Candy Cookies

I mentioned in a recent Facebook post that I needed excuses to not pack boxes for our move coming up in, oh, 3 days. My friend Karen immediately posted, "Maybe Maida can provide one..." Of course, she was right. You know what I'm not doing right now?

But in a way, I had to make these cookies. I had volunteered to bake for a fundraiser for the girls' school--the Japanese section was giving baked goods to people who made donations for earthquake relief. So it was for a good cause.

And this was not an all-day project: these are basically chocolate chip cookies with Heath bar pieces rather than chocolate chips. My Heath bar substitute was a milk chocolate bar with toffee chips, which was not exactly ideal, as you'll see below.

The "chips" kind of melted and ran and burned, so these cookies do not exactly win any beauty contests. However, they were really delicious. The girls and I did a bit of quality control on the dough and on the cookies and gave it the thumbs-up. And Julia stopped by the donation stand during the day to see whether there were any left--not a single one. That's a tribute more to the generosity to my fellow Lycée International parents than to the cookies. I hope these were enjoyed by all.

A few recipe notes: this recipe is written to make 24 big cookies. I wanted to get more cookies, so I made 1-1/2 the recipe and made them rather small. Still, I think I only got 36.

Here's the recipe. You don't really need an excuse to make them, do you?

Candy Cookies

1/2 c. (4 oz.) butter, room temperature

1/2 t. salt

1/2 t. baking soda

1/2 t. vanilla

1/3 c. (2.3 oz.) sugar

1/3 c. (2.3 oz.) brown sugar

1 large egg

1-1/4 c. (6.25 oz.) unsifted flour

1 c. (4 oz.) coarsely chopped walnuts

9 oz. Heath (or Skor or Daim) bars, chopped in 1/4-inch pieces, or toffee bits (probably 1-1/2 cup)

Heat the oven to 375; get out cookie sheets and your favorite liners (foil/parchment/silicone).

Cream the butter with the salt, baking soda, and vanilla until light and fluffy. Add the sugar and brown sugar and beat another minute or two until lighter in color. Beat in the egg and again beat for a minute or two. Stir in the flour at low speed. Take the bowl off the mixer and stir in the walnuts and Heath bar pieces.

Scoop out the dough by rounded tablespoonsful onto the lined cookie sheets--I got about 9 to a sheet. Bake two sheets at a time for 13-15 minutes until the cookies are lightly browned. Cool on a rack. Heartlessly ignore the pleas of your family as you give the cookies away.