Q. Do you have a decadent bar/cookie recipe I can bring to a summer party that's not the usual lemon bar? I know whatever it is, you'll lighten it up.

A. I tasted these chocolate toffee cookie crunch bars at a party and immediately asked for the recipe. But I quickly realized why it tasted so good — mass quantities of butter and sugar. I knew lightening these bars would be tricky because you need a certain amount of butter to moisten the vanilla wafer crumbs to make the cookie base and you need to boil the butter and brown sugar together to form the toffee glaze you pour over the cookie crust. But it was worth a try.

For the cookie base, I started with reduced-fat vanilla wafers and moistened the crumbs with 4 tablespoons of melted less-fat margarine or whipped butter (8 tablespoons of fat per tablespoon) and 2 tablespoons of fat-free half-and-half or low-fat milk instead of 1/3 cup melted butter. For the toffee glaze, I boiled 4 tablespoons of less-fat margarine or whipped butter and 1/4 cup of Kahlua (or other coffee liqueur) with the brown sugar instead of a stick of butter (1/2 cup). The chocolate and nut layer is basically 2 cups of chocolate chips and 1/2 cup of finely chopped nuts. I was able to nicely coat the bars with 1 1/2 cups of chocolate chips and the original amount of nuts.

These really do taste a lot like toffee and they were still full of flavor even though we cut the butter in half.

The original recipe has 367 calories, 19 grams of fat (8 grams of saturated fat) per bar. These have 150 calories.

CHOCOLATE TOFFEE COOKIE CRUNCH BARS

2 cups finely crushed reduced-fat vanilla wafers (about 60) 1/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar 4 tablespoons less-fat margarine or whipped butter (with 8 grams of fat per tablespoon), melted 2 tablespoons fat-free half-and-half or low-fat milk

Toffee layer:

1/4 cup less-fat margarine or whipped butter (with 8 grams of fat per tablespoon) 1/4 cup Kahlua (or other coffee liqueur) 1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar

Chocolate/nut layer:

1 1/2 cups semi sweet or milk chocolate chips 1/2 cup finely chopped nuts (almonds, walnuts or pecans)

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 9-by-13-inch pan with foil.

In a bowl, combine the wafer crumbs and brown sugar.

Stir in the 4 tablespoons melted margarine or butter and the 2 tablespoons fat-free half-and-half and beat on low to moisten crumbs. Press cookie crumb mixture into the foil-lined pan. Bake for about 8 minutes.

Add 4 tablespoons melted margarine or butter, 1/4 cup Kahlua, and 1/2 cup brown sugar to small nonstick saucepan and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until the mixture comes to a boil. Boil for exactly 1 minute. Immediately pour the glaze evenly over the cookie base and bake 10-12 minutes (or until a light golden brown). Remove from oven and let stand for 2 minutes.

Sprinkle chocolate chips evenly on top of hot cookie base and let stand 2-3 minutes; chips will soften. Spread chocolate evenly over cookie base with a small spoon. Sprinkle with nuts, cover pan and refrigerate until chocolate hardens nicely.

Lift foil out of pan and cut into 24 squares using a chef's knife.

Makes 24 bars.