You guys, these are AMAZING.  My mom’s jaw dropped when I told her what I was whipping up in the kitchen this morning, and that they are – wait for it – vegan. I’ve made them a couple of times for group get-togethers and always get compliments. Everyone always asks for the recipe, so here it is!

I should add there’s definitely a difference between healthy vegan (or plant-based) and just plain old vegan. These go right into the latter category. Most everything we make is plant-based, healthy vegan, but sometimes you’ve just gotta make an exception. These are the exception, and hey! It’s Christmas.

Sea Salt Toffee Bars

SHORTBREAD CRUST:
1 cup flour
1/3 cup powdered sugar
1/2 cup chilled vegan margarine
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

TOFFEE LAYER:
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup vegan margarine
4 teaspoons soy milk

CHOCOLATE LAYER:
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (dairy-free)
coarse sea salt

Preheat your oven to 350-degrees. Line an 8×8 pan with parchment paper, using enough that it hangs over the sides. (This will make clean-up and getting it out a breeze!) Pulse your shortbread crust ingredients in a food processor until crumbly dough. Press into an 8×8 pan and bake for 18-20 minutes until edges are golden. Cool in the refrigerator.

While shortbread is cooling, make your toffee layer by heating the ingredients over medium heat. When the sugar and butter is melted and it comes together, turn up the heat to medium-high. When it boils and the bubbles froth in the center of the pan, take it off the heat and let sit for 10 minutes.

Spoon toffee layer over cooled shortbread layer and refrigerate until hardened, about 30 minutes. (You can also put it in the freezer, but make sure it is on a flat surface.)

Melt chocolate chips in microwave at 30-second intervals. Spoon over hardened toffee layer. Sprinkle coarse sea salt on top of chocolate and refrigerate until hardened (it’s easiest to stick it in the freezer at this point…it will harden up in ten or fifteen minutes).

Using the parchment paper, carefully lift out of the pan and slide onto a cutting board. Cut into sixteen pieces.

Notes:
These are really easy to make (kids can help!), and hands-on time is very minimal. But with all the layering and refrigeration, expect it to take 2 hours or so. Worth it, I promise!
If you’re not vegan, you can use regular butter and it will be just fine. I won’t tell!
I doubled the recipe, and made 24 bars out of it. I used a 9×13 pan. The shortbread took closer to 25-30 minutes to cook.
The Kirkland Signature brand of semi-sweet chocolate chips they sell at Costco are dairy-free. They are cheap ($7 for a huge bag!) and I bet you can’t taste the difference.