This dessert is nut to be missed

A Pinch of Salt

By Donna Marie Riani

I was raised by a mother who absolutely loves Christmas. Our home was always decked out for the holidays with a beautiful tree with almost too many lights on it. We had garland-wrapped banisters and red and green decorations everywhere. As much as I love all that, my absolute favorite part of the holidays is the baking. My mom made it a point to make our favorites. For me it was anything gingerbread or molasses flavored. For my sister it was Snickerdoodle cookies and for my brother it was anything peanut butter flavored. We looked forward to these treats every year. My mom had a great collection of really old cookbooks that I loved taking off the shelf and reading through like they were novels. I especially loved the old black and white photos of the recipes. It felt like a portal into another time.

For our big family gatherings on Christmas Eve, my mom always had to bring out her toffee squares. It wasn’t optional. As a matter of fact, my cousins would ask my mom "You're bringing your toffee bars aren’t you?” No Christmas get together was complete without them.

Toffee squares are a cookie bar spread with melted chocolate and sprinkled with chopped nuts. You can probably guess that my nut of choice is the Oregon hazelnut and in case you didn’t know, Oregon grows nearly all of the hazelnuts in the United States. Hazelnuts have a slight sweetness to them that make them perfect in this recipe. Excellent in savory dishes like casseroles, salads and risottos, they really shine in sweet recipes.

In my hazelnut studies, I learned a lot of fun facts. I found that many cultures believe that hazelnuts protect against evil and that they increase fertility. The hazel tree is considered to be a tree of knowledge and insight and some believe eating the nuts will give you wisdom. In Greek mythology, Hermes carried a staff made of hazel wood because it symbolizes wisdom and intelligence. I’m not saying that eating hazelnuts will fill you with wisdom and insight, but I’m also not saying they won’t. You will have to write and let me know!

The following recipe is an oldie but a goodie. The toffee squares don’t actually contain toffee — they get their name because the buttery rich brown sugar base has a flavor very reminiscent of toffee. Because the cookie base is sweet, I recommend using semi-sweet or dark chocolate for this recipe. If you want to make these bars look more festive, feel free to top them with some colorful holiday sprinkles.

Dear friends, I hope your holiday season is filled with sweet treats and even sweeter memories.

Toffee Squares

1 cup butter, softened

1 cup brown sugar, packed

1 large egg yolk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon sea salt

8 ounces semi-sweet chocolate, chips or your favorite bar of chocolate, roughly chopped

3/4 cup hazelnuts, toasted and roughly chopped

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 13x9 pan and cover the bottom with parchment paper.

In a medium bowl, beat together the butter and the brown sugar until light and fluffy. If you are using a stand mixer or a hand mixer, this step will take about two minutes. If you are using a spoon, it will take a little longer.

To the butter mixture, add the egg yolk and vanilla. Stir until combined.

In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda and salt. Add the sifted mixture to the butter mixture. Stir just until combined.

Pat this mixture into the prepared pan, making sure the mixture is evenly spread.

Bake for about 25 minutes. The bars should be lightly browned.

As soon as you remove the pan from the oven, sprinkle on the chocolate. Let this sit for five minutes. The heat from the bars will melt the chocolate. There is no need to place this back in the oven.

After five minutes, spread the melted chocolate with a spatula to evenly coat the top of the bars.

Next, sprinkle on the chopped hazelnuts and any other add ons, such as holiday sprinkles.

Allow the bars to cool in the pan for about 30 minutes.

Remove from the pan and while still warm (not hot), cut into 20 bars.

Note: if you can’t buy toasted hazelnuts, simply place them in a dry skillet over low heat and stir frequently. When you can smell them, they are done. This will only take about a minute or two.