Friday, June 13, 2008

Caramel Crunch Bars

This is the recipe in Dorie Greenspan's Baking: from my home to yours, that caught my husbands eye. I finally got around to making it and it was delish!
The batter looked like chocolate chip cookie dough
I tried to make the very cute ice cream bars that Dorie pictured in the book, but my ice cream was melting way to fast! I put them back in the freezer and wow! that was a real treat.

Caramel Crunch Bars (adapted from Baking:from my home to yours-Dorie Greenspan)
For the base:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
2 sticks unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1/4 cup sugar
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
3 ounce bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
For the topping:
6 ounces milk chocolate chips
3/4 cup Heath Toffee bits


Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Line a 9*13-inch pan with foil and lightly butter the foil.

Whisk together the flour, salt and cinnamon.

Beat the butter at medium speed until smooth, about 3 minutes. Add the sugars and beat for another 3 minutes, or until light and creamy. Beat in vanilla.

Add all the dry ingredients and cover the bowl with a kitchen towel. Turn the mixer on and off quickly a few times and take off the towel when the dry ingredients are mixed in a bit. Mix, on low speed until the dry ingredients are almost incorporated and add the chopped chocolate. Mix until dry ingredients disappear and if chocolate isn't evenly mixed, finish the job with a rubber spatula. Scrape the dough into the buttered pan and with the spatula and your fingers, press it gently into a thin layer.

Bake for 20 to 22 minutes, or until the base is bubbly. You will be able to hear it popping. It will be pulling away from the sides of the pan a tad. Transfer the pan to a rack and turn off the oven.

Scatter the chocolate chips evenly over the top of the hot base and put the pan back into the oven for 2-3 minutes, until the chocolate is soft.

Remove the pan from the oven and spread the chocolate with the back of a spoon. Sprinkle the toffee bits over the melted chocolate and press them down lightly. Place the pan on the rack to cool to room temperature.

Once cool, carefully lift the foil out of the pan, and cut into small squares.

If you want make ice cream sammies but hurry because the ice cream will get soft fast.

1 comments:

Audrey and the Boys said...

Those look amazing! By the way your bar at the bottom with ingredients isn't showing up for me? Can you fix it! I love using your website like a cookbook. In fact I don't really use cookbooks anymore. I just use your site!