Salted Toffee Bars

Salted Toffee Bars are made with a toffee-studded sugar cookie crust, gooey caramel, and sweet chocolate top sprinkled with toffee bits and sea salt.  Easy holiday treats like these are perfect for gift giving!

This post is sponsored by Betty Crocker.  

Baking Christmas cookies during the holidays is one of my favorite things to do with the kids.  I really believe that spending time in the kitchen preparing easy holiday treats with my kids is creating lasting memories for them that they can carry with them throughout their lives.  The kind of memories that, when you look back on them, you can't help but smile.

I know, I know, it sounds all mushy and sappy, but I genuinely feel like tradition helps to mold a child's soul and gives them stability and pure joy.  I'm a sentimental kind of girl.  What can I say?

When it comes to the baking recipes I like to make with my kids, I especially love the ease and simplicity of baking sweet treats with Betty Crocker.  The Betty Crocker recipes are easy to make and fun to bake!  This Salted Toffee Bar Recipe was no exception.  My daughter actually jumped up and hugged me in excitement after taking her first bite because she thought these scrumptious bars were so good!

As you can see in that photo above, there are toffee bits mixed into the sugar cookie dough for extra toffee deliciousness.  They don't call them toffee bars for nothing!

And then there's all that dreamy caramel.  Goodness gracious, it's dreamy.

Next, you top these babies off with some chocolate.  The hot caramel melts the chips and you spread it around to create that fab chocolate layer at the top.



Finally, you top it all off with more crunchy toffee bits.  Oh, and you can't forget that salted part of the title!  A nice sprinkling of coarse salt rounds out the sweetness of these delectable bars.

The whole process is rather easy and the kids love helping with each step.  After a little chill in the fridge, the chocolate sets and they're ready for cutting.  I like to make my cuts on a diagonal for a nice rhombus shape.  Look that one up.  Haha.  Learned it from my kindergartener.  ;)

What I love just as much as preparing sweet treats with my kids is teaching them about sharing the end result with people in our lives.  This recipe makes a bunch of little bars, so they are perfect for holiday gift giving!

Teachers, friends, co-workers, and family will love these and love that the kids helped to make them even more.  Foodie gifts are a great way to bake memories and give back to those that mean the world to you this holiday season by surprising them with fresh-baked goodness made straight from the heart.

Salted Toffee Bars

   

Ingredients

• 1 pouch (1 lb 1.5 oz) Betty Crocker™ sugar cookie mix 
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1 egg
• 1 cup toffee bits
• 1 bag (11 oz) caramels, unwrapped
• 1/3 cup heavy whipping cream
• 2 cups semisweet or milk chocolate chips
• 3/4 teaspoon coarse sea salt
  

Instructions

1. Heat oven to 350°F. Line 15x10x1-inch cookie sheet with sides with foil. In a large bowl, stir cookie mix, butter, and egg until soft dough forms. Stir in 1/2 cup of the toffee bits. Press dough in the bottom of the pan. Bake 14 to 16 minutes or until light golden brown. Cool 5 minutes on a cooling rack.
2. In 2-quart saucepan, heat caramels and cream over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, until caramels are melted, 5 to 10 minutes. Remove from heat. Spread over warm cookie base. Bake 5 minutes. Return to cooling rack. Sprinkle chocolate chips evenly over top. Let stand 3 minutes; spread melted chips evenly overfilling. Sprinkle with sea salt and remaining 1/2 cup toffee bits. Refrigerate bars until chocolate is firm, about 15 minutes. Cut into 8 rows by 4 rows. Store at room temperature in an airtight container.