Caramel Bar Crunch

Sweetness!

I will admit this right known, I was not planning on making this a crunch bar. I wanted some caramel and it went haywire. 

I mixed the butter and sugar well. Look it's real pretty. I did allow some butter to go unbeaten as you can see.

I caramelized the sugar, golden amber, just beautiful. And then the problems started. I added cream, butter and vanilla. My mixture turned into one of those toppings you see on top of a croquembouche.

Baby girl was like mom, what is that. I thought we were making caramel. I told her I wanted it to be this way and watch this. I put it on back on the fire, added the chocolate chips and starting whisking like a mad woman.

She was laughing so hard, told me if you wanted it that way, why are you whisking so hard. 

OK. I finally got some of the "bouche" out of my caramel but not all of it. Pour the cooled caramel over the cookie dough.

Allow mixture to set up in the refrigerator for about 2 hours. I let mine set up overnight, I was tired after my whisking competition.

 

And here you go, do you see the crunch in it. Look closely, it looks like toffee.


Caramel Bar Crunch

Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Total Time: 40 minutes

Ingredients:

Cookie Crunch:

1 1/2 c. flour
1 stick of butter, room temperature
1/2 c. brown sugar
 pinch of salt


Directions:

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.
 
In a mixer beat butter and sugar for about 4 minutes add sifted flour and salt and beat. Mixture will be kind of crumbly.

In a small buttered, oven proof dish place mixture and flatten out with your hands. You can also line the pan with foil and butter this so it's easy to remove the bar when ready.  

Bake cookie crunch at 350 degrees for about 25-30 minutes until light golden brown. Allow to cook while making caramels.

Chocolate Caramels

1 bag of milk chocolate chips
1 c. white sugar
1/2 c. brown sugar
1 c. heavy cream
4 tbsp. butter
1 tsp. vanilla
1/4 c. water

Directions:

In a large stock pot, heat sugar and water over medium heat and stir for about 1 minute. Turn heat to medium-high and boil mixture for about 4 minutes without stirring.

After mixture turns amber, rotate pot tilting side to side for about 2 minutes, do not stir. Remove mixture from heat, stir in heavy cream, butter, and vanilla. This will cause some crystallization which gives the mixture a crunch.

Put mixture back on fire onto low heat and add chocolate chips and stir well. Remove from heat once chocolate has been mixed well, allow to cool for about 10 minutes. Pour mixture over cookie dough and place in refrigerator for about 2 hours or overnight until mixture sets. Cut into bars. Enjoy.