Cheesecake Toffee Drops
Date Completed: 1/22/2021
My next recipe comes from Small-Batch Baking by Debby Maugans Nakos. The book contains all dessert recipes that yield just enough for one or two people to enjoy. Fabulous concept for anyone who loves to bake but does not like the idea of having three dozen leftover cookies calling their name all week.
I started in the Cookies and Bars chapter with the Cheesecake Toffee Drops for an enjoyable Friday night activity.
As you might expect, the recipe required ingredients in comically small amounts. Some examples:
One tablespoon of butter and two tablespoons of cream cheese
One teaspoon of a beaten egg
1/8 teaspoon of baking soda - had to fudge this one because 1/4 is the smallest I have!
Despite the scaled-down ingredient measurements, the process proved to be exactly the same as a regular-size batch. After combining the dry ingredients, I used my electric mixer to creaming the butter/cream cheese with brown sugar. It took a bit of patience to get those few tablespoons to come together. I had to laugh while adding a dash of egg and a splash of vanilla. The grand finale came with the last step: mixing in the crushed up Heath bar!
I am truly not convinced there is anything more delicious than a brown sugar-based cookie packed with toffee pieces. (But ask me again after I make my next recipe!) My love for toffee in cookies originated a few years ago with a gem of a Christmas cookie my mother found: oatmeal, toffee, dried cranberries, and mini chocolate chips. Heaven! We’ve made them every year since.
Anyway, back to the recipe. As suggested by the recipe name, you drop the dough onto a cookie sheet to bake at a surprisingly low 300 degrees for about 20 minutes.
The cookies bake until they appear dry and golden. Immediately after coming out of the oven, the recipe calls for them to be moved to a cooling rack topped with a sheet of wax paper. I followed that direction but later regretted it. I agree that a liner is needed so the soft cookies don’t stick to the wire rack, but they stuck to the wax paper! Next time I’ll be pulling out the parchment paper instead.
The recipe officially yields six cookies (which is the number you’ll see in the photos). There may or may not have been enough dough for a seventh bonus cookie for the chef to sample during the photo session.
Taste Report:
These turned out to match my definition of a quintessential cookie: crisp exterior with chewy interior. Perfect caramelized taste only enhanced by the toffee. I’m not sure that I noticed the cream cheese/cheesecake flavor. I could try making this again with all butter and compare, but I’ll save that for another cooking project. Obvious cheesecake flavor or not, these put a smile on my face!
Garrett was still working during this photo shoot so I consulted a food-styling blog for inspiration on this aerial shot.
Mess Report:
Here’s one small downfall of this recipe: it takes the same amount of dishes to make 3 dozen cookies as it does to make these six cookies. The thing is, I love cookies so much that the dish-doing sacrifice is always worth it.
The only other annoying fact: I bought an 8 oz. block of cream cheese for this recipe and used just one ounce! Another chef would solve this problem by making the homemade bagels from Baking Illustrated as their next project. As luck would have it, I solved this problem Paula-style by accidentally leaving my refrigerator door open overnight and spoiling the remaining 7 ounces.
I think I’ll have another cookie.
