Gooey Caramel Turtle Bars

Submitted by AZPARZYCH

"Found online...A buttery shortbread crust is layered with a creamy vanilla caramel, toasted pecan halves and milk chocolate shards to create one absolutely decadent bar."

 

• Ready In: 1hr 10mins
• Ingredients: 13
• Yields: 36 bars

ingredients

• CRUST

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1⁄4 cup sugar
• 1⁄4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup unsalted butter, melted

• TOPPING

• 1 3⁄4 cups packed brown sugar
• 1⁄4 cup honey
• 1⁄4 cup water
• 1⁄2 teaspoon salt
• 1⁄4 cup unsalted butter, cut up
• 1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 2 cups pecan halves, toasted*
• 6 ounces milk chocolate or 6 ounces semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped

directions

1. Heat oven to 350°F Line bottom and sides of 13x9-inch pan with foil. Combine flour, sugar and 1/4 teaspoon salt in medium bowl. Stir in melted butter until soft dough forms. Press dough over bottom of pan. Bake 25 to 30 minutes or until golden brown. Spray sides of foil above crust with cooking spray to prevent caramel from sticking.
2. Combine brown sugar, honey, 1/4 cup water and scant 1/2 teaspoon salt in large wide saucepan. Add 1/4 cup butter; cook over medium heat, stirring constantly with silicone spatula and scraping corners and bottom of pan as butter melts. From time to time, scrape mixture off spatula against top edge of pan and scrape sides of pan clean. Reduce heat to a moderate boil; stir and scrape pan 3 minutes or until sugar is dissolved.
3. Stir in sweetened condensed milk; return to a boil, stirring constantly and scraping sides, corners and bottom of pan. (Adjust heat so mixture boils actively but not too furiously.) Continue stirring and cooking 9 to 12 minutes or until mixture reaches 235°F Remove from heat; stir in vanilla.
4. Pour over crust; tilt baking pan to level caramel. Sprinkle with pecans and chocolate; let stand until caramel is cool and chocolate is set.
5. Lift foil to remove bars from pan. Remove foil; cut into bars. (Bars can be made 3 days ahead. Store in an airtight container.)
6. TIP *To toast pecans, place on baking sheet; bake at 350°F for 6 to 8 minutes or until slightly darker in color. Cool.

Reviews

[MN Farmgirl]

They were good. Very, Very rich. I used a glass pan(no foil) and didn't bake it as long. The crust was a bit crumbly. Careful. The caramel scorches very easily. When the caramel was still hot, I added the pecans and chocolate chips on top, put a cookie sheet on top to hold in the heat. Then when the chocolate chips had melted I took a knife and scraped the chocolate across the pecans. There's not enough chocolate to frost, but it does leave a nice look to just scrape it across the nus.