Monday, December 20, 2010

There are cookies.. and then, there are These

These are the cookies that are one of the most incredible cookies I've ever made... these are the ones that have been known to mysteriously disappear from the cookie plate or, in last year's case they were snatched up by a certain someone and stashed in a box where nobody else could find them. 


Yea, they're that good. So good in fact that I now double the recipe and make 2 batches of it so nobody gets left out.. and make a reminder to myself to make one without coconut because of an allergy.  Leaving out the pecans isn't a huge deal.. and if I'm making them to give on a platter I will leave them out and sometimes, pecans just aren't in my cookie baking budget.


We refer to these as "The Sticky Cookies" they're so amazing.  I made these the first time with The bestie, who is now in Mozambique and made a special request for the recipe, so when I shipped her a box full of goodies the other day, I added the recipe in along with a conversion chart because Everything's different on the other side of the world.  


I'm Mailing some of my friends cookies, but unfortunately I'm not sure these would ship well.. so here's the recipe to share so nobody gets left out.



Chocolate-Caramel Bars

1 Cup All Purpose Flour
1/4 Cup Packed Brown Sugar
1/2 Cup Butter
2 Cups coarsely chopped Pecans (we used walnuts)
1 Cup Flaked coconut (Oops, I forgot the coconut when we went to the supermarket, lol)
1 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk
2 tsp. vanilla
20 vanilla caramels
2 Tbs. Milk
6 ounces semisweet chocolate chips

Directions:

    1. Preheat oven to 350°f. For crust, in a medium bowl stir together flour and brown sugar. Cut the butter into the mixture until it resembles coarse crumbs. Press flour mixture into the bottom of a 9 x 13 x 2 inch baking pan. Bake 15 minutes. 
    2.  Sprinkle coconut and nuts over partially baked crust. In a small bowl stir together sweetened condensed milk and vanilla, pour over coconut and nuts. Bake for 25-30 minutes more or until set.  Let stand in pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes

    4. In a small saucepan combine caramels and milk. Heat and stir over medium-low heat just until caramels melt (be very careful here, molten caramels will give you a nasty burn!) Drizzle caramel mixture over baked mixture. Sprinkle top with chocolate chips. Cool completely and cut into bars.