Caramel and Chocolate Bars

I've always preferred caramel over chocolate. I seem to be in the minority on that one. Caramel is sweeter and has this slightly burnt taste, and I love things toasted to the point where they start to burn a bit. So anything with that kind of taste is sure to be a hit with me. I bought a new recipe book last week on my lunch break one day, but I decided to make something out of my Belgian recipe book, as I had only made one recipe from it so far anyway. And I've had my eye on these caramel and chocolate bars for awhile...

Overall, they're pretty good...some people might consider them sickeningly sweet though, depends on your level of enjoyment of very sweet desserts. When I first tasted it, I thought it was way too sweet, but I had been eating the ingredients as I made it and also had a bowl of Cookie Crisp with Sprinkles and vanilla soymilk before I tried it, so I think my tastebuds had already had their share of sweetness for the night.



Caramel and Chocolate Bars, slightly adapted from "Sablé au caramel et au chocolat" from Desserts au Chocolat by Les Simplissimes

Bottom layer:
1 stick butter
10 tbsp brown cane sugar (Sugar in the Raw or something of the like)
1 cup flour
1 packet regular oatmeal (or 40 g oats...whatever is easier for you)
Middle caramel layer:
1 1/2 tbsp butter
5 tbsp brown cane sugar
10 tbsp sweetened condensed milk
Top chocolate layer:
100 g milk chocolate
25 g white chocolate

1. Line an 8 inch pan with parchment paper and preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

2. With your hands, mix the stick of butter and 10 tbsp brown can sugar until combined. Then add the flour and the oats until a dough forms (not sticky but you don't want it really hard either...it should be a little less sticky that chocolate chip cookie dough generally is).

3. Place the prepared dough into the pan, trying to make it as even as possible, and bake for 25 minutes (my oven took about 40). The mixture should start to brown before you take it out of the oven. Make sure you let it cool for a bit before you put the other layers on.

4. To make the middle layer, heat the middle layer ingredients in a pan on the stove until the mixture starts to boil. Then mix for 5 or 6 minutes, until mixture starts to harden a little bit. Then, you can pour it onto the cookie layer.



5. Then heat the milk chocolate and place over the caramel layer. Heat the white chocolate and use to decorate the top milk chocolate layer. Enjoy.