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Coffee Toffee Bars

Posted by in Baking, Step-by-Step Recipes

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 prizes@tastykitchen.com 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.

 
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The ingredients. Simple, pure, perfect…except I called the baking powder BAKING SODA. Why do I do this every time?

 
 
 

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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.

 
 
 

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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.

 
 
 

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Begin by creaming softened butter and brown sugar.

 
 
 

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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.

 
 
 

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Then you dump all of that into the bowl…

 
 
 

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And mix it all together. You’ll want to scrape the sides of the bowl to make sure it all gets mixed together well.

 
 
 

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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.

 
 
 

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The result was a pretty crumbly dough; I had to really mix it in order for it to come together.

 
 
 

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However, it turned out fine! I dumped it into a greased 9 x 13-inch pan…

 
 
 

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And pressed it lightly into the pan.

Yes, I will be getting a new manicure, probably sometime in the year 2011.

 
 
 

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Then I sprinkled the chocolate chips all over the pressed dough.

 
 
 

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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***

 
 
 

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Then you just pop it in the oven for about 25 minutes.

 
 
 

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Mmmmm. It smells so, so good.

 
 
 

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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.

 
 
 

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Look at that yummy crust.

 
 
 

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Cut the bars into squares or rectangles, depending on how many servings you’d like to squeeze out of the recipe.

 
 
 

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Oh, yummy. How lovely!

 
 
 

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And I’m sorry…

 
 
 

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But I had to do this.

The devil made me do it.

 
 
 

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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:

Coffee-Toffee Bars

 
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.

Sara on 3.2.2010

Oh, I made PW’s Chocolate Pie for Valentine’s Day. Incidentally, it’s even better if you substitute half the white sugar for brown sugar. I found that out by accident.

Micah on 3.2.2010

S’more brownies Saturday afternoon for my dear hubby to take to the Wild Game (read: dead wild animals, not poker and blackjack) Banquet at church. Hey, its a Baptist church…we gave up poker and blackjack for Lent.

just. kidding.

Its a homade brownie recipe from my childhood topped with marshmallows,lightly browned, and delicious homade chocolate frosting drizzled on top.

Renee on 3.2.2010

I made Fudge Brownies last night for our Family Night! mmmmmmm, chocolate!

Dawn M on 3.2.2010

Plain old out of the box cupcakes for Valentines Day. I’ve been having a cake ball/ cake pop withdrawal and need to make those soon, too. (for those who are like “huh?” See Bakerella’s website (http://www.bakerella.com/)

kata de pécs on 3.2.2010

it was a superb choco-cake I learned at a french dinner… french dinners forever!

Classic Mama on 3.2.2010

Good old fashioned sugar cookies. My 3 year old and the 4 year old that I babysit “helped”. :)

dawn tc on 3.2.2010

dessert….homemade? hmmmm thats a tough one…oh yea, choc chip cookies. about 5 dozen

Aimee on 3.2.2010

i made a jello cake for my husbands birthday. and Funfetti valentine’s cookies for my daughters day care. I’m all about the easy dessert.

Juli Barefoot on 3.2.2010

Key Lime Cake….Cool and Wonderful!

Connie on 3.2.2010

Your yummy chocolate sheet cake!

Lori on 3.2.2010

I made… Are you ready??? A Big Top cupcake!! It crumbled, it fell apart, was basically a pile of mushy, sweet goodness. Yes, it was ugly but boy did it taste good!!!

AmandaC on 3.2.2010

Gluten-free Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip cookies … yesterday.

jomek on 3.2.2010

Strawberry Torte….soooooo good!

Krista in Mississippi on 3.2.2010

Apple crisp. My favorite dessert ever!

Sarah on 3.2.2010

The last dessert I made was a two ingredient pumpkin cake. ( yellow cake mix and a can of pumpkin).

Karen J in OK on 3.2.2010

Dark Chocolate Cake Balls….YUM!

tennreps on 3.2.2010

Chocolate cupcakes…from your site. The ones with the candy kisses in them. I also did some with Reeses peanut butter cups.

Jaime on 3.2.2010

The last dessert I made was divine. It was key lime pound cake, which should have been named key lime 3 pound cake. But it was delicious.

Erin on 3.2.2010

The last dessert I made was the best chocolate sheet cake for the husband’s birthday. Yes, it’s your recipe!!

Jay on 3.2.2010

Welp, I’ll be making mint cupcakes tomorrow, but that technically hasn’t happened yet… I think the last dessert I made was chocolate chip hazlenut toffee oh my god delicious cookies. Something like that.

Kendra on 3.2.2010

I made a White Chocolate Raspberry Tart for my mom’s birthday. It was delicious!

Heather on 3.2.2010

peanut butter cookies

katie on 3.2.2010

I’ve been meaning to make brownies (with coffee) from a to-die-for recipe for almost two weeks, but haven’t gotten around to it.

Thus, the last dessert I made from scratch was snickerdoodles. Unless you count biscuits and honey a dessert.

kikibibi on 3.2.2010

What a nice surprise! I just threw together some Tollhouse Cookies last night!

adrienne on 3.2.2010

I made pecan brownies and homemade chocolate icing to go on top! They were delicious.

Jennifer Stafford on 3.2.2010

PW Cinnamon Rolls

Timpy on 3.2.2010

Chocolate Chip Cookies for my husband and grandpa.

Jeanene on 3.2.2010

Chocolate fudge brownies! Yum Yum Yum!

Amber the LittleMrsDomestic on 3.2.2010

2 batches of Pillsbury Simply cookies last night. 1 chocolate chip for the hubs and 1 peanut butter with kisses for the kiddos and myself… they were a quick yummy treat.

Jennifer H on 3.2.2010

Probably banana bread, but it’s been a couple months ago.

Sunny on 3.2.2010

I made mountain dew apple dumplings!

Barbara Moody on 3.2.2010

Apple dumplings.

laura on 3.2.2010

Southside pudding – I LOVE it, but cannot make it. I bought instant pudding instead of regular – and it was a runny mess!!

Jaime on 3.2.2010

plain old (but delicious) brownies

Lenice on 3.2.2010

Hot fudge peanut butter cheesecake – to die for!!!!!

Heather on 3.2.2010

I made yellow cake cupcakes with Homemade milk Chocolate icing for work about 2 weeks ago.

maile engle on 3.2.2010

Lemon Merengue Pie! It was wonderful.

Amy B. on 3.2.2010

PW’s pound cake. So good!

Ariel Stenersen on 3.2.2010

Chocolate Fondants with whipped cream and raspberries for my Valentine. :)

http://tlc.discovery.com/fansites/takehomechef/recipes/episode121_03.html

Anna on 3.2.2010

Meyer lemon bars

Renee on 3.2.2010

The last dessert I made….hmmm….a blueberry dumpcake. YUM! …couple weeks ago.

Elizabeth on 3.2.2010

sugar cookies…comfort food!

Lorinda on 3.2.2010

i made oatmeal chocolate chip/raisin cookies this morning.

Emily on 3.2.2010

The last dessert I made was Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies. They turn out perfectly chewy and delicious every time! I love them… they are my no fail cookie recipe. The recipe is online here: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/BAKERS-Peanut-Butter-Oatmeal-Chocolate-Chunk-Cookies/Detail.aspx

beth on 3.2.2010

cinnamon sugar wontons with salted butter caramel dipping sauce

diana on 3.2.2010

Creme brulée!

Rebekah Clute on 3.2.2010

I made apple cinammon cookie bars. Hmmm…delish. Found the recipe at twopeasandtheirpod.com

Becky on 3.2.2010

I don’t make desserts very often but the last one I made was “one ingredient icecream” and it was great!

Bree Allhiser on 3.2.2010

Dark Chocolate Chunk Cookies. YUMMY!!!!

Cheryl Thomas on 3.2.2010

The last dessert recipe I made was Paula Deens Bannaoffee Pie