I think the combination of peanut butter and toffee is so delicious so I wanted to incorporate both of the flavors somehow.  The obvious thing would be to put them into cookies but I wanted to do something a little different.  I've been wanting to make homemade coffee cake for awhile so I thought that it would be a perfect combination and I was really right!  This cake is fantastic.  The cake is super moist with the perfect flavor combination of peanut butter and toffee.  The crumb topping is is thick and super crunchy and crumbly with the same flavor combo of peanut butter and toffee.   This cake is seriously dangerous and I have to get it out of my house before I gain 5 lbs just from looking at it.   This cake would make a great addition to breakfast or brunch menu or it's a delicious after school snack for the kids.

Ingredients:

2 cups flour

3/4 cup white sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
6 tablespoons butter, softened
1 cup milk

1egg

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup creamy peanut butter

1/2 cup peanut butter chips

1 cup toffee bits, divided (1/2 cup - 1/2 cup)
 

 

Preparation:

 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease and flour a round cake pan or a 9x13 inch pan.  Combine flour, sugar, brown sugar and butter; mix on low speed with an electric mixer until crumbly. Remove 1/2 cup of crumb mixture and set aside to be used for topping.  To one half of the crubm mixtures add milk, baking powder, vanilla, egg, and peanut butter; beat at low speed until well mixed.  Add in 1/2 cup of toffee bits and beat until combined. Spread batter evenly in pan.  To make the topping: In a small bowl, mix peanut butter chips, 1/2 cup toffee bits, and reserved 1/2 cup crumb mixture. Sprinkle mixture evenly over batter in pan.  Bake for 45 minutes, or until it tests done. Cool cake completely in pan on rack. 

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As one of our New Year's treats for the kids we made homemade caramel popcorn.  It definitely takes a little extra effort and time but it's worth it.  It came out super delicious.  It reminds me more of toffee popcorn rather than caramel.  After you make the caramel and toss it with the popcorn you need to take the extra step of baking it in a low temperature oven in order to get the caramel to harden and get crispy once it cools.  So worth it, you end up with a not sticky easy to handle buttery toffee caramel corn.  A must try!  I think this would be amazing if you mix in peanuts into the caramel coated corn before you place it in the oven or even better if you sprinkle toffee pieces onto of the corn right after it comes out of the oven before the caramel sets.  The variations are endless!

Ingredients:

2 cup popscorn kernels, unpopped or 3 bags of microwave popcorn
1 cup unsalted butter (2 sticks)
½ cup light corn syrup
2 cups packed light brown sugar
½ tsp. fleur de sel (or salt) - I used coarse kosher salt
½ tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. vanilla extract

Preparation:

Pop the kernels by following the directions on the bag. Place the popped corn in to large bowls (leave room for tossing).  Preheat the oven to 250° F and line three baking sheets with parchment paper.
In a 2 quart saucepan, over medium heat, melt the butter then mix-in the corn syrup, brown sugar and salt. Increase the heat to medium-high and bring the mixture to a boil, stirring to incorporate all ingredients. Then let boil for 5 minutes without stirring. Remove from the heat and stir in the baking soda and vanilla extract. Be careful because the caramel mixture will bubble up and become frothy.
Pour the caramel sauce over the popcorn in the bowl(s) and toss to coat thoroughly. The caramel is very hot so use tossing tools like long spoons or salad tossers!  Spread the popcorn onto the baking sheets and bake for 40 minutes (remove from the oven to stir every 10 minutes, rotate the baking sheets). After 40 minutes, the popcorn should be completely crispy when cooled. If not return to oven for another 10 minutes.  Let the popcorn cool completely before breaking apart.  Once cooled you can store in an air tight container for at least a week if it lasts that long.

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A spin off of the all time favorite Salted Toffee Chocolate Squares but kosher for Passover!

Ingredients:

3 pieces of matzo
1/2 cup of chopped almonds
1 cup butter (2 sticks)
1 1/2 cups brown sugar
small bag of chocolate chips

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a rimmed baking sheet with foil. Place matzo in a single layer on sheet, edges touching. Sprinkle almonds over matzo.

In a small saucepan, bring sugar and butter to a boil over medium-high. Reduce heat and cook at a rapid simmer, swirling pan occasionally, until mixture is syrupy, 2 minutes. Immediately pour over matzo. Bake until sugar topping is bubbling, 12 minutes. Remove from oven and immediately sprinkle chocolate over matzo. Let sit to melt and then spread melted chocolate in thin layer over toffee. Place in refrigerator to set up. Break into pieces. Or, if you want uniform squares, before placing in refrigerator.......with a sharp knife or pizza cutter, cut into 2-inch squares. (Store in an airtight container, up to 1 week.)

Linked up to Sweets for Saturday
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I seem to be making A  LOT of recipes from Pinterest lately.  I am a little obsessed with that site!!  I saw this Toffee Poke Cake AKA. Better than Sex Cake all over Pinterest boards and done in many different ways.  I thought it would make the perfect birthday cake for my husband.  This cake did not disappoint!  It was really delicious and decadent.......but better than sex?  I'll let you decide that for your self.

Ingredients:

1 box devils food cake

1- 16oz jar caramel ice cream topping

1/2 can sweetened condensed milk

1 container of cool whip, thawed

1 bag of Hershey's Heath Bits O'Brickle or 3 heath bars, crushed

 

 

Preparation:

 

Bake the devils food cake according to the package, except the oil. Reduce the amount by half. I baked mine in two round cake pans, but I'm thinking a 9x13 pan would have been less messy.

 

While the cake is still hot, poke holes in it using the back of a wooden spoon. Make sure you don't poke all the way through the cake.  (I used a stainless steel knife sharpener that I don't use to sharpen knives ;)

 

Drizzle caramel over the top of the cake. 

Drizzle the sweetened condensed milk over the caramel (I used half the can but you can use more if you would like) 

Sprinkle the Bit's O' Brickle or crushed Heath Bars over the top of the sweetened condensded milk. 

 

 

Allow cake to cool completely in the refrigerator.   I used round cake pans when I made the cake because I was going for a nicer presentation but you can use a 9x13 pyrex dish or cake pan which would work fine.  Next time I'm going to make and decorate the cake in a pyrex dish because it would just be much easier and less messy. 

 

However, if you did use round cake pans you will need to carefully remove the cakes from the pans and transfer to a cake platter to decorate.  Using a spatchula carefully lift the cakes from the pans.  It will be mess and gooey but mine came out without a problem.  Now  cover the cake with a thin layer of cool whip, then top with the 2nd cake and cover that cake with cool whip as well.  Sprinkle entire cake with additional Heath bar crumbles.

 

 

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Everyone who tries these just raves about them and they are so easy to make.  I've seen versions of this using saltine crackers but I much prefer this Martha Stewart version using graham crackers.  If you need a sweet, salty, crunchy, chocolate fix...this is the treat for you.


Ingredients:

13 graham crackers
1 bag (8 ounces) toffee bits
1 1/2 cups coarsely chopped toasted natural almonds
1/2 cup sugar
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
3/4 cup (4 ounces) bittersweet chocolate, chopped, or chocolate chips
3/4 teaspoon coarse salt

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a rimmed baking sheet with foil. Place graham crackers in a single layer on sheet, edges touching. Sprinkle toffee bits and almonds over graham crackers.

In a small saucepan, bring sugar and butter to a boil over medium-high. Reduce heat and cook at a rapid simmer, swirling pan occasionally, until mixture is syrupy, 2 minutes. Immediately pour over graham crackers. Bake until sugar topping is bubbling, 12 minutes. Remove from oven and immediately sprinkle chocolate and salt over graham crackers. With a sharp knife or pizza cutter, cut into 2-inch squares. Let cool completely on sheet on a wire rack. (Store in an airtight container, up to 1 week.)

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