Chocolate Caramel Bars

I found this awesome recipe on one of my favorite food blogs, Sweet Pea's Kitchen. I saw her photo and started drooling right then. I find a lot of great recipes on her blog and you will too. You can see her original write up and photos (which are far superior to mine!) at this link.

I will definitely make these again and the recipe is now a permanent part of my binder. I know they look tricky to make, but they really aren't. The layers are just made with crackers and you don't even have to bake them! Very simple.

Chocolate Caramel Bars
Yield ~3 dozen bars

Base and Second Layer
48-64 butter crackers (I used Keebler Club)

Caramel
1 cup graham cracker crumbs
2/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup unsalted butter
1/4 cup milk
pinch salt

Frosting
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
1/3 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1/3 cup butterscotch chips
1/3 cup dry roasted peanuts, chopped

Grease a 9x13 pan. Arrange 1/2 the crackers in the bottom of the pan. You may have to cut them to fit the edges.

In a saucepan over medium heat, boil all caramel ingredients for about 3 minutes, stirring constantly. Pour caramel over the crackers and spread to cover evenly. An offset spatula works great. Top the caramel with another layer of crackers.

In a small saucepan over low heat, melt peanut butter and baking chips until smooth. Pour gently over crackers and spread with offset spatula.

Sprinkle peanuts over the top and chill until set, at least 2 hours. Cut into bars.

Happy Baking!

By Cracky Bars

No! Not CRACK bars, BY Cracky Bars! You people...

In case some of you youngin's have no idea what that means, well, it's an old saying that was used to express surprise. And this recipe is about as old as that phrase.

My mom has this recipe in her binder. It was clipped from a magazine back in the 60's. It won 2nd prize in the Pillsbury Bake-Off in the junior category. The young woman who created this recipe, Yvonne Whyte, from New Bedford, Mass., won $2,000 for it! Not bad even by today's standards. I get a kick out of looking at this photo every time I bake these.

Well, the prize was well-deserved. This is a 3-layer bar, the 2nd layer being simply graham crackers. You only make one batter, then divide it and add different things to each. It looks impressive when sliced! These bars are not rich and gooey, they have more of a cake-like texture, perfect to go with a cup of tea or coffee.

By Cracky Bars

1-3/4 cup flour
1 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/3 cup milk
1 tsp vanilla
3/4 cup Crisco
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 square (1 oz) semi-sweet baking chocolate, melted
3/4 cup walnuts, chopped
9 double graham crackers
3/4 cup mini chocolate chips (They must be mini! Regular sized ones won't work.)

Preheat oven to 375-F. Grease a 13x9x2" pan or spray with PAM spray for baking.

In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, salt and baking soda.

In a measuring cup, measure the 1/3 cup milk and add the vanilla.

In a larger bowl, cream the Crisco and sugar. Add the eggs and beat well. Add the dry ingredients alternately with the milk, to the creamed mixture.

Divide the batter in 1/2. Well, sort of. Make one half a little bit larger than the other. To the slightly smaller portion, beat in the melted chocolate. Stir in walnuts. To the larger portion, stir in the mini chocolate chips.

To assemble: Spread the chocolate batter on the bottom of the pan. Arrange the graham crackers over the batter. You may have to cut some of the squares to fit exactly. Take the batter with the chocolate chips and drop by spoonfuls over the graham crackers. Spread with a spatula to cover. (An off-set spatula works great.)

Bake for 20-25 minutes or til slightly golden brown on top. Do not over-bake! Remove from oven to cool. Cut into bars or squares.

Happy Baking!