Quickie Toffee Graham Cracker Cookies

Sometimes you need a quickie to fill an urgent need. An urgent desire.

You know what I mean?

I have the perfect solution to satisfy the sweets craving that overpowers you on a Wednesday night when the last thing you’re about to do is pull out the stand mixer or food processor and get all messed up with flour and marzipan. (Unless you’re me, but I wouldn’t wish that on anyone, quite honestly.)

Truth be told, I started making this recipe in 1997 and had a bit of a problem with it. The problem was that I made it several times a week, and developed rather severe nutritional deficiencies as a result of eating this instead of, oh, say, vegetables and fruits and healthy grains. (You, a normal person, could make these and eat healthy foods too, I’m sure. I focused almost exclusively on these.) These cookies are incredible with Saltine/Premium Plus crackers, or matzo meal, or those little thin tea biscuit cookies they sell in Canada or the UK. Yes, I have made these with gingersnap cookies. And I have made them with Melba Toast, but that was in a moment of desperation that I’m not proud of. The point is this: versatility.

This recipe is kind of embarrassing because it’s not all culinarily creative, but WTF. Sometimes you have to slum it and make something that hits the spot… that elusive, hard to reach spot. Like I said- it’s all about something fast and easy for hump day satisfaction.

9+ graham cracker cookies

1/2 cup butter, salted

1 cup light brown sugar, packed

(Yes, that’s it. 3 freaking easy ingredients.)
1. Preheat oven to 375°. Grease a 9 x 9″ foil-lined pan, and line it with graham crackers. Set aside.
2. In a medium saucepan over medium-low heat, melt butter with brown sugar, stirring until combined. Increase heat to medium-high and allow to boil for 3 minutes, not stirring. Pour over graham crackers in pan, and pop into oven for 5 minutes. Remove from oven and allow to cool slightly before indulging.
3. (Yes, that’s it. Pretty freaking easy. I told you this was a quickie.)
Tips:
- Sometimes your sugar will do funny things. Sometimes it gets grainy (like it did in this batch, pictured above), but it’s still sweet and amazing. Sometimes it gets stretchy and chewy, which is always a treat. And sometimes the butter separates a bit, which is fine, because you can just drain it off and inhale the remaining caramelly cookie carcass. For the 550 times (or so) I have made this dessert, it’s been different every time, more or less. Experiment- the heat, the stirring, and the baking time all matter. Find what you like and make it often- just make sure you eat your broccoli, too. (Go ahead and add a tablespoon or so of cream or milk if you want it a bit more caramelly-smooth- just melt it in with the butter & sugar.)
- Feel free to break up the cookies so that you get toffee goodness on more surface areas of the cookie pieces.
- Creative baker? Okay- here you go: make these with chocolate graham crackers. For this batch I accidentally bought honey-flavored graham crackers, which provided an interesting twist. Or sprinkle chocolate chips over the cookies after removing them from the oven, and then spread them 5 minutes later after they’ve melted. (At this point you’re basically making the Cracker Choco-Toffee Brittle that I swear by- everyone loves it. EVERYONE.)
- Want this a bit healthier? Oh, um, okay. Make half of the butter-sugar mixture and you’ll have the taste of the toffee without the colossal excess.
- Is this recipe a caramel or toffee-based one? I’m not sure. I’ll get back to you. Too tired. Must go to bed soon.
- The morning after the quickie is equally fantastic. The cookies get chewier. (Make sure to store them at room temperature if you want them softer & soggy… if you want crispy cookies, bake longer and store in the fridge.)
- Want other shamefully easy recipes? Try the Magic Gooey Cookie Bars. Ghetto-licious. Or the Ugly But Good Bars, which The Husband thinks I need to rename to “do them justice”. Thanks, Sweetie.
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August 1st, 2013 | More Sweets Please | 2 Comments | Tags: Caramel, Cookies, Toffee

2 Responses and Counting...

Christina@ 08.01.2013

I made these they are great. I added cinnamon to them….perfect. We need some more easy quick treats like this
More Sweets Please

Why didn’t I think of adding cinnamon? Nice idea, Christina! Adding chocolate chips wouldn’t hurt either. I’ll try to cough up some more easy-yet-stunningly-simple desserts for you…