Shortbread Milk Chocolate Toffee Bars

I came across another amazing and easy dessert this past weekend that I could not help but share.  I've never been a huge toffee fan, that us until I came across bags of Milk Chocolate Toffee.  Basically it's toffee bits with milk chocolate mixed which is the best of both worlds, amiright?  I threw in that little tiny recipe tweak when I was putting this recipe together and came out with a winner winner chicken dinner. This recipe fit nicely with my recent tendency to make cookie bars instead of plain old cookies, see here, here, and here for some of my favorites. I really like that I don't have to put several different batches in the oven, just put it all in a Pyrex dish, put it in the oven and that's it.

Adapted from this recipe.

What you Need:

Shortbread Crust

3/4 cup butter, softened

3/4 cup light brown sugar

1 1/2 cups flour

Filling

1 cup (14oz can) sweetened condensed milk

1 Tbsps butter

Topping

2 cups milk chocolate chips

1 1/3 cup (one bag) Milk Chocolate Toffee Bits

How to Make It:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease the bottom of  a 9" x 13" baking dish.

Crust: Beat butter and sugar together until combined (about 1-2 minutes). Scrape down the sides of your mixer and mix in the flour. Press dough mixture into the bottom of the greased baking dish and bake 12-15 minutes, until the top turns a light brown.  Remove from oven.

Filling: While the shortbread crust is cooling, heat sweetened condensed milk and butter in a small saucepan and stir until smooth.  Pour over shortbread crust and bake 12-15 minutes until the filling starts to bubble around the edges. Remove from oven.

Topping: Immediately sprinkle chocolate chips over filling when it comes out of the oven, place back in the oven for 4-5 minutes, until chips are shiny and soft.   Carefully spread chips over filling (this did not work to well for me, so just spread as much as you can...you won't be able to tell if it's smooth once you add the toffee any way). Sprinkle toffee bits on top and press into milk chocolate.  Allow to cool before cutting.

Note: I got impatient waiting on them to cool completely so I ended up putting them in the fridge for an hours or so to harden. However, I have not refrigerated them since and they have kept their shape.

This recipe is totally drool worthy and I cannot stress how easy they were to make.  They are certainly going in my arsenal of "Crap I forgot to make something for XYZ Event and I need something now!"

Enjoy!