Tasty Recipe Review: Parisian Toffee Crisps

Putting the pumpkin aside for now (I'm coming back to it, don't worry!) this week's Tasty Recipe Review comes to us from Elinor Klivans's book 125 Cookies to Bake, Nibble and Savor. I bought this book like a million years ago and have really only tried very few of her recipes, not sure why because they were very good. She has little anecdotes with all of her recipes which always make for interesting reading. This recipe's introduction in her book is this one:


"Most people who dine at the Ambassade d' Avergne in Paris try the aligot, an elastic puree of cheese, potatoes and garlic which the waiters lift several feet into the air as they serve it. But I go to this family restaurant so I can have these toffee crisps that are served with the house-made ice cream. They are dark cookies with the crunch of butter toffe candy and the intense taste of caramelized brown sugar and butter."

After reading this I knew  I just HAD to try them!

One of the first things I noticed is how simple the recipe is. It's just 5 ingredients and go! No whisking or folding or incorporating. There is some sifting, but that's pretty standard. I love the simplicity.

First of all I have to say WOW. I did not expect these cookies to be so good. They are crisp and buttery and sweet, but not too sweet.They're just as she described!

Recipe follows:

Parisian Toffee Crisps

Makes 26 cookies

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons unbleached all purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) soft butter
2/3 cup packed dark brown sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla

Position 2 oven racks in the middle and upper third of the oven. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line 2 baking shhets with nonstick liners or parchment paper. (I just greased mine)

Sift the flour and salt together and set aside.

Put the butter and dark brown sugar in the large bowl of an electric mixer and beat on low speed for about 1 minute, until the mixture is smooth and blended. Mix in the vanilla. Add the flour mixture, mixing just until it is incorporated (Whoops there's incorporated! ) and a smooth dough forms. Stop the mixer and scrape the sides of the bowl during this mixing. (She's so thorough!) Form each cookie by rolling 1 tablespoon of dough between the palms of your hands into a 1-inch ball and flattening the ball into a 1 3/4 inch circle. Place the cookies 2 inches apart on the baking sheets.

Bake about 12 minutes, until the edges and bottoms darken slightly and the cookies flatten. Reverse the baking sheets after 7 minutes, front to back and top to bottom, to ensure that the cookies bake evenly. Cool them on the baking sheets for 5 minutes, then transfer them to wire racks to cool completely. The cookies become crisp as they cool.

How easy is that? It took no time at all to make these cookies and they were great! The dough was a bit sticky but easy to work with. They cooked in exactly 12 minutes and smelled delightful. The texture is crisp and buttery, the taste,well, actually there is no better way to describe them than how she does! This is definitely a Tasty Recipe in my book!

Till next time, I hope you enjoyed this review and remember, if you have a Tasty Recipe that you would like to share, or if there's a recipe that you have been wanting to try and just haven't been able to, let me know about it. I'll give you a Tasty Review.