Has everyone starting their holiday baking yet? I have been baking and adding cookies to my freezer in batches. This way I have some ready anytime we need them during the holidays. Although, every time I turn around I see my husband and kids sneaking cookies. So, not sure how many will be left for the Holidays! I guess I have to keep baking.
This recipe is a favorite of ours. I first tried these toffee bars at my sisters. She has been making toffee bars for some time now. She shared the recipe with me several years ago. Over the years, I have had fun adding some different ingredients and just slightly tweaking the recipe. Some additions are the white chocolate and the toasted nuts. I also like to sprinkle on some toffee bits.
It is really hard to mess these up. They are super easy to make. It is fun creating different toffee bars depending on the Holiday. For example, I like coloring the white chocolate depending on the Holiday. For Christmas I have added peppermint extract and red food coloring to the white chocolate. You can even mix it up with some red and some white chocolate. For Halloween I colored the white chocolate orange. The possibilities are endless with what you can add on top. One thing is for sure though and that is that these are so addicting! My husband calls them crack bars!
I always have batches of these in my freezer over the Holidays. Give them a try; they will fulfill your sweet and salty cravings.
Toffee Bars
Ingredients
1 box (about 18 cracker), Graham Crackers
2 Sticks of Butter, unsalted
2 Teaspoons, Kosher Salt
1 Cup-packed, Brown Sugar
1/2 cup- 1 cup, Mini Chocolate Chips (semi sweet)
1/2 Cup, Toffee Bits
1/2 Cup, Pecans, toasted & chopped
1/2 Cup-3/4 Cup, White Chocolate (good, premium White Chocolate)
Instructions
Toffee Bars for the Holidays
Preheat oven to 350 Degrees.
On the stove, toast the nuts on medium-low heat for about 5-8 minutes or until they start to get a little darker in color. You’ll start to smell them getting nice and toasted. Remove from heat, set aside to cool. Once cooled, chop them to desired size. For these toffee bars, I like the nuts to be somewhat small. I put them into my mini food processor to chop them.
Silpat
Spray a baking sheet with cooking spray. I also line my baking sheet with my Silpat sheet (definitely use one if you have it). Then, line the baking sheet with graham crackers, smooth side of cracker facing down on tray. You’ll want to try and cover entire baking sheet. You can break some of the graham crackers if necessary.
On the stove, over medium heat, melt 2 sticks of butter. Add the salt and brown sugar and stir well to combine. When it starts to bubble, turn heat to medium-low or low and constantly stir. It will continue to bubble and will start to turn caramel in color. Once the caramel is nice and thick, pour caramel mixture over top of the graham crackers. Then, with a metal spoon gently spread it all over. Sprinkle with the nuts and/or toffee bits (I do both).
Bake the toffee bars in the oven for 10 minutes.
Remove tray from oven and immediately sprinkle mini chocolate chips over the top (put as little or as many as you like). Let sit for a minute then take your metal spoon and gently spread the chocolate around with the back of spoon, you can swirl around in any patter you like. Set aside to cool & harden.
While they are cooling, add about 1/2 of your white chocolate in a double boiler (pot with water on bottom bringing to a boil and put a metal mixing bowl or smaller pot on top). Once White Choc starts to melt remove from heat and add the rest of your white chocolate and stir until nice and smooth.
Once White Chocolate is nice and smooth, take a spoon and start drizzling your white chocolate all around the top of the bars in any kind of pattern you like! Add as much or as little as you like.
Mangia! Enjoy! These are addicting!!
Happy Holidays!
Tips
I like to make a salted caramel sauce for this recipe, that is why I add a little extra kosher salt to my butter and brown sugar.
For the holidays, I like to make a batch with about 1/4 Teaspoon, Peppermint extract (add the extract to your white chocolate when melting it). I also like to color my white chocolate for the holiday. For Christmas, I will color the white chocolate with red food coloring. For Halloween I have colored it Orange! It is fun to play around with it to change up the look of the bars.
For the Graham crackers, I usually always go with the Chocolate Graham Crackers. They tend to be our favorite. I have used original also which are just as good. You can use any of your favorites, go with whatever you like. You really cannot go wrong with these.
You can add anything you like these bars; any type of nuts, any type of chocolate. Have fun with it!