This recipe comes from another one of my favorite blogs. I made these for my grandma, cause she is such a lovely lady. I was not able to give her them myself, but I hear she loved them. Again, from one of my favorite sites, Taste and Tell, who took the original recipe from the Cookbook, Sticky Chewy Messy Gooey Desserts, these Carmel Butter Bars are dee-lish-us! The original recipe called them gooey, but they weren't messy at all!
I made them in an aluminum pan lined with parchment, and then turned them out on to a big cutting board to slice. Inch wide pieces were enough, as they are buttery and rich. I believe they traveled well as my mom took them in a a plastic container in her carryon on a 3 hour flight.
For St. Patty's day I am gonna dye the cookie batter part with green food coloring for a little fun! I would also like to try sprinkling the caramel filling with mini chocolate chips.
Caramel Butter Bars
Preheat oven to 325 F
Crust:
4 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup sugar
1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar
1 teaspoon salt
4 cups flour
In a mixing bowl, mix together the butter and both sugars until creamy. Add vanilla, salt until mixed together. Add in the flour a little at a time until it forms a dough. Set aside two-thirds of the dough, wrapped in plastic or in a zip bag, flattened and placed in the fridge to cool for about 20 minutes while you make the rest.
Coat a 9 x 13 aluminum baking pan with a little cooking spray, cut parchment to line the pan so you can later use it to lift out the finished and slightly cooled bars. Press the remaining one third of the dough evenly into the bottom of the pan to make a crust. Bake in the oven at 325 degrees F, for about 20-25 minutes or until golden brown. Let cool while you do the rest.
Caramel filling:
14 oz caramel candies, (about one bag of those individually wrapped kraft or generic ones). Get an assistant and make them unwrap each one.
1/3 cup heavy whipping cream
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
pinch of salt
1 1/2-2 cups nuts of your choosing (cashews are delicious)
While the bottom crust cooks, make the caramel middle. Put the caramels (unwrapped, we dont want to eat plastic now do we?) in a microwave safe bowl, add cream, vanilla and salt. Microwave on high for 1 minute, remove and stir. Continue to microwave at 30 second intervals, stirring between each until caramels are completely melted, and all the cream is incorporated and smooth.
Sprinkle your nut of choice, liberally over the bottom crust. Pour and spread the caramel over the nuts evenly. Add some more nuts, or other toppings you may choose.
Top Crust:
Take the remaining two thirds of the dough out of the fridge. You want it to have firmed up a little. Crumble it in large pieces over the top of the caramel. There will be a lot of it just keep crumbling until its all covered and press it down a little.
Cook for another 30 minutes or until golden. Let cool, and remove from pan using the parchment. Slice in to inch square pieces.
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