Chocolate, Toffee, & Almond Cookies

WOW! Where did all you people come from? Apparently a giveaway was all it took to bring you guys out of your shadows. :) I'm so overwhelmed with the responses I got on my last post, thank you! It also bought me some time for posting because I've been so busy with finals coming up this week that I haven't had time to update my blog as often as I normally do. I'll probably be taking this week off as well, considering I have 4 essays to write by Wednesday. Eeeekk! Talk about a week of all nighters. Thank goodness I only have to do all of this ONE more time and then I'll be done with school for good!

Remember, the last day for my giveaway is this Saturday by midnight! So if you haven't left a comment there yet, I'd recommend doing it before time runs out. I'll be posting again briefly on Sunday to announce the winner since I won't have time to bake next week, either. :/

Now on to the cookies... I LOVED them! They were thick & chewy, sweet and salty. I was lucky enough to be contacted by Oh Nuts! a couple weeks ago to sample some of their items. I received dried blueberries, dried strawberries, and slivered almonds. Boy was I surprised to see that I got a POUND of each! I used the slivered almonds in these cookies to bake with, and they surely are addicting! Speaking of addicting, I couldn't stop eating the dried strawberries. They tasted just like fruit leather, but seemed healthier... a perfect alternative when you need to satisfy that sweet tooth! What's even better is that Oh Nuts! sell their items in bulk; When buying in bulk, you know that you're saving money by stocking up on necessary items!

The only thing I would change about this recipe is that I would cut down the brown sugar to 3/4 cup instead of 1 cup the next time I make them (and I will be making them again) because I found the cookie to be a bit sweet. I would either do that, or substitute using a dark chocolate/bittersweet chocolate bar to chop up instead of milk chocolate. Besides that, the cookies were perfect.

• 1/2 cup softened butter
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 eggs
• 2 1/4 cups AP flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 1/4 cups of chopped chocolate (you can use chocolate chips if you'd like)
• 1 cup of toffee pieces
• 1 cup almond slivers

1.) Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

2.) Mix dry ingredients together in a separate bowl: all purpose flour, baking soda, & salt.

3.) Cream together butter & both sugars. Add eggs & vanilla, mix well. Slowly incorporate the dry mixture into the sugar mixture.

4.) Stir in the chocolate chips, toffee pieces, & almond slivers.

5.) Drop by tablespoons onto baking sheet. Bake 8-10 minutes.