On the first night of Chanukah I baked Pecan Toffee Squares for my true love. He thought they were pretty fantastic. I mean, what’s not to love? Buttery, crumbly shortbread base, crunchy toasted pecans in a sticky toffee filling, topped with a drizzle of milk chocolate and a light sprinkling of coarse salt, because that’s how we roll around here.
Here’s a quick tutorial on how to line a baking pan with parchment paper.
Because the holiday of Chanukah lasts for 8 nights, I thought it would be fun to post sweet treats for 8 days in a row. The true meaning of Chanukah has nothing to do with sweets.
The celebration of Chanukah is beautifully explained by Rabbi Andrew Jacobs, on “Blog Shalom”, “The Maccabees were a tiny group of Jews who should not have been able to defeat the powerful Greeks. But they did! And because of this miracle, Judaism survived and did not become consumed by Greek culture. This story of miraculous survival repeats itself many times throughout Jewish history. Despite tremendous powers that have raged against us, nothing has stopped the Jewish people. This is a miracle.”
In our family, gifts are not traditionally exchanged, although there was one year when my husband shocked me by giving me one perfect gift after another for each of the 8 nights. I was going through a bit of a dark time and he thought the gifts might cheer me up a bit. By the fourth night I became suspicious, and realized he had a bit of help in choosing the gifts. He had enlisted the aid of his sister to be his shopping elf! In all honesty, the best gift he gave me that year was an introduction to a great therapist who helped me work through this difficult time. I am forever grateful for that.
Click here to print recipe for Pecan Toffee Bars.
Happy Chanukah, Cindy! That top photo makes me wish I wasn’t allergic to nuts! I am thinking Toffee Squares hold the pecans for me. 🙂 I love the Rabbi Jacobs explanation and your personal Chanukah story. How very Chanukah appropriate that the introduction to the excellent therapist helped you out of darkness into a place where your light could shine. Wishing you and your family a beautiful Chanukah full of miracles and light.
p.s. The parchment paper video isn’t working. I want to know your parchment secrets! 🙂
Thanks Wendy! You’re so poetic. Wish I had expressed my coming out of my dark time as eloquently as you!
I think I fixed the video now. Thanks for letting me know.
So good! This looks better than my favourite recipe of yours(turtle bars)Can’t wait to try this recipe,
Always with love and appreciation for testing my self control with your goodies.
Thanks Mom, treats are on their way this week!
A beautiful post in every way. The recipe looks amazing. I never knew the parchment trick so thank you.
Thanks Marla! I always look forward to your lovely comments.
Lovely post Cindy, I will make this for my tea party in a few weeks. Looking forward to the next 7 days of treats! Happy Chanukah.
Hi Cindy, I’ve missed you and your whole family this year. Time has gone by too quickly!
I appreciate that you wrote about therapy and good intentions from our families. Those are the finest gifts!!
Julia
Thanks Julia! I agree completely. Hope all is well with you. Wishing you and your family a Merry Christmas and happy and healthy new year!
Thanks for the recipe! I’m making these right now, but the recipe for the crust calls for 1 & 3/4 cup flour and then again 2 & 1/2 cup flour… I’m thinking this might be a little typo and the 2 & 1/2 cup flour are supposed to go in the filling? That’s what I’m doing. We’ll see what happens lol!
So sorry Sunny. There is actually no flour in the filling. That second amount of 2 1/2 cups was an error. I hope I caught you in time. Recipe all fixed now. Sorry again for the screw up! Thanks for catching it.
No problem! I ended up leaving it out, they turned out great 😀 I’m sending some to my dad for Christmas. Thanks again for the recipe!