This recipe is adapted from the venerable Silver Palate Cookbook, what we ate at the dawn of the foodie revolution in the late 1970s and early 80s.
Pans of chocolate toffee bars that I baked during the 2007 cookie season
Three sticks of unsalted butter, 1 1/2 cup, softened
1 1/2 packed cup of light brown sugar
1 egg yolk
1 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla
3 cups white flour
Three cups of chocolate chips, or about 12 ounces of Hershey Bars
1 8-ounce bag of toffee bits, about 1 1/3 cups
Equipment: half sheet pan (13 x 18) or 11 x 15 rimmed cookie sheet, spreading knife
Preheat the oven to 350° and grease the baking pan. Cream the butter and sugar together, then add the vanilla and egg yolk. Work in the flour. Press the dough into the baking pan, place in the oven, and bake for about 25 minutes, until golden brown and firm – the dough base needs to be all the way cooked. Remove the pan from the oven – you can turn it off – and cover the surface of the dough with the chocolate. Place the pan back in the oven for about 4 minutes, until the chocolate is all melted. Remove from the oven, and spread the chocolate into an even layer with the knife of your choice. Sprinkle the chocolate with the toffee chips, and press down lightly – your fingers might get a little gooey, but you can lick them off. Let the bars cool completely before cutting. Makes 4 – 5 dozen bars, depending on how you slice them.
