Heath Bar Cookies

"OMG, these are the best cookies I've ever eaten in my life," I mumbled to mom the other day, mouth full of cookie, one hand reaching for another. "Would you please get the recipe from Claire? Puhleeezzzz?" Claire is my mother's friend, a lovely woman in her 80s, recently widowed, who brought my mom these fabulous cookies for a book club gathering. I couldn't figure out what was in them that made them taste so good. I recognized some chocolate and a few nuts, but what was the rest? Praise be to mom who delivered Claire's recipe a few days later. Heath Bars. The secret ingredient was Heath Bars. Well no wonder! If you like toffee as much as I do, you'll love these cookies.

Heath Bars are popular American chocolate-covered-toffee candy bars. Heath Bar toffee bits are often available in the baking section of grocery stores. Either chopped up candy bars or the bits can be used for this recipe. The bars have chocolate, the bits don't.

• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 1/2 cups chopped Heath Bar pieces (Eight 1.4 ounce bars)
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Directions:

1 Sift together the flour, salt, and baking soda. Set aside. In a separate bowl, combine Heath Bar pieces and chopped walnuts. Set aside.

2 Cream butter until fluffy. Add the sugar and continue to beat until light and fluffy (a couple minutes). Beat in eggs one at a time, and vanilla.

3 Alternatively mix in the Heath Bar mixture and the flour mixture, a third at a time, until well blended. Chill for at least 30 minutes (better an hour).

4 Preheat oven to 350°F. On cookie sheets lined with parchment paper or Silpat, spoon out the cookie dough in small 1-1½ inch diameter balls. Place dough balls 3 inches away from each other on the cookie sheets.

5 Bake for 10-12 minutes, until the edges are just starting to brown. Remove from oven and let cool for a few minutes. Then transfer the cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.

Makes about 6 dozen cookies.
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