Recipe Review/Reminder: Butter-Pecan Toffee Brownies from June '00

[Jessica]

I just made these once again, this time to take to a barbecue tomorrow They are the perfect bar cookie: chewy and sweet with the requisite chocolate on top. If you make them, please don't do what I did and spend $2.50 on a bag of Heath Brickle chips. I did not realize these were just Heath bars crunched up--buy a Heath bar for 50 cents and whack it with a rolling pin.

[Jewel]

Thanks for the reminder, Jessica, these were on my 'to try' list last summer and I spaced! I'm on a Brownie kick again. I went from cheesecake to brownies, and I'm still there! I just bought three bags of No Pudge Brownie Mix at TJ's yesterday, but I guess those can wait until I make these things first!

Great tip on the Heath Bars too! http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/biggrin.gif

[barbse]

Jessica, these sound great. Would you be able to post the recipe? I tried a search, but was unsuccessful. Thanks

[Jessica]

I can post the recipe later today--I may have to type it in. Not a problem.

[Holly in KC]

Here you go Barb...and thanks to Jessica for the recommendation! I'm going to try these tomorrow!

Brownies:
Cooking Spray
1 cup packed brown sugar
3 tablespoons butter or stick margarine, melted
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 large egg
3/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons chopped pecans
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt

Topping:
2/3 cup powdered sugar
2 tablespoons semisweet chocolate minichips, melted
1 tablespoon hot water
2 tablespoons almond brickle chips

1. Preheat oven to 350
2. To prepare brownies, coat bottom of an 8-inch square baking pan with cooking spray (do not coat sides of pan)
3. Combine brown sugar and next 3 ingredients (brown sugar through egg) in a large bowl; stir well with whisk. Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups, and level with a knife. Combine the flour pecans, baking powder, and salt; add to brown sugar mixture. Spread batter in bottom of prepared pan. Bake at 350 for 22 mintues or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out almost clean. Cool on a wire rack.
4. To prepare the topping, combine powdered sugar, minichips, and hot water n a small bowl, stir until smooth. Spread topping over brownies, and sprinkle with brickle chips. Chill 30 minutes or until topping is set. Yield: 16 brownies.

[Holly in KC]

Made these for the 1st time today! They were very good, but the portion size... oh my! http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/frown.gif Looks like my typical brownie portion serves at least 2. Extra tae-bo effort in the morning. http://www.cookinglight.com/bbs/wink.gif

Thanks for the recommendation, Jessica! Even though I was disappointed with the serving size, these are definitely on my "to do again" list!


[This message has been edited by Holly in KC (edited 06-03-2001).]

[schuh]

These sound great! Would Skor toffee bits be the same as almond brickle chips? I can't recall seeing almond brickle chips in the store.

[Holly in KC]

Schuh -

I used Jessica's terrific advice, and crushed up a Heath Bar. Much less expensive than buying a whole bag of brickle chips (that I'd probably throw out eventually) and it worked great!

[Grace]

I hate to be a dissenter, but these were so gross and icky sweet to me. The "brownie" part was like eating pure brown sugar (which, if you look at the ingredients, it practically is!). I could barely taste any chocolate (and isn't that what brownies are supposed to be?). And my husband, who is a brownie FREAK, didn't care for these either. His first comment was, "where's the chocolate?" They should have been named something else, since "brownies" has a certain connotation to it in my mind.

[Terrytx]

I made these the other day. I agree they are very sweet, but we love them.

[Jessica]

Oh, I have not had a Skor bar in a decade. MMmmm. I think it would work just fine.
Sorry you did not like these, Grace. I thought of them as a version of "blondies," a sort of brown sugar brownie with chocolate chips.

[schuh]

Regarding the Skor toffee bits, I always have them in my cupboard. I use them for Toffee Dip with Apples! YUM!

[Peeps]

After seeing this thread I couldn't believe I'd overlooked these from last June but when I pulled out my issue I had indeed marked the recipe to try. I never got around to it, probably because I never found/bought almond brickle chips but after reading this thread I realized I had a Heath bar in the frig and could use that. YUM! These are great- I skipped the chocolate bit on top and just sprinkled the crushed heath bars onto the batter before baking. I almost ate the whole pan last night! Like someone said, not really a brownie since they aren't chocolate - more of a blondie but still wonderful! Thanks for reminding me about this one.

[schuh]

You just happened to have a Heath Bar in the fridge? I don't think a Heath Bar has ever lasted long enough to make its way to the fridge in my house...

[Linda in MO]

Mmmm! I just took these out of the oven a little while ago. They are delicious. I also used a crushed up Heath bar and used the whole bar, which was more than 2 T. I was lazy, so I used Peeps tip and just sprinkled the Heath chips over the batter before baking and I skipped the topping. I agree with Grace that they should have a different name. These are definitely "blondies" and not brownies.