Salted Caramel Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars

Tags

bars, caramel, chocolate, cookie, salted caramel

In case you haven’t figured it out, I’ve been in a sort of rut lately. Not really motivated to blog, or even bake and cook. It’s most unfortunate. I’m hoping it’ll get better soon because I’ve been bookmarking a bunch of recipes that I want to try! I did have this recipe bookmarked for quite a while now, and I even bought the caramels before I moved with the intention to make them a couple months ago. Obviously that didn’t happen… (and yes, I should really try to make my own caramel but it scares me! My first attempt years ago failed miserably, as in it burned, and I haven’t tried since.)

But about these cookie bars, they use the best chocolate chip cookie recipe which is chewy and scrumptious, adds a gooey layer of salted caramel, and a sprinkling of salt for a sweet/salty combo. These cookie bars are absolutely divine. And I wasn’t very eager to share! My husband and I ate most of them, but I did share a couple with my sister, because I’m that nice! Hehe. I mostly wanted to get them out of the house to resist temptation. 🙂 But you should totally make these… they’re worth turning the oven on!!!

One Year Ago: Pumpkin-Cranberry Bread and Zuppa Toscana

Salted Caramel Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars
Yield: 16 cookie bars

2¼ cups all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
12 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled until warm
1 cup brown sugar, packed
½ cup granulated sugar
1 large egg, plus 1 egg yolk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 ½ cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
10 ounces caramel candy squares, unwrapped
3 tablespoons heavy cream
Fleur de sel or other sea salt, for sprinkling

Preheat oven 325 degrees F. Grease a 9-inch square baking pan; set aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients; set aside. In a large bowl, mix butter and sugars by hand or with a mixer until thoroughly combined. Beat in egg, yolk, and vanilla until combined. Add dry ingredients and mix slowly until just combined. Stir in chocolate chips.

In a medium microwave-safe bowl, combine the caramels and heavy cream. Microwave on high for 2 minutes, or until the caramels are melted, making sure to stir every 20 seconds.

Press half of the cookie dough into the prepared pan with either your fingers or a spatula, smoothing the top. Pour the hot caramel over the cookie dough in the pan and spread into an even layer, leaving a small border without caramel along the edges; sprinkle the caramel with sea salt. Take the remaining dough and flatten bits between your fingers to create shingles; place the shingles on top of the caramel, slightly overlapping them until all the caramel is covered. Smooth out the top layer of dough. Sprinkle the bars with additional sea salt.

Bake the 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 the bars in the pan on a wire rack to room temperature, then refrigerate for about 30 minutes to allow the caramel layer to set. Cut into squares and serve. Store leftovers in an airtight container at room temperature.

Source: Adapted from Brown Eyed Baker

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Dulce de Leche Cupcakes

Tags

caramel, cupcake, dessert, dulce de leche

Dulce de leche is essentially caramel, but it literally translates to “sweet of milk.” It seems really easy to make yourself, though I have failed on multiple occasions, and I really don’t know why. You’r basically cooking sweetened condensed milk until it thickens and carmelizes… doesn’t sound so bad, right? If you are interested in trying to make your own, check out Bakers Royale post, and I wish you more luck that I had with it!These cupcakes are one of those recipes that I’ve had intentions to make sooner, but for one reason or another, it has been delayed. The first time I wanted to make these was a few months ago. I wanted to be cool and make my own dulce de leche, since it seemed so easy. Yet somehow I failed, and without any cans of dulce de leche laying around, the cupcakes had to be put on hold. Then another time I had saved some egg whites, and realized I had the perfect number to turn into a delicious swiss meringue buttercream, but ran out of time and ended up having to quickly freeze the egg whites before they went bad. Finally, I was determined. I had the egg whites, I had the dulce de leche, and one way or another these cupcakes were being made! And so I did. And everyone was able to taste the greatness! The cupcakes did seem a little dry and crumbly, though still delicious. I think I might have over baked them.

But the frosting… Absolutely divine! It reminded me of why I love swiss meringue buttercream and made me question why I don’t make it more often. If you’ve never had swiss meringue buttercream, I must say that you are missing out. Please, make some for yourself, and soon!! It is the smoothest, most creamy, decadent frosting that there is, and adding dulce de leche to it just makes it that much more incredible.Dulce de Leche Cupcakes
Yield: 24 cupcakes

Cupcakes:
1½ cups all-purpose flour
1½ cups cake flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
¼ teaspoon baking soda
¾ cup (1½ sticks) unsalted butter, softened
1⅓ cup granulated sugar
¾ teaspoon salt
½ cup dulce de leche
4 large eggs, at room temperature
¼ cup canola oil
2 teaspoon vanilla extract
¾ cup buttermilk, room temperature

Swiss Meringue buttercream:
4 egg whites
1¼ cups granulated sugar
Pinch salt
1½ (3 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
⅓ cup dulce de leche
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

To make the cupcakes: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line cupcake tins with 24 paper liners.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flours, baking powder, baking soda, and salt; set aside.

In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter and sugar on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl as necessary. Add the dulce de leche and beat another minute, until thoroughly incorporated. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition, then mix in the oil and vanilla. Reduce the mixer speed to low; add the dry ingredients in three additions, alternating with the buttermilk and ending with the dry ingredients, beating each addition just until incorporated.

Divide the batter between the prepared cupcake cups, filling each cup about two-thirds full. Bake for 16 to 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a cupcake comes out clean. Cool cupcakes in the tin on a wire rack for 5 minutes, then remove from the tin to finish cooling on the rack. Cool completely before frosting.

To make the buttercream: In the metal bowl of a stand mixer (or a large hat-proof bowl if using a hand-held mixer), combine the egg whites, sugar, and salt. Set the bowl over a pot of simmering water, making sure the bottom of the bowl does not touch the water. Whisk constantly until the mixture reaches 160 degrees F.

Fit the mixer with the whisk attachment; beat the egg white mixture on medium-high speed until stiff peaks form and the bottom of the mixing bowl is cool to the touch, about 8 minutes. Reduce the mixer speed to medium and add the butter 2 tablespoons at a time, adding more once each addition has been incorporated. Increase the mixer speed to medium-high and beat until the buttercream is thick and smooth, 3-5 minutes; it may seem to curdle but keep mixing and it will come together. Add the dulce de leche and vanilla; mix until incorporated. Frost cupcakes as desired, drizzling with any extra dulce de leche.

Source: The Way the Cookie Crumbles