Gelt Trip: Brown Butter Toffee Crunch Bars

Toffee bars, but with the toffee and butter flavors amplified. Browning makes the butter flavor more intense and complex, and toffee chips add texture and highlight the caramel flavor of the crust. Using chocolate gelt is a fun holiday touch.

Brown Butter Toffee Crunch Toffee Bars
These are regular toffee bars, but with browned butter and toffee chips in the crust. For a little holiday glamor, I added chocolate coins to the top of the bars.
8 ounces butter, browned (melt in a pan and continue cooking until it starts to brown and turn fragrant; see here for a tutorial)
6.5 ounces brown sugar (1 cup)
1 tsp. vanilla
1/4 tsp. salt
1 egg yolk
9 ounces flour (2 cups)
3/4 cup toffee bits, plus extra for sprinkling on top
12-14 ounces milk chocolate
1 cup pecans
milk chocolate coins (gelt)

Stir together butter, brown sugar, salt and vanilla in a mixing bowl until smooth. Let rest five minutes and then stir again. Add egg yolk and stir well.

Add flour and stir well to combine. Stir in the toffee bits.

Line a 9″x13″ pan with parchment or nonstick foil (lining isn’t crucial, but does make it easier to lift the bars out). Press dough in an even layer over the bottom of the pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes.

Take the pan out of the oven and turn off the oven. Put the chocolate over the surface of the hot crust (I used 4 milk chocolate bars, each 3 ounces, and laid them out over the top of the crust). Put the pan back in the turned off oven for a couple of minutes, just long enough to melt the chocolate. When the chocolate is melted, spread it in an even layer over the crust. Sprinkle over toffee bits, chopped pecans (or pecan halves) and chocolate coins over the top of the chocolate layer.

Tags: Channukah, Chanuka, chanukah, chocolate coins, gelt, hannukah, holiday cookies, toffee, toffee bars