G-Mama Lonnie's Toffee Bars ❤️

When I think of Christmas cookies, I immediately think of my mom's (Lonnie Beineke) toffee cookies.  She used to cut them into diamond shapes to be fancy schmancy (It's a word in my dictionary.)  My Grandma (Helen Wickstrom) made these too with my mom.  They both were amazing cooks.  I learned so much from them!  

This recipe, I believe, is straight out of 

Betty Crocker's 1963  Cooky Cookbook.

These freeze so well, if they last that long.  My favorite cookie that reminds me of my mama bear every Christmas.  Keep the tradition going and add them to your Christmas Cookie favorites.  Then hopefully, you too will think of your mama with the fondest of memories and love. 

❤️ With love and full tummies ~ Mama Bear  ❤️ 

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Let's Get Cooking!

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Makes 24 Bars/Cookies

Ingredients :

• 1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1 cup brown sugar, packed
• 1 egg yolk
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 7 1/4 ounces chocolate candy bars, broken into squares. I used Hershey's Special Dark chocolate, but milk chocolate or any other type you like is fine. OR use chocolate chips and melt them in a double boiler (place glass bowl over simmering hot water in a pan until melted) which is what I do. 
• 1/2 cup toasted and chopped walnuts *See below

Instructions :

• Preheat oven to 350. Spray and line your pan with a sheet of parchment paper. This is optional but helps to remove the shortbread for easy slicing. You can slice right in the pan if you prefer.
• Cream the butter, brown sugar, egg yolk, salt, and vanilla together.
• Fold in the flour and mix until the dough comes together.
• Pat the dough in the bottom of your prepared pan. Use floured fingers to get it evenly across the surface, and use an offset spatula to smooth it out.
• Bake for 25-28 minutes, just until starting to turn golden.
• As soon as the pan comes out of the oven, arrange the chocolate squares across the surface.
• Wait a few minutes for the chocolate to soften, then, using your offset spatula, spread the melted chocolate over the surface.
• Sprinkle the chopped nuts evenly over the warm chocolate.
• Crushed walnuts sprinkled over chocolate. 
• Allow the chocolate to firm up before slicing into 24 bars.

Toasting Walnuts :

• Lay them out on a dry baking sheet and toast in a 350F oven for about 12-15 minutes. My new favorite way to toast nuts is in the microwave. Place on a sheet of parchment paper and toast on high for about 1.5-2 minutes. 

• Check them because they can burn, and the time will depend on your microwave.

Storage :

• These bars will keep for a few days in an airtight container at room temperature, or in the refrigerator.

• These bars can be frozen in heavy duty zip lock freezer bags or in a freezer safe container. I like to separate the layers of bars with waxed paper so they don’t stick.