Holidays with gram meant cookies - a decorative tin filled with an array of homemade cookies. My favorite was always the toffee bars. The recipe remained a secret until I got my first place.
When I moved into my first apartment, my grandparents gifted me a 9-Speed Osterizer Blender (Model 647-04, Made in the U.S.A.). Along with this blender, purchased January 27, 1971 (almost as old as me!) came a cookbook: Osterizer Blender Spin Cookery Cookbook. In that booklet, tucked between pages 28 and 29, was a note from my gram, revealing her secret toffee bar recipe.
Ingredients (makes about 36 bars)
- 2 cups Sifted Flour
- 1 Egg Yolk
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
- 1 cup Butter, room temperature
- 1 cup Brown Sugar
- 1 cup Semi-Sweet Chocolate Bits
- 1 cup Pecans
Instructions
- Heat oven to 350 degrees.
- Grease a 9'x13" pan.
- Sift flour into mixing bowl.
- Put Egg Yolk, Vanilla, Butter, and Brown Sugar into OSTERIZER container, cover, and process at BLEND until smooth. Use a rubber spatula to aid in processing. Add to flour and mix well.
- Spread in prepared pan and bake 25 minutes. Remove from the oven and sprinkle chocolate bits over the top, return to the oven for a few seconds to melt chocolate.
- When chocolate bits have melted, remove from oven and spread chocolate evenly over the cookies.
- Put half the nuts into MINI-BLEND container and process 2 cycles at GRATE. Sprinkle over chocolate. Repeat with remaining nuts.
- Cut into bars while warm. Cool in pan.
As soon as Passover is over, I'll whip up a batch of Eden-friendly (dairy and refined-sugar free) toffee bars for you. Oh, in case you're curious, I still have that Osterizer.
