Toffee Bars

You know the saying, “When it rains, it pours”?  Well that was my day yesterday.  A multitude of factors (in addition to the cold rain outside my window) lead to a terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day.  Okay, so actually it was only  like a terrible, horrible, no good very bad 3 hours – but still upsetting.  I’ll spare you the details, because I’m trying not to think about it, but in addition to a good dinner of commiserating with friends, I knew I had to come home and bake something.    I had bought a giant sized bag of chocolate chips at Costco (they were on coupon special), with the intention of making all kinds of delicious treats with them.   While I did make some delightful chocolate chip cookie dough cupcakes and chocolate chip cookies, for the most part I have been enjoying the chocolate chips by the handful, mixed with some almonds and raisins (that makes it healthy….right?).  I really wanted to avoid making plain chocolate chip cookies for the billionth time, so I scoured the internet for something that would not require a trip to the store, and that would use up some of my chocolate chips.

When I found this recipe on Ree’s blog, it seemed to fit the bill.  I was a little skeptical that these “bars” would end up tasting just like a chocolate chip cookie in a bar form since they pretty much have all the same common ingredients you find in a cookie.  I even thought about making the real toffee I made for Christmas instead – but that requires a candy thermometer, which I don’t have here.  Anyways, these bars actually taste like… wait for it…. that’s right….. TOFFEE (I know, hard to believe given the name and all).  I think it’s the increased ratio of brown sugar to butter in this recipe that gives it  something extra special.  These were super easy to put together, and were delicious.  I’m actually a little scared that I’ve found such a wonderful sweet treat that only requires ingredients I usually keep in the pantry, and that can be made from start to finish in less than 30 minutes – dangerous!  Apparently these freeze well…but I doubt there will be any leftover to find out for myself.

Toffee Bars

– Makes about 24 squares

• 2 sticks butter
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 2 cups flour
• 2 cups chocolate chips
• 1 cup (finely) chopped pecans

Preheat oven to 350°.  Cream butter and sugar on high until fluffy.  Add egg and vanilla and mix.  Stir in flour until fully incorporated.  Spread the mixture onto a cookie sheet, trying to create some resemblance of a square. Bake for 15-18 minutes, or unti golden brown.

Once baked, sprinkle the chocolate chips over the top, and bake for 2 minutes.  Then spread the chocolate using a spatula.  Finish by sprinkling with chopped pecans.  Cut bars into squares, and then let cool for at least an hour to let the chocolate harden (this was definitely the hardest part).

Barely adapted from The Pioneer Woman