Recipes by Zola - Toffee Bars - ArcaMax Publishing

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Toffee Bars

Zola Gorgon

Marketing 101...

When I was in my early 20s I had a fascinating job working for Quaker Oats -- as you well know, Quaker is the oatmeal company. Long cooking or instant, the people at Quaker know their oatmeal.

Quaker owns several other brands including Life Cereal and the Aunt Jemima products. I worked for the man who was in charge of marketing worldwide for Aunt Jemima. We were also in charge of marketing some other related products including grits and the new cookie mixes that were just hitting the market at the time. This was in the days when the only mixes you'd see on the grocery store shelf were cake and brownie mixes. This was way before all the convenience-style mixes you see today.

Quaker not only had marketing, sales and distribution, production and shipping, they had a state-of-the-art test kitchen. This kitchen was located one floor below the top executive suite. I don't know why the kitchen was located there, but I do know those top executives could catch a whiff of some amazing smells that drifted up the double staircase. Mmmmm.

The test kitchen would sometimes get backed up with requests coming from all the different brands. They only had so many ovens and so many hours. You had to get on a list to get your project done by the kitchen.

That's how I became an informal "test kitchen employee." What happened is the cookie mix marketing wars were heating up. One lingering question was, who really had the best cookie mix and why was it the best? The best judge, of course, was going to be the American public; women in particular. Young mothers being the most specific target. The cookie mixes were directly targeted at young mothers who wanted to give their kids a homemade treat but didn't have the time to follow a recipe and bake. They just barely had time to throw something in the oven. Hence, the cookie mix.

About 6 or 8 cookie companies all hit the market at the same time. The war was on. Who'd win out? I stepped up. I volunteered to make all of the cookie mixes that each company was offering and then make observations about the ease of mixing and baking, what the final product looked like, taste, and an assortment of other comments as they came into my mind. The test kitchen could not get to this project so I set up my own test kitchen in my apartment.

Now keep in mind, 6 or 8 companies participated in the fray, and each of them offered 4 or 5 flavors. Chocolate chip, oatmeal, and whatever other flavors they thought might catch on. I went home from my full-time job and each night I'd make 6 or 8 dozen cookies and write up my nightly report.

After writing my report the test kitchen was directed to drop what they were doing and do focus group testing to confirm or deny my findings. You know one of the most interesting things they found out? Get this. Women felt more "complete" if they added an egg to the bowl. Yep an egg. You see, the companies had gotten so good at making the mix that most of them had added powdered eggs to the box. Most of the mixes required softened butter but in order to make this as quick and painless as possible some of the companies had come up with a mix that only needed water. Talk about simple! And many of them tasted just great.

Women didn't like the ones that only required water. They bought those mixes once and didn't return to buy them again. It was all about the egg. If they had to add an egg they felt like REAL bakers, and therefore deserving of the praise from their family on the finished product. Go figure.

Today's recipe is just about as easy as the cookie mixes. If you're tired of making cookies and want a new twist on treats, these are your bars. They would be a welcome addition to any Church social, picnic or even a bake sale. I hope you enjoy adding the egg and the few other ingredients and making "magic" happen in your oven.

Cheers!
Zola

Toffee Bars

1 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup butter, softened
1 egg yolk
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups flour
1/8 tsp of salt
3 bars (4 oz each) milk chocolate
1/2 cup chopped nuts (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a large bowl mix sugar, butter, egg yolk and vanilla by hand with a wooden spoon. Stir in the flour and salt. Spread this mixture in a 9 X 13 pan that has been sprayed with butter spray. Bake 25 - 30 minutes until light, golden brown. Remove from oven and immediately place the chocolate bars in a row down the center of the dough. They will melt quickly. Spread the melted chocolate across the surface of the bar dough. Sprinkle with the nuts if you choose to use them. Cut into squares. These are wonderful warm or room temperature.

This news arrived on: 03/19/2007

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