Toffee-Pecan Bars
Prep Time: 30 minutes Start to Finish: 2 hours
Makes: 48 bars Calories per Bar: 160
As I started to make these bars, I wondered to myself...Self...what exactly is toffee? Well according to Wikipedia: "Toffee is a confection made by caramelizing sugar or molasses (creating inverted sugar) along with butter, and occasionally flour. The mixture is heated until its temperature reaches the hard crack stage of 149 to 154 °C (300 to 310 °F). While being prepared, toffee is sometimes mixed with nuts or raisins."
Ahhh that's what I thought. I always think of a brittle harder candy like substance when I think of toffee. These bars, however, are not brittle or hard. They do carry on the toffee like flavor though, which is why I think it is ok that Betty Crocker dubs them "toffee-pecan bars".
If I had to describe them, I would say they have a cookie crust bottom, with a pecan pie filling, topped with a fudgey caramel chocolate swirl mixture that makes them gooey and delicious. I did bake these in a pan smaller than what was called for, so my bars did come out a bit thicker and softer I would imagine than the original recipe...but they still tasted great!
Ingredients
Crust
- 3/4 cup butter or margarine, softened
- 1/3 cup packed brown sugar
- 1 egg
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
Filling
- 1 cup butter or margarine
- 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
- 1/4 cup light corn syrup
- 2 cups coarsely chopped pecans
- 1 cup swirled milk chocolate and caramel chips (from 10 oz. bag)
Directions
- Heat oven to 375 degrees. Grease bottom and sides of 15x10x1-inch pan (I used a 13x9) with shortening or cooking spray (do not use dark pan.) **I lined the bottom of my pan with no stick aluminum foil. This allows me to remove the bars easily from the pan and to cut them in nice squares or triangles.**
- In large bowl, beat 3/4 cup butter and 1/3 cup brown sugar with electric mixer on medium speed until light and fluffy. Add egg; beat until well blended. On low speed, beat in flour until dough begins to form. Press dough in pan.
- Bake 12 to 17 minutes or until edges are light golden brown. Meanwhile, in a 2-quart saucepan, heat 1 cup butter, 3/4 cup brown sugar and the corn syrup to boiling over medium heat, stirring frequently. Boil 2 minutes without stirring.
- Quickly stir pecans into corn syrup mixture; spread over partially baked crust. Bake 20 to 23 minutes longer or until filling is golden brown and bubbly.
- Immediately sprinkle with chocolate chips evenly over hot bars. Let stand 5 minutes to soften. With rubber spatula, gently swirl melted chips over bars. Cool completely, about 1 hour. Cut into 6 rows by 4 rows to make 24 squares, then cut each square in half to make triangles. Store covered in refrigerator.
I couldn't find these swirled milk chocolate and caramel chips that this recipe calls for. When I google them, a special bag of them comes up, but my grocery store didn't carry them. So what I did was combined caramel sea salt chips and chocolate chips, and swirled them together which worked out just fine.
Make sure that you cool the bars completely before cutting them. The aluminum foil worked out great! Instead of trying to cut the bars in the pan (which can ruin your bakeware) I was able to remove them completely without any mess! So get your pecans, and start toffee-ing!
<3 P.S.
You can you use walnuts instead of pecans if you prefer!
