Oatmeal Toffee Bars

Oatmeal Toffee Bars - made August 24, 2012, recipe adapted from 125 Cookies to Bake, Nibble and Savor by Elinor Klivans

This past Saturday, I participated in the Relay for Life, a 24-hour relay walk to raise funds for the American Cancer Society, in honor of Zoe, my friend's daughter who passed away 5 days after her 16th birthday earlier this summer.  I'm happy to announce that Team Zoe made Jade status and was the first team in the local Relay's history to raise over $10,000.  One third of the funds were raised by Teo, Zoe's 9-year-old brother who I blogged about earlier.  Many thanks to all of you who supported Teo and his fundraising efforts.

For relay day, I did a bit of baking (of course) to share with my fellow walkers, including this recipe for Oatmeal Toffee Bars.  I was actually going to make oatmeal cookies but was short on time as my sister was visiting and my niece was coming over so I went with these bar cookies instead.  They couldn't be easier to make and turned out pretty well.  They were a cross between a blondie and a chocolate chip oatmeal cookie.  I didn't get the crunch of the pecans and toffee as much as I expected but overall, they were a nice, chewy bar.  I could pretend they were for carbo-loading because of the oatmeal, but factor in the butter, sugar, chocolate chips and toffee and well - let's not kid ourselves.  Good thing I did all that relay walking.

1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour

½ teaspoon baking soda

¼ teaspoon salt

12 tablespoons (1 ½ sticks) soft unsalted butter

½ cup granulated sugar

¾ cup packed light brown sugar

1 large egg

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 ½ cups oatmeal (not quick-cooking)

1 cup coarsely chopped pecans

2 cups (about 10 ounces) coarsely crushed toffee candy, such as Heath Bars or Skor
1 1/2 cups chocolate chips

1.     Position a rack in the middle of the oven.  Preheat oven to 325°F.    Line a 9 x 13” baking pan with foil and lightly spray with nonstick cooking spray.

2.     Stir the flour, baking soda and salt together in a small bowl.  Set aside.

3.     Put the butter, sugar, and brown sugar in the large bowl of an electric mixer and beat on low speed for about 30 seconds until smooth.  Stir in the egg and vanilla and mix until thoroughly blended.  Stir in the oatmeal.  Mix in the flour mixture just until it is incorporated.  Stir in the pecans and crushed toffee.  Spread the batter evenly in the prepared pan.

4.     Bake until the toothpick inserted in the center comes out sticky but not dripped with batter and the edges are light brown, about 25 minutes.  Cool thoroughly in the baking pan on a wire rack.