WINNERS – Here are the winners of the KitchenAid mixers:
Jamie M. – “We made Cookie Salad last night with girl scout cookies, it was delish!”
Kimberly – “We wanted something fruity and spring-like, even though it was February. I had 3 kinds of berries in the freezer, along with some rhubarb–and combined a few recipes to make a delicious rhuberry crisp!”
Congratulations, winners! Contact [email protected] to claim your loot.
Thank you, everyone, for sharing your most recent desserts.
More fun giveaways next week – see you then!
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I have a problem. I’m addicted to coffee-flavored anything. Coffee caramels, coffee ice cream, tiramisu, coffee itself. So as I was browsing the Desserts category yesterday for a sweet recipe to prepare, I grabbed at the first coffee-flavored treat I could find.
They’re Coffee-Toffee Bars, submitted by nhsweetcherry back in October, and I just knew they’d be something that would satisfy my coffee urges, at least for the afternoon.
When I read the recipe, I noticed right away that they’re not unlike these Spreads that I’ve made since I was a little girl—except with those, you bake the cookie base first, then spread melted chocolate chips over the top. These Coffee Toffee Bars are more of a chunky, substantial bar. Yum!
Here’s how you make them! Verdict is down below…along with a special surprise at the end.
The ingredients. Simple, pure, perfect…except I called the baking powder BAKING SODA. Why do I do this every time?
The “coffee” in these Coffee Toffee Bars comes from this ingredient—instant coffee granules. Did you know you can add a couple of teaspoons of instant coffee to most chocolate chip cookie recipes? Just throw it into the dry ingredients and it’ll add a delightful depth of flavor.
The recipe calls for 1 to 2 cups of chocolate chips. I decided to do 1 cup of semi-sweet and 1 cup of MILK CHOCOLATE chips. I’ll let you know how that turns out.
Begin by creaming softened butter and brown sugar.
Then you grab these four ingredients: instant coffee, salt, baking powder, and…almond extract! I wondered what that flavor would do the bars, since the standard choice would normally be vanilla.
Intellesting. Velly, velly intellesting.
Then you dump all of that into the bowl…
And mix it all together. You’ll want to scrape the sides of the bowl to make sure it all gets mixed together well.
After that, you dump in the flour. The recipe calls for approximately 2 1/2 cups of flour, so I decided to add the full amount in order to get a point of reference.
The result was a pretty crumbly dough; I had to really mix it in order for it to come together.
However, it turned out fine! I dumped it into a greased 9 x 13-inch pan…
And pressed it lightly into the pan.
Yes, I will be getting a new manicure, probably sometime in the year 2011.
Then I sprinkled the chocolate chips all over the pressed dough.
The recipe calls for 1 cup of chips…but UP TO 2 cups. I used about 1 3/4 cup of chips, just to see how far I could push it. ***More on this later***
Then you just pop it in the oven for about 25 minutes.
Mmmmm. It smells so, so good.
The dough isn’t a hugely rising, overly poufy thing since it doesn’t contain eggs or baking soda like the average chocolate chip cookie. But it does rise and pouf just enough to anchor the chocolate chips without completely swallowing them up.
Look at that yummy crust.
Cut the bars into squares or rectangles, depending on how many servings you’d like to squeeze out of the recipe.
Oh, yummy. How lovely!
And I’m sorry…
But I had to do this.
The devil made me do it.
THE VERDICT: These were really delicious. I definitely used too many chocolate chips, though—the chocolate overpowered the flavor of the cookie/bar below. When I make them next time, and I will make them again, I’ll use 1 cup of chocolate chips, tops. Maybe even less. You really want that cookie to shine through.
The almond extract is very interesting! It definitely comes through in the flavor of the cookie. I thought it was delicious, but if you aren’t a fan of almond flavor, I think you could easily substitute vanilla extract.
You could also sprinkle finely chopped pecans on top, before you sprinkle on the chocolate chips.
And vanilla ice cream, of course, would be a divine accompaniment!
Thank you, nhsweetcherry, for sharing such a delightful treat!
Here’s the recipe:
THE FUN PART
And now for the fun part.
Not that Coffee Toffee Bars aren’t fun!
Today, Tasty Kitchen is giving away two (2) KitchenAid artisan stand mixers in the classic White color above. There are so many yummy dessert recipes on Tasty Kitchen, and you need one of these babies to facilitate all the baking.
TO ENTER
To enter this giveaway, just answer the following question in the Comments section of this post:
“What’s the last dessert recipe you prepared?”
Did you make a chocolate cake last night?
Red velvet cupcakes last week?
Or was it that yellow Easy Bake Oven cake you made in 1974?
Just shout out the last dessert you prepared with your hot little hands (and feel free to include a link to the recipe if it’s online!) and you’re automatically entered to win a mixer.
THE RULES
One entry per person, please.
No entries after 11:00 pm Pacific Time Tuesday.
Winners will be selected at random and announced Wednesday morning.
Good luck!
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Contest sponsored by Tasty Kitchen, with cooperation from CHEFS Catalog.
26,637 Comments
Comments are closed for this recipe.
Megan on 3.2.2010
Key Lime Cake and Grandma Terrell’s Pound Cake on Sunday
Amy on 3.2.2010
I made an apple pie for my husband! (and me too!)
Krystal on 3.2.2010
Those bars look so tasty it’s ridiculous! The last dessert I made was a peanut butter pie on Saturday.
Denise on 3.2.2010
Chocoflan cake! Wierdest (I mean yummiest) cake I’v ever made. Starts out with chocolate cake batter on bottom and custard mix on top and in the oven a miracle happens. You end up with this moist chocolate cake topped with a delicate flan on it. Drizzle with Mexican caramel and enoy!
GG on 3.2.2010
Puppy Chow. Crispix cereal mixed with melted chocolate chips & pb, then with powdered sugar on top of it. My kids LOVE this stuff.
Michelle on 3.2.2010
Pear tartlet. I used an apple tartlet recipe from Tasty Kitchen for the dough. Then pealed & cut up 3 pears and added 2 T honey, 1 t vanilla and a dash of cinnamon. Then added it over the crust and baked it for 45 minutes. It was devine!
Kate Taylor on 3.2.2010
Bread pudding with leftover four-seed bread from a local bakery, eggs from my backyard chickens, raisins and pecans, all topped with a not-too-sweet whiskey sauce.
Jenelle on 3.2.2010
Last week I made some yummy apple crunch dessert. At least I think that’s what it was called…
Carol on 3.2.2010
Ginger Cherry Biscotti-WONDERFUL with coffee………..or tea………..or milk…………or all by themselves. I have to stay out of the kitchen so I won’t get into them every 5 minutes……
Tawnia on 3.2.2010
Oatmeal Scotchies—-mmmmmm.
mavrikbeat on 3.2.2010
smore’s made in the oven, but that is more of an assembly, actually made, double dark chocolate brownies
Melissa on 3.2.2010
Your home made doughnuts Yum!!
Jamie on 3.2.2010
I made chocolate fudgy cookies with a surprise of peanut butter cream in the middle. I gave 1 to my husband, 1 to my 3 year old, and ate the rest myself.
paola on 3.2.2010
I have baked banana muffins with chocolate glaze pretty good
Jennifer P. on 3.2.2010
I made peanut butter cookies!
kat on 3.2.2010
My pregnancy craving has been pineapple sherbert but I need to cut back on sugar so I made a splenda version. It turned out okay.
Katie H on 3.2.2010
oatmeal cranberry cookies!
hkap3 on 3.2.2010
chocolate chip poundcake…my daughter loves it!
Karen I from Texas on 3.2.2010
Blonde Brownies…….yum!!!
Sarah on 3.2.2010
Not Yo Mama’s Banana Pudding. No piddly vanilla wafers, here. And this is the only Paula Deen recipe that doesn’t include butter! But it’s fabulous, nonetheless.
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/paula-deen/not-yo-mamas-banana-pudding-recipe/index.html
Betty R. on 3.2.2010
Strawberry Shortcake using fresh Florida strawberries and pound cake
Tara on 3.2.2010
my Grandmother’s pecan pies for Christmas gifts, and eating mmm…
Laurcat on 3.2.2010
red velvet cupcakes with cream cheese frosting for valentine’s day!
Laura T. on 3.2.2010
The last dessert I made was red velvet cake with cream cheese frosting. It didn’t turn out that well, actually. A bit of a disappointment.
Erin on 3.2.2010
mmmm.. I made your sheet cake with some Hershey kiss chunks added in. My neighbors love this cake… I have to give it to them otherwise I would eat it all in one night. Ouch!
Tiffany on 3.2.2010
Two nights ago my husband and I made the chocolate molten lava cakes, courtesy of your TK recipes… they were just as good (and maybe even better) than everyone said!!
nikki on 3.2.2010
Oatmeal chocolate chip muffins.
rachel on 3.2.2010
Baker’s Chocolate One Bowl Brownies….with about 2 heaping cups of milk chocolate chips added for good measure.
katey v on 3.2.2010
chocolate chip cookies!
hkap3 on 3.2.2010
Chocolate chip pound cake. My daughter loves it!
Truc Luu on 3.2.2010
Tiramisu for the Feb’2010 Daring Bakers challenge.
Kelly B on 3.2.2010
I made homemade giant peanut butter cups which are my husbands favorite!
Christine on 3.2.2010
banana cookies!
Andrea Thompson on 3.2.2010
The last desert recipe I prepared was peanutbutter bars. They were yummy.
kandy on 3.2.2010
I made a yummy sour cream pound cake and have been nibbling on it for the last 2 days!!!
Robin on 3.2.2010
Cocoa powder brownies from Smitten Kitchen. Just before having my baby…after which I haven’t had much time to make desserts, unfortunately!
Randee Rush on 3.2.2010
I made a yellow bundt cake and vanilla frosting (dyed purple) for my fiance’s mom’s birthday last weekend!
Beth on 3.2.2010
Pumpkin carrot bars with cream cheese icing
Amanda D. on 3.2.2010
Well, chocolate chip cookies for a bake sale – simple but nummy!
MomOfFab4 on 3.2.2010
I made brownies in my Perfect Brownie pan a couple weeks ago.
shelljo on 3.2.2010
Cherry Dump Cake. Made it Sunday for a quick dessert to satisfy DH’s sweet tooth.
Debra Barnett on 3.2.2010
I made the Chocolate Ribbion Cake found at http://www.eaglebrand.com and my son loved it!!
Susan on 3.2.2010
The last dessert I prepared was rice pudding! Grandma’s recipe from Germany – not the super creamy stuff you buy in the stores today, but a little denser “real rice” pudding with golden raisins. The funniest part? I’ve made this since I was young since my dad liked it so much, but found out years later as an adult that grandma always added a splash (or two!) of brandy for flavor!
Sheltiefan on 3.2.2010
I made the apple dumplings!
JenniferK on 3.2.2010
Mint chocolate chip ice cream. I actually found decent mint this time of year, infused it into the cream, added wonderful Belgian chocolate. Tasty.
Katie Wolff on 3.2.2010
Last night my hubby made cinnamon rolls. YUMMY!!!
Helen on 3.2.2010
Peanut butter cookies! And yes, I admit I ate more than my fair share.
Becki on 3.2.2010
Chocolate biscotti with Craisens and walnuts. They were good, too.
Lace on 3.2.2010
Let’s see, Martha Stewart’s big sugar cookies last night.
Jillian on 3.2.2010
Brownies for my MIL´s birthday…..my nearly 2-year-old turned down the temperature of the oven part-way through the baking time (without my knowledge, of course!) and I never quite got them baked enough once I figured it out…..oops!