How to make English Toffee Shortbread Cookies

English Toffee Shortbread cookies are a melt-in-your-mouth buttery cookie with a nutty toasted flavor and tiny bits of English Toffee embedded within.

The Story

This past Christmas, I was wandering the aisles of Trader Joe’s when a box of British Shortbread Cookie Collection caught my eye. If you know anything about me, you know that my favorite cookies are shortbread cookies.

Of course, I grabbed a box and for the next week enjoyed them with my nightly glass of tea. The only problem—they were tiny! Each cookie was less than an inch in diameter. So, I set out to recreate them in my kitchen.

The collection contained three flavors: Coffee, English Toffee & Nut, and Chocolate.

My favorite out of the three was the English Toffee & Nut, so that’s where I started.

When getting started recreating the English Toffee & Nut cookies, I first examined what I wanted to change. First, of course, was the shape. But, I also didn’t love that they contained nuts as it limits who can eat them. For this recipe, I have not included nuts. However, if you would like to add nuts to your cookies, the Trader Joe’s English Toffee & Nut cookies contain Hazelnuts. I recommend finely chopping hazelnuts and adding 1/3 cup to this recipe.

Noting my changes, I went back and tasted them. The two major flavor notes were English Toffee and some underlying toasted nut and caramel flavors.

For the English Toffee, I picked an easy option from the baking aisle, Heath English Toffee Bits. You can find Heath English Toffee Bits at most grocery stores, in the same section as chocolate chips.

For the toasted nut and caramel flavor, I had to do something that would introduce that nutty flavor while leaving out the hazelnuts.

This was a little tricky since most food companies have a catalogue of flavors that they can add to their products, and after tasting the cookies again, I suspected there was a flavor being added here. But, in the home kitchen, I have my tricks too! Brown butter is the perfect way to add the toasted nutty and caramel flavor to a baked good.

With these tricks up my sleeve, I started baking.

How to Make English Toffee Shortbread Cookies

What You Need

• Butter: Salted or Unsalted, I prefer to use Salted in these cookies.
• Flour: All-purpose flour works great in these cookies.
• Powdered Sugar
• Brown Sugar: For a more caramelized flavor, use a darker brown sugar.
• Vanilla Extract
• Salt
• Heath English Toffee Bits: Find in the baking aisle at your local grocery store.

Making the Cookies

Take your butter out of the refrigerator and leave it at room temperature until soft to the touch.

One stick in half (1/4 cup) and make brown butter with this half of the stick. Once the brown butter has solidified, add the brown butter and softened butter together in a large bowl. Beat together for 30 seconds to combine the two butters.

Now, add your powdered sugar and brown sugar. Beat together for 3-5 minutes, until fully whipped.

Add your vanilla extract and beat again for 30 seconds to fully incorporate into the butter and sugar mixture.

In a separate bowl, add the 2 1/4 cups flour and salt. Whisk together for 2 minutes until the salt is fully incorporated into the flour.

Slowly add 1/3 of the dry mixture to the to the butter and sugar mixture and mix together with a spatula until incorporated.

Add a teaspoon of water, then continue to add the flour until all the flour has been added to the butter and sugar mixture. Once the mixture has formed into a loose dough, add the Heath English Toffee Bits.

Your dough should now look like this. The Heath English Toffee Bits may be hard to incorporate into the dough. I find it helpful to mix the dough with my hands at this point.

When your dough can be shaped into a ball, place it in plastic wrap and put it in the fridge for 15 minutes to chill. This will help prevent too much spreading in the oven.

After 15 minutes, pull it out of the fridge and place it on a flat surface to roll out. I like to use a rolling pin with spacers on the side for even rolling. Roll it out to 1/4 inch thickness.

Use a circle cookie cutter with a 1 1/2 inch or 2 inch diameter to cut out the cookies.

Place cookies on an aluminum foil covered baking sheet and bake at 350 F for 14-16 minutes.