Salted Caramel Toffee Chip Cookie Bars With Milk Chocolate Ganache

Wow. That title is quite a mouthful. But I figure the best way to describe these delicious, decadent bars is to disclose everything I put in them right off the bat.

It all started a couple of days ago, when I found myself craving a thick, chewy chocolate chip cookie bar. (Don’t get me wrong – I love cookies. But I happen to be an even bigger fan of the cookie bar.) I thought about making a batch, but when I started digging through my pantry in search of semisweet chocolate chips, I was shocked to find that I was completely out. I did, however, spot a few bags of toffee bits, and hence the idea was born.

What you’ve got here is a classic chocolate chip cookie base that features toffee pieces instead of chocolate chips. Then, in the middle, you’ve got a soft layer of salted caramel that adds the perfect amount of contrast to an otherwise sweet concoction. And then, to top it all off, you’ve got a nice layer of milk chocolate ganache – just in case you were missing the chocolate.

These babies are everything a cookie bar should be: chewy, somewhat gooey, rich, and just plain yummy. Don’t be intimidated by the fact that this recipe has multiple steps. Each one is fairly simple, and the bars don’t take very long to set up. You can easily start this recipe at some point in the morning and have a nice supply of cookie bars handy for an afternoon snack.

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Salted Caramel Toffee Chip Cookie Bars With Milk Chocolate Ganache

Ingredients:

For the cookies:

2 cups AP flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
12 tablespoons (1 and 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter
1 cup light brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
3/4 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 and 1/2 cups toffee bits (alternatively, you can chop up some Heath bars or substitute for chocolate chips if you prefer)

For the salted caramel:

1 cup Kraft caramels, unwrapped (other brands are fine, of course, but Kraft tends to be the easiest to find in my neck of the woods)
2 tablespoons heavy cream
1 and 1/2 teaspoons course sea salt

For the milk chocolate ganache:

6 ounces milk chocolate, finely chopped
1 tablespoon confectioners sugar
1/4 cup heavy cream

Method:

  1. Preheat your oven to 325 degrees. Grease a 9×9 baking pan and set aside.
  2. Whisk together the flour, baking soda, and salt; set aside.
  3. Cream the butter and sugars until well-combined. Add the eggs and vanilla; mix until well-blended.
  4. Add in the dry ingredients in two to three batches, mixing at a low speed until just combined. Stir in the toffee bits.
  5. Combine the caramels and heavy cream and heat in the microwave in 30-second increments until melted. (Make sure to stir the mixture in between each zap.)
  6. Press half of the cookie dough into your prepared pan.
  7. With an offset spatula, spread the caramel sauce over the bottom cookie dough layer. Sprinkle the sea salt evenly over the caramel. Then, press the remaining cookie dough over the caramel layer.
  8. Bake for about 30 minutes, or until the top of the bars start to turn light golden brown. Cool the bars in their pan for about 90 minutes at room temperature. Then, place the bars in the refrigerator while you make the ganache.
  9. To make the ganache, combine the chocolate and confectioners sugar in a small bowl. In a small saucepan, heat the heavy cream until it gets hot without bubbling too much. Pour the hot cream over the chocolate and sugar, and stir or whisk until the mixture turns smooth and glossy.
  10. Remove the bars from the fridge. Use an offset spatula to evenly spread the ganache over the tops of the bars.
  11. Return the pan to the fridge for 30-60 minutes to set. You may want to cut them while they’re slightly cold, but not straight out of the fridge. I like these bars at room temperature, or even slightly warmed. And you can’t go wrong throwing a few of them in a bowl, heating them up, and topping them off with a nice scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Nutella Brownies

I’m not a particularly big Nutella fan on its own. Some people can just sit there and eat that stuff by the spoonful, but I’m not one of them. On the other hand, I often find that when you take Nutella and add into the right recipe, it can work wonders on the flavor front. Case in point: these Nutella brownies. What you’ve got here is the rich, chocolate goodness of a classic fudge brownie enhanced by the addition of Nutella. To balance out the sweetness a little, I used bittersweet chocolate chunks in my recipe, but if you’re not afraid of really sweet things, feel free to substitute with semisweet or milk chocolate chips.

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Nutella Brownies

Ingredients:
1 stick of butter, melted
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup AP flour
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1 cup Nutella
1 cup bittersweet chocolate chunks

Method:

  1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Grease an 8×8 baking pan and set aside.
  2. In a large bowl, whisk together the butter, sugars, egg, and vanilla. Set aside.
  3. In a small bowl, combine the flour, salt, and cocoa powder.
  4. Mix the dry ingredients into the wet until well-combined; then stir in the Nutella and chocolate chunks.
  5. Pour the batter into your prepared pan. Bake for 28-32 minutes, or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Let the brownies cool in the pan for at least an hour before slicing and serving.

Coconut Almond Joy Blondies

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: I just love the simplicity of blondies. They come together so quickly and without all the hassle involved in digging out your fancy kitchen tools. And they’re so versatile – you can take a blondie recipe you’ve used before and transform it just by altering a few of the ingredients. That’s what I did with my latest batch anyway.

These blondies are very similar to the coconut M&M blondies I made back in November, only the addition of Almond Joy Pieces really amps up that coconut flavor. I love the chewy texture you get from the coconut, and the Almond Joy pieces just make these bars look fun and festive. Coconut fans, stop what you’re doing and go make yourselves some blondies. You can thank me later.

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Coconut Almond Joy Blondies

Recipe from RecipeGirl

Ingredients:

10 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled to room temp
1 cup packed dark brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated white sugar
1 large egg
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/4 cups sweetened flaked coconut
1 cup Almond Joy Pieces
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Method:

  1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Spray an 8×8-inch pan with nonstick spray and then line the bottom with parchment paper.
  2. In a large mixing bowl, combine the butter and sugars.
  3. Stir in the egg, vanilla, and salt.
  4. Stir in flour, coconut, Almond Joy Pieces, and chocolate chips until well-combined.
  5. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top with a rubber spatula.
  6. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.
  7. Let the blondies cool completely in the pan before turning them out onto a cutting board and cutting into squares.