Toffee Chocolate Chip Toll House Cookie Bars

The Family Cookie Jar

Growing up, the cookie jar in our kitchen was always, and I mean always, full of delicious cookies. Most often, it was chocolate chip cookies. And, my mom followed the popular chocolate chip cookie recipe at the time – from the Toll House Inn in Massachusetts. Even today, eating chocolate chip cookies brings back visions of our family cookie jar – which I now have in my own kitchen! It was included in the cookie photo in my first cookbook, A Well-Seasoned Kitchen®:

How to make Chocolate Chip Bar Cookies with Toffee

Recently, I started to play around with the traditional Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe that I found in mom’s recipe box. First, I switched out half of the chocolate chips for English toffee-flavored chips. Mom also made her own amazing Chocolate Almond Toffee – so that’s another flavor I am partial to – and I was thrilled to find Heath Milk Chocolate English Toffee Bits at the grocery store one day. If you can’t find them at your store, no worries – I provide substitutions in the recipe’s Notes section.

Next, I simplified the process by making bar cookies instead of drop cookies. And, I created my own high altitude adjustments, based in large part on recommendations from my favorite high altitude baking cookbook, “ Pie in the Sky” by Susan Purdy. (High altitude adjustments are included in my recipe’s Notes section.)

The resulting cookies are now Robert’s favorite! They are chewy, chocolatey, caramel-y tasting – and oh, so delicious. When eating these delectable cookies, I can still see my brother Jim trying to very quietly take the lid off the cookie jar, to grab a cookie (or two) before mom caught him doing so . . .

If I don’t have a half sheet pan, can this cookie bars recipe be made in a different pan?

Yes! Two 13 by 9-inch pans (also known as “quarter sheet” pans) would work.

How to store Nestle Toll House Cookie Bars

These cookies should be stored in an airtight food storage container. The flavor and texture will be best if eaten within a week.

What is the best way to maintain soft chocolate chip cookie bars while storing?

Storing these cookies in an airtight container at room temperature should keep them moist. If after a few days they start to become hard/dry, simply throw a piece of fresh white or whole wheat bread in the container, under the cookies. After a few hours, they should become soft again!

Do these Toll House Pan Cookies freeze well?

Yes you can freeze them for up to 3 months, in a tightly sealed container.

Other Cookie Bars Recipe Add-Ins

Want to vary these cookies up a bit? Well, there are lots of fun ingredients you can add in and/or swap for the heath bar and chocolate chips and the pecans. Here are some suggestions:

• Other chip flavors. There are lots and lots of different chips on the market today – white chocolate, butterscotch, peanut butter, even chocolate peanut caramel! Any of these would be delicious in these cookies.
• Other toasted chopped nuts. Walnuts, macadamia nuts, hazelnuts, peanuts would all work well.
• Chopped pretzels instead of nuts!
• Add 2 teaspoons espresso powder. Whisk it together with the flour and other dry ingredients. Note; espresso powder is the secret ingredient in the famous Neiman Marcus chocolate chip cookie recipe
• Add 1 tablespoon cinnamon. Whisk it together with the flour and other dry ingredients.
• Add in raisins or dried cranberries.

For these additions, here are a few recommended combinations to use in place of the chips and nuts in the original recipe.

• 3/4 cup semi sweet chips + 3/4 cup white chocolate chips + 3/4 cup dried cranberries + 3/4 cup macadamia nuts.
• 1 cup peanut butter chips + 1 cup semi sweet chips + 1 cup toasted chopped peanuts.

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