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Maureen's Crater Cookies

Preheat oven to 350° F

The complete story of my inspiration for developing these cookies was featured in my "Eats and Treats" column in the Spring 2022 issue of Prairies North Magazine.

Dry Ingredients:

1¾ cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon coarse salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

Whisk the dry ingredients together

Prepare:

1 cup of toffee chips (Chop home-made toffee or use your favourite brand. Harder toffee may need to be crushed with a mallet.) 

8-ounces, about 2 cups, pecans, toasted and coarsely chopped (see note below for toasting)

Moist Ingredients:

½ cup butter 

¼ cup shortening (I use Compliments vegetable shortening)

1¼ cups packed dark brown sugar

Beat butter, shortening, and sugar on medium speed until very light and fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes. 

Add:

2 large eggs

1½ teaspoons pure vanilla extract

Beat in eggs until incorporated with the butter-sugar mixture. Beat in vanilla.

Then, gradually add the flour mixture to the butter-sugar mixture, folding in until combined. 

Mix in nuts and toffee, just until blended. Refrigerate for approximately 10 minutes. 

To Bake:

Place scoops of dough 3 inches apart on parchment-lined baking sheets using a 2-inch scoop. Dampen hands and gently press cookies to flatten. Chilling the dough reduces spreading a little. Some spreading is required to create toffee craters. 

Bake cookies for about 12 to 14 minutes. Serve warm or store up to three days in a cookie tin at room temperature. The cookies become softer with storage, and I like that. Freeze after three days. 

NOTE: To toast pecans, preheat an oven to 350°F. Spread them on an aluminum cookie sheet and bake for about 8 minutes, stirring at 2 or 3-minute intervals. Keep a close eye on the pecans because they burn quickly.