Toffee Squares

Hello!  Welcome to Adventures In Baking.  This week's adventure started with this recipe right here.  I was reading through a few of my daily blog rolls and the photo of the squares just called out to me.  With all the cookies I've been making lately, it was definitely time to go in a different direction.

The ingredients.  All ya gotta do is look at the recipe and know these squares are gonna be loaded!  Peanuts, chocolate chips, pecans, butterscotch chips and coconut. 

Let's get started.  Whisk together flour, baking soda and salt.  Set aside.  It said whisk.  I used a spoon.  I have a whisk.  It was about two steps away.  The spoon was one step away.  It was 10pm at night after a long day at work.  I grabbed the spoon. 

Next step.  Beat butter until light and fluffy.  Add brown sugar and continue beating until creamy.  Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition.  Mix in vanilla.  So far it's pretty much the same as any basic cookie recipe.

Final step.  Gradually add flour mixture, mixing until almost blended.  Stir in peanuts and chocolate chips.  Yep, still a cookie recipe.  Transfer dough to pan and spread evenly.  Sprinkle top with remaining chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, pecans and coconut.

Taste test.  This is the Adventure part of Adventures In Baking.  They taste like a chocolate chip cookie with stuff on top.  They're ...... OK.  Nothing special.  And with all those toppings I expected this to be special.  And why are they called toffee squares?  Where's the toffee?  Yes, Aunt Shari, you could leave off the coconut.  The butterscotch chips smell divine.  I may have to look for a few more butterscotch recipes just so I can smell them again!  Would I make them again?  Probably not. They have the potential to be great, they just didn't work for me. 

The clean up.  The recipe said to use a 9-inch square baking pan.  I have an 8-inch pan, but not a 9-inch one.  I learned my lesson early in this adventure that a smaller pan is not substitutable unless you want a hot mess.  So I used a 7x11 pan.  9 inches square = 7x11.  Right?  18 inches total either way.  Anyway, that's what I did.  After the directed 35 minutes, the center was still visibly jiggly.  After 20 additional minutes, it wasn't quite as jiggly, but I was worried about the sides and bottom being burned.  I cut around the middle and the edge pieces are pretty good.  When I had this 'not fully baked in the middle' problem before with both brownie recipes, I thought the problem might have been the pan I was using.  I generally use Longaberger pottery.  It's oven safe and cleans up very well.  But even when I used my clear Pyrex dish for one of the brownie recipes I had the same problem.  Maybe it's just the oven.  It's kinda old.  Wilma Flintstone was it's original owner. 

Next week, I'm trying to stay away from the cookies again and I think I've found a winning recipe.

Stop back next Wednesday evening to check it out!

-Teddra