Brown Sugar Toffee Cookies

"If one day it happens
you find yourself with someone you love
in a café at one end
of the Point Mirabeau, at the zinc bar
where wine stands in upward opening glasses,
and if you commit then, as we did, the error
of thinking
one day all this will only be memory,
learn to reach deeper
into the sorrows
to come-to touch
the almost imaginary bones
under the face, to hear under the laughter
the wind crying across the stones. Kiss
the mouth
which tells you, here,
here is the world. This mouth. This laughter. These temple
bones.
The still undanced cadence of vanishing."

~ Galway Kinnell, section 5 of "Little Sleep's Head Sprouting in the Moonlight," from Selected Poems

Given the tumultuous relationship I've had with the rapid changing of the seasons this year,  I refuse to "do" pumpkin until October-something. I hope that's okay with everyone. I'm just not ready...I am not. Ready. I think toffee is a nice way to bridge the warm leaf-filled rivulet between late summer and early autumn. It's my olive branch, anyway.

Toffee and I need to hang together more. On the rare occasion that I toss a bag into my grocery cart, I end up tossing the poor bag into the back of my cupboard; where it remains until I've run out of chocolate, and peanut butter...and Nutella. I am so happy for last week's lazy reluctance to go shopping - it allowed me to bond with sticky sweet, toffee. (I was also out of eggs!) These cookies are soft, chewy and simply irresistible. If you're a die hard toffee lover, I think you will adore this recipe. The toffee takes center stage and does not compete with any overtly narcissistic chunks of chocolate.

The recipe is relatively smooth and seamless. Yes, there is an eight hour refrigeration time but the dough is egg less, so...you know...*whistle* *whistle*

Brown Sugar Toffee Cookies
makes about 24-26 cookies

for the cookies
12 Tablespoons (that's 1 1/2 sticks, or 6 oz) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
1 cup + 2 Tablespoons tightly packed, light brown sugar (dark will work too)
1/4 cup plain yoghurt
1/2 teaspoon pure almond extract
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
8 oz (about 1 1/3 cup) English toffee bits

method
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together the butter and brown sugar until smooth - about 2-5 minutes on med/high speed. Add the yoghurt and almond extract, beat for an additional 5 minutes. Scrape down the edges of the bowl. Add the flour, baking powder, and salt - beat on low speed until just combined. Add the toffee bits and beat until evenly dispersed throughout the dough.

Place a piece of plastic wrap directly over the dough, and cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap or tin foil. Chill overnight (or at least eight hours).

Preheat the oven the 375 F. Line baking sheet with parchment paper.

For each cookie measure out a heaping Tablespoonful of dough. Roll each mound of dough into a tight ball and place onto prepared baking sheet  (leave about 2-inches of space between each cookie).

Bake 10-12 minutes or until the cookies are very light golden brown. {The cookies might puff up whilst they're in the oven - they will de-puff as they're cooling.} Remove the sheet from the oven and allow the cookies to rest for about 8 minutes before transferring them to a cooling rack.