Toffee Chocolate Chunk Cookies
Homemade brown sugar toffee, bittersweet chocolate, and a touch of flaky salt
After more than a dozen iterations, there is finally a chocolate chip cookie recipe on my site! And not just any chocolate chip cookie; this baby starts with homemade vegan brown sugar toffee, a one-pot candy which couldn’t be simpler. That recipe is available for all subscribers below. Then, the toffee is broken into shards and stirred into brown sugar cookie dough with chunks of chocolate, bittersweet, to balance the sweetness of the toffee.
Speaking of the cookie dough, I began my tests with a vegan version of the classic Tollhouse recipe and then pretty much went through every ingredient iteration you can think of. I tested different “egg” types (flax, aquafaba, and JUST Egg), vegan butters, types and quantities of flour, types and quantities of sugar, quantities of mix-ins, until finally, FINALLY, after 16 batches of cookies, I arrived at this one. It is crisp around the edges, soft and chewy in the middle, perfumed with vanilla, slightly nutty from the flax, and ooey gooey from the chunks of chocolate and melted toffee. And don’t skip the shower of flaky sea salt at the end! It provides a critical counterpoint to the sugar in the cookie. I can’t wait for you to share this recipe with friends and family this holiday season.
Vegan Brown Sugar Toffee
Makes one 15 x 9 inch sheet
30 mins active time, 1 hour total time
Ingredients
225 g (1 cup) unsalted, cultured-style vegan butter (e.g. Miyoko’s)
248 g (1 cup + 2 tbsp, lightly packed) light brown sugar
10 g (1/2 tbsp) light corn syrup
120 g (1/2 cup) soy milk
1.5 g (1/2 tsp) kosher salt (Diamond Crystal or see note below)
10 g (2 tsp) vanilla extract
Instructions
Combine all ingredients except the vanilla in a large saucepan and cook, over medium heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture registers 300 F (hard crack) on an instant read or candy thermometer
Remove the saucepan from the heat and stir in the vanilla
Pour the toffee onto a Silpat-lined sheet pan and cool to room temperature, at least 1 hour
Break up the toffee into small pieces and use in toffee chocolate chunk cookies - recipe below :)
Notes & Variations
Ingredient Notes
Kosher salt: I use Diamond Crystal kosher salt, which has larger crystals than other kinds of kosher salt, normal table salt or fine sea salt. As a result, when measured by volume (teaspoons/tablespoons) it will add less "saltiness" than an equal quantity of the other salts. If you are not using Diamond Crystal, I recommend measuring your salt by weight, in which case you won't run into this issue. Otherwise, use half the volume quantity of salt
Vegan butter: There are two main types of vegan butter: (1) margarine-style products that are basically butter-flavored vegetable shortening (e.g. Earth Balance or Violife), and (2) cultured-style products made from cashew, coconut, or other kinds of fats (e.g. Miyoko's). I generally prefer the first type in cakes, muffins, and frostings, where the more obvious "butter" flavor and greater stability, and yellow color are beneficial. I prefer the second type in recipes where the fat will caramelize, such as cookies, pie or tart dough, and bread, as margarine-style butters can develop unpleasant burnt oil flavors when heated to high temperatures. Also, cultured-style butter can be browned similarly to dairy butter, while margarine-style butter cannot
Things I Used
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Ingredients
Miyoko’s unsalted vegan butter
Nielsen-Massey pure vanilla extract
Equipment
The recipe for my toffee chocolate chunk cookies is available for paid subscribers below!
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