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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.

Megan on 3.2.2010

Simple sugar cookies.

Marian on 3.2.2010

pear crisp

jo on 3.2.2010

I made red velvet cupcakes for Valentines day – guess that was the last one.. time to get busy, huh?

Amy P on 3.2.2010

Oatmeal and raisin cookies — last week. I’d forgotten just how delicious these classics are. Yum.

Rachel Brady on 3.2.2010

peanut butter fluffy pie!!!

amy1242 on 3.2.2010

Your Chocolate Cake! My 12 year old daughter made it for a math assignment last week! It was a complete hit with the students and the teacher. A+!!!!!

Michelle on 3.2.2010

The last dessert type thing I made was Pumpkin Cranberry Cookies…I couldn’t stop eating them!

dawn on 3.2.2010

My mother in law’s apple squares for valentine’s day for my husband…. many thousands of meals later, still the one.

SarahSki on 3.2.2010

I made gluten free brownies with peanut butter last weekend. :)

Suzanne on 3.2.2010

Homemade brownies — but these are totally on my list now!!!

johanna on 3.2.2010

Chocolate chip cookies with my four year old

Sonja Bickel on 3.2.2010

I made cheesecake (plain – nothing fancy) with lemon sauce to pour on top. Very yummy, but simple.

Megan M. on 3.2.2010

Last dessert? Pecan Turtle Bars, yummy!

Nicole on 3.2.2010

Two weeks ago, I made a pink lady cake that I found on smittenkitchen.com. It was really good. I made whipped cream/cream cheese icing, which was also delicious.

Dianne D on 3.2.2010

layered pudding dessert. I haven’t made a dessert in quite a while since I am dieting for my daughter’s wedding. I would LOVE a mixer.

Jennifer on 3.2.2010

I made two French Silk Pies for a friend’s birthday this past Saturday!

Amy on 3.2.2010

PW’s apple dumplings! The past two nights-half a recipe each night, and we’re having company this weekend and are making them again because they are that good!

Jessica Ungvichian on 3.2.2010

chocolate chip cookies!

Cheryl Schlins on 3.2.2010

Hershey Pie

Leanne on 3.2.2010

I made oatmeal cookies for my sister’s baby shower

Gina on 3.2.2010

Magic Cookie Bars. They are everything they say they are…MAGIC! COOKIE! BARS! yum. They’re already gone. Perhaps it’s time to make more.
http://chocolatechiptrips.blogspot.com/2009/07/magic-cookie-bars.html

Allison on 3.2.2010

Brownies sometime last month! I need Chocolate!

Lizzie on 3.2.2010

The last desert I made was your baked fudge. LOVE.

Bethany Crowther on 3.2.2010

I made my hubby’s mom’s favorite sugar cookie recipe! With yummy frosting–they were fabulous!

Christy on 3.2.2010

I made sweet potatoe pie!

Suzanne on 3.2.2010

We had low-tech chocolate fondue — melted chocolate chips with a bit o milk and some organic coconut butter (soooo good) melted in. Cut up some honey crisp apples and dang, the 5 year old will eat 2 whole apples in a sitting, if I let her. (me too.)
Haven’t baked in a while, but THESE coffee toffee bars look good to me.
xoxo

Jessica on 3.2.2010

I made some yummy and easy baked pears not too long ago.

Abigail Hutchison on 3.2.2010

I made a delicious Oatmeal-Chocolate Chip Pizza …it was easy, quick and so yummy we nearly ate it all that day !!!

annie on 3.2.2010

fall fruit cobbler – plums, pears, apples, and crumbly cinnamony, nutty, wonderfulness – with some vanilla bean ice cream on top!
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Fresh-Fruit-Cobbler/Detail.aspx?src=etaf

Lisa G. on 3.2.2010

Last week my sister and I roasted marshmallows on the stove top and made s’mores.

Jenna on 3.2.2010

Almost! I did make yellow cake mix cookies this afternoon. They were for our neighbor who is having a really hard time right now. So the dinner we brought them was from scratch, but the dessert was pretty much from a box.

Nick Muoio on 3.2.2010

We made a 3 layer mud pie last weekend. It was so delicious!

Callie Ryburn on 3.2.2010

I made the best cocoa brownies from smitten kitchen yesterday – served with coffee ice-cream, they’re fantastic!

Sharrieboberry on 3.2.2010

Chocolate Cupcakes – from scratch

Sarah on 3.2.2010

I’m embarrassed to say I have a red velvet cake in the oven as we speak. The embarrassing part is it’s from a cake mix. I can bake, but this sounded good while I was in the baking aisle at the store! I even got premade cream cheese frosting. Shhh, don’t tell!

Profile photo of southernmoon (Carolyn)

southernmoon (Carolyn) on 3.2.2010

Toll House chocolate chip cookies!
Our favorite!

Christie on 3.2.2010

I made homemade oreos (a la Smitten Kitchen) last Wednesday. I also made Alton Brown’s chewy chocolate chip cookies. Both were for some people at work.

Jaclyn on 3.2.2010

on friday i made a chocolate chip cake. SO yummy…i used a butter cake mix and added wonderful things like chocolate chips, chocolate instant pudding mix and even sour cream. Yum!

Wen on 3.2.2010

An apple and dried cherry gallette, last week. So good!

Julianne on 3.2.2010

Red Velvet Cake Balls for v-day!

Laura B on 3.2.2010

Cookie Dough Cheesecake bars.. they were DIVINE!

Crystal on 3.2.2010

Lemon bars

Emily on 3.2.2010

I made cake balls for Valentine’s day.

sami on 3.2.2010

Peanut Butter Fingers – or Bars – or Whatever you want to call them! Yummy…

Linda on 3.2.2010

chocolate chip cookies with my sister!

Susan Peeler on 3.2.2010

I made a wonderful coconut cake. The recipe belongs to my 85 year old aunt. It is one of those no fail cakes and the longer it sits in the refrigerator the better it gets!

Becky B on 3.2.2010

I made the very best chocolate chip cookies ever!!

Jill Wilson on 3.2.2010

I made the Baked Fudge from the Valentine’s dinner posting and it was fabulous!! I really, really want to win the mixer…just putting that out into the world!!

Michelle on 3.2.2010

Salted Caramels…yum!

Ana Burke on 3.2.2010

Ice cream cake