Salted Caramel Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars

There are some times in my life when I crave something really sweet. I try to be healthier than I was in the past, but I still have times that I just want some really yummy food. Well this was one of those days. I decided to make for my fiancé and I Salted Caramel Chocolate Chip Cookie Bars. YUM! I found the recipe here at the Blahnik Baker's blog.

Photo Credits

Here's your ingredients:

2 1/8 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

12 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled to room temperature --- Noob Cook has a great tutorial on melting butter in the microwave

1 cup light brown sugar

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1 large egg, room temperature

1 large egg yolk, room temperature

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

2 cups chocolate chips

6 ounces caramel candy squares, unwrapped

3 tablespoons heavy cream

Sea salt, for sprinkling over caramel and bars

After obtaining all my ingredients I got to baking!

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Line a 8' X 8' baking pan with parchment paper (or foil) leaving overhang. Spray with nonstick cooking spray.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, salt, and baking soda.
3. In the bowl of your stand mixer (or medium bowl), beat the melted butter and sugars together until combined. Add in the egg, egg yolk, and vanilla extract and beat until smooth. Slowly add the dry ingredients and mix on low, just until combined about 1 minute. Then stir in the chocolate chips for additional one minute.
4. Combine the caramels and heavy cream in a medium microwave safe bowl and melt in a microwave. Stir every 30 seconds until caramels are melted. This will take about 2 minutes, depending on your microwave.
5. Add half of the cookie dough to the prepared pan. Press gently and smooth the top with a spatula. Drizzle/pour the hot caramel sauce over the cookie dough and sprinkle with sea salt. Using a small cookie scoop or a tablespoon, drop spoonfuls of cookie dough over the caramel. Spread the dough with a spatula until the caramel is covered. Sprinkle again with sea salt. 
6. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until the top of the bars are light golden brown and the edges start to pull away from the pan. Cool bars on a wire rack to room temperature. Cut bars into squares and serve.

It was scrumptious! My fiancé definitely approved since he'd eaten a good portion of it before I could even take the picture.

<3 Kelly Jean