Chewy Chocolate Toffee Bars

Before I was married I lived with 6 girls in a house. Yup, 6 girls, 2 bathrooms, one washing machine, lots of estrogen and a dog. We had some of the best times ever,  but none of us really cooked. I try to remember back, wondering what we survived on – I remember a lot of Slurpees from 7-11, Subway, and some interesting cooking attempts on the George Foreman grill…

I also may have eaten my weight in Kraft macaroni and cheese…

But every once in a while I would get a craving for the toffee cookies my grandma would make. I would roll out of bed on a Saturday morning (ok well it might have been afternoon, oh the sleeping – in days before kids!) determined to make some cookies…without a mixer or a spatula…or a clue at what I was doing.

I typically burnt half the batch, which worked out ok because my one roomie liked her cookies on the well done side. I eventually figured it out, and now they are one of my specialties.

In fact, most of my old roomies live in Chicago now, and whenever I go and visit I always bring “the cookies”, and am usually greeted with “yes, you brought ‘the’ cookies!” We won’t talk about the fact that we can eat a whole batch in one sitting…

Now’s the point where you say, “um hello? Kelly, those are not photos of cookies, and clearly it says Chewy Chocolate Toffee Bars up there on the mouth watering picture.”

That’s right, because now I have kids, and I don’t get to roll out of bed at noon, make a batch of cookies and then sit on my kitchen counter eating them, thinking about whether I need a Slurpee to wash them down with or not.

I changed the recipe a bit so that I could just dump it all in a pan, sooo much easier than spooning out each cookie. The Mr. (who was around way back in the “I have no idea how to cook, whoa there is a lot of estrogen in this house, but it is much cleaner than/less gross than my house and you have cookies here” – days) says these are actually way better than “the cookies”. GASP! They are though. They are gooey in the middle, and a little crunchy on the outside, and the chocolate on top is soooo good.

Oh, did you want the recipe? Sorry I had to sneak a bite!

Chewy Chocolate Toffee Bars

2 1/4 C flour                              3/4 brown sugar

1/2 tsp salt                                 3/4 white sugar

1tsp baking soda                      1 tsp vanilla

1/2 C butter (1 stick)               2 eggs

1 package heath bar bit o brickle toffee bits

1 cup semi sweet chocolate chips

Mix the flour, salt, and baking soda in a bowl. In a separate bowl cream the sugar and butter, add eggs and vanilla. Mix well. Add the flour mixture in, mix well. Add in the toffee bits. Press the dough into a greased 9 x 13 pan and bake at 350 for 20 – 25 minutes. Meanwhile melt chocolate chips in a bowl in the microwave for a few minutes, stopping to stir after each minute until smooth. Use a fork to drizzle chocolate over the bars once they are out of the oven. Enjoy!

Oh, and they are pretty popular with my new roommates too…

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