Sweet Treats Saturday: Cheese-It Toffee Bark or Poor Man's Toffee

Ok, if you made it past the post title, you've gotta keep reading! I swear, don't judge me by this recipe name.  When I first saw this recipe on Vanilla Sugar Blog, I was intrigued. So much so that I knew I had to make it for my dance class' holiday party.  They would be open-minded to it, right?

The recipe is super easy, super fast to put together, and only has 5 ingredients, the majority of which you probably have.  I just had to go out to get the jumbo cheese-its, though the regular size would work if you can't find them.  I also had to get milk chocolate chips, as I usually work with semi-sweet and darker.


Cheese-It Toffee Bark
Recipe from Vanilla Sugar Blog


Ingredients:
1 cup unsalted butter (2 sticks)
1 cup, packed light brown sugar
2 bags of 11.05 ounces of milk chocolate chips
Approx ½ box of the Big-size Cheez-It’s, depending on your pan size (use the big ones, as they cover more room)
1 cup of crushed toasted pecans (or walnuts or whatever you crave)

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 400ºF.
2. Line jelly roll pan or cookie sheet with foil and spray with non-stick spray. Or just use a non-stick jelly roll pan. I recommend the latter, as it makes it very easy to remove the toffee.
3. Lay a flat layer of Cheez-It crackers out on the foil. Cover any gaps with additional cheese-its.  It's ok if it's not completely flat.

Just out of the oven.

4. In a saucepan, melt the sugar and butter until a boil is reached. Reduce the heat and simmer, uncovered, for 3-4 minutes or until mixture is thickened and sugar is completely dissolved. Pour this mixture over the crackers and spread to coat evenly. Do not mix! Just pour, and fill in any gaps with a spatula.
5. Bake in the pre-heated oven for 5-8 minutes, or until the toffee becomes bubbly. Turn off oven, then take out of oven and let it sit for a couple of minutes. Then sprinkle on the chocolate chips. But tray back in oven to help the chips melt a bit. When chips are melted a bit (about a minute in the oven), spread them into an even layer like you would frosting a cake. After done spreading the chocolate, sprinkle on the chopped nuts or whatever else you want to add.

Spread the soft chocolate until all of the cheese-its and caramel are covered

Sprinkle the nuts, then let cool.

6. Let cool and/or refrigerate until hardened. Once cooled and firm, then break into pieces.  Bag or transfer to an air-tight container.


I refrigerated mine overnight which made it the perfect consistency to break into pieces.  The squares of the cheese-its make this really easy too as they generally want to break at seam points.

And the response?  Everyone loved it!  The fact that it was made from cheese-its made them even more intrigued.  Everyone was fascinated by the fact that it was toffee, with just a hint of the saltiness from the cheese. And now I have to get this post out for the numerous recipe requests that I received!

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