Gooey Toffee Blondies

Well as everyone who knows me knows, I love chocolate.  I could eat chocolate 24/7.  Love to work it into as many dishes as I can.  In fact a friend of mine brought me some Mexican Chocolate last week and I am still debating on what to use if for.

But enough of my love of chocolate.  Today I decided to make Michael a treat, and since he doesn’t like chocolate (now that’s just wrong on every level), I decided on blonde brownies with toffee.  Well I didn’t have any toffee, and didn’t feel like going to the store again so I just made some from scratch.  It really isn’t hard.

So lets get started…

First you have to make the toffee…

ingredients:

• 1 cup unsalted butter (2 sticks)
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1/4-1/2 tsp sea salt

       Line a large baking sheet with a silicone baking mat. Set aside.

  Combine all of the ingredients in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat.  

Cook until the mixture turns a deep golden and the mixture is at about 300 degrees, stirring constantly. If you don’t have a candy thermometer just use color to guide you. Basically you cant it a bit darker than this:

Pour the mixture onto the lined baking sheet and allow the mixture to cool for about 10 minutes

 

Using a large knife, break up the toffee into very small pieces.  

Note: When I first took my toffee off of the heat, the butter seemed to separate from the mixture so I put it back on the heat and whisked it for just a minute of two and it became well mixed.

Now for the Blondies…..

ingredients:

• 2 1/2 sticks unsalted butter + more to grease pan
• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1 1/2 tsp sea salt
• 2 cups packed dark brown sugar
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 2 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup homemade toffee bits (recipe below)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 9 x 13-inch baking dish and set aside.
2. In a small saucepan, melt the butter over medium-high heat. Cook until it turns golden brown and smells nutty (the butter should foam up and then mostly subside).
3. In a medium-sized bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, salt, and toffee. Set aside.
4. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, mix together the sugars and brown butter until combined. Add in the eggs and vanilla and beat for around 3-5 minutes until light and fluffy. Slowly add in the flour mixture and beat on low speed until combined. Pour the mixture into the prepared pan and smooth the top.
5. Bake for 30-35 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Let cool and then slice and serve!