Food You Can Eat: Toffee Bars

A true heart-attack inducing dessert. (Remember, I have a next-door neighbor who is pleased to receive 75% of whatever I bake, so no DeadSplinterites were harmed by this recipe.) It is a rich, buttery, chocolate tour de force. And, it is another shockingly simple Epicurious recipe – there are not 152 steps over three days, hooray!

Ingredients:

• ½ cup (113g) unsalted butter, softened, plus more to grease the pan
• 1½ cups (180g) all-purpose flour
• 2 tsp. baking powder
• ½ tsp. table salt
• 1 cup (198g) granulated sugar
• ½ cup (107g) packed brown sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1 8oz (227g) bag of English toffee bits

FROSTING:

• 1 cup softened butter
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder sifted
• 5 cups powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 3-4 tablespoons milk

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease a 9×13-inch baking pan with butter.

Into a medium bowl, sift the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

In a separate medium bowl or stand mixer, beat the butter, granulated sugar, and brown sugar on medium-high speed until light and fluffy. Add the eggs and vanilla extract. Mix well to combine.

Stir the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. Stir in the English toffee bits. Using a rubber spatula, scrape the batter into the prepared pan and spread evenly.

Place the pan in the oven and bake for 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, make the frosting. Whip butter and cocoa together until smooth in large bowl. Stir in vanilla and powdered sugar. Slowly stream in milk until frosting reaches desired consistency. Scrape sides and whip again until light, fluffy and smooth, 1-2 minutes

Remove the pan from the oven and cool; frost when room temperature.

Cut into bars before serving.