Bready or Not: Heath Cookies

Welcome to my first installment of Cookie Month! That's right, December is all about my favorite traditional cookie recipes. I'm bringing in a dose of sentimentality along with the calories.



Back in 2008, when I was still newly settled in Arizona, LiveJournal selected bakebakebake for its spotlight feature. I joined up. My world changed. Mind you, I had been an enthusiastic baker for years, but I tended to stick with my traditional recipes plus whatever I clipped out of newspapers or magazines.

However, at that juncture in my life I had a new reason to bake more: my husband.

Oh, we'd been married for eight years, but most all that time he had been in the Navy. He had either been working odd hours or gone for months at a stretch. We made that transition to civilian life in August 2007, and suddenly he was home every day. Weird. It also meant I needed to figure out a lot more supper recipes or we'd be having the same thing every week.

Of course, me being the way I am, I did find new meal recipes on Bakebakebake, but most of my discoveries tended to be on the sweet side, like these amazing Heath cookies. I made these and I knew that this recipe was a keeper. It's been one of my holiday standbys ever since.

Note that there are a few ways you can handle the Heath bits. Stores like Wal-mart sell pre-chopped bags of Heath bits with milk chocolate, and that's certainly the most convenient way to go. Or you can buy full-size bars or the holiday fun-sized sort and chop them up on your own; if you go that route, you may want to add some extra chocolate chips to balance with the toffee.

I mean, we wouldn't want unbalanced cookies, now would we?

Heath Cookies
modified from Lovin' in the Oven

2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
¾ cup white sugar
¾ cup brown sugar
2 eggs, room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups Heath pieces (either a bag of chips or approx 11 ounces chopped bite-sized candy bars)
[optional] more chocolate chips

1. Sift together the flour, salt, and baking soda. Set aside.

2. Cream butter until fluffy, then add the sugars and continue beating until it’s fluffy again. Beat in the eggs and vanilla. Take turns adding the Heath bits and flour to sugar mixture until it’s all well blended. Chill the dough for an hour; this creates a chewier, thicker cookie.

4. Preheat the oven to 350-degrees. Shape the dough into 1-inch balls and set on the cookie sheet.

5. Bake for 10-12 minutes, until the edges begin to brown. Remove from oven and let cool for several minutes before transferring them to a wire rack. Try not to stuff too many in your face at once.



OM NOM NOM.