Quick and Easy Toffee Bars (Chocolate-Topped Shortbread)
Sneak Preview: These quick and easy Toffee Bars consist of a shortbread base covered with melted chocolate chips and chopped pecans. Impressive but quick to make when time is short! Less than 100 calories each.

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What recipe do you pull out when you need a quick dessert? For me, the recipe must be easy and contain ingredients I already have. Three dozen drop cookies are not the first thing that comes to mind. How about you?
Four Reasons Why I Skip the Brownie Mix and Make these Toffee Bars, Instead
- The shortbread base is simple to assemble and only requires flour, butter, and sugar.
- The chocolate layer is made up of melted chocolate chips.
- Sprinkle nuts on top for extra flavor and an elegant look.
- The base is thinner than the average toffee bar recipe so that you can eat these without much guilt.
Happy Bakers Speak Up
“I just made these and they are delicious!-–JAYDE
How To Easily Memorize This Shortbread Toffee Bar Recipe
When pressed for time, would you rather make a recipe you know by heart or one hiding in a cookbook or messy recipe file?
Yep! That’s what I thought. Like you, I go with what I know to save time.
Given the above, I have good news…
You won’t need a written recipe for long with these easy cookies. Here’s a trick I use so I don’t have to look up the recipe.
Remember 1/4.
The “1” stands for 1 cup of flour. The “4” stands for the 4 ingredients in the shortbread base. Put them together, and you have 1/4, which indicates the amount needed for three of the ingredients:
1 cup flour + 1/4 cup powdered sugar + 1/4 cup butter + 1/4 teaspoon salt
I’m unsure if this explanation makes sense, but it works for me.
Conveniently, I eyeball the chocolate chips. No need to memorize that measurement.
Variations
The possibilities for topping these bars are numerous. The cookies in the top photo are covered with semi-sweet chocolate chips and pecans. My oldest son goes crazy for them.
My husband likes the bars pictured below featuring half chocolate and half white chocolate chips.
Next, I may try peanut butter chips marbled with chocolate chips. And how about melted chocolate chips topped with toasted almonds? Yum!
How To Line a Pan for Clean and Easy Removal of Chocolate Toffee Bars
A parchment paper(paid link) or foil sling is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED to enable you to remove these cookies from the pan without crumbling. With that in mind, see the directions in the picture tutorial below.


Parting Thoughts: If you happen to have leftovers you don’t want to throw away, try making these Leftover Chocolate Chip Cookie Truffles using these cookies instead of chocolate chip cookies. They freeze well.
Need help troubleshooting? Please email me: Paula at saladinajar.com–photos welcome!
Paula Rhodes, owner
As a retired home economist, I created Saladinajar.com to share my belief that you don’t have to be a chef to find joy in creating homemade food worth sharing. Bread machines (used in an unconventional way), homemade yogurt, and quick microwave recipes are my specialty.