Aunt Ionia's Toffee Bars

The weather has snapped cold and we are getting a lot of rain.  It is kind of dreary, but the rain is very much welcomed.  I do not know about you, but when it is cold out,  my thoughts turn to baking.  These toffee bars were always on the cookie tray at my Aunt Ionia's for Christmas.  My sister Jacqueline and I are redoing a memory and recipe and memory book for our dear aunt; we are including pictures of her recipes. 

 

 

 

My Aunt Ionia passed away on Halloween night in 2003, but her memory lives on in her acts of kindness and in her recipes.  Aunt Ionia hosted the Christmas Eve party at her apartment every year.  For many years I was honored to be able to help her prepare for the tribe coming over to her home for the big Christmas Eve dinner.  One of my duties was to make up the cookie trays.  These toffee bars were always on the cookie tray.  If memory serves me right, these were a favorite of Mary, her sister.  I forgot how good these taste!  They DO taste like English Toffee, but they are so much simpler to make.  No thermometer needed to make these goodies.

 

 

The Cousins at Christmas Eve at Aunt Ionia's Apartment.  I am the one peeking my head in at the far right.

 

Aunt Ionia's English Toffee Recipe

 

1 cup butter

1 cup brown sugar

1 egg yolk

2 cups flour

Pinch of salt

1 (12-ounce) bag of milk chocolate chips

1/2 cup chopped pecans

 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Cream together butter, sugar, and egg.  Add the flour and mix well.  Pat the mixture evenly into a 13 x 9-inch baking pan.  Bake for 15 -18 minutes or until golden brown.  Do not over bake.  Remove from oven and place pan on a cooling rack.  Let sit for a couple of minutes.  While the crust is still warm add chocolate chips.  Let them sit for awhile, until the chocolate is melted.  Sprinkle the pecans on the bars before the chocolate is dry.

 

Notes:  I have also used a whole egg and the recipe turned out fine.  The Culps, my family, always liked nuts on them, and the Clark family, our cousins, never liked nuts.  Ionia would always be accommodating and make two batches of something or leave off nuts on half of a recipe.

 

 

 

I sure hope you make these as they are super easy to make and really delicious.

 

Thanks for dropping by the Couch.