Make Maura Kilpatrick's Sesame Toffee Blondies

Pastry chef extraordinaire Maura Kilpatrick, whose handiwork at Sofra and Oleana has earned more than a dozen James Beard award nominations, shares a recipe for a tasty little pick-me-up. These sesame toffee blondies are a delightful combination of sweet and salty with a little bit of crunch from the toffee. You can substitute in pecan or walnut pieces for the toffee bits (or even chocolate chunks if you’d like) but they’re pretty much perfect as is.

Ingredients

7 ounces (14 tablespoons unsalted butter), plus additional for greasing the pan
3 eggs
2 1/4 cups light brown sugar, packed
2 teaspoons vanilla
5 tablespoons SOOM tahini
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon kosher salt
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 cup crushed toffee pieces, Heath bar pieces
2-3 tablespoons Maldon salt

Directions

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
Butter a 13 x 9-inch baking pan, line with parchment paper, coming up both of the longer sides.
Gently melt the butter in a small saucepan, or 1 minute in the microwave, set aside to cool slightly.
In a large bowl, whisk together the brown sugar, vanilla, and tahini, whisk in butter first then add eggs. Whisk until smooth and creamy, this won’t happen until the eggs are added.
In a separate bowl, combine flour, salt, baking powder and toffee (or another mix in). Fold in, in 2 additions until just combined.
Spread in an even layer in prepared baking pan.
Sprinkle Maldon salt evenly over top.
Bake 35-40 minutes, or until the center is a bit puffed and set but still appears a little gooey.
Cool completely. Remove from pan lift the extended sides of parchment paper.
Store in an airtight container for up to 3 days.