Chocolate Toffee Bites

I got this recipe from my mom's house, she has a stack of old magazine and newspaper cut-outs of recipes and I borrowed some to try.  I'm not positive where the source came from but I think it was inside a little Smucker's Food of Canada catalogue.  I followed the recipe exactly except that I substituted ground almonds for the whole pecans.  It still tasted really good, I think I just changed the texture of the bars slightly by adding crushed nuts rather than whole ones.  The bars were like a mix between Skor chocolate bars and a blondie; the bottom layer was soft and chewy and the top layers were crunchy toffee bites with chocolate.  I would make this recipe again especially because I love the combination of toffee and chocolate!  Here's the recipe for you, I hope you enjoy these bites as much as I did.

Chocolate Toffee Bites

2 Cups all-purpose flour
1 Cup brown sugar
1/2 Cup cold butter, cut into pieces
1 Cup whole pecans, toasted  (or 1 Cup ground almonds)

1/2 Cup brown sugar
2/3 Cup butter
2 Cups semi-sweet chocolate chips

1) Preheat oven to 350F and line a 9*13in pan with parchment paper
2) Mix the flour, 1 Cup brown sugar, and cold butter cut into pieces until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs by cutting the butter into the flour and sugar
3) Pour mixture into prepared pan (mixture will be very dry), and press down evenly, then sprinkle nuts evenly over mixture and set aside
4) In a small saucepan melt butter and 1/2 Cup brown sugar stirring constantly until mixture begins to boil
5) Let mixture boil for one minute then pour evenly over nuts in prepared pan
6) Bake for 18-20min until topping starts to bubble
7) Remove from oven and evenly sprinkle chocolate chips on top while pan is still hot
8) Let stand for 3-5 min then spread the chocolate evenly to cover entire pan
9) Place in fridge to cool then cut into squares and enjoy!