The Inaugural Recipe Semi-Fail

I'm calling these cookies a semi-fail because while they look terrible and generated an enormous mess that will be an epic pain in the ass to clean up, they still taste good.

Admittedly, the mess is my fault. The recipe did say to properly lubricate the cookie sheet, but as my cookie sheets are all non-stick and I've never had a problem with removing other sticky cookies (oatmeal, in particular) from them, I didn't think it was necessary. How wrong I was. Any toffee that is on the pan side of the cookie is going to melt, then caramelize. This has two results:

1. The cookie spreads waaaaaaaay out.
2. The cookie becomes effectively glued to the pan.

These factors lead to cookies that are not only so spread out that they're running into each other, but are very hard to dislodge from the pan. The combination of the two is a spatula-wielder's worst nightmare. Of a three-dozen batch, I can count the number that are intact on one hand.

The looking like crap thing isn't so much my fault, though. Obviously, the spreading thing was beyond my control. Secondly, the first batch was semi-burned (you can see them on the bottom of the picture I posted) because twelve minutes at 350F is much too long. I only left the second batch in for ten minutes and they came out nicely (colorwise, they were still sort of a mess w/r/t the whole spreading and caramelizing thing).

In short, WAAAAHHHHH. WHIIIIIIIINE. Etc.

I think the next time I make these (remember, they still tasted really good), I will add a smidgen more flour, spray the pans thoroughly, and put the cookies further apart than the recommended two inches. I'll probably make them smaller as well-- 3/4 tsp instead of a whole one, maybe. I'm also considering adding the toffee chips last, and carefully placing them on top of the cookies before they go into the oven rather than mixing them in with the dough. That should help, too.