Monthly Feature
Carrie’s brings you another wonderful dessert recipe!

From the Heath Bits o’Brickle Toffee Bits bag
In contrast to last month’s pain-in-the-heinie dessert, these bars are simple. These are so good that I always keep a can of sweetened condensed milk and a bag of toffee bits in the pantry! It may seem like cutting these into 48 bars will yield a ridiculously small portion, but these are, as the name indicates, very rich!

2 1/3 cup flour
2/3 cup light brown sugar, packed
¾ cup butter
1 egg, slightly beaten
1 bag (12 oz) semi-sweet chocolate chips, divided
1 cup nuts (I use walnuts), coarsely ground
1 can (14 oz) sweetened condensed milk
1 bag (10 oz) Heath Bits o’ Brickle toffee bits or SKOR English toffee bits, divided

Preheat oven to 350°. Grease a 9×13 baking pan or use parchment paper (see the tip below).

Combine flour and brown sugar in a large bowl. Cut in butter (or, as I prefer, mix with your hands) until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Add beaten egg. Mix well. Stir in nuts and 1 ½ cups of chocolate chips. Set 1 ½ cups of this mixture aside. Press remaining mixture into prepared pan. Bake 10 minutes. Pour sweetened condensed milk evenly over hot crust. Set aside 1/3 cup of toffee bits. Sprinkle remaining toffee bits evenly over condensed milk. Sprinkle reserved crumb mixture and remaining ½ cup of chocolate chips over the top. Bake 25-30 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from over and sprinkle with reserved 1/3 cup of toffee bits. Cool completely in pan on wire rack. Cut into bars.
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The taste: The base is a sort of chocolate chip and nut infused shortbread…buttery, flaky and delicious. Layer that with the caramely sweetened condensed milk and the crunch of the toffee bits and you have a dessert to please any sweet tooth!

The ease: Easy, easy! The hardest part is waiting for them to cool!

The fat-asseness: As usual, there are not many healthy additions to this recipe…but cut those bars up and you’ll have a sweet treat without doing too much damage to the waistline!

The clean up: A breeze! 3 bowls and the baking pan. See the tip below to make your clean up even easier.

The verdict: As I mentioned, this dessert has become a staple in our house. These look pretty enough to make for guests, but are easy enough to throw together for a last minute dessert.

The tip: Parchment paper is my new best friend. Instead of greasing the baking pan, line the bottom with parchment, making sure that all sides are covered. After cooling, remove the parchment from the pan and it will easily peel away from the dessert. This makes even cutting a breeze as you no longer have that ugly little corner that you can never get out of the pan in one piece. This also saves you some time cleaning your pan!