I had an amazing treat at an office potluck many, many years ago, which was described to me as toffee bark. The bottom layer was made up of crackers (graham crackers or even saltines), on top of which was a butter/brown sugar layer, and then on top of that layer was a lovely chocolate layer. It was delicious, but a little messy. Flash forward to today. I’m a little self-conscious of licking toffee covered fingers in public, so I was on the hunt for a recipe that minimized this problem. Enter–the toffee bar.
I suspect that because this bar has a regular crust, it is actually the precursor to the time-saving cracker-crusted toffee bark. Here is the photo of the dough that forms the crust. The consistency is like cookie dough.
You’ll need to pat the dough down with your fingers so that it spreads and covers the entire bottom of the baking pan. The toffee taste is in the crust itself, so the goo factor in the finished product is near zero.
After baking the crust for 20 minutes, sprinkle the chocolate chips evenly over the crust. Bake again for a bit. Take it out of the oven and spread the melting chocolate to cover the crust. I used an off-set spatula. I’m sure a plain knife would do just fine as well.
After spreading the chocolate, sprinkle the chopped pecans all over the top.
In this case, I actually didn’t cover the entire area with chopped pecans. While not evident from the photo, I actually left a little bit bare for those who are not fond of nuts.
My kids fully enjoyed these toffee bars, though I think kids would still reach for a brownie first. Adults, especially those with an affinity to nuts, would find this to be a more sophisticated treat than the ever-dominating brownie.
| Servings |
bars
|
- 1/2 pound unsalted butter at room temperature, (2 sticks or one cup)
- 1 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
- 1 egg yolk from a large egg
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 1 cup chopped pecans, walnuts, or almonds (optional)
Ingredients
|
|
- Preheat oven to 350⁰F. Grease a 9 x 13 x 2 inch baking pan.
- With an electric mixer, cream butter and sugar. Beat in the egg yolk.
- Sift the flour into the butter mixture and mix until combined. Mix in vanilla.
- Transfer dough into the greased baking pan and pat down with your hand until an even layer covers the bottom of the pan. Bake for 25 minutes or until golden brown.
- Remove the pan from the oven and sprinkle the chocolate chips evenly over the crust. Return the pan to the oven and bake for an additional 3 minutes.
- Remove pan from the oven and spread the melted chocolate with a knife or off-set spatula. Immediately sprinkle with nuts if using.
- Cool completely in the pan. Cut into squares and serve.
