July 9, 2014

Chocolate Chip Salted Caramel Cookie Bars

I love the combination of salt, caramel, and chocolate. One of my favorite things in the fall is the salted caramel hot chocolate from Starbucks  So when one of my coworkers brought in this treat I had to break my "no sweets in the office" rule and take one. Boy am I glad I did. They are fantastic!
12 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled to room temperature
1 cup light brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 cups chocolate chips (I like more, so I add another 1/2 cup)
11 ounces caramel candy squares, unwrapped
3 tablespoons heavy cream
Sea salt, for sprinkling over caramel and bars
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Spray a 2-quart baking pan (which is an 11 X 7 pan-I used a glass Pyrex dish) with nonstick cooking spray and set aside.
2. Mix the melted butter and sugars together until combined. Add the egg, egg yolk, and vanilla extract and mix until smooth. Slowly add the dry ingredients and mix on low, just until combined. Stir in the chocolate chips.
3. In a large microwave safe bowl, combine the caramels and heavy cream. Microwave caramels on High until caramels are melted, stirring every 20 seconds. This will take about 2 minutes, depending on your microwave.
4. Divide the cookie dough in half. Press half of the cookie dough into the prepared pan, smoothing the top with the spatula. Pour hot caramel over the cookie dough. Sprinkle caramel with sea salt. Drop spoonfuls of cookie dough over the caramel and spread dough with a spatula until the caramel is covered. Sprinkle the bars with additional sea salt.
5. Bake cookie bars for 30 minutes or until the top of the bars are light golden brown and the edges start to pull away from the pan. Cool bars on a wire rack to room temperature. Cut bars into squares and serve.

Microwave Score: tried them when they were at room temp.
Freezer Score: probably won't last that long.
Overall Score: 4-they aren't a bad treat, but I know what a 5 tastes like and these aren't quite there, but still so very good!

http://www.thebakerupstairs.com/2014/01/salted-caramel-chocolate-chip-cookie.html