FOUR POINTS FOODIE: Sweet & Salty Double Nut Toffee Brownie Bars

By CAROL KILLGORE

This will satisfy your sweet and salty tooth. I saw this on the Ultimate Recipe Showdown: Cookie Bars on Food TV Network and it has been a crowd pleaser. Since then, I’ve probably made them 50-plus times to show my love to those I serve. This is a keeper but don’t keep to yourself… spread the love!

Ingredients:

3 sticks unsalted butter

(1 for brownie base,

2 for toffee)

4 oz. good quality bittersweet chocolate, melted

½ cup granulated sugar

2 cups dark brown sugar (packed), divided (½ cup for brownie base, 1½ cups for toffee)

2 tsp vanilla extract

2 large eggs, slightly beaten

1 cup all-purpose flour

10 oz. good quality milk chocolate, chopped

½ cup almonds, ground

1½ cups roasted and salted pecans, chopped

1 small handful fleur de sel sea salt crystals

Procedure:

Preheat oven to 350° F. Line a 9 x 13 metal cake pan with parchment paper, coming up sides of pan.

In large bowl, whisk together 1 stick melted butter and the melted bittersweet chocolate. Blend in granulated sugar, 1/2 cup dark brown sugar, and vanilla. Whisk in eggs. Then stir in flour. Spreading evenly in pan, it will make a thin layer. Bake for 15 minutes, remove and leave oven on.
Heat 2 sticks butter and 1½ cups brown sugar in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat stirring constantly. Boil for 2 minutes. Pour over baked brownie base and bake 7 minutes more.
Remove from oven and sprinkle with chopped milk chocolate, let sit 5 minutes, spreading milk chocolate to cover the top. Dust with ground almonds and then pecans. Sprinkle with salt. Press down pecans, almonds and salt topping with wax paper until pressed just inside brownie top.
Cool, then freeze 30 minutes before cutting. Serve at room temperature.

Recipe Tips:

The only salt I use for this recipe is called: fleur de sel.

It’s fun layering all the ingredients, especially once you chop up the milk chocolate on the cake, seeing it melt before your eyes making it easy to spread.

Through trial and error, I realized it’s important to push in the almonds, pecans and sea salt because when it freezes, if they are not pushed inside the top, they will fall off. Wax paper was the right tool for that job to lay across top and push little by little.

I suggest cutting into small pieces as it’s quite rich. It is more of the consistency of

fudge than brownies for sure, and it is an elegant alternative to plain brownies or chocolate cake.

Carol lives in Steiner Ranch with husband Steve, daughter Kacie and recently, mother Francine. Carol’s love of cooking and baking has yielded three cookbooks inspired from many tried and true recipes. Email Carol for more information cakillgore@sbcglobal.net