Last week, in the midst of planning the final touches on my son’s Bar Mitvah(so much more on that later), I was obligated to bake for a crowd. When ever I bake for a crowd, I turn to some sort of bar cookie. I rifled through several books (The Magnolia Cookbook, The Fannie Farmer Cookbook, 125 Cookies, Baked, and From my Home to Yours) before settling on these bars by Nancy Baggett. I generally am not attracted to a bar baked in anything less than an 11″ x 17″ pan, but I made an exception for these. So glad I didn’t follow my own rules. I cut them a little smaller, to make it feel like I had more than I did, and everyone who ate them got a little bite of heaven.
Everything tastes better with bits of toffee – don’t you agree?
Coffee Pecan Crunch Bars with Coffee Cream Icing
Ingredients
for the bar:
2 1/2 cups AP flour
1 1/2 Tbsp ground coffee beans
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/8 tsp. salt
8 oz.(two sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
2/3 cup light brown sugar
2 Tbsp. light corn syrup
1 Tbsp. + 1 tsp. espresso powder
1 Tbsp. hot water
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups chopped pecans, toasted
3/4 cup heath bar pieces
for the icing:
2 cups powdered sugar, sifted
1 tbsp. unslated butter, room temp
1 1/2 tsp. instant coffee disolved in 2 T hot water
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
Instructions
for the bar:
• preheat oven to 325*
• butter a 9″ x 13″ metal baking pan.
• whisk the flour, ground espresso, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl. set aside
• in a small bowl, dissolve the 1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon of instant espresso with 1 tablespoon of hot water. set aside.
• in the workbowl of an electric mixer, cream the butter, brown sugar, corn syrup, coffee mixture, and vanilla extract until combined and creamy.
• turn your mixer to low and slowly add the dry ingredients until well mixed(do not overmix)
• add the pecans and the toffee pieces.
• spread the mixture, evenly in your prepared pan. once distributed, take a piece of wax paper, lay it over the top and press firmly with your hand and press it out until evenly distributed and smooth. remove the wax paper.
• bake for 23-25 minutes or until the edges are beginning to darken. cool on a wire rack.
for the icing:
• combine the 1 1/4 tsps. of instant espresso with 2 tablespoons of hot water. set aside
• in the metal bowl of your electric mixer, cream the butter, vanilla, and the coffee mixture until smooth.
• add the powdered sugar and mix unitl you do not see any lumps.
• using an off set spatula, spread the icing over the cooled bars. work quickly as this icing hardens quickly. let sit for 1 hour before cutting into individual bars.
• store in an airtight container for 1 month.
The Urban Baker / SusanSalzman.com
Toffee and coffee – sounds like a fabulous combination. Thanks for sharing!
Umm… yes. I believe everything does taste better with toffee!
These look so very appealing…I love the thought of the coffee and coffee flavors together in one bite. I will most definitely give these a whirl!
Thanks for sharing!
What delicious looking bars. Thinking about you – hope all is well 🙂
Delicious – look forward to hearing more about everything you are up to…
Sounds like you have been wonderfully busy. Glad to hear you had time to bake for a crowd 🙂
Wow! These bars looks awesome. I’m really found of coffee in desserts… Indeed, I made cheesecake-caramel and coffee bars yesterday!
Hi Susan,
Oh my… coffee and toffee.. I can literally taste them now!! I recently met Nancy and she is great – I need to get this cookbook!
These sound unbelievable… I adore the toffee and the coffee! 🙂
Yes, I totally agree with you, toffee is heavenly!
I am such a huge fan of bars. Brownie bars, pecan bars, lemon squares, granola bars etc. I cannot wait to try these!
Yes, I think most things in life are much better with toffee bits 🙂
I do believe I love everything about this recipe!
Wonderful, what a webpage it is! This blog provides valuable information to us, keep it
up.
Thanks so much!