Chocolate Chip Heath Bar Cookies

These cookies are not very photogenic. I'm being critical only because they are one of the best things I have ever put in my mouth. Seriously. They're lucky they ever made it to the oven, too, because the dough was so.freakin'.good. Okay, I'm done bragging on them. Just one more thing....these cookies are really, really good.

My Momma introduced Heath Bars to me at a young age and I was instantly in love. Toffee is such a perfect component for a cookie; It's crunchy yet chewy, chocolatey and buttery. The original recipe on Lovin' From the Oven called for walnuts instead of chocolate chips, but I made the game time decision to use what we already had. I just wasn't feeling a Wal Mart walnut run (say that three times fast), especially when we already had chocolate chips which happen to be Z's favorite. They turned out very yummy indeed.

Just a heads up, though...from start to finish it took me about an hour and a half to make/bake these. The perfect time to tackle them (pun intended!) would be on a Saturday afternoon while your husband's glued to a football game on TV. I guess I'll be making these cookies every Saturday.

Ingredients:

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

2 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup chopped Heath Bar pieces (Four 1.4 ounce bars)

1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Hardest part of the whole recipe is chopping these bad boys up.

Repeat after me: I will lick the beaters.

Directions:
1 Sift together the flour, salt, and baking soda. Set aside. In a separate bowl, combine Heath Bar pieces and chocolate chips. 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, add vanilla.
3 Alternatively mix in the Heath Bar mixture and the flour mixture, a third at a time, until well blended. Chill cookie dough for at least 30 minutes.
4 Preheat oven to 350°F. On cookie sheets, spoon out the cookie dough in small 1-inch diameter balls. Place dough balls 3 inches away from each other on the cookie sheets. (Make sure there is plenty of room between the cookie balls, and that the cookie balls aren't too big. These cookies spread!)
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 3 dozen cookies.

Thanks for reading! Happy Friday!