you.
The last thing I wanted to comment on is that I also shared the weight measurements for this recipe, something that I rarely do. As an American, baking with a scale isn’t the norm but I’ve been trying to get into the habit of doing it more often, especially since it requires less time in making the dough and less time cleaning up after.
Toffee Chocolate Chip Cookies
Yields a dozen large cookies
Recipe adapted from the Baking at République Cookbook
Ingredients
1 1/3 cups plus 1 tbsp. (175g) all-purpose flour
3/4 tsp. (5g) baking soda
1/4 tsp. kosher salt
1/2 cup (113g) unsalted butter, slightly softened but still cold (should leave an indentation when poked)
3/4 cup plus 1 tbsp. (130g) packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup (100g) granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 cup plus 2 tbsp. (150g) mix of chopped dark chocolate AND chopped chocolate-covered toffee candy (Heath or Skor works) - I do equal parts of both
Flaky sea salt, to finish
Directions
In a medium-sized bowl, sift the flour, baking soda and salt together. Whisk until combined and set aside.
Using a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or in a large bowl if using a hand mixer) cream the butter and both sugars together until incorporated, about 1-2 minutes. Try not to over mix, or the cookies will flatten more while baking. Add the egg and mix again.
Add the dry ingredients to the stand mixer bowl all at once and turn the mixer on low for 10 seconds before increasing the speed to medium for about 30 seconds, or until the dough comes together. Again, try not to over mix the dough. Using a spatula, fold in the chopped chocolate and toffee pieces.
Using a large cookie scoop or spoons, portion out 2oz. or 3 tablespoons of dough for each cookie (you should get 12 cookies), place them on a plate and cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate the cookie dough overnight / at least 12 hours.
Preheat the oven to 350°F* and cover a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Bake the cookies for 8-11 minutes or until the edges are golden brown (bake only 4 cookies at a time to ensure the cookies will have enough room to spread). Sprinkle flaky sea salt immediately after pulling them out of the oven.
Allow the cookies to sit on the baking sheet for a few minutes before transferring to a cooking rack. Store in an airtight container. Enjoy!
* I’ve made these cookies a few times with the oven temperature at 375°F purposefully and accidentally (my oven isn’t the best) and they still came out amazingly. You’ll end up with a slightly crispier exterior and a deeper color, but it’s not too drastically different. So if you want a cookie like that, bake at 375° and knock a minute of two off the baking time!