Toffee Chocolate Chip Cookies

For the month of June, I've decided to go vegan. It's more of a personal challenge to myself than a moral or ethical decision. Growing up in meat and potatoes country, I've never struck issue with eating meat. Both sets of my grandparents were farmers and ranchers, raising crops and cattle and working off the land. The farm was my second home when I was younger. Rooting around the big red barn and watching cattle through barbed wire fences was a regular pastime. I was raised on meat from my uncle's farm. He made a homemade sausage so good that my family would freeze it so we could enjoy it every month of the year.

You could say, in a way, that farm life is in my blood—that meat is in my blood.

Even so, I've always been curious about veganism. It's intimidating to me, honestly. I rely so heavily on dairy and egg products in my everyday life, typically grabbing a yogurt and an egg sandwich for a meal. Part of the reason I wanted to challenge myself with a month of veganism was to force myself to explore new foods, eat more fruits and vegetables, and get cooking in the kitchen. I wonder how my body will feel after a month without consuming any animal products. I fear I will have a hard time eating enough protein.

A year and a half ago, I was a vegetarian for a few months. It wasn't necessarily a conscious decision so much as it was a necessary one. Living in Montreal, Quebec, was expensive and I simply couldn't afford the high price of meat as a poor college student. However, becoming a vegetarian in a big city was almost effortless. Becoming a vegan in North Dakota, where grocery stores only hold three packages (not brands or types) of tofu will be an entirely different story. Vegans are few and far between in meat and potatoes country. I'll certainly be out of my element, but that is just another difficult part of the challenge.

Over the last week I've slowly been emptying my cupboards of "forbidden foods." I've finished the milk, eaten the yogurt, consumed the cans of soups, and said my goodbyes to my dear friend, butter. Despite my best efforts to clean out the cupboards, I still had a shelf of soon-to-be banned baking supplies. These cookies were born out of the last of the forbidden foods, featuring toffee pieces and chocolate chips.

As I experiment with this new lifestyle over the next month, I have a promise I want to make to you. I am going to do my best to continue to keep my foods approachable, delicious, and to use familiar, everyday ingredients you already have in your kitchen. My baking and recipes may be vegan, but they don't need to shout it from the rooftops. I'll keep you updated on this journey of mine—I can only wonder how it will play out.

These toffee chocolate chip cookies are an "everything but the kitchen sink" cookie, featuring a little bit of this and that. Oatmeal, chocolate chips, toffee pieces, and chopped almonds come together to create a crunchy, hearty cookie that just begs to be dunked in a glass of milk. These cookies are dangerous when lying around the house. You might find yourself sneaking three or four in a day's time.

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Chocolate Toffee Scones

There is a brunch served in a nearby restaurant that I dream about on Sunday mornings. I use the term "nearby" loosely—it is a three hour North Dakota drive away, but I find myself there more often than you'd think. I always eat too much, as one does when faced with a buffet line of dozens of favorite brunch delicacies. There are the scones, the eggs Benedict, the biscuits and gravy, and the pasta dishes (of which I make sure to sample at least once).

However, the french toast is the reason I keep coming back.

Like an ice cream sundae bar lined with the best toppings, so does this restaurant treat their french toast. Oreos, nuts, chocolate shavings, and crumbled heath bars accompany the crushed strawberries, the jellied blueberries, and the classic maple syrup. It's a brunch lover's dream come to fruition. And mine, all mine, for the taking.

This brunch is where I discovered my true love for toffee. Atop a hot piece of french toast drowned in maple syrup, I crumbled these chocolate toffee pieces, allowing the chocolate to melt and pool over the top of the french toast while the toffee retained its textured crunch. Though I considered this my "dessert," it was never rare to go back for seconds or thirds of this sweet, indulgent treat.

As long as I ignored the sidelong glances of my concerned, horrified companions, nothing would stand between me and my coveted french toast.

Since discovering my weakness for chocolate and toffee, I've found myself imagining all of the terrifically wicked ways to use it in every day baking. As an homage to the toffee-covered french toast that started this madness, I thought scones would be a fitting first start. We can save my other toffee-covered fantasies for later.

A decadent breakfast every now and then never hurts anybody, right?

These Chocolate Toffee Scones are subtle, kind, and never too sweet. The sweetness comes from the multitude of chocolate toffee pieces scattered throughout the delicate scone. Never to be outdone, I dipped the bottoms of the scones in a rich chocolate glaze to give an added touch of chocolate. These are delicious with a cup of coffee for an afternoon snack, but if you choose to eat them for breakfast with a cup of tea I won't send a judging glance your way.

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