Coffee Toffee Bars

On Monday afternoon, Joe's childhood pet, a 17 year-old terrier named Toffee was put to sleep and sent to the big farm in the sky. She was in bad health, so Joe said good-bye to her when we were up in Wisconsin in July. But as I know all too well, even saying good-bye to an elderly pet can be painful, so I decided to honor Toffee's life and the love she gave and was given by baking these treats. Note that these are for human consumption and not for dogs!

I was afraid that these would not turn out and that I would've just wasted two sticks of butter. I almost threw in an egg to help the dough along, but it's just a really crumbly dough, so be warned. The taste is different considering from the visual that you're thinking, "Oh! Chocolate chip cookie bars!" But the coffee and the almond extract give it a different depth of flavor. We will eat these and raise a glass in Toffee's memory. Rest in peace.

Coffee Toffee Bars
source: Tasty Kitchen

Ingredients

• 1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
  
• 1 cup Brown Sugar
• 1 teaspoon Almond Extract
• 1 Tablespoon Instant Coffee
  
• ½ teaspoons Baking Powder
• ¼ teaspoons Salt
• 2-½ cups Flour (approximately) (I used 2 cups)
  
• 1 cup Chocolate Chips

Preparation

Preheat the oven to 350-degrees.

Cream together the butter and brown sugar.

Blend in the almond extract, instant coffee, baking powder and salt.

Add enough flour to make a stiff dough.

Press into a well-greased 9×13 pan and sprinkle chocolate chips on top.

Bake at 350 F for 20 to 25 minutes.

Cool in the pan on a rack. Cut into pieces as desired.