Chocolate caramel bars with a salty sprinkle
MAKES 14 BARS, EACH 3CM × 11CM
I blame these bars for my ever-tightening pants. I’ve never been able to refuse them because their squishy caramel filling floors me every time. I like to strew the top with toasted walnuts and salt flakes to help balance the sweetness.
BASE
180 gm unsalted butter
220 gm plain flour
50 gm icing sugar
¼ tsp fine sea salt
CARAMEL FILLING
380 gm sweetened condensed milk
50 gm dark muscovado sugar 100 gm dark corn syrup
100 gm unsalted butter
¼ tsp fine sea salt
1 vanilla bean, split and seeds scraped
TOPPING
40 gm toasted walnuts 200 gm dark chocolate (60-70% cocoa) 15 gm unsalted butter ½ tsp sea salt flakes
1 Preheat oven to 160°C.
Spray a 23cm square, 5cm deep cake tin with cooking oil and lay one piece of baking paper across the base of the tin and up the sides, then place the second piece on top (to form a crosshatch). The paper will allow you to lift the slice out of the tin easily when cooked. 2 To make the base, melt butter and leave to cool a little. Place flour, icing sugar and salt in a bowl and stir to combine. Pour melted butter into dry ingredients and mix with your hands to form a sticky paste. Press mix into prepared tin and smooth out with an offset spatula. Bake until base is a tan biscuity colour (45 minutes). If any bubbles form under the base while baking, prick them with a skewer to gently deflate. 3 To make the caramel filling, place all ingredients in a bowl over a saucepan of simmering water and stir occasionally until butter has melted (10 minutes). Remove vanilla bean. Pour caramel filling into base, reduce oven to 120°C and bake until filling is set and sides start to blister and turn light brown (15-20 minutes). Remove from oven and leave to set and cool completely (1-2 hours).
4 To make the topping, place chocolate and butter in a bowl over a saucepan of simmering water, stir occasionally until melted then pour over the top of the caramel. Tilt tin to distribute chocolate. Crush walnuts with your hands over the top and sprinkle over salt flakes. Take hold of the excess paper on the sides, then shimmy and lift slice out of the tin and place onto a chopping board. Peel paper away from sides, dip a serrated knife in hot water, dry and chop into 3cm x 11cm bars.