Sunday, January 15, 2012

Toffee Bars


As do many people who enjoy food, I collect a lot of recipes.  We have a three-inch, three-ring binder that we refer to as our Agenda Book full of these recipes.  Yesterday I decided that it was time to actually try one, and as I hadn’t made cookies in a while, chose to give the Toffee Bar recipe that I found on the Chef's Catalog website a try.  These were easy to make, and since I was watching Team Tebow lose in dramatic fashion – sigh -, I appreciated that it could be made in stages, and then enjoyed at the end of the game.

A shortbread base, topped with gooey toffee that is easy to make, and then crowned with melted chocolate makes these a real crowd pleaser.

Toffee Bars
¾ cup unsalted butter, softened
¾ cup sugar
2 cups all-purpose flour
½ cup butter
½ cup brown sugar
1 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk
2 tablespoons light corn syrup
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
¼ cup toasted almonds, roughly chopped
8 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips

Instructions
To Make the Shortbread:
Preheat the oven to 350 F. Coat a 9-inch square pan with a thin layer of butter or spray with nonstick cooking spray.

In a mixing bowl, cream together the softened butter and sugar. Add the flour and stir until well mixed. Press the batter into prepared pan. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until the edges are golden brown. Set aside to cool.

To Make the Toffee:
In a small, heavy-bottom sauce pan, melt the 1/2 cup of butter. Add the brown sugar, condensed milk, and corn syrup, and bring the mixture to a boil over medium heat. Cook for 5 minutes, stirring continually. Remove from the heat and stir in the vanilla extract. Pour toffee mixture over the cooled shortbread.

To Make the Topping:
In a double boiler, melt the chocolate chips. Stir until smooth. Pour over the cooled toffee and sprinkle toasted almonds across the top. Allow to cool completely before cutting. Makes approximately 16 squares.
I love the layer of gooey toffee deliciousness.

Topped with chocolate and toasted almonds makes these cookie bars a real winner!



10 comments:

~~louise~~ said...

I don't know what it is about me and toffee, I just can't warm up to it. The shortbread bars would do just fine though.

Thanks for sharing, Pattie...

FYI: Did you know the very first Super Bowl ever was played on January 15th in 1967? And guess what, there were no Super Bowl parties to celebrate. (I can't help myself when it comes to spurting these silly tidbits, lol...

Maureen Hayes said...

My mouth is watering, what is not to love- shortbread, toffee and chocolate -I am in! Send em over. . .

Thanks for another great recipe !

cathy@my1929charmer said...

I love toffee and shortbread. I'm not a big chocolate person, but I love these two together. I'm so going to be making this. Thanks for sharing your recipe at Sunday's Best!

SavoringTime in the Kitchen said...

Oh my, those look deliciously dangerous but I could use a treat after watching our Packers lose on Sunday too. This sounds like a great recipe!

Dina said...

wow they look really yummy!

ANNEMİNELİ said...

Merhaba, ellerinize sağlık,sevgilerrrrr....

Erica (Irene) said...

These look amazing and so yummy......

Thanks again for another great recipe.

erica-sweetonyou.blogspot.com

Janet Rudolph said...

Yum!

Mary Sullivan Frasier said...

These look amazingly decadent but the best part is that I have all of the ingredients on hand! Now, if I can just make it until tomorrow when I have the time to make them, I'll be fine.

Thanks for sharing such a yummy recipe!

Kathleen said...

Why did I come here! Every cookie looks so good! These look heavenly!