Brown-Butter Toffee Blondies

I was looking through the cookies that I have made recently and I noticed that I hadn’t made any bar cookies in a while. I love making bar cookies because they are usually so quick and easy to put together. Since I usually make cookies in the evening after work, I don’t have a lot of time. I had a late meeting this week so I had even less time than I typically do!

As I was on the look for recipes this week, a person on the chat list that I follow posted this recipe. I forget which blog it was, but I did remember that it was from Martha Stewart’s Cookies, a book that I have at home on the bookshelf. It uses 1 cup of toffee bits, which I had left over from another recipe. I had never tried brown-butter before, so I thought this would be really fun to try. I decided to add chocolate chips to add another layer of flavor.

You make the brown-butter by cooking the butter on the stove. I didn’t know how long this would take, and it took longer than I had expected, probably about 15 minutes. My butter didn’t brown evenly, so when I took it off of the stove it seemed like part of it was browned and some of it wasn’t. I didn’t want any of it to burn so I erred on the side of caution. The dough/batter came together easily, although my husband commented that they dough wasn’t thick like cookie dough usually is.

I checked the cookies at the specified time and they were still quite raw. They had this sugary crust on the top so it was tricky to test for doneness. I ended up baking them for about 55 minutes total. They still seemed a little raw in the middle, but I hoped that they would be ok after cooling. After cooling they were still a little gooey, but definitely done. I really, really like these, and I am glad that I added chocolate chips. They are quite sweet, which isn’t surprising since they contain 2-1/2 cups of sugar plus some toffee bits! The chocolate is also sweet but has a different flavor, so it makes the bars more interesting.

1-1/4 cups butter
2-1/4 cups flour
1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1-1/2 teaspoons salt
2 cups packed brown sugar
½ cup sugar
3 eggs
2-1/2 teaspoons vanilla
1 cup chopped walnuts
1 cup toffee bits
1 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 9” x 13” pan with foil, butter and flour the pan.

In a small saucepan, over medium heat, cook the butter until it turns golden brown. Remove from the heat and cool. In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, and salt.

In a large mixer bowl, combine the brown-butter and the sugars; stir together with a wooden spoon. Attach bowl to mixer and add the eggs. Beat on medium until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the vanilla and beat to combine. Add the flour mixture, walnuts, toffee bits and chocolate chips. Mix thoroughly combined and pour into prepared pan.

Bake until a cake tester comes out clean, about 40 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Remove from the pan and peel away the foil. Cut into squares.

Recipe from Martha Stewart’s Cookies