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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.

Shemsa on 3.2.2010

Oatmeal chocolate chip walnut cookies Saturday night! They were delicious.

jkaymac on 3.2.2010

Besides opening a box of Girl Scout cookies? The last thing I made were spritz cookies. Yum.

Sarah on 3.2.2010

Classic one-bowl brownies!

sg on 3.2.2010

Made yummy caramel pudding last week :)

Debby on 3.2.2010

I made the Better Than Anything cake here on Tasty Kitchen.

Kelsey M on 3.2.2010

I made brownies!!!

Melissa B. on 3.2.2010

I made a New York Cheesecake a couple weeks ago which is one of my absolute favorite things in the world.

Anne on 3.2.2010

Oatmeal Raisin Walnut Cookies – to snack while on a roadtrip with friends.

Jennay on 3.2.2010

I made Puffy Sugar Cookies courtesy of http://www.bakerella.com! She made these for her valentine’s pops but I just used the recipe to make sugar cookies and dress them up with Nascar #’s for my nephew’s 10th bday!! =) I am dying to try these Coffee Toffee bars now though….they look delicious!

Bev Babarovich on 3.2.2010

Chocolate cake. Is there any other kind of cake? Not in my house.

Tasha on 3.2.2010

Yay!! I love giveaways!

Don’t shudder…please… but the last desert I made was from-a-box brownies. The kids wanted chocolate, I wanted ease, and that is what caused the culinary sin. :/

Mike's Mom on 3.2.2010

I can’t remember – we usually just grab for the icecream for dessert.

CT on 3.2.2010

Weirdly, I made coffee cupcakes. I’m testing recipes for a baking contest I’m entered in.

Stacey on 3.2.2010

I made an ice cream sundae last night..does that count?

Manda on 3.2.2010

Pink heart shaped rice krispy bars for Valentines.

Ruth on 3.2.2010

Your French Breakfast Puffs =)

McKenzie on 3.2.2010

I made a tollhouse pie a few weeks ago– easy and super good!

Debby James on 3.2.2010

This past Saturday I made 5 loaves of Banana Nut Bread, Swedish Pecans for my man and chocolate peanut butter bob bons…..

Alex on 3.2.2010

Fudgy Brownies with Peanut Butter Stripes. Ssooo bad….but sssoooo good.

Tana on 3.2.2010

The last dessert I prepared was lemon cheesecake for my husband’s birthday. Delicious!

mia on 3.2.2010

A pear, raspberry, and ginger crisp for a potluck dinner on Sunday. With ice cream!

Heather Sheffer on 3.2.2010

I made Blonde Brownies a few weeks ago, and they were delicious. I used Andes mint chips instead of chocolate chips to shake things up. ;)

Melissa on 3.2.2010

Peanut butter-chocolate chip cookies. I really need a Kitchen Aid mixer to make them even better!!!!

cbrks12 on 3.2.2010

Oh, my…it was a cake over a year ago. Too long!

Connie on 3.2.2010

Walnut Jam Cake from Smitten Kitchen – excellent!

Claire P. on 3.2.2010

I made a chocolate chip cookie cake for an Improv classmate’s birthday. Mmmmmm…

Elaina B. on 3.2.2010

Brownies!

Amanda on 3.2.2010

I made a basic chocolate chip cookie recipe over the weekend – but used peanut butter/chocolate swirl chips instead of plain chocolate. Amazing.

Nik P on 3.2.2010

The last dessert I made, were the Rolos Cookies! Yuummmmmm!

Sadia on 3.2.2010

I made a Pakistani dessert called Sayvia, which basically consists of milk, sugar and vermicelli. It’s yummy!

JChambers on 3.2.2010

Chocolate soup…yum!

AnitaWS on 3.2.2010

Last dessert I made was Cow Patties…or “No Bake Oatmeal Cookies.” And then I ate them.

Angela on 3.2.2010

I did the PW Pineapple Upside Down cake a few days ago for dessert!

Donna on 3.2.2010

I CANNOT make these. I have no willpower, and if I make them, I will eat the whole pan.

Sheryl on 3.2.2010

Lemon pound cake. Then I took some frozen strawberry rhubarb sauce out of the freezer to put on it. Yummy!

Celia on 3.2.2010

Lemon Meringue Pie! Homemade crust, but filling from a box. I’m 68 years old and even my mother always used boxed lemon pie filling! It was unusually scrumptious this time!

Cottage Dreamers on 3.2.2010

Two days ago I made a layered chocolate pie. Mmm, mmm, mmm!
☺ Celeste

Angela Calix on 3.2.2010

Chocolate chip and pecan cookies when we were snowed in at my parent’s house a few weeks ago.

Lisa on 3.2.2010

I made Cherry Fluff on Saturday. MMMM….

Judy on 3.2.2010

Chocolate Chip Cookies!!! YUM!

Allison on 3.2.2010

I made Bakerella’s Red Velvet Cake Balls – DELISH! Everyone asked me for the recipe!

Jessie P. on 3.2.2010

I made red velvet cake last week for a dinner party. yum!

Sarah P. on 3.2.2010

The last dessert I made was for a breakfast potluck this morning at my MOPS (mothers of preschoolers) meeting. Nothing like dessert for breakfast! It’s called “cinnamon bites” and involves lots of cinnamon, sugar, and cream cheese frosting goodness.

Teresa on 3.2.2010

Carrot cake for the Meat Shoot at the local Moose Lodge on Sunday. The compliments were spine tingling!

wombat757 on 3.2.2010

Oatmeal raisin cookies for my handsome sailor man, last week.

Andrea B on 3.2.2010

Triple chocolate chip muffins

Margie on 3.2.2010

I made a Hershey chocolate cake with chocolate frosting. It was yummy!

JessicaO on 3.2.2010

I made a bunch of cut-out cookies with homemade icing for my bff’s birthday. I live in TX and she lives in NY, so I had to ship the little cupcake and unicorn-shaped cookies in hopes they wouldn’t break…and they didn’t! She loved them :)

Christine M on 3.2.2010

I made peanut butter chocolate chip cookies last week. They are my go to dessert when I’m in a hurry.

Tara on 3.2.2010

Lemon cake with a topping that is made out of pudding and whipped cream – a great step into spring dessert.