After I made tangerine semifreddo with salted almond brittle, I had so much nut brittle left over that I wanted to find a way to use it up -- because the alternative was that we would just end up eating it all! I searched online for recipes using toffee (it's too bad I didn't have any extra brittle on hand when I recently made Mindy Segal's oatmeal scotchies -- I was too lazy to make homemade toffee at the time and so I used Heath Bits instead). I decided to try a recipe I found on epicurious.com for toffee squares from Very Merry Cookie Party. The recipe doesn't actually call for any toffee -- it includes a brown sugar cookie base, a layer of milk chocolate, and a sprinkling of almonds on top. But the recipe suggests that you can boost the toffee flavor by replacing half of the almond with toffee baking bits -- so I decided to replace all of the almonds with almond brittle.
These bars are very easy to make. The base layer is a mixture of room temperature butter, brown sugar, egg yolk, vanilla, salt, and flour. The recipe says to pat the dough mixture into the bottom of a parchment-lined 9-inch by 13-inch pan, but my dough was quite soft and I used an offset spatula to spread it into an even layer.
You bake the base layer until it's golden, sprinkle on milk chocolate pieces (I used Guittard milk chocolate chips), and put the pan back in the oven and sprinkle on the almonds -- or in my case, one cup of brittle pieces (about 195 grams).
The bars cut beautifully and I really liked the way they looked with the toffee on top. I thought that these bars were absolutely fantastic. The base has a caramel-y flavor and an almost creamy texture; the entire bar has a very candy-like character. It's sweet and crunchy and buttery and chocolatey and super satisfying. I would make brittle just to make these bars. But the recipe is so adaptable and you could put whatever you want on top. I'm sure it's great with almonds, too!
Recipes: "Toffee Squares" from Very Merry Cookie Party by Barbara Grunes and Virginia Van Vynckt, and the brittle recipe portion of "Tangerine Semifreddo with Salted Almond Brittle" from epicurious.com.
These bars are very easy to make. The base layer is a mixture of room temperature butter, brown sugar, egg yolk, vanilla, salt, and flour. The recipe says to pat the dough mixture into the bottom of a parchment-lined 9-inch by 13-inch pan, but my dough was quite soft and I used an offset spatula to spread it into an even layer.
You bake the base layer until it's golden, sprinkle on milk chocolate pieces (I used Guittard milk chocolate chips), and put the pan back in the oven and sprinkle on the almonds -- or in my case, one cup of brittle pieces (about 195 grams).
Recipes: "Toffee Squares" from Very Merry Cookie Party by Barbara Grunes and Virginia Van Vynckt, and the brittle recipe portion of "Tangerine Semifreddo with Salted Almond Brittle" from epicurious.com.
Comments