Toffee Bars with Browned Butter Frosting

Sometimes you just don’t want chocolate.

Calm down everyone…I haven’t gone crazy. I just wanted to make a treat that didn’t have chocolate in it.

Weird, I know.

I just felt like I was making a lot of chocolate things lately and wanted to give something new a try.

Enter the Dormestic Goddess and her Toffee Bars With Browned Butter Frosting.

These are amazing. I don’t know if you have tried browned butter or not – I just recently have been introduced to it – but it is one of the most interesting flavors I have tried.

And by “interesting” I mean supercalifraga-delicious.

I made Apple Cake with Toasted Pecans and Browned Butter Frosting a while ago and *Shazaam* I was hooked. Then I saw this bar recipe on the Dormestic Goddess blog and decided to try it out.

So…so…so good.

Next on my list of browned butter things to try is a browned butter ice cream.

Can you imagine such a thing? Eeeeeee….. I’m excited.

Although…. I probably shouldn’t make it. I’m already sabotaging my weight loss efforts with all these stupid (read: stupidly delicious) treats.
(Update: I made the ice cream! Click HERE to see that recipe)

Toffee Bars with Browned Butter Frosting

(Adapted from Dormestic Goddess)

Ingredients

1 cup butter, at room temp, divided

½ cup sugar

1 egg

Pinch salt

1 cup flour

1 can sweetened condensed milk

1 tsp vanilla

2 cups powdered sugar

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray an 9 X 9 (or 8 X 8 or 9 X 13) pan with baking spray and line with parchment paper, spray lightly again, set aside.

In a medium bowl combine ½ cup of the softened butter with the sugar and whisk until combined. Whisk in egg until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add pinch of salt and flour and stir until combined.

Shortbread-like crust. Mmmm.....

Press dough into prepared pan and bake in preheated oven 12 – 15 minutes, or until crust is set and golden brown. Remove from oven and allow to cool while making the toffee filling.

In a medium sauce pot combine the condensed milk, vanilla, and 2 TBSP of butter and cook over medium heat until butter is melted and mixture begins to thicken, about 5 minutes. Stir constantly so mixture does not scorch.

Pour filling over baked crust. Bake in preheated oven until filling is set, brown, and bubbling. 10 – 12 minutes for softer bars and 15 minutes or longer for hard, crunchy bars.

Toffee middle. Another layer of goodness.

While the bars bake, brown the butter and prepare the frosting. Place the remaining 6 TBSP of butter in a sauce pan and place over medium heat. Melt butter until it begins to bubble. Once the butter begins to bubble and foam, swirl the pan so the butter does not burn. Continue swirling until brown specks begin to appear, about 5 minutes.

Pour butter in the bowl of a stand mixer and allow to cool until bowl is just warm to the touch, another 5 -10 minutes. Sift in powdered sugar and salt and beat until smooth. Spread on still warm bars.

Allow bars to cool to room temperature before cutting.

 So.. it’s not the prettiest bar out there, I admit. But in the flavor and texture categories it is at the top of the list.

So…there you go…if you are not a chocolate lover, like Sue *cough* crazy*cough* then you will appreciate this bar for its simplicity and amazing flavor.

I will let you know how the ice cream turns out. :)
(Update: click HERE to find out how the Browned Butter Ice Cream turned out!)

P.S. - We linked this to Kitchen Fun With My 3 Sons where they have tons of great recipe and craft ideas if you want to have a peek.