creme brûlée cookie bars

You guys are probably going to think I'm crazy (which wouldn't be entirely false) but I really don't care for creme brûlée. I know, I know- put me on the next bus to the nuthouse. I have a huge sweet tooth and haven't met many desserts I didn't love, but creme brûlée happens to be one of them. Something about it is just too rich and not that appealing to me, so I was a little hesitant to make these bars. Thank goodness I made them anyway because y'all- these are AMAZING.

I don't think they taste like creme brûlée; they have more of a Neiman Marcus Bar taste to them in my opinion. But we gave them to Bear's teachers who loved them and raved that they taste just like the delectable dessert they're named after. Either way, they're delicious. Warm out of the oven, they're a little gooey and go perfectly with a glass of cold milk. Let them set for a few hours and they are just as delicious- almost like a blondie but dare I say better. 

The melted, crunchy toffee top is what gives them the appearance/taste of creme brûlée, and now I want to top all of my desserts with toffee bits aka crack. Zach and Bear also highly approve of this recipe, and they're pretty tough critics (chocolate chip cookies or bust, in their opinion). With only eight ingredients, most of which you probably already have on hand, these sweet bars are pretty hard to mess up. If I can make them without fail, you certainly can!

Ingredients:
1/2 cup unsalted butter
12 ounces (about 2 cups) white chocolate chips
1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 large eggs
1 cup toffee bits

Directions:
1. Heat oven to 350°F. Line a 9x9 pan with foil and spray with cooking spray. Alternately, you can use parchment paper that’s been sprayed with nonstick cooking spray or greased with butter or shortening.
2. Place butter and white chocolate chips in a medium saucepan over low heat. Melt the two together, stirring almost constantly, just until melted. The mixture may appear curdled or be the consistency of Cream of Wheat. Remove from heat and cool while mixing other ingredients.
3. Stir together flour, sugar, extract, salt, and eggs in a large bowl. Add white chocolate mixture and stir until smooth. Pour batter into prepared pan.
4. Bake for 20 minutes, then remove pan from oven and sprinkle toffee bits evenly over the top. Return to oven and bake another 8-12 minutes until the edges are golden brown. A toothpick in the center will still come out with batter on the toothpick, but it will be cleaner along the edges. Be careful not to over bake; it will brown more on the sides and bottom than on the top.
Allow to cool, cut into bars, and enjoy!

I woke up 96% sure that today was Monday. Is anyone else on the struggle bus when it comes to a schedule right now? I'm in a serious post-holiday funk! Since Zach had the day off work yesterday, it felt like Sunday all day and I almost forgot to take Bear to Mother's Day Out this morning. We were only ten minutes late, which is actually early for us. 

I met my friend Shelbi for lunch at Top Golf and Bob Sura was there so we had a little fan girl moment (even though we didn't know who he was and had to Wikipedia him). I turn into such a crazy person when famous people are around- totally don't play it cool at all. I have to get a picture, autograph, gawk, embarrass myself with a stupid story, etc etc. Thankfully they've always been nice but if I ever meet a snobby celebrity, I'm screwed. I'll take my chances on Matthew McConaughey, should the opportunity arise. 
xo, Britt