Name: Toffee Bars Made Easy
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 20 min
Total time: 30 min
Yield: 16 squares
Cuisine: American
Ingredients: 1 cup all-purpose flour; 1/4 cup powdered sugar; 1/4 teaspoon salt; 1/4 cup melted butter; 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips or flavor of your choice; 1/8 cup chopped nuts (optional)

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Toffee Bars Made Easy have a shortbread base covered with melted chocolate chips and chopped pecans. Impressive but quick to make when time is short!

Chocolate/pecan covered shortbread cookies.

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 not sure if this explanation makes sense, but it works for me.

Conveniently, I just eyeball the chocolate chips. Avoids the need to memorize that measurement.

Variations:

The possibilities for topping these bars are numerous. The cookies you see 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 chips 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:

A parchment paper or foil sling is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED to enable you to remove these cookies from the pan without crumbling. With that in mind, see directions in the picture tutorial below.

Make a parchment paper or foil sling for 8-inch pan. This is essential if you are to have any hope of getting the bars out of the pan without crumbling

melting chips on top of the shortbread — Immediately after removing from the oven, sprinkle chips evenly over the surface of the shortbread cookie base. Allow to rest until all chips are completely melted and soft.

Pin the picture below to save for later.

If you make this recipe and enjoy it, consider helping other readers and me by returning to this post. Leave a rating on the recipe card itself underneath the picture. Although always appreciated, comments aren’t required. Thank you for visiting! Paula

Toffee Bars Made Easy

Yield: 16 squares

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Total Time: 30 minutes

These layered bars have a shortbread base covered with melted chocolate chips and chopped pecans.

Ingredients

1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup melted butter
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips or flavor of your choice
1/8 cup chopped nuts (optional)

Instructions

Make a parchment paper or foil sling for 8-inch pan. This is essential if you are to have any hope of getting the bars out of the pan without crumbling. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Stir flour, sugar and salt together in small bowl. Pour in melted butter and stir. Use fingers to thoroughly mix butter with dry ingredients.
Dump butter/flour mixture in to pan and pat down smooth. Bake in preheated oven for 20 minutes.
Immediately after removing from the oven, sprinkle chips evenly over the surface of shortbread cookie base. Allow to sit until all chips are completely melted and soft.
VERY carefully use a knife or back of a spoon to spread soft chips in an even layer. If desired, sprinkle chopped, toasted nuts over the top. Put in refrigerator until chocolate layer hardens. Remove cookies and sling from pan carefully. Slice into 16 pieces.