Fudgy Chocolate Chip Toffee Bars

Fudgy Chocolate Chip Toffee Bars - made March 16, 2013 from Family Bites

I needed another bar cookie for my niece's care package and this seemed like a good candidate.  It's like a cross between a magic cookie bar (sans coconut) and a chocolate chip bar, combining elements of both.  There's a graham cracker crust studded with toffee bits, a fudgy chocolate layer of melted chocolate chips and sweetened condensed milk, a chocolate chip cookie layer mixed with more graham cracker crumbs, all topped with sprinklings of more toffee bits.  My only issue with the original recipe is it used ready-made chocolate chip cookie dough.  I couldn't bring myself to buy that tube of Pillsbury cookie dough so I used a from-scratch recipe from The Bite-Sized Baker (link in the ingredient list below) without the nutella stuffing.  Wow.  It was well worth that little extra effort.

When using the from-scratch cookie dough, chill it first then when you're ready to use, break into chunks (not too small) and drop the chunks over the chocolate layer.  Don't worry about making it smooth.  I think it adds more character for it to be craggy.  Plus it gives it more texture. This was a really good bar cookie.  What made it so yum was the browned butter chocolate chip cookie dough - it was just good.  Like extra mile on the treadmill good.  Plus the chocolate layer would satisfy anyone with a chocolate craving and the toffee bits gave it a nice crunch.

1/2 cup butter, melted
2 cup graham cracker crumbs (32 squares, divided
1 8 oz. bag toffee bits
1 batch chocolate chip cookie dough or 1 roll refrigerated chocolate chip cookie dough
1 12-ounce bag chocolate chips
1 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk
1 tablespoon butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Make chocolate chip cookie dough and put in refrigerator to chill for 30 minutes.  If using the ready-made cookie dough, have the roll of cookie dough sitting out for ~10 minutes to soften up.
2. Line a 13x9 baking dish with foil and spray with nonstick cooking spray.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
3. In a medium mixing bowl, stir together the 1/2 cup of melted butter, 1 1/2 cups of graham cracker crumbs and 3/4 cup of toffee bits. Pour mixture into the greased pan and press evenly until mixture covers bottom of pan. Refrigerate for 15 minutes.
4. In a 2-quart saucepan, heat the sweetened condensed milk, chocolate chips and the tablespoon of butter over medium heat. Stir frequently until the chips are melted and the mixture is smooth. Remove the mixture from the heat and stir in the vanilla extract. Spread the mixture evenly over the graham cracker crumb mixture.
5. In another medium mixing bowl, break up the chilled (from scratch) cookie dough and stir in the remaining 1/2 cup graham cracker crumbs until blended. Crumble the dough (not too small) evenly over the chocolate layer and sprinkle the remaining 3/4 cup toffee bits on top.
6. Bake for about 25-35 minutes or until golden brown. Cool completely before cutting.