I worked with a girl once who didn’t like brown sugar.
I’m just going to let that sink in for a minute
Does that bother you at all?? I mean, obviously people have different tastes and like different foods. I’m in looooove with roasted brussels sprouts, but it doesn’t bother me at all when my kids wrinkle their noses at them. I personally despise carrots and olives, but can easily see how other people might like them.
But… BROWN SUGAR!!!
That is SO bizarre to me that somebody cannot like brown sugar!! It’s so incredibly good and completely makes a chocolate chip cookie. It’s like the key ingredient in so many of my favorite desserts!
Like these Chocolate Pecan Toffee Bars that my family has been making forever. I have no idea where the original recipe came from, but my sister entered it in the church cookbook when we were probably early teenagers, so that’s where I’ve always headed when I’m in the mood for these yummy bars. (which has been quite often lately!)
They start with a box mix crust:
Once that bakes for 10 minutes, you add the brown sugar, chocolate chip, pecan mixture and carefully spread it over your crust:
Bake some more and they emerge not really looking like the greatest things ever, to be honest!
But when you cut into them, they have a nice buttery base with a gooey toffee topping that pairs so well! These never last long around here!
Chocolate Pecan Toffee Bars
- Base:
- 1 box yellow cake mix
- 1/2 c. melted butter
- 1 egg
- Topping:
- 1 c. packed brown sugar
- 1 tsp. vanilla
- 2 eggs
- 2 tbsp. flour
- 1 tsp. baking powder
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 1 c. chocolate chips
- 1/2 c. chopped pecans (optional)
- Preheat oven to 350.
- In bowl, combine dry cake mix, melted butter and egg at low speed until well blended. Press into bottom of ungreased 13×9 pan. Bake for 10 minutes.
- Meanwhile, in same bowl, combine brown sugar, vanilla, eggs, flour, baking powder and salt. Mix well. Stir in chocolate chips and pecans. Carefully spread topping evenly over warm base making sure that the topping touches the sides of the pans. Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes until the top is golden brown and set. Cool and then cut into bars.
Then come back and tell me all about how much you looooove brown sugar!!
