Apron Afternoons: Salted Caramel Chocolate Bars

Many hours of my life are spent on Foodgawker. I can't stop searching for recipes and discovering new desserts to bake on this great website. While scrolling and scrolling through the greatest recipe database, I kept seeing this recipe for salted caramel chocolate bars and I couldn't resist making them. After I bugged my mom for a few days asking her to get the ingredients to make the three-layered treat, I made them. These little guys were very... well let's just say interesting and frustrating to make. I am not the best caramel maker, not yet that is.I used this recipe as a sort of experiment. The caramel did not come out exactly the way I wanted and it took forever to make! I was quite literally stirring caramel for forty minutes. Don't get me wrong, it was definitely worth making; these bars were delicious! These could be compared to Twix, but a more sophisticated version. The shortbread found in Twix is crunchy while this shortbread is much softer. The chocolate is much richer too. Then there is sea salt sprinkled on top, it's not weird tasting I promise, which adds the perfect amount of saltiness to this extremely sweet dessert. This recipe also makes a large pan of bars, which could be a good thing but I would recommend cutting it in half unless you plan on sharing them. Nevertheless, totally worth trying.

From: The Curvy Carrot
Ingredients:
For the shortbread:

- 2 cups all-purpose flour

- 2 teaspoons baking powder

- 1/4 teaspoon salt

- 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature

- 1/2 cup sugar

For the caramel:

- 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into 1-inch pieces

- 1 cup sugar

- 4 tablespoons light corn syrup

- 2 cans sweetened condensed milk

For the chocolate:

- 4 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped

- 4 ounces milk chocolate, chopped

- 1 teaspoon light corn syrup

- 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into 1-inch pieces

- sea salt, for garnish

Directions:

For the shortbread:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a 8x8 in. baking pan with parchment paper and spray liberally with nonstick cooking spray.

2. In a large bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, and salt.

3. In the bowl of your standing mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugar on high speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes.Reduce the mixer speed to low, and slowly add the flour mixture to the bowl.

4. Gently press the shortbread dough into the bottom of the prepared pan.

5. Bake until the shortbread is lightly golden, about 15-18 minutes. Let the shortbread cool completely.

For Caramel:

6. In a medium saucepan over medium-low heat, combine the butter, sugar, corn syrup, and sweetened condensed milk, mixing well.

7. Increase the heat to medium-high, and stirring continuously, bring the mixture to a boil.

8. Once boiling, reduce the heat to medium-low and stir continuously (mine took about 30 minutes) until the mixture is thickened and turns a golden amber color. I used my candy thermometer to make sure its stayed the right temp. If you use one, don't let it get to hard ball stage.

9. Pour the caramel over the cool shortbread and chill until the caramel is set. This will take a few hours.

Somebody got into it. Boys...what do you do with them.

For the chocolate:

13. In a heatproof bowl over a pot of gently simmering water (or double-boiler), combine the chopped chocolate, corn syrup, and butter, and melt, stirring occasionally, until the mixture is smooth and creamy.