Toffee Bars

Z loves toffee- specifically heath bars. His birthday was Monday. I made him a toffee cake, which tasted like an old lady cake you enjoy at that old people's buffet. That's what I get for following a recipe from a "you've never heard of us" bed & breakfast.

So I made Toffee Bars last night, and I haven't made a dessert this good in years so I thought I'd share.

TOFFEE BARS

Cook Time: 30ish minutes

Ingredients:

Shortbread Cookie Bottom:
4 ounces butter, softened
1/4 cup sugar
1 cup self-rising flour

Middle Toffee Layer:
4 ounces butter
2 tablespoons sugar
1 can sweetened condensed milk, (14-ounce)
1/4 cup pecans
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Top Toffee Layer:
4 ounces German sweet chocolate
4 oz. box of Nips Coffee Caramels
2 Heath bars, crushed up
1/4 stick butter

Prep:

Crush up heath bars in a bowl with a knife. I did this while watching 20 minutes of that crappy movie "21", which I still haven't finished. Drink a Leinenkugel's Summer Shandy, and decide to smoke a cigarette. Go outside, and leave the bowl of crushed heath bars on the kitchen table. Smoke. Come back and discover that your Chi-Weenie has eaten half of the heath bars which she managed to spill out of the bowl onto the floor first. Grumble.

Preheat oven to 350F.

Cream 4 ounces butter with 1/4 cup sugar. Blend in flour. Spread into a buttered 8-inch square pan ( I used one of those cheapo disposable aluminum bake pans, and I totally recommend it. It was way easier to manipulate in the freezer). Your mix should be sticky and should pack together in the bottom of the pan like shortbread. If it isn't this consistency, add more butter for stick or more sugar/flour for less stick. Bake at 350 degree F for about 20 minutes, until firm and lightly browned around the edges. Cool.

Meanwhile, mix chocolate, Nips, 1/4 stick butter and heath bar crumbles in a small saucepan. Put saucepan in a large boiler pan with water, and turn to medium. Allow boiler pan to bubble and heat the chocolate mix in the middle saucepan. Stir slowly every so often -when the mix is ready the caramels will have melted into the chocolate.

At the same time, combine 4 ounces butter, 2 tablespoons sugar, condensed milk, and pecans in a small saucepan; cook on lowish-medium, stirring, until mixture leaves the sides of the pan. Stir in vanilla. Pour over shortbread. Spread melted chocolate mix over the top; stick in the freezer for 45 min. or an hour. I took Charko and the dogs for a walk in the park for an hour and pulled them out after approx. 90 min. Cut in squares.

Freaking Fantabulous.





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