BiteSizeBaker.com

Craziness.

That pretty much sums up what’s been going on here lately. Between working, general life stuff, and gardening (read: trying not to kill plants), I’ve spent very little time baking.

I haven’t even used a single stick of butter in the past 3 weeks. Tragic.

Another reason I haven’t been baking sweets could be due to the fact I have a bridesmaid dress fitting approaching rapidly. Yep, that might have something to do with it.

However, I needed a dessert to take to a dinner party so, I settled on toffee nut squares. They have the texture of a chocolate chip cookie bar, but with a toffee-nut flavor and they are a cinch to throw together. They were a hit at the party and disappeared quickly!

Toffee Nut Bars
adapted from Great Cookies

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2/3 cup (1 1/3 sticks) unsalted butter, slightly firm
2 cups lightly packed light brown sugar
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons medium-fine chopped walnuts, divided
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter a 10″x15″ jelly roll pan.

In a small mixing bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda and salt; set aside.

Beat the butter in the bowl of an electric mixer on medium speed until lightened in color. Add the brown sugar, 1/4 cup at a time, and beat until lightened in color, about 2 minutes. Beat in the eggs one at a time, scraping down sides of bowl as needed, then add the vanilla. Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the dry ingredients in three additions. Mix just to incorporate.

Fold in 1 cup of walnuts and the chocolate chips using a rubber spatula. Spread the mixture in the pan and smooth the top. Sprinkle the remaining walnuts on top.

Bake for 16 to 18 minutes or until the sides are lightly browned. Do not over-bake. Cool for 1 hour, then cut to desired size and shape.

Note: Because I love chewy cookie bars, I under-baked mine by about 3 minutes.

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I don’t have a reason for baking these. No birthdays, holidays or special occasions. But really, does one really need a reason to bake? I didn’t think so.

I came across the recipe while I was flipping through Martha Stewart’s Cookies. My mom’s favorite candy bar is the Heath Bar so I immediately thought of her when I saw the recipe. Plus, I found a bag of actual heath bar toffee bits (I think its called Bits ‘O Brickle) in the baking section of my local supermarket so I just had to make them.

The history of the Heath toffee bar is quite interesting. According to the Hershey site, the recipe for the bar was perfected by the Heath brothers in 1928. It was made by completely by hand until 1942. During World War II, the U.S. Government contracted with Heath to produce bars for military distribution. Okay, okay, back to the blondies…

To be honest, I didn’t really know what brown butter was. Isn’t that sad? I had heard of it before but never understood what actually was or how to make it. I guess I should have figured it out from the name; brown butter. Just cook until it browns slightly. Duh! Although it did take a lot longer than I expected to brown the butter, the results are totally worth it! The subtle nutty flavor is just superb!

These blondie cookie bars are ones I will be making again, for sure! And yes, mom loved them.

Brown-Butter Toffee Blondies
adapted from Martha Stewart’s Cookies

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