12 Days of Cookies - A Gourmet cookie extravaganza

This event is the brain child of Andrea of Andreas Recipes. How I got asked to be involved with this incredible group is beyond me but all the thanks goes to Kelly of Sass & Veracity. There are 7 of us that have decided to do The 12 Days of Cookies - A Gourmet cookie extravaganza. We will be choosing, baking, tasting, blogging and sharing with you a cookie a day for the next 12 days of December.

These cookies are coming from Gourmet's Favorite Cookie Recipes: 1941-2008. They’ve published a lot of cookie recipes in their 68-year history, many of them around the winter holidays. This season they decided to choose the very best from each year.

These are my partners in crime. We will all be choosing different cookies and surprising each other. How fun is that???? Be sure to check out their selections for the day!

Jerry - Cooking...by the seat of my Pants
Sandy - At the Baker's Bench
Courtney - Coco Cooks
Kelly - Sass & Veracity
Claire - The Barefoot Kitchen
Andrea - Andreas Recipes


Day 5 of my 12 Days of Cookies features Mocha Toffee Bars

The country went wild for the combination of buttery toffee and chocolate in the 1980s. These chewy bars with bits of roasted cashews epitomize exactly that over-the-top quality that we all craved.-Gourmet

Mocha Toffee Bars - December 1987 (link to the recipe as it was originally printed)

Ingredients:

2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 large egg yolk
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
3 tablespoons instant espresso powder dissolved in 2 tablespoons boiling water
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups all-purpose flour
8 oz semisweet chocolate (melt the chocolate!)
3/4 cup salted roasted cashews, chopped

Directions:

• In a bowl with an electric mixer cream the butter, add the brown sugar, and beat the mixture until it is light and fluffy. Beat in the yolk, add the vanilla and the espresso mixture, a little at a time, beating, and beat the mixture until it is combined well.
  
• Add the salt and the flour, beating, and beat the mixture until is combined well.
  
• Spread the batter evenly in a jelly-roll pan, 15 1/2 by 10 1/2 by 1 inch, and bake it in the middle of a preheated 350° F. oven for 15 to 20 minutes, or until it pulls away slightly from the edge of the pan.
  
• Spread the chocolate, melted, evenly over the baked layer and sprinkle the cashews over it.
  
• Let the mixture cool in the pan on a rack, cut it into 48 bars, and chill it for 15 to 20 minutes, or until the chocolate is firm.
  
• Makes 48 cookies.

Mmmmm! These were really good! They taste very adult like with the espresso flavor coming through just enough to enhance the chocolate and the nuts...oh the nuts, the nice salty nuts with all that rich sweet chocolate!!! I am really liking the bar cookies of this series. Not only are they a bit less time consuming but I haven't really had too much trouble with them!

Would I make these again? Not sure. I liked them but there are a million more cookies that I want to try. I like these flavors together but maybe a cookie with all of them mixed together or a brownie?