Caramel Slice

Recipe Courtesy: Project Foodie

Crust

• 1 cup unbleached all purpose flour
• 1/4 cup (packed) golden brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons cornstarch
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) chilled unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
• 1 tablespoon ice water
• 1 large egg yolk

Caramel Topping

• 1 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk
• 1/2 cup (packed) golden brown sugar
• 6 tablespoons (3/4 stick) unsalted butter, diced
• 2 tablespoons golden syrup (such as Lyle's Golden Syrup) or
• dark corn syrup
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Chocolate Glaze

• 6 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate (do not exceed 61% cacao), chopped
• 3 tablespoons heavy whipping cream
• Flaked sea salt (such as Maldon)

Crust: Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter 12 x 8 1/4 x 1-inch fluted tart pan with removable bottom. Blend flour, sugar, cornstarch, and salt in processor. Add butter. Using on/off turns, blend until coarse meal forms. Add 1 tablespoon ice water and egg yolk. Blend until moist clumps form. Press dough onto bottom (not sides) of pan; pierce all over with fork [1]. Bake until golden, piercing if crust is bubbling, about 22 minutes. Cool completely.

Caramel Topping: Whisk milk, sugar, butter, syrup, and vanilla in heavy medium saucepan over medium heat until sugar dissolves, butter melts, and mixture comes to boil. Attach clip-on candy thermometer to side of pan. Boil gently until caramel is pale golden and thick and thermometer registers 225°F, whisking constantly, about 8 minutes. Pour caramel evenly over crust [2], then spread almost to edge of crust [3]; cool 15 minutes to set.

Chocolate Glaze: Meanwhile, melt chocolate with cream in microwave in 15-second intervals, stirring occasionally until smooth (do not overheat or chocolate will separate). Spread chocolate over warm caramel; sprinkle with sea salt. Refrigerate until chocolate is set, at least 1 hour.

Do Ahead: Can be made 3 days ahead. Cover and keep refrigerated.

Cut dessert lengthwise into 4 strips. Cut each strip crosswise into 5 or 6 slices. Transfer to platter and serve.

I love bar cookies. LOVE THEM. Anything that starts with a shortbread base is a wholehearted leap in the right direction, anything gooey, sweet, chocolatey, whipped or otherwise placed atop takes good and makes it ecstasy in edible form. Sam stumbled into these last weekend while we both frantically searched over-bloated recipe bookmarks to find something to cook. I was pretty sold from the moment I clicked the link.

What I would find is that these bars were analogous to charting an unknown course to a known destination; I got to where I wanted to go in ways I had never tried, but I know the missed turns I would take next time.

When I say unfamiliar I mean REALLY unfamiliar. I had never attempted shortbread before, much less layering on top of it. My first try, valiant though it was, was processed too much and balled on me. I blame the food processor.

The culinary gods were aberrantly forgiving though; my tart pan was nowhere near filled by one batch of shortbread and required a second. A retry brought MUCH better results.

I used my extensive array of professional grade cooking utensils to even out the dough. Okay, yes that is the inverted lid of an old sour cream container. My friends and colleagues will tell you the surest way to tell if the food in the work fridge is mine is that it will be encased an a Daisy sour cream container. Go ahead and judge my MacGuyver ingenuity. Somewhere Alton Brown is nodding with approval.

My fears over shortbread inexperience abated when I pulled my golden brown round of happiness from the oven. Aaaaaaaaaand then I got cocky....

My intended alterations to the recipe were twofold: I would substitute the caramel sauce for a more brittle-esque caramel layer, and the chocolate layer would be tempered first. I wanted this to be a growth experience in pastry technique, and I have always wanted to try both caramelizing sugar and tempering chocolate. The first of these alterations led to calamity: even though David Lebowitz's very astute article cautioned me, I turned away from my heating sugar momentarily (what can happen in 3 seconds really?) and returned to an erupting mess boiling right through the center of pristine white. Like Sarah Palin's credibility, it couldn't be saved. So try, try again: lower heat, greater vigilance...there! caramelizing around the corners...be patient...wiggle the pan...CRAAAAAP!!! It's melted from the bottom leaving the top untouched!!! *expletives fly**vigorous stirring*

...fastforward to the successful part...

Caramel - golden brown devil

Tempering the chocolate was more slowly tedious, but a lot more successful. Also, more tempting. Watching a pot of chocolate slowly cool makes you wonder if just tipping it back into your gaping maw would be better.

Gratuitous chocolate money shot

A few hours in the fridge and things were set pretty nicely. In retrospect the caramel layer was much too thick, leaving a substantial dental-testing barrier of burnt sugar to gnaw through. All things aside it was pretty damn tasty.