I've said before that I'm not really a chocolate girl. I will occasionally have a bite of some really good dark chocolate, but cookies, cakes, and pies of the chocolate variety have never had any appeal to me. This is not true of toffee, caramel, butterscotch, or any other buttery, brown sugar concoction. These are flavors that I will dive into without hesitation. Today was just such a day. This is a recipe that I've been making some version of for over 25 years. Today I added toffee chips and they were great. It's such a simple recipe too. That's how I found it all those years ago. I remember being at home with a newborn and wanting something sweet and not having many ingredients in the house. That's the great thing about these bars. The ingredients are things that you probably always have on hand. Here's what you'll need:
- 2 2/3 C (1 lb) brown sugar
- 3 eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1 stick butter, melted and cooled
- 2 C flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- pinch of salt
- 1 C toffee bits
- 1 C chopped pecans
Start by melting the butter and letting it cool to room temperature. Next, measure the brown sugar. My son is a trained chef and he's trying to get me to convert to weighing all my ingredients instead of measuring them. I admit that it's much easier and more accurate, but most of the recipes I have are for measured ingredients, not weighed. I weighed my brown sugar this time just to show him I'm trying...
Mix together the eggs, brown sugar, vanilla, and melted butter until smooth.
In a separate bowl, combine the flour, salt, and baking powder then add the dry mixture to the wet mixture and blend well.
Now stir in the toffee chips.
Spoon the mixture into a greased 9 x 13 casserole pan. Sprinkle the top with the chopped pecans and bake at 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes.
The first time I made these bars, I didn't have pecans or toffee and they were still delicious. I remember that I ate the whole pan by myself the day that I made them. I'm no longer a nursing mom in my twenty's, so I ate 2 of these them gave the rest to my son to take to a party. Oh, the good old days! It's times like these that I miss them...
Enjoy!
Lynn
