Dark Chocolate Chip Toffee Bars

The hubby and I recently had our families over for a house-lukewarming party. (We're not quite ready for an official house-warming just yet.) I was just going to skate by on dessert and doctor up some brownies from a mix, but ha, I didn't have any.

Did I mention that it was just a few hours before everyone was supposed to show up?

With limited time and ingredients, I flipped through a few cookbooks and discovered a version of these in a Hershey's cookbook. I made several adjustments, though, and wowza, were these suckers good. The crust is like a shortbread, and the addition of salt with the toffee makes the bars sweet, but not overwhelmingly so. And I love the dark chocolate with these. (I, like the rest of the civilized world, have been obsessed with the combination of dark chocolate and sea salt.)

I'm happy to report that these bars have already earned a permanent spot in the recipe rotation.

Dark Chocolate Chip Toffee Bars
Serves 16-20

2 1/3 c. flour
2/3 c. brown sugar
3/4 c. (1 1/2 sticks) butter
1 egg, slightly beaten
1/2 tsp. salt
2 c. Hershey's Special Dark chocolate chips, divided
1 14-oz. can sweetened condensed milk
1 3/4 c. (10 oz.) toffee bits, divided
1/4 tsp. fine sea salt

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9x13 pan or spray it with cooking spray.

2. Combine flour and brown sugar in large bowl. Cut in butter with pastry blender until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.

3. Add egg and 1/2 tsp. salt; mix well. The mixture will be very, very crumbly, but it will come together. Stir in 1 1/2 c. chocolate chips.

4. Reserve 1 1/2 c. mixture. Press remaining mixture in bottom of pan.

5. Bake 10 minutes. Remove from oven and pour sweetened condensed milk evenly over crust.

6. Top with 1 1/2 c. toffee bits and sprinkle with fine sea salt.

7. Sprinkle reserved crumb mixture and remaining 1/2 c. chocolate chips over top.

8. Bake 25-30 minutes, or untili golden. Sprinkle with remaining 1/4 c. toffee bits.

9. Cool completely before cutting into bars and serving.