Toffee Bars

Quick, easy and so good you can't stop eating them. They're on my Christmas baking list, for sure. They come from my Betty Crocker cookbook.

Mix together:
1 cup softened butter or margarine
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 large egg yolk

Stir in:
2 cups flour
1/4 tsp salt

Press dough in ungreased 9x13 pan.

Bake at 350* F for 25 minutes or until bars are light brown. (They will be soft.)

Immediately sprinkle 2/3 cup chocolate chips over hot bars. Let stand about 5 minutes or until soft, and spread evenly over bars. Sprinkle 1/2 cup chopped pecans over chocolate. Cool 30 minutes and then cut into bars. (I cut them 4 rows by 8 rows.)

Truffles

Okay, you have to play around with this. You can follow the recipe, or you can have a little fun. We added lots more than 1 1/2 tsp liquer in place of the vanilla, cause we just couldn't taste it. So I added a bit more icing sugar than it calls for. However, don't add too much too soon, because they get surprisingly "set" while they're chillin'.

1 (8oz) pkg cream cheese (lite is fine)
3 C icing sugar
3 C semisweet (or white if you like) chocolate chips, melted
1 1/2 tsp vanilla, or flavouring of your choice
In a large bowl, beat cream cheese until smooth. Gradually beat in icing sugar until well blended. Stir in melted chocolate and flavouring until no streaks remain. Refrigerate for about 1 hour. Shape into 1" balls and coat in whatever you want! (We coated white chocolate w/ rum in coconut, dark chocolate with irish cream in cocoa, and plain dark chocolate in icing sugar.)