Wow – can you believe here we are at December!  We  had a fabulous Thanksgiving with good food, family, and friends – I count my blessings!  Hopefully you had the same.

Now,  because of the late Turkey Day celebration we have just 3 weeks until Christmas.  This means just one thing – it’s time to get to get serious about holiday baking!  We absolutely love Christmas cookies in our family, so this week, it’s all about cookies!

Every year the Dallas Morning News sponsors a Holiday Cookie Contest.  The results are always incredibly tempting and absolutely beautiful.  This cookie was adapted from a 1996 winning recipe, and it is a truly a winner in my book.  What you have is a layer of chocolate chip cookie, followed by a layer of caramel topped with toffee bits and more chocolate (nuts if desired).   Then just to keep things interesting and pretty – add a little more toffee and chocolate when it comes out of the oven. {Oh YUM.}

These bars are rich and wonderful and loaded with flavor.  They are perfect for holiday entertaining and work wonderfully for a cookie exchange or for holiday gifting.  Be sure to line your pan with foil, so the cookie lifts out of the pan and you can make nice, clean cuts.  If you cut them small you could get 36-48 cookies.

Your friends, family, neighbors, coworkers, or even the mailman are going to love you for these!

Chocolate Chip Toffee Bars

Ingredients

2 1/3 cups flour

2/3 cup packed light brown sugar

3/4 cup butter, cut into small pieces

1 egg, slightly beaten

2 1/3 cups semisweet chocolate chips

1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk

1/2 cup chopped walnuts or pecans (optional)

1 (8 ounce package) toffee bits

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 F.  Line a 13 x 9 pan with foil and lightly spray with cooking spray.

In a large bowl, stir together flour and sugar.  Cut butter into flour and sugar using a pastry cutter until it resembles coarse crumbs.  Add egg and mix well.  Stir in 1 1/2 cups chocolate chips.  Reserve a generous cup of the crumb mixture.

Press remaining crumb mixture onto bottom prepared pan.  Bake 10 minutes.  Remove from oven and pour condensed milk evenly over the crust; top with 1 cup of toffee bits.  Crumble reserved crumb mix, 1/2 cup chocolate chips and nuts (if using) over the top.  Bake 25 to 30 minutes or until golden brown.  Remove from oven and immediately sprinkle with remaining toffee bits and chocolate chips.

Cool completely.   Cut and serve.