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“Now that’s a good cookie!,” which coming from my husband is a rave review. I asked him to pick a cookie recipe for me to bake out of the new Taste of Home Baking cookbook. He picked a cookie that I never would have picked because I rarely like nuts in cookies.
He chose a recipe that not only had pecans in the batter and on top, but it’s also loaded with toffee and filled with a rich, creamy fudge. It’s rolled in sugar before baking, and the top is sandy and crisp like a Pecan Sandy, while the bottom is softer and chewy like a chocolate chip cookie.
The cookie recipe, Fudge-Filled Toffee Cookies, was submitted to Taste of Home by Karen Barto of Churchville, Virginia. Her recipe, like all of the Taste of Home recipes in Taste of Home Baking are developed by home bakers across the United States and Canada, then tested and evaluated in the Taste of Home Test Kitchen, so you know the results will be fantastic.
Taste of Home sent me a copy of their new Taste of Home Baking cookbook to review. This is a great baking handbook. In addition to the great recipes, I love the food equivalents and ingredient substitutions list on the inside covers, the general index at the back that lists recipes by food category and ingredient, and all the secrets for successful baking in each section.
Whether you are a novice or an experience baker, you’ll find tips and suggestions to help improve your baking. Details on how you can win one of two copies of Taste of Home Baking are listed below the recipe.
I did make a few changes to the recipe. The original recipe includes coconut extract and flaked coconut in the batter. Hubs wanted the toffee to shine, so we decided to eliminate the coconut. If I make the cookie again, I would also eliminate the almond extract and the pecans. Then the toffee flavor would really shine through and make the non-nut lovers in the family happy.
I also made them in my mini muffin pan which makes creating thumbprint cookies so easy. It made 2 dozen cookie cups and eight thumbprint cookies. The thumbprint cookies spread too much, so I would adjust the recipe for high altitude next time I make them.
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Fudge-Filled Toffee Pecan Sandies
Ingredients
- ½ cup butter softened
- ½ cup sugar
- ½ cup confectioners' sugar powdered sugar
- ½ cup canola oil
- 1 egg
- ½ teaspoon almond extract
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 ¾ cups all purpose flour
- ½ cup whole wheat flour
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon cream of tartar
- ¾ cup English toffee bits
- ⅔ cup chopped pecans
- Additional sugar for rolling
Fudge Filling:
- 1 ½ cups semisweet chocolate chips
- ¾ cup sweetened condensed milk
- 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 ¼ cups pecan halves
Instructions
- Combine the flours, salt, baking soda and cream of tartar in a small bowl and set aside.
- In a large bowl, cream butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Beat in the oil, egg and extracts. Add flour mixture to creamed mixture and mix well. Stir in the toffee bits and pecans.
- Cover and refrigerate for 1 hour or until easy to handle.
- Preheat oven to 350°. Shape dough into 1-in. balls; roll in sugar. Place 2-in. apart on ungreased baking sheets. (I used a #40 cookie scoop, or about 1 ½ tablespoons dough and baked them in a mini muffin tin.)
- Using the end of a wooden spoon handle, make an indentation in the center of each.
- In a large bowl, combine the melted chocolate, milk and vanilla until smooth. (I heated the chocolate chips and sweetened condensed milk in the microwave for 1 minute, then added the vanilla.) Spoon 1 teaspoon into the center of each cookie. Top with a pecan half. Bake for 12-14 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove to wire racks to cool.
Notes
Disclosure: I received a Taste of Home Baking Cookbook for my review, but the opinions expressed are my own.
Update: The winners of the Taste of Home Baking Cookbooks are Janette Griffin and Ambika. Please contact me within 48 hours with your mailing address to claim your prize. Congratulations!! Thanks to everyone that entered, for your sweet comments, and welcome to all the new followers!
This post is week 5 of my 12 Weeks of Christmas posts. Be sure and check out all of the fabulous cookies the other 12 weeks of Christmas Cookies (and sweets) bakers baked up for this week.
Valérie ( France )
Avec un bon petit goût d’arachide
Je te souhaite une belle fin de semaine
Valérie
Ambika
I have subscribed to Barbara Bakes, and I’m so glad I did that 🙂
Ambika
I like Taste of Home on FB!
Ambika
I like Barbara Bake’s on FB!
Ambika
Hi!! Those sandies look awesome!! I would love to win this book, cuz I started baking recently and I love cookbooks!!!! And I can’t bake enough!
Jess Mc
I would love a copy of that cookbook to share with my 8 yo niece. She wants to bake Christmas cookies with me this year and what fun to have a new cookbook from which we could choose some new recipes!
Brooke
I’m a subscriber!
Brooke
I love cookbooks, there is just so many good recipes out there and I love to try new ones! Thanks for the chance.
Lorraine @ Not Quite Nigella
They look fantastic mum! Like little pies but filled with fudge! 😀 xxx
Vicki and Alexis
My granddaughter and I get Barbara Bakes updates in our email box!
Jessi @ Quirky Cookery
I didn’t immediately see these as cookies. I thought they were mini-muffins or cupcakes maybe. Now, knowing they’re cookies, I’m drooling even more. Yum!
Janette Griffin
I like taste of home on facebook.
Patty
Every year I would make cookie dough for an entire day of baking with my mother. Her most favored cookie recipe was Spritz, which were made with lots of butter and almond extract.The dough was formed into petite holiday shapes with her old fashioned cookie press (which I am blessed to still have). One year, we baked her cookies long into the evening. As we packed the last cookie into a tin, my mother discovered in her dining room, her eyes twinkling as she chuckled, a tray of unbaked cookies that had somehow been overlooked. Oh how we laughed with tiredness that we had one more sheet to bake. She never had so many Spritz to give as gifts as she did that year. It was the last year that I was to be blessed with the joy of baking with my little mama. A cookie baking memory that I treasure.
I would be most grateful to receive a Taste of Home Baking book.
Barbara
Thank you so much for sharing your sweet story. It really touched my heart. I lost my sweet Mom last year on Thanksgiving and I’ve been trying to dwell on the sweet memories instead of the sadness.
Janette Griffin
I subscribe to barbarabakes.
Janette Griffin
I like Barbarabakes on Facebook.
Janette Griffin
So glad I checked out your blog!!! I can’t wait to check it out further. I’d love to win that cookbook! I like to collect cookbooks and try new recipes.
Mercedes
I subscribed to Barbara Bakes via email!
Mercedes
I follow @tasteofhome on Twitter!
Mercedes
I follow @BarbaraBakes on Twitter!
Mercedes
I tweeted about the giveaway!