Toffee Chocolate Shortbread Bars

Aside from no bake dessert recipes, these shortbread bars may be one of the easiest things I’ve ever baked.

Though they taste and look complex, the recipe requires less than 10 steps. So, all of you who tell me you never have time to bake … do yourself a favor and make time for these bad boys. You won’t be sorry. Seriously, if I could eat five of these a day without jeopardizing my blood pressure or teeth, etc., I probably would. They are that good!

Did I mention how easy this recipe is? In all honesty, cutting the bars is more difficult than the assembling and baking part. At least for me it was. Maybe it’s time I listen to the advice of my orthopedic doctors and start doing resistance band exercises and arm weights more than once a week. That might make the cutting part easier, too.

Or maybe I’ll just bake more. After all, preparing, stirring, lifting, pressing and cutting requires more muscle than you would think. Who says exercise has to be done in a gym with exercise equipment?

Toffee Chocolate Shortbread Bars

Recipe adapted from Cookies and Cups

Ingredients
3/4 cup butter, at room temperature
3/4 cup brown sugar
1 2/3 cups flour

For the filling:
1 cup sweetened condensed milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 tablespoons butter, melted

For the topping:
2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 1/2 cups toffee bits

Instructions
1. Preheat the oven to 350˚ F.
2. Line a 9 x 13 pan with aluminum foil and spray with cooking spray.
3. Beat the butter and brown sugar together until combined, then mix in flour.
4. Press the mixture into the prepared pan and bake for 12 minutes, until lightly golden.
5. In a medium sized bowl, mix together the sweetened condensed milk, butter and vanilla until smooth. Pour this over the shortbread crust and bake for another 12 minutes until the filling starts to bubble and brown. Remove from the oven.
6. Quickly sprinkle the chocolate chips on top of the filling and place back into the oven for about 2 minutes so that the chips can melt a bit. Then, pull the bars out of the oven and use a spatula to spread the chocolate evenly across the top. Sprinkle with toffee bits and allow the bars to completely cool before you cut them. If you can’t wait overnight, place them in the fridge for a few hours to speed up the process.