Chocolate Caramel Slice

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Having out of town guests is always a great excuse to make goodies that I don't normally bake.  When our friends decided to come into town at the last minute for the 4th of July weekend, we were ecstatic!  We love spending time with them, and now that we're back on the East Coast, we've been able to see them a bit more, which has been great!  And, they seemed to enjoy my baking, which was encouraging.  They even helped in the kitchen!  Here they are assembling chicken skewers one day:

I've been wanting these cookie bars for a long time, so decided to make them this weekend, while there would be a few more people to eat them.  They are good and oh, so sweet!  The recipe calls for cutting them into 24 bars, but I would recommend making them smaller, unless of course you want to indulge a bit.  Hope you enjoy!

Recipe: 

Crust:
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup chilled unsalted butter, cut into cubes
1 tablespoon ice water
1 egg yolk

Toppings:
1 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, diced
2 tablespoons dark corn syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla

6 oz semisweet chocolate chips
3 tablespoons whipping cream


For Crust:
Preheat oven to 350F.  Butter a 11x7x2-inch baking pan.  Blend first 4 ingredients in food processor.  Add butter.

Using on/off turns, blend until coarse meal forms.

Add ice water and egg yolk.  Blend until moist clumps form.

Press dough onto bottom of pan; pierce all over with a fork.

Bake until golden, piercing if crust bubbles, about 20 minutes.  Cool completely.

For Toppings:
Whisk first 5 ingredients in medium saucepan over medium heat until sugar dissolves, butter melts and mixture comes to a boil.

This has obviously not boiled yet, but I like all the buttery sugary goodness!

Attach candy thermometer to side of pan.  Boil gently until caramel is thick and temperature registers 225F, whisking constantly, about 6 minutes. (If you don't have a candy thermometer, just cook for about 10 minutes on medium heat, and it will probably be just fine).

Pour caramel evenly over crust; cool 15 minutes to set.

Meanwhile, melt chocolate with cream in microwave in 15-second intervals, stirring occasionally.

When chocolate is completely melted, pour and spread over warm caramel.  Refrigerate until chocolate is set, at least 1 hour.   Cut into bars of desired size and enjoy!

Recipe slightly adapted from Bon Appetit, May 2007